The boys had a rough day yesterday. They both had their first eye exams and it wore them out. The doctors dilate their eyes, so they were very sensitive to light for the rest of the day (apparently sunglasses do not come in preemie size). The great news is their eyes looked great to the doctor. They are looking for retinopathy or the abnormal development of blood vessels in the retina. Luckily they did not see any of this in either boy. They will continue to monitor them by conducting the same exam every 2 weeks. They will watch Carter closely, as he is still on supplemental oxygen and this can affect his eyes. We were glad to hear that their vision looks great.
Because they were so exhausted, neither boy nursed well. They were just pretty worn out. We tried tandem nursing yesterday (nursing both at once) and it is certainly something to get used to. Anderson was not too tired to push his brother a little bit, clearly indicating he wasn't interested in sharing time with Mommy. Carter tried to push back, but his arms aren't quite as long as his brothers yet. We'll continue working on this.
Today both boys looked great. Carter is up to 2lbs, 15oz and Anderson weighs 4lbs, 4oz. We are excited for Carter to break the 3lb barrier! He is proving to be a much quicker learner at nursing and bottle feeding than his brother. Today he latched on well and stayed awake nursing for almost 30 minutes. He is still getting the majority of his food through his tube, but it is very encouraging to watch him learn to suck and swallow while keeping his oxygen levels up. He also got his second shot today to boost his production of hemoglobin and he took it very well. The doctor increased his feeding today to 26ml every 3 hours, so we hope he will continue to grow.
Anderson is doing very well. Due to his increased weight and ability to maintain his temperature, he is being placed in an open air crib! The doctor raised the lid on his isolette today and he will be in there for 12-24 hours. Here is a picture of him with the top up:
They will check his temperature and oxygen levels and if he maintains both of them, he will be placed in a crib either tonight or tomorrow. He also did much better at nursing today than yesterday and was able to latch on and stay awake for about 20 minutes.
Here are a few more updated pictures of the boys:
Anderson in his PJs
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| Anderson and Mommy |
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| Carter filling out (almost!) the preemie PJs |
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| Daddy feeding Carter for the first time |
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| Close-up of Anderson |
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| Daddy doing a Lion-Kingesque presentation of Carter |
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| Mommy holding both boys |
Love the photos, can't wait to meet them in person someday. Looking forward to seeing mommy as well!
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