17 days old

Today was my first time leaving the house for a social occasion - coffee with Sarah and Cara at a local cafe that caters to moms and kids. Sarah called at 9 to invite me and showed up at 9:30 - I woke up from an attempted mid-morning nap, showered, dressed and was ready in time! It was practically record-breaking for me and good practice for when I no longer have the luxury of time in the mornings when the girls get home. Add the coffee trip (and some kid lifting I admittedly shouldn't have done yet) to the rest of my day and I'm feeling sore this evening.

When we got to the NICU, I asked the nurse about feeding Lilah and she tested her suck reflex and said that she wasn't doing enough. I stepped in and offered Lilah my finger and she started sucking away, finally proving to the nurse that it was worth a try. Nurse Kate set us up with a bottle of 26 mL (nearly an ounce) and Lilah got to work. The nurse kept an eye on her vitals since preemies aren't often good at balancing the suck/swallow/breathe combination but Lilah remained completely normal the whole time and finished the entire bottle!

Charlotte's follow-up MRSA test showed up negative which means that the daily nose treatment is working it's magic. She just needs to finish the course and then continue to test negative! She'll be able to eat on Monday and then will get a contrast enema Wednesday (the only day the Children's hospital radiologist visits and performs these tests) to confirm that all is in working order. Her spinal results still haven't grown anything, so it was probably a contaminant and not an infection. She slept the whole time I was holding her today but still smiled in her sleep and gave tiny little whines when she stretched.

We seem to be getting far more pictures lately of Lilah - in part because there is more light in L's cubicle, partly because Lilah's moving and opening her eyes much more, and partly because of the complexities of keeping contamination from moving out of Charlotte's area. Right now, Lilah is always the one wearing clothing. I'm hoping we don't give little C a complex when she gets older. On the other hand, they're twins. Unless we tell them, they'll never know who is who in this photos. Now I just need to hide this blog posting....

The girls are gradually starting to take on some features - so far I think they have Sean's ears (he has lobes, I don't), and they got my dimples and furrowed brow. It's so exciting to see little bits of ourselves in these babies. I still can't believe they're ours!