31.7.2010

Happy Birthday Esther and William! One week old today!

After expressing the most milk so far we got to the hospital just before 9am.  William had been off CPAP for two hours over night and did really well.  However, his milk had been stopped as about 1ml of bile had come out of his nasal gastric tube.  His stomach is distended but soft so the doctor thinks it is a side effect of CPAP rather than anything more sinister to worry about.  Today his milk is being restarted, 1ml every 4 hours, and both babies are no longer under blue lights!

Esther is doing better than William at the moment.  She is tolerating her milk and it is being upped to 2ml every hour.  She will have a whole 50ml pot to herself each day!  Esther will have 2 hours off CPAP today while William will have 4.  I am not sure why that is?

Today we are staying at the hospital til 12.  We will do the babies cares and then go home for the afternoon to sort out the house.  The babies seem peaceful and some quiet time will do them good.

When we did cares at midday, I did Esther and David did William.  They were both wet and dirty which is good as it shows that their bodies are functioning as they should.

Today I met a midwife who had twins born at 27 weeks and 3 days.  They stayed in NICU for 9 weeks!! In the last two weeks they made such good improvements and started to feed and so were able to go home.  They are now 5 and a half, identical boys whose birth weights were 2lb 9oz and 2lb 4oz.  She says that they are a little behind at the end of their reception year but their teacher is not at all worried.  She said to expect one step forward and two steps back but we will get there.  Good to hear a positive story like that.  She also said that if I plan to breastfeed we will be asked to room in for a couple of days to ensure a feeding routine is established. 

9 weeks with one week down, they could be coming home in just 8 weeks!!!

After going home for a rest we came back to the hospital.  William was very relaxed and off his CPAP.  Esther was on her front with her mask back on.  We took lots of photos of our gorgeous boy William and then at 6pm did their cares.  I looked after William and David cared for Esther.  I sang to William too.  Margaret (Henley) says hearing our voices is important, even if they are asleep.  I am going to bring in a book of fairy tales, I think.

The most amazing thing that happened today happened this morning when our young master William opened his eyes!  He has very dark hair and slightly oriental eyes so he might look like me!  However, we also think that we are starting to notice similarities to his cousin, Mason.

One week old today and it is just so fascinating watching them grow.  Our beautiful babies!