There really aren't too many other important updates. All 3 girls are breathing with no assistance and are up to a good ounce plus of tube-fed breastmilk every 3 hours. Rumor has it that Makenna will start bottle feeds early this week. Lauren shouldn't be far behind. Not sure of the plan with Olivia yet. Their primary focus with her is weight-gain. Bottle feeds may be too taxing right now, so they may wait on those. We'll see, though.
So the way bottle feeds will work is that they will start them on one feed/day. As they tolerate that, they will increase to 2/day, 3/day, etc. Apparently as soon as they start bottle feeds, I need to let the doctor know that I want to breastfeed. I should then be able to put them to the breast fairly quickly, so long as they are tolerating their feeds.
It sounds like once they master feeds, we can try to move them out of isolettes and into cribs. They usually don't do cribs until they reach around 4 plus pounds, so we do have a while on that one. Currently they are weighing in at:
Makenna - 3 lbs 8 oz
Lauren - 3 lbs 13 oz
Olivia - 3 lbs 5 oz
If everything continues to progress as well as it has, Paul and I anticipate bringing some babies home by Christmas...maybe even mid-December!!!
Here are some pics and videos of the last few days:
Lauren
Lauren
Olivia - pay attention to her hands in the first pic
Hopefully we can get some pics of Makenna tonight. There never seem to be many lights on around her, so it's hard to get anything since we refuse to use the flash. And she always seems to close her eyes during picture time. Tonight is her bath, though, so perhaps Paul can play photographer while I bathe her.
3 comments:
Congratulations on your girls! I got your blog site from the VCFS support group you joined. Your girls look wonderful. As for Olivia, just treat her as you do the other girls. She just has a few extra things that will make her special. The very fortunate thing for Olivia is that she has two sisters she can model after. That has been the biggest help to our Madison. Her sister is 3 years older but so helpful in teaching her. Praying that your girls continue with their progress and that you will have the opportunity, however wild it may be, of taking them all home soon!
Pam
www.caringbridge.org/visit/madison
That is so great to hear that the girls have graduated!
What beautiful little girls you have! I also found your blog from the VCFS support group. My daughter is turning 2 years old this week and was born with 22q Deletion. I know how hard the news can be at first. I still have my days but they are farther apart now. Pam, the one who commented already, is a friend of mine and a huge support to me. In fact she was the first DiGeorge mom I meet online and Maddison, her daughter, has been such an inspiration to me. The fact that you have the other girls to guide Olivia will be great. Your first goal right now is to get her big enough for surgery. You haven't mentioned but how is her heart doing. Will she need a BT shunt, or are they just planning on doing the complete repair? My daughter had the complete repair (if you even want to call it that). She has no pulmonary valve right now and will need one placed someday. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.
THank you for opening the door to your world. The videos are precious. You can really tell how small they are when you put your hands or paci next to them.
I have a blog for my daughter which is set to private. If you would like to view it all you have to do is email me at nessa1880@yahoo, tell me who you are and I'll send you an invite.
Take care,
Vanessa
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