NICU - Day 20

Another day without a move. . . this is getting old. Once again, nurses and doctors talk about the ever elusive transition room but no changes have been made yet. Both boys did well at their 11 AM feeding. We didn't stay long because they both immediately fell asleep afterwards. They had been bottle fed at their 8 AM feeding, so I guess they were tired from all that work. We are trying our best to have them be awake for all their feedings so that we can get their NG tubes removed - one more step towards home.

At their 8 PM feeding, both boys did well. They had woken up on their own at 7:30 so that is a great sign in their readiness to start cue based feedings. They also had been bottle fed at 5 PM as well so we are definitely moving in the right direction as far as feedings go. Charlie had a lot of difficulty settling down this evening after he ate. Usually he eats and then will be awake and alert for a little while but will be very content. Tonight, he was extremely fidgety and you could tell he was uncomfortable. He finally seemed to calm himself and doze off at 9:45, but when I placed him down in his bed, he got fidgety again. The nurse said that he had a lot of gas after his 5 PM feeding and he had some with me as well, so she was going to give him something for that. Hopefully, he will be able to get some rest. It was so hard to have to leave him knowing that he wasn't content. I know that he is being well taken care of, but it breaks my heart that it isn't by me.

Michael and I both would like to ask the doctor tomorrow if it is completely necessary for us to go to transition before we go home. Of course, we want what is best for the boys. But if the transition is simply to help us know what to do when we have to care for the boys on our own . . . well, I think we're ready to handle it. After all, we brought home a little girl 3 years ago who was smaller than the boys are now, who was a much worse eater than either of the boys and she was also a week younger than they both are right now. So while there are two of them, we have dealt with their types of issues before. We'll see what they say - there are still a few other things that have to be checked off the list before they come home anyway. We are just tired of waiting. Everyone says these boys are ready to move on but no one seems to be doing anything about it.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers for our sweet boys and for us during this time. We have definitely felt them over these past three weeks. Our God is in control and He knows exactly what Charlie and Alex need. . . please pray that we can be patient and wait for His perfect timing.