October 2, 2008

Our doctor is off on Thursdays so not a whole not new round here.

The boys are eating well! As our nurse today said, Alec pretty much "slams" his bottles now! He pulled his G-Tube out (yes, Alec did!) sometime later yesterday and they never put it back. He takes pretty much all his feeds on his own, and then some. He gets his allotted amount (which of course I can't recall), and then if he seems hungry, can have more. He took his whole bottle for me (and had 2-3 small spit ups after which is not like him...hoping that means nothing) and then slammed 10cc more. You'd think with all his eating, he'd be gaining, but nope.

Speaking of that, his temps today hovered right around borderline. They were fine enough to keep him out in a crib, but still borderline for a preemie. They asked us to bring the undershirts last night, and today he had on an undershirt, his fleece outfit, three swaddled blakets, and a thicker blanket over the top, with his thick hat on, and remained at that borderline temp (just at 98 or 98.2 I think). The nurse told me that they were kicking around the idea of putting him back into the isolette. NOT because he can't maintain his body temp, because his temp was OKAY, but as she explained to me, he is a tiny squirt. Tiny babies have high metabolism, and need more to catch up. Tiny babies also don't have alot of fat stores to keep them warm, and have to expend more calories to keep themselves warm. The THOUGHT was to put him back into the isolette for a few days, to allow his little body time to rest from trying to keep itself warm, let the isolette keep him toasty, and allow him to expend little to no extra calories to keep warm. They asked me if I minded him going back into the isolette, and while I admit that it does feel like a step back, I am absolutely on board if it means that he will gain some weight a bit faster. So...Alec's back in his hot house.

Evan has been keeping himself pretty warm on his own. They were going to put him into this warm, snuggly sack to keep him toasty, but didnt' feel he needed the isolette at this point. And, Evan's also been doing pretty well with his bottles! He is DEFINATELY showing hunger cues by opening his mouth, rooting, waking up for feeds on his own and rooting, etc. He has taken his entire bottle several times, and large chunks of many bottles. The trick now will be keeping his endurance up to get him to eat his whole bottle, all the time.

And...bottom line, they both must gain weight. I did not go back up to the hospital tonight, because sweet little Olivia has hit the proverbial wall when it comes to Mom and DAd being gone every night. Last night she cried and got very upset about us leaving, which is VERY unlike her. She's normally very easy going, and happy to see us go, knowing we'll always be back. Last night, an all out sob-fest and "I need you momma," etc. So, tonight we had a picnic in the basement, snuggled, had a block picnic in the living room (spreading a blanket on the floor and playing blocks on it), and read lots of stories...just a nice night with lots of mommy/Olivia time. When Curt got home from going up, he said that the boys had gained a little weight...then told me 6 grams each. Well, they like to see them gain one ounce, and the boys gained an equivalent of .2 oz. And to put it into further perspective, 1 paperclip is one gram. So yeah, they gained about nothing :(

The doctor today, who again is not our primary neonatologist, said that she liked to leave the larger decisions such as feeding/etc. to the primary doctor, which is fine. They have talked with the dietician and thrown around ideas about what to fortify the boys' feedings with, so perhaps tomorrow our doctor will have more answers for us. We need them to gain weight. GAIN WEIGHT. Wish I could pass on a few more of MY genes...I seem to have no issues gaining :) Hahhaha.