One week old...

Daddy and Tessa

Daddy and Audrey

Audrey

Tessa showing us her muscles

The girls turned one week old on Friday. The nurses are very happy with their performance so far. Generally, premature babies may act either a week older or a week younger than their actual gestational age. The girls are now 35 weeks looking at their gestational age, but are acting as typical 36 week babies. One of the biggest challenges of 36 week old babies is nursing. I have been told to expect a rough week and to not let it frustrate me too much. They started off nursing quite well, but today was a very difficult day. Their interest was only held for about 5 minutes before they started to drift off to sleep or they got fussy.



We have decided to introduce a bottle for night feedings. The thought is that the girls will learn they need to work for their food. It won't always be poured directly into their tummies. Hopefully, this will help out their nursing as well.



Ultimately, it doesn't matter to us if they nurse or are bottle fed expressed breast milk. The only goal we have is for them to gain weight and come home. In order to come home they need to prove they can consume their entire feeding from either breast or bottle. So, that is what we are hoping for.