Day 3

The girls are doing very well today. Lydia is off the high-flow canula and is just on a regular flow canula now. She's been alternating between room air and a little higher percentage of oxygen (around 28% vs. room air, which is 21%), partially because she keeps pulling the canula out and it takes her a little while to recover from that. They are both under the bili lights today for some mild jaundice, but it sounds like they are likely to be out from under them tomorrow.

I talked to the neonatologist here today and he said that they are probably going to be off their IVs tomorrow since they are eating so much now that they are barely getting anything via IV. He also said that they should be out of the isolettes within 1-2 days since they are both keeping their temps up. At this point, Lydia still has to work on her breathing a little bit, but the real task at hand is learning how to eat.

I was stuck in my room all morning trying to get myself discharged, so I didn't make it to the NICU until just after 11. I held Lydia during her noon feeding and also let her try to breastfeed. It's a little hard for Lydia since she has the canula in her nose and her feeding tube in her mouth, but she still managed to latch on and suck for a solid 15 minutes! I was really proud of her for that. I'm going to do the same thing with Sophia at the next feeding at 3 pm. I've been nursing with Sophia about twice per day so far, and she's definitely very interested. She just lacks some stamina. Still, for now, we've opted to have them tube fed to try not to introduce bottles to give them a chance to learn how to nurse. If it becomes an issue that is keeping them here, we will introduce bottles, but it's definitely not to that point yet.

I had an issue earlier with one of the nurses. I came by the NICU at 8 to drop off some breastmilk for their 9 am feeding. I dropped off 49 cc, and the two of them combined drink 50 cc per feed today. When I got here at 11, the entire 49 cc was still here. I asked about it and the nurse told me that she was waiting until I had 90 cc so she could make up the recipe of BM/Neosure to add calories. Uh. No. The first priority is getting them breastmilk NOT following some stupid recipe. I must've said something that got to her because at noon she fed them all BM except for that 1 cc of formula that we needed. It was so strange because this hospital is generally very breastfeeding-friendly.

As for me, I'm discharged now, albeit still here. I got my staples out this morning, and steri strips on, and apparently my incision has gaps in it and is oozy and gross so I have to go to the doctor in a week for a follow up to check on it. Otherwise, I'm hanging in there. I'm pretty much completely exhausted and starving all of the time, but I guess that's par for the course. I keep falling asleep sitting up in the middle of doing something. I remember that from being here with A&C.

Pumping is still a real challenge. I pumped 2.1 ounces all day yesterday, after pumping 8 times plus 2 nursing sessions. Thus far today, I'm at about 3.5 ounces. While it's a big improvement, I still have a long way to go. But, I got my pump rented out so at least I'll have that. I'm pumping a ton, so hopefully my supply starts to kick in soon.

Man, I am so tired that I can barely sit upright. Maybe it's time for a quick catnap on the couch in their room.