Mouse & Kitten.

What's new this morning?

We both visited this morning. Tried tandem nursing, which looked simultaneously touching and funny, like a really good Carol Burnett Show sketch, only with less Lyle Waggoner. It was a glimpse of what we'll be spending 80% of our time doing for the next stage of things.

Evelyn only gained 10 grams overnight on the 22 calorie fortified breastmilk, which means we're looking at Thursday at the very earliest (if she shows improvement tomorrow, that is). Anna's definitely staying until Saturday. The doctor is supportive of keeping Evelyn until Saturday and releasing them together, but if she resumes gaining 40 to 60 grams a night, the insurance company will start wondering why she's staying in the SCN. So weight gain is a good thing, but will inspire mixed feelings also.

Evelyn, complacent.

Anna, feeling suspicious.

Anna, taking a break.

What's new today? (And yesterday?)

We got some good visiting time in yesterday. I gave Anna a bottle, but she left the last 11 ml and didn't seem interested in the rest. So I tried burping her; I got nothing. Ginger tried and got nothing. We handed her over to one of the SCN nurses, and sure enough she succeeded. Anna took the last 11 ml without complaint. Never let an amateur do a professional's job.

Ginger's with them today. We're getting word from the neonatologist that Evelyn may be ready to come home as soon as Wednesday. Of this week. As in, two days from now. Which complicates things because Anna's most recent apneic episode was Saturday, so she'll need to stay a bit longer. And that means rooming in with Evelyn for a day, and then -- what, coming back and rooming in with Anna? We're not exactly sure, but I'll keep you posted.

I thought I would give you some raw numbers on feeding. Each girl eats every three hours. That's eight feedings with 45 ml per feeding, for a per-daughter total of 360 ml -- the equivalent of a little bit more than a can of soda per day. Which means that total demand for both girls is about 720 ml per 24 hours. To put that in perspective, that's only 30 ml shy of a fifth of liquor (which is, as I'm sure you all know, 750 ml). (Actually, a fifth of a gallon is technically 757 ml, but in 1979 the United States went metric for wine and liquor bottles, and the size was rounded down to 750 ml. I've seen 7 ml, and it's enough to be missed. This is a strong argument against ever again electing a Baptist to the White House -- or, in any case, a Baptist with an interest in the Metric System.) So Ginger has to keep up with essentially the equivalent of a fifth of liquor every 24 hours. And that's with them even before term.

What's new today?

Ginger spent the day with them; I stayed home and painted the bedroom, with help from Mom and Brian, and much-appreciated visits from others.  (For those who are curious, we went with the Pink Hibiscus -- it turned out somewhat pinker and less peachy than the color swatch on screen, but it goes well with our crib quilts so we're happy with it.)  Kelsey and Bridget visited the girls also; they weren't allowed in the nursery so the nurse very kindly disconnected the girls from their monitors and rolled the bassinette over to the window so they could see.

The bottle feeding is hit-or-miss.  This afternoon Evelyn was bottle feeding, and she desaturated so badly that her lips turned blue.  In essence, she was so focused on keeping up with the bottle that she forgot to breathe.  Not exactly a confidence-inspiring move on her part, but human development happens in its own time.  It's all going well enough and nobody is worried, but transitions are -- well, transitional.