So much more room for activities!

It seems to get more and more difficult to keep this blog updated, but I promise I'm trying! So many things happen every day, I hope I can remember everything that has transpired since Tuesday.

Everyone is doing extremely well and continuing to make huge strides every day. Delia and Ben are both out of their incubators and in "big kid" beds, regular bassinets like those in the plain old nursery. Because they are big enough and can maintain a good temperature on their own, without assistance from the incubator, they got sprung on Thursday and Saturday. These beds are SO much easier to work with, because we can just stand over them and take temperatures, change diapers, etc. rather than reaching through holes in the side of the incubators like astronauts or something. They take up much less space, so their room feels much bigger and is easier to navigate around. The only downside is that there are no longer walls to protect us from the explosive diaper action they have a reputation for. At least before there was some degree of separation to prevent it from going everywhere. Hopefully we have figured out all the tricks to avoid major incidents, but we'll have to wait and see. Michael is still the littlest of the three so he needs a couple more days before he'll get a big boy bed, but he should be there very soon.

They are all experimenting with bottle feeding too, very exciting. Delia of course is leading the pack, she takes a bottle several times a day and drinks around 10-15 ml of her milk before taking the rest via her tube (her total feeds are 38ml now, just over an ounce every three hours). Benjamin is working on it twice a day and took a huge 20ml today, big accomplishment! Michael does it once a day and took 10ml today, he definitely needs the most work but he'll get there soon I'm sure. It's very hard work for the babies, because they have to learn that bottles give milk, unlike the pacifiers they are used to sucking on. And then they have to remember to stop and breathe between sucks. Delia and Ben are pretty good about stopping and starting, but Michael needs to be reminded. It's very time consuming to work with any of them, because you have to watch them VERY closely to be sure nothing goes wrong. Until they figure it out, whoever feeds them has to be the brains and know when to pull back and when to let them feed. And until they are more skilled they need to be very awake and alert, so that's another chore to keep them focused on the task at hand. It will be slow progress before they are able to take all eight daily feedings solely by bottle, but we'll get there.

Side note, I haven't given up on breast feeding yet. I'm still pumping, although I'm a few ounces behind their needs so we are supplementing with formula (bummer for me, but three against one is tough!). Once they figure out the suck/swallow/breathe concept I'll start trying to nurse them, but while they are learning it is better to have a bottle so that we can control volume, flow speed, etc and so that the therapists at the hospital can work with them around the clock.

Which brings me to another reason there is so much more room for activities - I have moved out of the hospital and back home. After 40 nights away, I finally spent Friday night in my own bed. It was heavenly, although I'm still adapting to not being able to take the elevator to get to the babies. I have to drag my pump back and forth and plan much more carefully how I'll spend my day. We'll see how this week goes.

Ben is still on his oxygen, but he is getting Lasix (aka a "water pill" just like senior citizens often take) to help get rid of some water they see on his lungs. This is a very common problem/resolution for preemies, and after his three days on the medicine they hope he'll be off it again. Poor guy really hates that cannula in his nose, so maybe that will inspire him to work harder to get rid of it!

And of course the ever exciting weight updates:

Ben 4lb 6 oz
Delia 4 lb 13 oz
Michael 4 lb 3 oz

I will work on pictures in the next day or two I hope, they are all getting much fuller in the face as you can imagine from their weight gains, so they are somehow even cuter than they were before!