24 Days- WOW!

What an exciting day for the Blocker Babies!!!! This morning when we got over to the hospital, the nurse practitioner came into the room to update us on what the new doctor on call wants to do. We have had the same 2 doctor's since they were born, and the one that came on today is making all kinds of changes in the NICU. The first BIG step is that they are both off caffeine... totally. It takes around 3 days to get totally out of their system, and then we will find out if they are able to breathe on their own. Pray that the next several days go well.

The second HUGE step is that we are on ALL bottles now!!!! No more feeding tubes. This doctor has done a study that shows babies around 34 weeks (which we will be Sunday) can switch over to bottles very easily. He says that they have to learn psychologically that hunger can be treated by eating when a bottle is offered. He will give them 3-4 days to adjust to all bottles. They are expected to lose weight during these days, but will hopefully gain it back quickly when they catch on to bottles. The first and second feeding they both only took about 10 cc's and the third they took almost 15 cc's each. They are use to over 30 cc's each per feeding. So of course I leave them every time thinking that they are going to be starving before the next feeding. Suprisingly they have been sleeping every time we have gone back in. I won't go during the night for their feedings, but I'm sure I will be calling a lot.

I'm a nervous wreck. Between them getting off caffeine and going to all bottles, I'm so anxious. And the worst part is that all the changes are suppose to take around 3 days to show results. The next 3 days aren't going to be very fun! Hopefully they will both keep building up their feedings and that is one less thing for me to worry about. I really hope that neither one of them has any breathing spells. If they do, it adds 7 more days to our stay here. The Dr. this morning told me we SHOULD be home in 10-14 days if everything goes as planned. PLEASE pray that everything goes well!!! I don't want to rush them home, but home is sounding so good!!!!

So please pray specifically that they start to take more by bottle, and that they tolerate the caffeine being taken away. Once both of those happen, we have to get up to four pounds each. We really have some specific things to pray for the next few weeks!!!!

Mom and Dad went home today, and Brent came for the weekend. Margaret is suppose to come tomorrow to visit. Other than that, it should be a pretty calm weekend. That might be a good thing, since I'm trying to do all their feedings during the day, and still trying to pump. It will take a few days to figure out a new schedule, but it will be done!

Once again, the internet is not staying connected; so every time I try to upload a picture, it disconnects. I will try to get some posted tomorrow.

With love,
Brent, Jessica, Reid, and Rylee