June 10, 2006

This entire week has seen such rapid progress for the girls and the last two days haven't been any different. They're just moving right along like the champs that they are!

As expected, I went to the NICU on Thursday night to breastfeed The Roo. And as expected, she was less-than-interested in the whole thing. She just didn't seem to understand that there was food in there. We tried for 15 minutes or so, without much luck. I was told this could happen and was expecting these types of problems, so I wasn't too disappointed.

We decided to see if she would take a bottle and I popped the nipple into her mouth with no problem. She responded by making a face and pushing the foreign object around with her tounge. Then she must have gotten a taste of the milk, because she started sucking and didn't let go again until the bottle was nearly drained. What a pro!

While I was there, I breastfed Gracie, too (who is up to two breast/bottle feedings each day). Talk about a champ! She's just the opposite of her sister -- she likes to breastfeed, but isn't very interested in the bottle (although she will take it for a few minutes at a time). Just when I think she's done with nursing, I lay her on my lap, in the crook of my arm and she turns her head toward my chest, as if to say, "Um...hello? More, please." It's pretty funny.

On Friday, I got to the NICU around 9:00 to feed The Too and hold The Roo. It was the usual drill with Gracie -- lots of breastfeeding, not much interest in bottlefeeding.

When I got to Faith, though, I noticed that she was all swaddled up and clothed (she graduated!) while lying in her isolette. I asked the nurse and she said, "We're going to wean her out of the isolette and co-bed her with her sister."

Now this was just about the best news I could have gotten -- topped only by, "They're going home, Mrs. Pruetz, and they're both sleeping through the night already!" My two girls will be in the same crib together -- reunited at last. My heart is just brimming with pride...

As of this morning, Faith is still in the isolette, but the nurses were talking about moving her into a crib (the crib, I guess) today. Todd will go up this afternoon and I hope to get a good report!

Both girls ate for me this morning (in their typical, "I like the bottle"/"I like the breast" fashion) and I got to spend a good amount of time just staring at them and singing to them. It's so peaceful, even with everything going on around us.

If I had to guess (and this is a totally uneducated guess), I'd say that by this time next week, we'll have at least one of the twins home. They're just doing so well...

On a completely different note:

My sister, ZZ, and her lifelong friend Anjanette are flying out today to go to Almaty, Kazakstan in the former USSR. Anjanette is adopting her second child from Kazakstan and ZZ is going with her to bring Bennet home while Anjanette's husband, Ronnie, stays home with their first child. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, as it will be a long and difficult trip. Nine hours to Amsterdam, ten hour layover, another seven-and-a-half hours to Almaty. Then, four days later, they get to do it all again, but with a 14-month-old in tow. Lord have mercy... :)

With love,
E