Almost 8 weeks old! Unbelievable!!!

It's almost unbelievable that Allie, Norah and Olivia will be 8 weeks old on Sunday. We are getting to the point where we are anxious for them to get home, get settled and get our routine down. However we don't want to rush them and the nurses have warned us that this can seem like the longest process. One requirement of coming home is that each baby cannot have had a brady for 5 days prior to discharge. So if discharge is expected on a Friday and baby has a brady on Thursday...the 5 days will start all over. (A brady is a decrease in heart rate to 80 bpm or lower). So what are the girls up to?

Norah was the 1st to hit 5 lbs on 10/13/09! Norah has been nursing since last Friday and doing fantastic. We've named her our overachiever. She knows when mommy walks in the door and starts smacking around...she's ready to eat. It's really funny but great at the same time to see her progressing and doing all the right things.

Olivia is getting really close to 5 lbs. Just give her a few more days. This sweet little girl is showing us her patience. If you could be their at feeding time you would know what I mean. Example, Allie is fed at 5, Norah 5:30 and Olivia 6 pm. When I arrive at 4:45 to get Allie started (who is already fussing b/c she wants food NOW), Olivia is already awake and laying in her bed as quiet as can be just waiting her turn. When I finally get to her to nurse I have to praise her for being such a sweet, patient girl.

Allie is 4 1/2 lbs. She's been doing real well on the VapoTherm and even started nursing on Tuesday (when Olivia started). However yesterday she had several severe bradys. We gave her a break from nursing yesterday. Please pray for her that she was just overtired and worn out rather than getting sick. We are hoping for a better report on her today.

The plan is to give each of them a good week to get better at nursing. So when I am not there they are still being fed through their feeding tubes. In another week or so we will introduce a bottle to them. Then the nurses will be able to bottle feed them when Nick and I can't be there. Bottle feeding is a huge step towards getting close to coming home!

Thanks for continuing to pray for them!!! Stacie