Frick Twins: 6 Weeks!

The boys reached their 6 week birthday today!  It’s been some time since we posted a blog, so just a bit of a health download on the boys.  There was a some back and forth on their dosage of caffeine (off for a while, back on when they had a couple Brady’s, and back off again now).  Henry had a Brady yesterday, but they have largely cleared up for both boys at this point.  Henry has cleared 6lbs and Jameson is at 5 ¾ lbs.  They no longer have the oxygen monitor on their feet, but still have the heart and respiratory monitors on their chest.  And while they are starting to intermittently breast and bottle feed, they still require the NG tubes to their stomachs.  They seem to have the sucking instinct down, but haven’t quite mastered the suck/swallow/breathe coordination just yet.  Their feeding seems to be the long pole in the tent for their coming home, so hopefully that clicks in the next week or two.  Everything about their development seems to be on track according to the doctors and nurses.

Probably the thing that sticks out to us the most now is that instead of preemies, they look like newborn babies.  Their cheeks have filled in, their skin tone is more normalized, and their breathing patterns are more regular than when they first arrived in early October.  They moved up from preemie sized clothes to newborn, though it rests a little big on their frames.  It’s actually a little challenging to fit them in my shirt for skin-to-skin contact as their legs rest on my legs now versus just sitting on my stomach.  I’ve even noticed that their grunting, while still frequent, seems to be more fruitful in its efforts (i.e. more gas and poop and less just frustrating clenching).  That’s a sign that their digestive tract is starting to catch up to a full-term newborns as well.  And their cries seem to be getting louder.  A lot louder.  Which every parent in the world means they have good lungs and that’s a good thing, right?  Well, we are particularly thankful and they are welcome to cry as loud as they want.  At least until we get them home in a couple of weeks and it’s the middle of the night.

So fingers crossed things continue to go well.  There is no set timetable, but we’re still hoping for a Thanksgiving at home with the boys.  To be honest, it seems like it may just depend on the neonatologist on duty that given week.  Referencing back to the caffeine mention in the first bit, one neonatologist thought when they returned on caffeine they may be on it for 1-2 weeks.  4 days later the next neonatologist had taken them off of it.  So who knows.  We’ll just take it as it comes and keep hoping and praying they’ll be home soon.

Henry with his Bunny

Jameson with his Giraffe

Dad and the boys: Henry (left) and Jameson (right)

Mom and Henry