The Schlegel boys are having a great week for growing already. Anderson weighs 5lbs, 7oz and Carter weighs 3lbs, 11oz. The nurses measured the boys this weekend and both are getting taller as well. Carter is now 15.75 inches tall and Anderson is 18 inches. I looked back in their charts to see where they started and Carter was 12 inches tall when he was born and Anderson was 15. The length is the least accurate measurement for the boys, but it's still great to see progress. Their heads are also getting bigger. Carter's head is now 11.75 inches around (9.5 inches at birth) and Anderson 's head is 13 inches around (10.5 inches at birth).
Feeding is going really well for Carter. This morning he breastfed for quite awhile and then took 27ml from a bottle. The doctor has increased the amount of feedings he gets from the bottle per day, so now he is getting 2 bottles and 1 breastfeed during the day and then one additional bottle feeding from the night nurse. Anderson is doing okay. He consistently takes from 15-25ml from the bottle, but he still had never taken half of his bottle. any day now, the nurses believe the light bulb will just go on for him and he'll start gulping, so we are hopeful for that.
Their labs looked pretty good this week. They took Anderson off of the caffeine because he had not had a cardiac or respiratory episode since June24th. This is good progress because they need to take him off this and observe him for a few days before they would allow him to go home. While he still isn't quite ready to go home, it's good to have this observation out of the way. All of his other labs looked great as well.
Carter's red blood cell count is still rising which is great. He is still receiving a shot three times a week to help his body produce more red blood cells. His bone growth was increasing this week according to the labs which is great. He will continue to receive calcium and phosphorus for a few weeks in order to continue this growth. His direct billirubin count was higher again this week, so the doctor decided to give him a medication which will help his liver produce bile. He gets this medication once per day and then they check his labs every week to see how it's working. This is a medication he could continue to receive at home, so it's nice that this will not be something holding him back from coming home.
Anderson had his hearing test this week and he passed in both ears. We weren't too worried about this for him because he definitely seems to respond to our voices, but it was nice to have it confirmed that he is hearing well. We are not sure when Carter's test will be done, but probably over the next few days.
Carter is still in his little isolette. The doctor decided it was best to leave him in there until he is 4lbs in order to conserve energy. The doctor increased his bottle feedings instead, because Carter learning to eat is more important at this point and he needs all of his energy to be able to do so. Carter's temps have been great this whole time, so we don't think he should have any problem maintaining his temp once they let him out at 4 pounds.
We will try to take a few more pictures this week and post them soon!
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