3 Week Check Up

Today I took the babies for a weight check with their doctor. Kenzie is definitely putting on the pounds! Ok, well ounces, but still, she is gaining weight like a champ! She weighed 5.6 at birth, dropped to 4.14 at the hospital, was up to 5.9 at her one week check up, and now she is... 6 lbs 12 ozs! Yahoo! She was 19 inches long when she was born and is now 20 inches. She is doing great!

Lexie is just a more petite little lady, which is just fine. She weighed 5.3 at birth, dropped to 4.13, was back to 5.3 at her one week check up, and now weighs... 6 lbs 1 oz! Yay for both babies being over 6 lbs! We work hard at it! She was 18 inches long at birth and is now 20 inches, catching up to Kenzie. I think I am going to have a bunch of tall skinny girls! Look out daddy!

I am continuing to pump and bottle feed both girls. So far, I have had enough milk for both of them for every feeding and have a good surplus going in the freezer. I am very thankful that so far I am able to give them strictly breast milk which is extremely important, especially if they do have VLCAD deficiency. My milk will help keep them from getting sick which is crucial!

The doctor said they both look fantastic. Their color and skin is great. Their hearts sounds great. They are eating plenty for their size and sleeping well. We are on a 4 hour schedule most of the time. At least at night. They snack a little more during the day because they are awake more, but usually not more than every 3 hours. Our routine at night is pretty good I think. I feed them between 9:30 and 10, swaddle and put to bed. They wake up around 2 for a bottle, then re-swaddle and back to bed. Then they wake again around 6 for another bottle. I put them back to bed again at this time and they will usually sleep until 9 or 10. Not too shabby for 3 week old babies! :) I am trying really hard to get them to know the difference between night and day since they sleep a lot during the day too. So at night, I really don't talk to them. I feed and put right back to bed. I keep the lights off and try not to stimulate them too much. During the day, they are in the living room with Madison, the dog and me. The TV is on, the blinds are open, they swing in their swings. We talk to them a ton and give them lots of snuggles. It seems to be working. They have their awake periods during the day. All in all, they are great little babes.

Today was also the last blood draw for Lexie. Since they are so small, the lab couldn't draw enough blood for all the testing they needed done at once. So last Monday, they took enough for the second PKU and one of the tests. I took them back last Thursday and they were able to get Kenzie's but, they used too small of a needle for Lexie and her blot clotted before they had a chance to put it in the test tube. So unfortunately, we had to go back today and let them re-poke my poor little baby. It is so heartbreaking to hear them scream. I hate it so much! They have such tiny little arms and veins. It is so sad. I know it needed to be done, but I still hate that they have to go through this :(

The blood has to be sent out of state so we won't have the results back for a couple of weeks. Bummer.

So, all in all, doctor's appt went well and it is nice to hear that I seem to be doing everything right so far :)