5 days old

Alicia has been freed from her captivity, so I'll start counting baby days instead. Another brief update:

At the latest possible moment, Isla had her bilirubin come down and is all clear. Solomon also had his come down, so everyone has avoided the phototherapy (the team at rounds this morning was quite amazed that none of the babies needed it).

Solomon had his hearing tested today, and Isla and Simon will have their hearing tested tomorrow. We didn't realize they could test it so young. The tech put electrodes on his head and little ear pieces in, and she can detect his brainwaves as he listens to the small noises in the ear pieces. He passed and got a fun little certificate.

We missed Simon's bathtime yesterday, but today Alicia gave Isla a bath and I gave Solomon a bath. We had a lot more fun than they did, they didn't enjoy being all wet. They also expended a lot of energy and were pretty tired for their feedings.

It's been ups and downs with feedings. Simon looked to be over his problems with risiduals overnight, but at his late morning feeding he had about 12 mL left in his stomach. He doesn't seem too interested in sucking on a bottle and usually doesn't take more than half if that. Solomon barely made his minimum for the shift overnight and only took 10 mL at his morning feeding. He and was able to take a good amount at his next couple but wasn't going to meet his minimum for the shift and had to get a feeding tube to make up the difference. We're very hopeful that he just had a slow day and will be able keep up now. Isla is having her ups and downs as well. She sometimes takes a full bottle and sometimes takes only a small amount.

So the babies really need work on taking their feedings, it's the only thing keeping them in the hospital. We're hopeful the babies will come home soon, but we really don't know when the babies will be ready.