Bottle feeding update

Since Yesterday (Saturday) Dylan no longer needed his feeding tube as he started taking all his feeds with a bottle. He is a very eager bottle feeder and gulps down his feed as quickly as his little body will let him. After the feed he makes longing hungry looks and sticks out his tongue a lot as though he would like to eat more. Emma has also progressed and is now on alter tube and bottle feeds. She is still struggling a lot with wind and sucks well for the first half of the bottle and then can’t get going again. Yesterday was bath day. I got my first hand at bathing and bathed Emma. I still need some more practice. Anina bathed both Emma and Dylan on Thursday. After the bath it was weighing time again. Their new weights are:

Emma: 2.48 kg

Dylan: 2.17 kg

Here is a picture of Dylan without his tube. He has had the plasters on his face since birth so hence the marks on his cheeks:

Twins at Two weeks

How time flies. Well my Birthday, 26 May, was meant to be the Twins due date. But as it turned out they turned two weeks. At the last weighing Dylan now weighs 2.1 kg and Emma 2.3 kg. Feeding is progressing well. Dylan now gets two bottle feeds followed by one tube feed. Emma is taking her time to get used to bottle feeding. She gets one bottle feed for every two tube feeds and sometimes only manages half the bottle. We have at last learnt what the criteria are to be discharged from the high care unit. The baby needs to bottle feed for a complete 24 hours cycle. Then its time to get the car seats ready for the eagerly awaited trip home. At the moment it looks like Dylan is going to come home first before Emma. Anina has been going the Physio who is the lactation specialist. This has been very painful. Today has been her strongest day since the birth. She is also trying a new tonic suggested by a very friendly sister, Susan, who has been doing the night shift for our babies for the last few nights.

And of cause here are some more pictures:

The twins in their cot:

Anina with the Twins:

Peter with the Twins:

Dylan and Emma pass the one week mark

It has been a week of small milestones for Dylan and Emma:

• Both Dylan and Emma got off their drips
• Dylan got to wear a baby grow on Wednesday. This was the first step to moving him off his ICU bed with the inbuilt heater.
• We were a little worried when Emma did not get to wear her baby grow. When the time came she was ready for bottle and baby grow, no prep necessary.
• On Thursday they waxed the floor of the ICU unit and so all babies moved temporarily next door into the High Care Unit. We learnt early on that high care is where you want to be and that you are then 1 step from being discharged.
• On Friday we got great news that our little twins where promoted to high care. So the doctor said that they did not need to go back to ICU. We were thrilled.
• They are finally sleeping together again in one Cot after having been apart for 11 days while on their own little beds in ICU. They both have baby grows and knitted hats courtesy of the hospital.
• On Friday evening both were fed a full feed with a bottle.

Dylan and Emma both took very well to the bottle feeding. The feeding is very tiring for them and they have to be really awake to make it through a feed. Dylan had another bottle feed when I went through to see them today, Saturday 23 May. On Thursday Dylan weighed just under 2 kg and Emma was up to 2.2 kg. That was 100 g up from the last weighing. They are going to be weighed today again and going to have their second bath.

Below are some pictures to see more on Flickr Click Here: Click this link for 15 more photos of Dylan and Emma

Here is a picture of Anina at their new Cot in High Care:

And here they are in their Cot Colour coded:

Dylan and Emma update 19 May

Yesterday Dylan’s drip was removed. This is a great milestone as it is now much easier to hold him and his little hands and feet are all already very bruised from the various drips that were put up there. Their veins are very small and don’t cope with a drip for very long. Emma’s drip was meant to come down today. We will check just now when we go through to see them, if it did.

Both have gained 100g since their last weighing. Dylan is now 1.9 kg and Emma 2.1 kg. Dylan is feeding more than his sister but she is not doing badly either.

More pictures and Videos of Emma and Dylan

Anina was finally discharged on Saturday 1 day later than normal. The physician is still concerned about her low blood count as a result of all the blood she lost during and after the birth. He has told her to take it very easy and that she will experience light headedness if she overdoes it in any way. Anina was very happy to be home and slept well in the afternoon. In the evening she developed a temperature but this was seen as normal as she is expressing milk for the babies.

Today we went on our first joint visit to see Emma and Dylan since Anina’s discharge from Hospital. They were sleeping soundly when we visited them today.

For those of you who can’t wait to seem I took some short videos with my phone and have published them on YouTube. See below. I have also put many more pictures with descriptions on Flickr.

Click the green link here below to see the pictures:

Flickr Pictures of Dylan and Emma

Below are the YouTube Video's:

Dylan when he was 9 hours old:

Emma when she was 9 hours old:

Dylan at 3 days old:

Emma at 3 days old:

Hope you like all the pics.

Peter and Anina

Update on Anina, Dylan and Emma

Dylan:

Emma:

Update on Dylan and Emma

 

Emma and Dylan are both doing very well. These pictures were taken at 17:00 on the day they were born. Since then they have become a bit jaundice and so have LED sun tanning lights over them. They have really cute shades to protect their eyes from the sun tanning lights. The shades have very small sun glasses printed on them. They look all too cool. Dylan has a slight heart murmur which the Paediatrician is monitoring. He is confident it should grow closed soon. Emma is quite a bit bigger than Dylan but both are feeding well and the Paediatrician is very happy with both of them.

Update on Anina

 

Anina is much stronger today. She got out of bed for the first time last night just to sit in a chair. By this morning she was mobile and took a shower. They took away her drip and stuff as well. She now goes to visit the kids in a wheel chair to conserve her energy to play with the kids. She loves that.

 

The doctor told Anina this morning that the condition she had since last week is called HELLP Syndrome. This is an illness after Pre-Eclampsia which can lead to serious liver failure and even strokes. The doctor believes if the babies had been born 24 hours later then both of these would have been likely. We are very thankful it all worked out so well but this explains why Anina was very ill yesterday and the day before, after the operation. This morning the doctor said her likely discharge day was likely to be Saturday, one day longer than normal, but this has been everything but normal.

 

Must go, fatherly duties calling,

First Picture of Dylan and Emma

Here is the first picture of Dylan and Emma. Emma is in front with Dylan behind, slightly out of focus. The picture was taken on their first short journey from the Operating Theatre to the Neo-natal ICU. This is where they will be for the next while.

For those of you want to know the exact stats of their birth this morning:

Dylan was born at 8:30 and weighed 1.8 kg.

Emma was born at 8:32 and weighed 2.06 kg.

Both are doing well in the Neo-natal ICU. They are lying under what can only be described as sun beds to keep them warm. They don’t need an incubator. Dylan is receiving oxygen but should be off that by tomorrow. Emma is breathing all by herself. At 15:00 they will get their first feed. We will see how that goes.

Anina did very well. She is now recovering. She is in quite a bit of pain but is getting medication for this.

Regards,

Peter and Anina