Bitty bit better

Over the past four days, Colin has finally started putting on some weight. It’s only been a bitty bit (about half an ounce a day on average), but at least it is movement in the right direction. The nurse hadn’t weighed Colin yet last night when we left (she was waiting until after 11:00 when he would get his bath), but we’re hopeful that he is continuing on his gaining trend. 

Veronica continues to do well on her feeding, and is now taking closer to 3/4 of her feeds orally, at least in part. Yesterday I started trying to nurse her twice a day. In the morning she only managed half a feeding before falling asleep. Last night, at her 9:00 feeding, however, Veronica took her entire feeding nursing. 

We judge whether she has gotten enough milk by how much time she spends nursing — 20 minutes seems to be a full feeding, so 10 minutes would likely mean she only got about half her normal 56 ml amount. When she nurses less than 20 minutes, we end up giving her the difference (28 ml yesterday morning) through her feeding tube. 

Now that Colin is gaining weight, we are going to talk to the doctor about finishing weaning him off the oxygen. The sooner we get him completely weaned the better his chances of not suffering neurological problems. 

Statistically, babies who are off oxygen by 36 weeks (gestational age) have a much lower incidence of delays than babies who still need support after 36 weeks. We’ll be at 36 weeks on Friday. Of course, it’s not like someone will flip a switch in Colin’s brain on Friday and say, “Oops, you waited too long. Now you’re going to have problems.” But the sooner we can get him breathing on his own, the better off he’ll be. 

I want to thank everyone again for all of your support, both emotional and physical, of our family since the twins were born. We really feel blessed to have so many people — both those we know and those we haven’t met — caring about our babies (and us). I do believe it has made a difference for us, and for them. 

And I promise I’ll get those new pictures posted later today. Promise. I just have to figure out where John saved them.