Normal Baby Things

With each week that goes by, my time at the NICU becomes increasingly similar in substance to what it would be with full term newborns at home. Granted, we still have a ways to go, but bottles and diaper blowouts are here to stay for a LONG time. 

Thomas is still on room air CPAP, but he is basically 6lbs! As I've said before, that boy is going to be 8lbs by the time he decides to breathe on his own :) He finished up his course of antibiotics for his salivary gland infection today, so the IV should be able to come out within 24 hours. With time on his side, he just might come out of the gates running when it comes to feeding. 

Audrey and Charlotte are both getting one bottle feed per day, and I'm typically the one to give it. They're behaving like "textbook preemies" according to the feeding specialist; when they are in the right side-lying position and I help pace them (pull out the bottle if I can tell they're forgetting to breathe) and watch for their cues, they're able to take the full feed amount within the allotted 30 minutes without having any episodes. I'm in no rush to push them to do more than that at this stage. Charlotte is 5lbs 4oz and Audrey is 4lbs 7oz, so they're continuing to grow well. Now it's just a race to learn how to suck all their food so that they can come home. I'm placing my money on one of the girls, but you never know how Thomas might surprise us all. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that Charlotte would weigh almost a pound more than her sister at this stage. 

Charlotte, snoozing. Her Wubbanub pacifier helps give a bit of perspective on size.