feeder/growers

Our girls have been called feeder/growers since they were born meaning that is the only thing that they need to master is feeding and growing. They aren't sick, they don't have any other problems, they just need to learn how to eat and grow.

They have never had any problems growing. They are weighed every night around 9pm and they consistently gain about 40 grams a night, which I think is a little more than one ounce. I didn't do the conversion tonight from grams to pounds/ounces but I think Alyssa was around 5 pounds, 4 ounces and Kaitlyn is about a ounce and a half behind her.

The biggest news is the feedings. In the 48 hours or so that we've been trying the bottle feeding, they both have taken off. Last night, I was able to feed Alyssa's entire feeding by bottle (45 ml). At this point, nobody expects them to take all of their feedings by bottle or breast. Whatever they manage to take before falling asleep or losing interest is great, the rest they get by the tube. BUT they keep taking more and more.

Lisa has had some success with them on breast too. Tonight was the biggest success. I was feeding Kaitlyn by bottle (she took 30 ml) and Alyssa managed to take 32 ml!!!! In the morning, Lisa said she took 18 ml. Unbelievable how fast they are catching on and thriving. I guess nothing should surprise us now but they still amaze us every time we seem them.

If you're wondering how they know how much Alyssa took by breast (which I was a little skeptical at first but it is actually very accurate), they are weighed right before and right after. It is a one to one conversion from grams to ml so it ends up being a very simple and effective way of telling how much they drank.

In other news....we are tired. That's not really news. Just sharing.

Oh, our digital camera suddenly is unable to share photos with the computer. So I haven't been able to download any new pictures until I figured out a way around it. A bit of a pain but it gets the job done.

First pic is 2 nights ago. We came in and the nurse must have been slightly bored because she neatly arranged the girl's stuff on their beanie babies. We thought it was kinda funny.

The second one is how we found them. I noticed they were sleeping in the exact same position.

....which reminds me. People are often asking if we can tell a difference between the two. At a quick glance, absolutely not and to tell you the truth we still are in fear of when they are home and we won't have the velcro'd tags to identify them. More than once, we've had little moments of panic while we reassured ourselves that we didn't mix them up. BUT we have noticed two things that we can distinguish them apart. Katy's ears are .....a little ...... well.....different. They aren't perfectly rounded on the back. We joked that she had Spock ears but they aren't that bad, they're just not as rounded as Alyssa's. Katy also has a tiny strawberry on the top of her head. I looked it up and I think it's called a Hemangioma. It can and most likely will grow for the first year but most Hemangioma's will eventually disappear. It something that we'll have to watch.

It's funny though, as I was reading about Hemangiomas the article said that they are most common on girls, preemies, and twins. Imagine that.