March 26

Not much to report today - still working on nursing, still not quite getting it. A feeding specialist came in today to check them out - she put a pacifier on this wand thing and stuck it in their mouths and it was hooked up to a computer and gave a reading on their neurological process while sucking on the pacifier.  It showed that Brinley was not quite ready neurologically to nurse but that Cooper was very ready. Which is in line with how the nursing seems to be going with them.  Cooper is so close and is getting very frustrated himself that he can't quite get it.  Brinley is just still having fun and loves her cuddle time with mom, but she'll get it - she's much improved from last week still.  The neonatologist still says they are right on target with their gestational age - 36 weeks on Saturday - but it's still getting very frustrating. Especially knowing they have to do this before they can come home...

 

If you've had children, you'll know that all modesty goes out the window when you give birth, but it's a whole different level when you're trying to nurse babies in the NICU.  Today I had 5 different people, men and women of all different specialties, standing in a semi-circle hovering over me within a few feet as I was half-naked trying to nurse the babies, with the lactation specialist sitting right beside me using her own hands to "help" us nurse.  So strange.  And even more strange that at the time, I didn't actually feel like it was strange!  It was funny too because Brinley seemed to love the attention and was so wide awake during her turn with the audience, and would follow with her eyes when someone was talking. She was definitely doing more listening and trying to be cute than actually trying to feed!