It was a good day. The doctor called from the NICU early this afternoon and let us know that the babies were showing signs of being ready to oral feed. So we got to take part in their first introduction to a bottle. Maggie went first, and did great. She has been showing signs of hunger and rooting for a while now and likes to use her pacifier, so we could tell she was pretty eager. She was able to suck and swallow 12ml from the bottle, which is a lot for our little lady. After the 12ml she tuckered out, which is normal for preemies, and the 20ml left was given through her tube. Jack wasn't as eager to learn the new bottle method. He only took in 2ml from the bottle, but he might just need some more time to get used to the idea. We watched the nurse for the first feeding and then tried it ourselves for the second feeding. Unfortunately Maggie was still too tired and Jack still wasn't interested, so there was no success, but we'll keep working with them 1-2 times a day and they'll catch on soon enough.
Tomorrow both babies are being checked out by occupational therapy and I am going to try breast feeding them both. I'm hoping since they've both been pretty good about latching that they take to breastfeeding. It sure would be nice not to pump ALL the time. :)
We've both become much more active in the babies' care, which has been nice for us. They are wearing preemie clothes now and every time we are there we try to do as much with them as we can. We are definitely more comfortable than 3 weeks ago! This evening both babies got baths and I got to give Maggie her bath! Luckily both babies are OK with baths, not completely happy with the naked and wet part, but certainly not inconsolable.
Jack snuggled in for bed
Maggie snuggled in for bed
Maggie staring at Mommy through the crib
The babies
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