Week Six in the NICU

Stats at the six week mark:
Hazel: 4 pounds, 10.6 ounces 
Abigail:  4 pounds, 4.6 ounces

The girls had been moved to "NICU 3," or the "big kids" room, when I arrived this afternoon.  That was code for they were stable enough to be moved to an overflow room.  ;)  Honestly, I'm not a big fan of the move - we are now in a windowless room (aside from the closed blinds to a sitting area) that is relatively cramped, and, when babies are beeping, gets loud.  We are also smack in the middle, so partitioning us off when I'm breastfeeding/pumping is more intrusive.  Sigh...so it goes.  The good news is, of course, the girls are stable enough to be moved into the other room.

Breastfeeding is still going slowly.  Hazel takes to it more than Abby, especially this afternoon.  H downed most of her feed, and since she had yanked her feeding tube out, I gave her most of the rest via bottle.  Abby went for a very short time.  I know they'll get the hang of it soon.  And me too!

Dr. Breed checked out the girls at 5:30, while I was there.  He noted Abby's birthmark was getting a bit bigger, which is normal.  He also decided to take Hazel off the nasal cannula to see how she'd do.  Pretty exciting step for her!

Since Matt is still not feeling well, I decided to stick around for the 8:30 pm bottle feeding (especially since I haven't gotten as much practice at that as I have with the breast thing).  During the NICU closing time, I picked up a changing table for only $35 from another AMOM member who lived about 10 minutes away.  I'm pretty excited about that deal!  Now I need to clean it off and get rid of the pile of stuff sitting where the table will be going.

The 8:30 bottle feeding just went okay as well.  Hazel downed 10 ml relatively quickly (one brady off the bat, which Rachel said was normal), and then took another 10-20 minutes to take another 2 ml.  She brady-ed several more times, so she got the rest of her feeding via gavage.  Abby was also super sleepy, like her sister, and so I only got about 3 ml in her.  Rachel said that was pretty normal, though, and that Abby usually was more awake at the 2:30 am feeding time.  She must be a night owl like her dad.  :)

Pictures for the day:

Abby - note her size compared to the size of the pacifier that is not in her mouth

 

Hazel sucking on a pacifier :)

Hazel, deep in thought

Hazel, bundled up

"Oh, woe is me..." - Hazel

The new changing table in my car!