Look Ma! No Tubes!

Colin doing his best Grumpy Little Old Man impression, being burped by Edward.
Evelyn being burped by me, wondering who let these two buffoons in the NICU - and, more urgently, who agreed to let them care for her?! She wants a word with the Management.

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Well, the inevitable happened and both Keith and Colin ripped out their nasal feeding tubes over the past day - sibling rivalry! Edward and I were surprised it took our little Monkey (aka Colin) so long to accomplish this feat. He has a near-simian ability to grasp onto pretty much anything and everything and yank. Hard. Keith (aka Pumpkin) is a little more sedate, but he obviously doesn't like being one-upped by his older-by-one-minute brother.

While this is a huge accomplishment, it does mean that I can't breastfeed Colin at the moment. Keith appears to be allergic to cow protein, so he's on a special formula and needs to be on it exclusively for two weeks, so he hasn't been breastfed for several days. He gets the bottle each time.

Because Keith and Colin don't have the tube anymore as a back-up feeding mechanism, they now need to be changed and have their feeds started within 20 minutes of being awoken otherwise they might not have enough energy to get through their meal. And because Colin would get breastfed before he starts his bottle feed, we simply cannot waste his energy with such pursuits. It makes me sad, because I'm having a heck of a time getting my milk supply up, and breastfeeding the babes works like a charm every time. Evelyn still has her tube in for now, which means that we can dilly-dally on the breast for about ten minutes before she starts on her bottle. If she runs out of steam before she finishes her feed with the bottle, she can have the rest via her tube. I absolutely love that ten minutes with her on the breast. I'm hoping that once they're home and established on their feeds, I can do more breastfeeding, but it will be up to the doctor. My breastmilk is just not as calorie-laden as their fortified formula, and when it comes to tiny babes with tiny energy reserves they need to eat the most fattening food first. Sigh. Pumping it is :(

We've been warned by the nurses that until the babes are "term" (ie. 40 weeks old), there will be no room for a lot of handling. They desperately need their rest, and they need to sleep for a minimum of two hours between feeds so they have the energy to eat at their next session. As they are fed every three hours, it leaves only one hour for them to be up, but the faster they get done the more sleep they get. It's a delicate balance between wanting to cuddle them and knowing they're better off sleeping. We've been practicing a lot over the weekend, and can get all three babes changed and fed - and at least one bathed - in an hour and a half. The nurses are very impressed by this, but it means that we only cuddle them for about ten minutes minutes after they eat. We've been told again and again that caring for preemies is not like caring for full-term babies, and we need to be properly trained. We're getting a LOT better at the specialized tasks at hand, but it can be nerve-wracking to be "on the clock" to the extent that we are. The bathing is also a little stressful, because they all hate it so much and use up lot of energy screaming their lungs out... and they get all wiggly-worm on us! Happily, they all drain their bottles pretty quickly (30 minutes is the goal, and they can all rip through theirs in 5-15 minutes flat) which makes our live a lot easier :) We're getting there!

Lastly, we've been told to get everything in order because Keith *might* be home as of next week! We still have carseats and monitors to buy, and the nursery is still not done. It's so hard to fit everything into the day when you spend 6 hours at the hospital, and are pumping every 2-3. I have to buckle down and plough through, because once one of them is home there will be absolutely no time to accomplish anything else! We are so very, very nervous at the thought of having someone come home, but we are really looking forward to getting on with our life together.