Wednesday, July 15th

The boys are 7 weeks old today and continue to grow and learn to take their bottles better, little by little. As of tonight Brandon is 5 lb 6.4 oz and Colin is 5 lb 5.7 oz. And currently all of their feedings are "PO" otherwise known as "by mouth." Which means they are offered a bottle for every feeding though what they don't take currently gets "put down the hatch" (ie. their NG tube). However, they will soon be switched to "ad lib" feedings which will mean whatever they take they take, and if they don't take their full feeding they will not get the rest down their NG tube, and the doctors will monitor exactly how much of their feedings they do take in to confirm if it is enough to gain sufficient weight. The ad lib feedings aren't to deprive them of milk they don't eat, it's to see whether they will take in enough milk when they get home. After all we won't have an NG tube to rely on when they come home!

When I got to NICU yesterday it was Colin's care time so I got his temperature and then started to change his diaper. Well his bum was quite dirty, shall we say, and the wipes weren't cutting it so I decided to grab a wash cloth and run to the sink real quick to wet it so that I could clean him up real good. So I dashed to the sink and back in only about 5 seconds...and then I noticed Colin's cheek was wet as was his onesie and blanket :-/ It's amazing how much (and how far) little baby boys can pee! Ironically he was wearing his "sweet pea" onsie which had a picture of a pea pod. Obviously we need to explain to Colin that a pea is not the same thing as pee :-)

On Monday Mom and Dad both visited the boys and took turns holding Colin after I gave him his bottle. Speaking of my parents, the boys will call Mom "Grammy" but we're still not sure what they will call Dad. My niece and nephew call him "Poppy," but that doesn't sound anything like what Bill and I called our grandfathers, so we're still debating that one. I know for simplicity's sake my parents and brother would prefer that our boys just call him Poppy too, but I can't promise that will happen :-p



BTW, the reason Colin's NG tube looks really dark above is because he was given a dose of his vitamins earlier, and the vitamins are an icky dark liquid that they get down their NG tubes. Once their NG tubes are removed though we'll have to give them their vitamins by mixing the vitamin liquid with a small amount of milk.

Well its after midnight and I need to put some clothes in the dryer and try to get to bed by 1am (something I find hard to do these days). And when I don't make a post for a few days its because there just isn't enough time in the day. I know when they come home we'll be super busy too, but it will be a different kind of busy. And we'll be busy in a much more relaxing environment - not some sterile, cold hospital with bad lighting and really gross bathrooms! Speaking of coming home we expect them to be home in about 1.5 weeks, give or take!! On that note I'm calling it a night!