Type One With Twins: So proud of my boys!

The boys are doing soooo great! We officially have Scott off of the IV and into a cot! Scott's antibiotics were completed last night so this morning when I arrived at 11:30, he got to try on his first outfit! It was so fun dressing him, especially now that he doesn't have an IV attached to him! Adam is allowed to wear clothes, but because his IV is in his hand right now, it doesn't work very well. With the little onesies I have, it'll work with the IV in the head or foot, so next time it gets moved we'll try on an outfit for him too! The nurse said Scott is ready to move into a cot today (he's well over 1800 grams, and he's off the IV) so while he got held by my Mom (first time!) his old bed got taken away, and a new cot was brought in! So exciting! It's so different with a cot. They wear clothes, and then they are swaddled in a blankie, a towel, and then there is about 3-4 blankets on top of that. They keep them SUPER bundled up in there. And he has to wear a hat too, to keep the heat from escaping. It's funny though - I'm so excited for him because it's a big step, but the isolette seems way comfier. In the isolette, the babies get to stretch out, kick out their legs and arms, get time on their sides or tummies - plus it's 32 degrees in there! There is also a quilt hung over the top, so the light can be blocked out, and I think it must be a little bit more soundproof. In the cot, it seems like they just have to lie on their backs, completely bundled up. What if he has an itch? I feel bad for his little arms and legs being so trapped. But I guess it's good - it encourages a deep sleep, which is what preemies need to grow! His temperature was on the lower end during the 9PM feed tonight, so if it doesn't start to go up, he might need to go back to his isolette for a few days. When Adam is off of his antibiotics (Sunday!) they will get moved to a twin crib together. It'll be awesome, and they can keep each other warm! I'm sure they miss each other so much! Can't wait for them to reunite... I'm hoping Scott can stay in his cot until then, but I'm not 100% expecting it to last all that long, just temperature wise! Although I just got off the phone with the nurse, and his temperature for the midnight feeding was 36.5, acceptable! So happy!

Okay, so what else has been new? I'm not sure if the second blood culture had been drawn when I did my last blog post, but Adam came back with the bacteria still in his blood 48 hours after starting the antibiotics. They upped the dose a little bit, and drew another culture in 48 hours, which came back totally clean! YAYYY! So he'll be done on Sunday (not sure of the exact time) and finally I will have both boys free from the antibiotics/ IVs! That will be a huge day for us!

The boys are also learning to breastfeed! From about a week old, I would pump and then let them latch on occasionally to start learning how things work. They didn't really figure it out much at first, and kind of just held my nipple without doing a whole lot of coordinated sucking, but now they are developing their reflexes and they are pros! I'm finally able to breastfeed them without pumping first - it's not just for practice anymore. So this morning, we started off by weighing Adam, and then putting him on the breast. He went for about 15 minutes before he started to fall asleep and then he was weighed again. He had gained 25 grams, which roughly equates to 25ml (a full feed for him is 38ml). The nurse didn't trust the scale though, because that's a pretty big amount for his first time, so she still gave him his full feed. Before his next feed, he still had a lot of milk in his tummy, so she said that she probably underestimated him, and that he likely did take in quite a bit of milk! I tried with Scott for the 3PM feed (although I had just pumped about an hour prior) and I thought he was doing it perfect, but his weight didn't change after he was done, so he was fed his full 34ml through his NG tube. When I came back with Jamie for the 9PM feed, I tried with Scott again. I hadn't pumped in a few hours, and he latched on great. After he started to get tired, we weighed him and he gained 20 grams!! So instead of taking 34 by NG, he only had to take 14! So proud of both of my little guys.

I'm getting nervous about actually doing it all though. RCH is very pro breastfeeding which I love, and I'm the same way. But it's going to be tough to do it in the NICU with 2 babies. Because they both need to be 'test-weighed' for each feed, it'll be hard to do both babies at once. I don't know if I'll keep alternating feeds and only doing one baby per feed, or if one baby will just have to wait a little while and they can both try during one feed. Maybe I should start learning to tandem nurse them now ;) Once they are completely established in breastfeeding, we can start adding bottles too, which will be helpful! That way Jamie can help a bit too. I know I will be spending much more time at the hospital though as we get closer to bringing them home. Not that I'm not spending a lot of time there right now though, haha. One nurse was mentioning that they may be able to be moved upstairs to pediatrics once Adam is off his IV and that I could possibly get a private room and stay with them for the last few days they are there. That would be amazing!

What else? I'm just feeling pretty great about everything. I still miss them so much, and can't wait to have them home, but I feel like things are finally happening! The last week was a little bit of a stalemate, and it's great to get the ball rolling. Feeding on their own is the main challenge for right now, so bring it on. I'm also trying to stay prepared for things to not go as planned, because I know everything can go backwards pretty quickly. But I just need to focus on the positive and hope for the best. I was there this afternoon when the Dr. was making her rounds (The Dr visits each baby every day to discuss goals/ treatment changes/ progress etc) and she made my day! I was listening in and it was while I was breastfeeding Scott and before she left she said to the team she does the rounds with: "This Mom is amazing! She is always here, she has tons of breastmilk, and she is so positive, involved and motivated!" I honestly almost cried, haha. It's nice to know that for a difficult situation, I am doing things 'right'. Although there is no right or wrong way to do it. I can't imagine handling all of this if I had other kids or something. I'm also really lucky though, I've been able to keep up with pumping enough milk for both of them, and I have over 100 oz stored in my freezer at home already (Jamie and I added it all up tonight, haha). I'm just so happy that there is something I can do when I can't be there, because they are on my mind 24/7.

Tomorrow is Scott's first bath without the IV, so it's his first bath that I get to do on my own! I am SO excited!!! Can't wait to do the same with Adam. I can't believe it's been 17 days already.... Time has flown by. I have a parking pass until the 24th... This is way getting ahead of myself, but MAYBE they'll be home by then? I'm aiming for August 1st, but who knows. The boys are smart cookies, maybe - just maybe- they can beat Mommy's goals!

Oh! Something diabetes related - My A1C drawn this week is 5.7 :) Perfect! Still running low since delivery, time to start dropping my basal rates...

Photo time, there's lots! :)