The first week home with the babies has been wonderful and exhausting. They came home on a 3 hour feeding schedule that they were used to from staying in the NICU. This was a demanding schedule!! It took anywhere from 1 hour to an hour and a half to get them fed and then we had to put them back to bed in their crib. Sometimes they would fall asleep right away and other times they would stay awake for a very long time. This meant we might get anywhere from 1 hour to a couple minutes of down time before the routine started all over again. This is what we have been doing around the clock since we've been home. Hopefully this explains the lack of communication over the last week. Please forgive us. It's been busy!! Thankfully Grandpa and Grandma E (Ben's parents) have been here to help the whole time. I know they are thoroughly enjoying the babies but probably wishing they were getting a lot more sleep!!
The babies are doing well and gaining weight. A home health nurse comes to our house twice a week to do an assessment on each of the babies and runs oxygen trial tests to see if their oxygen can be lowered. This test measures the O2 saturation in their blood to see if they are getting enough oxygen at our high elevation. Right now all three of the babies came home with 1/16 L oxygen and when we tried to lower it to 1/32 L this week, they weren't ready. They will remain on 1/16 L for a while longer and another trial will be done next week.
Our Pediatrician has seen the babies twice now. The first visit was the first Friday we were home and he saw them again yesterday. All of the babies have gained appropriate weight since they have been home so Dr. S. moved them to an ad lib feeding schedule which means we can feed them when they get hungry rather than sticking to the 3 hour schedule. Last night was our first trial run of this schedule and it wasn't as easy as we were hoping. It might be an easier transition with one baby but with three you have little ones waking up at random times. I don't think anyone got much sleep last night. Each day should get a little easier and we can tweak it as needed. We're just praying we can figure it out sooner than later so we aren't walking zombies. :)
These are current weights from yesterday's appointment:
Isla - 5 lbs 11.5 ounces (1st percentile)
Solomon - 5 lbs 13 ounces (1st percentile)
Simon - 6 lbs 6 ounces (4th percentile)
The percentiles are based on their actual age (4 weeks) and not their adjusted age (which would be negative 1 week since their due date isn't until Thursday). So they will all be around 6 lbs or more by the time their due date comes, which is a small but normal weight for a newborn.
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