A step forward, a step back

So goes the NICU rollercoaster! Eve was back on a little o2 help tonight when we visited her. She has on a nasal canulla, but luckily it's set on the lowest level possible. Her nurse said it isn't a huge deal, she just needed a little help. We tried, for the first time, to bottle feed her, which is wicked hard with an under four-pound preemie, but Eve wasn't having it. She would desat and her heartrate would drop and she'd spit the milk out, etc. SO, after a few rate drops, the nurse decided we'd go the tube route. Eve slept through the rest of the feeding. Thankfully, she seems to be tolerating feeds still. She is up to 22 mL of milk. Full feeds are considered 44 mL, so she is half-way there. Of course, they want the feeds all by bottle or Mommy before the kids go home. It was a bit scary when Eve's monitors went off when we were trying to feed her. The nurse just said, "What are you doing, kiddo? Catch yourself..." I guess the easiest way to explain what was happening is that Eve was "forgetting to breathe" when she was attempting to suck on thebottle. That would, naturally, drop the o2 levels and her heart rate went down from 150s to 70s. I'm trying not to think of that sort of thing happening frequently because it IS so scary. We'll keep praying she gets the hang of it and stops desats etc.

Lily was still breathing fine on her own, and wide awake when we arrived. She was tolerating formula they had been giving her today, which was nice. She might end up being like her Mom who apparently couldn't digest breast milk and needed pre-digested formula. They're going to try her on milk again tonight, but who knows if she will tolerate it. Eric and I both held her tonight. Him while she was being fed by tube and me afterward. I had to hold her propped up a bit, which was quite the arm exercise. Even though she's only 4 pounds 5 ounces or so, you're afraid to MOVE for fear of making their heart rate drop, or their breathing slow or speed up, it's like holding a glass ornament you're afriad of breaking! I'm sure it will get better the more we do it and when I'm not so sore still! Lily has been having apneas and bradycardias, which the nurse said are common with preemies, but she was being a good girl for the most part. She has spent some time on her tummy to help keep her tummy from getting large. They did a test to look at her bowels and it came back normal, so that's good. They are still giving her suppositories to make her go, but the nurse seemed to think it was all normal and nothing to worry about now.

I know it's only been 11 days since they were born, but it's been a LONG 11 days and when I think these kiddos could be in NICU for a total of 8 weeks, or even more, it's really daunting. Then again, they could suddenly turn around and come home in two weeks too. We'll hope for the latter, won't we!?