The boys have been growing by leaps and bounds this week. Alex hit the 6lb mark. Grant hit the 7lb mark. And Ethan is ever so close to that 5lb mark. Weights as of 10/14 are Alex 6lbs 2oz, Grant 7lbs 5oz, and Ethan 4lbs 14oz.
They are all doing well. We are just working on eating from the bottle. It seems to be like watching grass grow. They don't have many other things happening other than taking full feeds from the bottle once in a while.
Grant seems to be the one that is "getting" it the best right now. Almost every time he takes the bottle he takes a full feed. But if you try to do bottle feeds back to back, he doesn't take the whole bottle the second time. I'm not going to say something specific about when he should be coming home (I don't want to jinx it), but it should be soon!!
Alex has taken quite a few full feeds, but he still has issues taking them every time. He still gets very tired some times. They are also working on getting his reflux figured out. He seems very miserable, but they started him on some meds that should kick in any day and help him. We'll have to see if they help and then things should progress fairly quick for him and then he can come home.
Ethan is doing well with the bottle but usually can only take it once or twice a shift. He just doesn't have the stamina yet to take it any more than that. He does take full feeds once in a while too. And he wants the bottle a lot. We just have to be careful that he doesn't over-do it and use up lots of calories. He could still have issues gaining weight and we don't want that. Before he comes home he is going to have to have one more surgery. He has a hernia that is going to need fixing but they won't do that till right before discharge (which could possibly set back his discharge date, but we'll see.)
I have set a "realistic" goal of getting all the boys home by Thanksgiving. I know, I know! That seems so long away for some of you. But they have so many things that they need to do before they all get home. Now, it could be earlier than that, but Thanksgiving is 6 weeks away, and that seems reasonable to have everyone home. It is a long time for me to think about, but we have been at this 9 weeks and hopefully we won't have to be more than 6 more weeks!
I have been going to the NICU every day. I usually spend 6hours there during the day and once in a while go back for 3 more hours at night. It gets to be exhausting, but it is good practice for when they come home.
Well, here are a couple of pictures for you of the boys. They are 2 months old now! Oh how time flies.
Alex
Ethan and Mommy
Grant in his Halloween outfit from Aunt Donna! (I am eventually going to get a picture with all three of them in their outfits together.)
2 comments:
he he yay!! You look great jess, so do the boys...looks like you got a little chunky monkey there-that great they've come so far! i was just whining last night no gave updates any more, now i stand corrected!! i think it would be wonderful to have everyone home by thanksgiving, what a wonderful holiday treat!! we love you- the soesbe clan
Wow they look great!!! I can't imagine how tired you must be spending that much time at the hospital. What a wonderful mother you will be when they come home. You and your family are in my prayers.
Lots of Love
Laura
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