Open Cribs & Feeding Progress!

As promised, both boys are in open cribs now! (Pictured above is Caleb on the left and Daniel on the right.) It is nice to be able to pick them up or touch them without having to open little doors and bend over to peek at them, etc. Another big piece of news today is that Caleb took almost all his feedings by mouth (minus one feeding where they purposely did a tube feeding so that he would have strength to breastfeed) and so if he continues on doing that throughout the night, then tomorrow he will be put on an "on-demand" schedule for food rather than the set 3-hour schedule. Then they will see when he wakes up for his food! Of course they would never let him go TOO long without nourishment, but they are waiting to see when he naturally asks for the food and then will reward him for that cue. Daniel shouldn't be far behind as when we came today, he also took a bottle after breastfeeding and sucked it down dry in about 15 minutes.

One of the joys of today's feeding was that David got to participate and helped Caleb get the rest of his feeding. Today he got 12mL from the breast and the rest from the bottle. Caleb looks asleep while eating, but he isn't! He just apparently likes to keep his eyes closed while having his meal! The nurse (Gail) told us that for all the bottle feedings it was the same too, eyes closed, but ate all the food each time with no problems. She says it takes him about 25-30 minutes to take his full feeding because he pauses between sucks and also has to be burped.

I also got to top Daniel off with a bottle after he got 8mL from the breast. Incidentally, I switched sides for the boys today and so I think that one side is easier to eat from than the other. Daniel took to the bottle nicely though (as mentioned above) and we requested that they try to bottle feed him the rest of the night, so perhaps he can catch up with his brother.

Gail told us though that even though they are both progressing nicely on the bottle/breastfeeding that they could have setbacks and to be prepared for that as well as the fact that one baby may come home before the other. She said that if one is ready before the other that I could room in at the hospital for a couple of days until the other one is ready (that is if they are within a couple of days for being ready I assume). Keep praying that they will progress well on the feedings so we can have our pumpkinheads home with us!