Day 12

Yesterday and today were days of small steps....which I like better than giant leaps.

Gavin came off his IV yesterday, which means he is on "full feeds". He no longer requires the nutrients that the IV provided. It is so nice to not have to worry about the IV when cuddling him. That was Gavin's step.

Riley on the other hand, he took a bottle at his noon feeding today!!! Riley is currently receiving 21cc's of formula at each 2 hour feeding. While trying the bottle today for the first time, he took 15ccs. He ended up falling asleep and it took him a good 15 minutes just for that, but he got it. The rest was given by the feeding tube.

When babies are born before 35 weeks they don't have the co ordination to breathe, suck and swallow all at the same time. Gavin will end up getting his turn, but he is a sleeper and needs to be more awake for the attempt.

Also Riley was moved from his incubator to a cot for a short period of time this morning. It seems he couldn't quite keep his body temperature up, so back into the incubator he went. Babies need to keep their temprature at 36.5 or higher, Riley dropped to 36.3. They also need to weigh more than 1,800 grams, while Gavin isn't there quite yet, the nurses were suggesting that if they were both moved they could keep each other warm. Who knows, maybe we will get a surprise tonight.

So Riley still has his IV and should be off his nutrients tonight, but still has to keep the IV as his antibiotics still have 5 days to go. Gavin still needs to gain some weight, but is at 1,740 grams. So some small positive steps, but so far all in the right direction.

The only downside to my day, as I was putting gas in my truck today, the wind came up and smacked a plastic garbage can into it.....didn't realize plastic was so hard. Another dent......doesn't matter, my boys are getting stronger!