It's All About the Eating

The babies had another good day today.  The name of the game now is to eat by mouth.  Lucas has been doing great without his feeding tube, although today was the first day he took at his feeds at full volume - the docs had been working him back up since his surgery.  He was quite pleased not to be restricted anymore, and when he nursed at his first feed this morning, he enjoyed himself so much that he didn't need any supplement from a bottle.  Olivia was less interested her first go-around, but she did a great job taking her bottle.  It's a bit of a guessing game at this point to figure out how much the babies are eating when they're at breast instead of bottle, but we're getting pretty good at picking up on their cues.  We want to make sure they're getting enough to help them gain weight, but not too much so that they spit up.  Our general rule has been to see what they can comfortably eat in a half hour or so.  What we are slowly starting to realize is that these are concerns of all parents of young babies, not just preemie concerns, which is pretty cool.

Over the next few days, as the doctors try to figure out just how much fortification the babies will need in their milk going home, we are keeping nursing sessions restricted (2 per day), although we were very encouraged to hear the attending say that once home they will probably be able to nurse for half to two-thirds of their feeds to start.  This means a lot more direct transfer of milk from Mom to babies, and less pumping.  It also means enough bottle feeds that Mom can solicit some help :)  Dad is a superb bottle-giver, and as you can see, Lucas also likes to help out:

Olivia got green-lighted today to try and take all her feeds by mouth.  This is a big moment.  If she can successfully do this for two straight days, she will be ready to enter the final stretch for departure home, a place that her brother seems to have just arrived at.  We are so proud of how far she has come, and hope that she has a comfortable and easy night with this newest challenge.

This afternoon, the attending finally gave us a schedule for departure.  In the NICU, nothing is certain until the doctors sign the discharge papers, but there is a really good chance that Lucas will come home on Friday or Saturday.  Our hope - and the doctor's as well - is that Olivia will be ready at that point too. This is why her success at p.o. feeding today and tomorrow is so important.  If she can comfortably do this, both babies will start their 48-hour trend monitoring on Tuesday.  Then hopefully Mom and Dad will room-in (spend an overnight with the babies down the hall from the NICU) on Wednesday or Thursday night, and then a day later we'll all go home.  Amazing.

After 73 days in the NICU, it almost seems too good to be true that we have finally reached this point and will actually be able to all be at home together soon, to feed and bathe and soothe our children on our schedule, without having to take their temperatures and wait for the nurses to examine them, to not start the day with a medical review of the past 24 hours' events - although Dad and I decided we might have our own rounds where we discuss 24 hour cuteness events :)  The uncertainty about Olivia's timing home is part of this disbelief that we've actually reached the end of this challenging journey.  I think part of it is also not wanting to be disappointed until we get just a little farther into the week, maybe to the start of trend monitoring, or until we're at the hospital with our pajamas for rooming in.  Most likely, it will not be until we're all in the car, driving home from the hospital, that I will finally be able to breathe out.  And then the real fun will begin...