The finish line is in sight

It has been a very exciting weekend for the Schlegel boys.  On Friday afternoon, the doctor called me to ask when our boys decided they knew how to eat.  They have made pretty amazing progress over the past few days.

Anderson is weighing in at 6lbs, almost 8oz.  His feeding tube was removed Friday afternoon and he has been taking all of his feedings by mouth and doing very well!  He has been drinking solely breast milk (no fortifier) and still gaining weight, so he will probably remain off the fortifier unless our pediatrician has a different plan.  For right now, the plan is for Anderson to continue taking all feeds by mouth on Sunday and then to have his 10 hour sleep study on Sunday night/Monday morning.  They will monitor him to ensure he continues to breathe, has no dips in heart rate, etc.  If he passes, then he will have his 1 hour car seat test on Monday morning.  If he passes that, Ty and I will come to the hospital on Monday night and room in with him!  The hospital has rooms that look fairly similar to a hotel room where we will be able to stay the night with Anderson.  Nurses will come in periodically to check on us, but for the most part, Ty and I will be on our own with him.  If all goes well, Anderson could be home by Tuesday afternoon.  We are ridiculously excited for this.

Carter is also doing really well.  He is up to 4lbs, 14oz.  The doctor transitioned him to a different fortifier, one that he can continue taking at home. He is taking 2 out of 3 feedings by mouth and is doing pretty well.  He certainly still gets tired and sometimes has to have the feeding finished through his tube.  But with each day he gets stronger, so we are seeing an increase in what he can take.  The doctor has scheduled his hernia surgery for Wednesday morning at 10am.  They do not perform surgeries on babies at the hospital we are at, so he will be transferred on Tuesday to a different hospital.  The doctor hopes Carter will be taking all feeds by mouth by the time of his surgery so that he can get the surgery, have a few days to recover in the hospital, and then be discharged home.  If he isn't doing as well on feedings, he will have to stay at the hospital until he can take all feedings by mouth consistently.  

We are praying Carter is able to complete his feedings before the surgery for many reasons.  It will be difficult for us to get used to a new nursing staff, a new doctor and a new hospital. The hospital is also downtown and therefore harder to get to as often as we would like.  Also, we believe we might have Anderson at home, so the logistics of feeding one baby in the hospital, and one baby who is home (and cannot come with me into the hospital) will be a little bit tricky.  Most importantly, we are hoping Carter can complete them because it means he is getting bigger and stronger and is ready to come home with us.  

We will keep you updated on their progress this weekend and early this week.  Hopefully I will have at least one baby home very soon!