Growing and sleeping

Colin is continuing his push toward the four pound mark — yesterday he topped the scales at 3 pounds 10.5 ounces. (He gained again last night, but I don’t remember how much.) He has now graduated to an open crib (as of last night) and has been maintaining his body temperature without any trouble. 

Yesterday’s nurses also were in the “push the bottle” camp, so Colin was given a bottle at three different feedings. He still is only taking a small amount (2 ml for me, 5 ml each for John and his night nurse), but he does well with the amount he takes. If we can get him on a regular schedule of bottle trying, even if it is just twice a day, I believe he’ll pick up the necessary skills and more endurance fairly quickly. 

Unfortunately, yesterday we also got more potentially bad news for Colin. After two months of clean eye exams, the doctor found that Colin’s now has mild ROP (retinopathy of prematurity — a condition in which the blood vessels inside the retina grow too much). Many mild cases will resolve on their own, but ROP can lead to detached retinas and potentially to blindness. 

Right now, Colin is still classified as mild, but because the ROP has developed, he is back to having weekly eye exams to make sure the disease isn’t progressing. If it does progress, he may need to have eye surgery to minimize the damage. 

My personal theory is that Colin has decided that he wants to have the “full” preemie experience, and is trying to work his way through all possible conditions before he comes home. I’ve tried to explain to him that he is still a preemie and a miracle even if he doesn’t get every condition and setback known to affect preemies, but he seems determined to check it out himself. 

On the home front, Veronica has slept for longer stretches (three to four and a half hours) for the last two nights, greatly helping my ability to function. We finally hit on a solution to her not wanting to sleep without being held: We’ve moved her changing table pad into the co-sleeper. And so far it seems to be helping. (The changing table pad is roughly the same shape and width as the crib at the hospital, so I decided to see if it would make her feel more “at home.”)

So both babies are growing like weeds (sort of), and working on catching up in size to other babies born at the same time. They’re still 10 days short of their due date, so developmentally are like or behind newborns. But they’re getting more mature every day, and we may start hitting some of the fun stages before we know it. Yeah!