Feeders and Growers

Another great day in the NICU for our little ones today. They are referred to as feeders and growers, which mean all they are really there for is to learn how to feed and to grow and then they get to go home...Today was a pretty exciting day on the feeding part...I was able to nurse Leah for the first time and she did awesome! She has had about 4 bottles since the big move and had done a great job so today they told me to give breastfeeding a try. She opened her little mouth and latched on without any trouble at all. She really did a wonderful job and we let her nurse for about 10 minutes. Right now they don't really want her to get a lot of milk from the nursing, its more about the practise. I had pumped right before so she didn't get too much milk. We followed it with a bottle which she drank all of...That was a very big moment for us and it literally went off without a hitch...

Now little Blake hadn't had a bottle yet, but we tried him out at nursing too and he wasn't the least bit interested...really though I think it was premature since he hadn't even given the bottle a try at that point. We did give him his first bottle after that and he did a fairly good job. He ate 21mls out of his 30mls. Maybe after a few more bottles we'll try out the breastfeeding again. He did seem to swallow a lot of air with the bottle, I could hear it as he swallowed. He did have a few good burps and continued eating but his enthusiasm wasn't quite the same as his sisters...

Today's weigh ins Leah 3lbs8oz Blake 3lbs6oz...awesome awesome :)

The babes today when we got there, even sharing a blanket how cute! The nurse said yesterday that they are starting to fuss when the other is taken out of their bed...I did see it for myself when we took Blake out, Leah woke from a dead sleep and fussed for her brother to come back in...I am loving them being together...Apparently they don't recommend them sleeping together when they get home for SIDS related reasons, however there seems to be some conflicting information out there I'll have to look into. They will be sharing a room anyways, it might be a good idea to seperate them so they don't have trouble down the road...

Leah drinking her "Bubby" as Big sister Alyssa would call it.

They look so grown up these days with their sleepers and tape free/tube free faces...

We were sent home from Foothills with some of these adorable knitted hats and a pair of knitted booties. I guess there are volunteers who donate all of these knitted hats for the NICU babies.

Blake all tired out after his big bottle feed...