When I was feeding Drake, Matt placed the surrogate brother next to Leo in an attempt to get him to settle down and go back to sleep. Leo is on to us, the elephant trick doesn't work anymore! Leo started moving his upper body towards the elephant, trying desperately to find his brother, crying and fussing the whole time. He eventually wiggled his body into a diagonal position, but alas, Drake was nowhere to be found. The little guy was inconsolable, so Matt picked him up and cuddled him back to sleep.
Since the boys (especially Leo) are still quite fragile, all of their medical care and handling is clustered around their feedings, meaning that all of their medical exams, diaper changes, clothing changes, and even the time spent holding them is done either just before or just after a feeding. Clustering their care allows the boys to have long stretches of deep sleep, which is vital for their growth and development. Since Leo was so upset this afternoon about his missing brother, his nurse encouraged Matt to pick him up and comfort him, even though it was over an hour until his next feeding/care window.
Leo is getting stronger every day. Yesterday, he took three feedings by bottle! But today he's tired from yesterday's exertion, so he only took one feeding by bottle. I was able to spend about 1.5 blessed hours doing kangaroo care with Leo today. Once again, the kangaroo time stabilized his heart rate, breathing rate and oxygen saturation. I plan on kangarooing Leo every day this week, and hopefully I'll be able to kangaroo him every day until he comes home. The little guy really seems to benefit from it, and hopefully it will help him come home sooner. Leo lost a small amount of weight yesterday, most likely because he burned up too many calories nippling the three feedings. He topped the scale at 3 lb 6.7oz last night.
Drake has been dubbed a "lazy feeder" by one of the NICU nurses, because he still is not very good at coordinating the breathing, sucking and swallowing aspects of bottle feeding. The little piggy tends to suck so much milk into his mouth before he swallows that he chokes on it when he finally decides to swallow. We've been told that one day a light bulb will go off in his head, and he'll all of the sudden master bottle feeding. He'll be coming home within a couple of days of that light bulb going off. Drake had another banner weight gain day yesterday, putting him at 5 lb 1.5oz.
While I was kangarooing Leo, Matt was holding Drake. It was very nice for the four of us to sit together and share some quiet time.
6 comments:
As I read today's blog entry and view those exquisite photographs of all three of the Francis men, I realized that this blog is much more than a report of the boys' progress; it's also the story of how your family is taking shape. I feel deeply honored to be able to witness this, Karol and Matt. Thank you--sending lots of love to all four of you and lots of prayers for you, too.
My sweet girl - you have such a darling family! I still have vivid memories of snuggling you, Karol. You were such a pretty little thing, and within a very short time after coming home you were smiling and cooing at us. As active and communicative as these two little guys are, you'll be seeing that from them in no time. And...I think having an identical twin is the way to go - these 2 seem to love it.
After reading Karla's entry, I want to add that, Karol, you were the most beautiful baby ever born. Ever. Even as a newborn, you were beautiful and perfect(even Aunt Charlotte said so. You were only a few weeks old when she came to Mammoth and held you and said you were almost as beautiful a baby as her Marion--the highest praise she could give).
Your boys have inherited that sweet beauty, too.
Don't the boys look like Karol's baby photos? I may be crazy, but I see resemblance to both parents in these tiny, sweetest faces.
I think of how much they are going to grow by next Christmas, scooting all over the place wearing plush little footed jammies, and get a knot on my throat.
Thank you Karol and Matt for your diligence in maintaining this blog for all of us.
HE AIN'T HEAVY, HE'S MY TWIN BROTHER
I thank God for the amazing technology that we have today but I think Leo and Drake would agree, that the best medicine lies in the simple touch of another person.
Uncle Greg and Aunt Vickie
We want blog! We want Blog!!! We want BLog!!!
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