The Pair of Scates: All PO Feeds, All The Time ... x 2

Big news of the day: Dr. Breed has ordered Hazel to "p.o. feed all," which means oral feeds at every feeding time, like Abby. Yay! In celebration, Hazel pulled her feeding tube completely out (not the first time, but hopefully the last time). I guess she was ready too. Both girls gained weight, too - Hazel was 5 pounds 3 ounces and Abigail was 5 pounds 1 ounce.

Still working on feeding! Both girls seem to do pretty well with the bottle, but both got super sleepy when we tried to breastfeed. During the 5:30 assessment, I started with Hazel, who was pretty awake (not quite fussing yet, but close). So we get her out of the crib, she gets on, and within a few minutes falls asleep. I try to wake her up with the usual methods ... no luck ... so I put her back in the crib and pick up Abigail, who is wide awake. We start off, Abby is not really interested, and then she falls asleep! Meanwhile, after being put back in the crib, Hazel wakes up (again) and shows interest in eating. So...I put Abby up, pick up Hazel again ... who promptly falls asleep AGAIN. As Rachel (the nurse) said later tonight, perhaps I'm putting off too much warm and cozy smell. ;) This is all pretty normal, though, from what I've been told.

Both girls have had brief apnea/brady episodes (Hazel usually when she starts eating, and both sporadically). The nurses aren't surprised, as the caffeine (used to help with breathing) is now completely out of their system. We joked that not even adults go cold turkey off of coffee!

There is a baby in NICU3 (our room) that is currently the oldest baby in the unit (not a distinction I would want to hold). Her name is Sara, and she is about four months old. We've been here for almost two months ... I can't imagine what it must be like to be here twice that long. Matt met her dad a few weeks ago (they both visit at night, and you strike up conversations at the scrub station). He found out that Sara was born at 25 weeks, and originally had a twin brother, but the brother didn't make it. (On the same night, Matt also talked to a mom who had boy-girl twins but lost the girl. Makes our issues with Hazel and Abigail seem minor in comparison). I heard the nurses say yesterday Sara may be going home soon, although with an oxygen unit for supplementation. The dad brought in the carseat last night - I'm sure he and the mom (who I've seen occasionally during the day) must be pretty excited!

Pictures from the day!