Chaplin Twins: May 14

The girls are doing wonderfully. They are still off CPAP and are doing very well on the nasal cannula. They are on a flow of 2 liters per minute, and their oxygen percentages are anywhere from 24-30%. They have not had an increase of bradycardias or apneas since the nasal cannula was started, and that is very good!

Their feedings continue to be increased, and they are tolerating that well with some very gross diapers :) Mary is now getting 29ml every 3 hours, and Vivian is getting 31 ml every 3 hours. They get their feeds over 60 minutes still, but will probably be getting that time decreased in the near future. Vivian hit the 4 pound mark Monday! Mary was 3 pounds 10 oz Monday. I don't have current weights as I haven't been up to the hospital yet today, but I'm sure they are at least a couple ounces above that. I swear they look bigger every time I see them. Vivian is getting quite the little chubby cheeks :)

They are 33 weeks and 4 days! Such big girls. They are also getting weaned off of their caffeine which helped them remember to breathe when they were first born. The levels of it in their blood are on the low side now, and they will continue to taper the dose until they are off of it completely. They may have a few more apneas and bradys while getting used to being off of the caffeine.

In other big news, I was able to practice breastfeeding the girls on mothers day for the first time!!! They are big enough and on a small amount of oxygen to start acclimating to nursing. I pumped beforehand so they weren't able to get any milk, but practice latching and getting used to it. They both did very well! Mary latched right on and surprised the lactation consultant. Vivian took a little while to get used to it, but did good too. It was the best mothers day present ever! I still can't believe that we have made it this far, and are on the way home. We practiced again yesterday, and Mary was pretty sleepy, but Vivian latched right on, and got mad because there wasn't any milk;) She reminded me of Norah nursing as a newborn. I don't think we will have too many problems when we can start them nursing for nutrition hopefully next week! The key is to just be patient with them, because they are so little. Everything will take them a little more time to learn, and that is fine. I'm just thankful that they both showed such a strong interest in nursing. They keep them dressed in little onesies all the time now, and it makes them look so much bigger and older! They look pretty darn cute. The next step will be transitioning them to regular cribs.

They still do like to try and give me a heart attack every now and again. Yesterday I was holding Vivian, and she had practiced nursing for about 30 minutes and then just laid on my chest with her eyes wide open and now moving a muscle. It was so adorable. I'm not exactly used to calm newborns after Norah;) She eventually fell asleep, but then had a pretty severe brady. Normally she will bring herself right back out of it, but she didn't this time. Her heart rate went down to the 50's (REALLY low for them) and the nurse had to almost pick her up to get her to wake up and take a breath. I was rubbing her back and that usually works but it didn't this time. It scared me half to death because I could feel her not breathing on my chest and it seemed like forever before she started taking breaths! The nurse said it was probably because she tired herself out and was awake for so long, and she is also getting used to being weaned off the caffeine. Thankfully she hasn't had any more since yesterday afternoon so hopefully it was a one time thing. Normally I don't get very worried at all because I know its normal, but this one was pretty crazy.

It continues to be difficult to split my time, but I am feeling a little more confident lately that this will end someday and that makes it easier. The nurses are really good about consistently telling me that I need to take care of myself too, and to not feel guilty if I can't spend the whole day up there, or if I need to leave to spend more time with Norah. Its also easier not having to worry about the girls quite as much because they seem to be stable right now. I'm just praying for no infections and good eaters!

Norah is loving being able to play outside again, and turns into a sweaty little mess after about 20 minutes ;) She seems like such a little kid, and not a baby anymore, especially compared to the twins. She is a typical 2 year old, and her demands are exhausting!! I'm starting to see the magnitude of what I will be taking on when we get the girls home;) It will be worth it though to all be together. She got to hold Vivian on Friday night, and did so well. She had made up her mind before she got there that she would hold her, and I told her she had to ask the nurse first when she came back. 5 minutes later the nurse still wasn't there, and Norah was getting a little mad. I told her to go find the nurse and ask if she could hold Vivian, not thinking that she actually would! She opened the door, walked down the hall and said to a random nurse sitting in the hall: "Nurse, I want to hold Viv-win." I was following her and was shocked she had asked because she normally is so shy. The nurse laughed and went and go our nurse and Norah was able to hold her. She sang rock-a-bye baby to her :)We did take a video and I'll see if I can get Kyle to post it later since the one of her and Mary was such a hit.