Happy to report the girls are doing so well on their bottles, that they have been promoted to Step 2 of the feeding protocol. This means that they get bottles 4 times a day now (to go home, they must be doing 8, so we are halfway there! Keep in mind it didn't take long for them to get this "promotion" or to be put on bottles on the first place) and they are doing great. Abby in particular has kicked bottle booty. I have decided her nickname should be "Tuff Stuff" because she is made of some pretty strong mettle! Ella is doing really well too. She is just my little worrier. You can see it in her face whenever it's time to try the bottle or something new. Her little forehead gets all wrinkled and she just looks, well, worried. With a little bit of coaxing (especially from Mama) she does just fine though.
Saturday night we had another really sweet experience (ya takes 'em where you can gets 'em, in the NICU). We got to give our daughters a "swaddle" bath. Basically, you wrap them in a fleece blanket and put them in the water. First you gently scrub their little heads (anyone who has seen the footage of Abby getting her hair brushed will know how much she LOVED this....aaaaaah) and then you take each little limb out and wash it followed by tummy and bum. Then the nurse brings these super warm, right out of the warmer warm, blankets and we wrap them all up and snuggle. Then lotion, fresh clothes, dipe and hair bow and they are good to go! It was really fun. Abby loved it, Ella looked, well, you guessed it, worried. But after a few minutes she looked just like one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills at the day spa. I, in fact, think I may have had a spa treatment once that was very similar!! (without the diaper, thankfully). We will get to do this once a week til they come home.
One of my nurses commented to me last night that we are in the "home stretch". Wish I knew what that meant, you know, exactly. But they are working so hard to come home. Abby remains off oxygen with little incident. Ella's numbers are always great. They are holding their temperature. They are gaining weight each day, which is important as well.
Speaking of, they were weighed and measured last night. Abby is now 16 1/2 inches long and weighs in at a whopping 4 lbs 4 oz!!! Ella is now 17 1/4 inches long and is 4 lbs 6 oz (almost 7). They are just darling girls and the little bit of crying they do, and I mean little, is still super cute. They are showing their little personalities and all the nurses and practitioners comment on how darling they are. We couldn't agree more. We can't wait to show them off.
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