Kangaroo Care

As you can see, Amber and I have been a little too busy to update the blog for the last two days! Thursday night when Amber and I went in for a visit, the nurses said we could hold them for a while if we wanted. I would say that we hesitated and weren't sure if we wanted to or not, but I'm afraid my sarcasm wouldn't translate very well through the written word! We could only hold them for about ten minutes because they still can't hold their body temperature very well outside the isolette. Amber was given a squalling Sophie and I got a very content Mattie. (That seems to be the trend so far. I think I have a knack for picking the calm baby, which I'm sure will serve me well in the future).

We also found out Thursday that we had a room at the Natchez Trace Church of Christ hospitality house which is about a mile from the hospital. So... we headed to Shelbyville Thursday night to get organized and make sure the house was taken care of with goofy smiles on our faces from getting the hold the girls. I promise I tried to update that night, but we both started nodding off while we were scrolling through the pictures to see which ones we wanted to post!

Last night while each of us were talking to a girl, I asked as casually as I possibly could when we would get to start holding the girls on a regular basis. (I thought it was a pretty subtle hint). The nurse started talking about "Kangaroo Care" which is skin to skin contact with the babies. There has been a lot of study that just being held skin to skin is very good for babies and especially preemies. Of course we were interested, but then there is the issue of taking your shirt off in a room of a couple nurses. Awkward. You don't get to see those pics. :)

We got screened off and put on the robes backwards and then got to hold the girls again for longer because our body heat helps them maintain theirs. We got to hold them again today for about 35 minutes and are heading back after shift change to put them to sleep and satisfy our addiction...at least for now.

Both girls are getting 2 ml of milk through feeding tubes now. They are still doing well off the tubes and are having very calm good days. Mattie especially seems to be much calmer now that the tube is out of her mouth. I think once the feeding tube is out, she'll never cry again. (you don't have to correct me on that. My answer to everything is that, "they're twins. They'll entertain each other." and I'm not letting that thought go!)