Another busy day...it's getting a bit redundant to even say this -- with four kids under 3, most days are going to be beyond busy!
Caitlyn and Mama headed off to the hospital for 8:30 today (well it was supposed to be for 8 but traffic had other ideas) in order to meet the Occupational Therapist. Donna the OT came to observe Emily and Heather feeding. Emily was up first and, after some questions to Mama and checking out Emily's soother skills, she took to the milk. Emily did a great job of showing Donna some of the challenges she has with the bottle. Overall, Donna recommended that Emily has a good and strong suck however, this overpowers her ability to swallow at this point and she chokes. With some careful coaching, Mama learned some great skills to help Emily pace her feeding better. In the end, she did well but the whole exercise was very exhausting. Lucky for Emily, she had her sister Caitlyn to cuddle up to in the crib and fell right to sleep.
Heather's turn resulted in a similar evaluation. She too has a very powerful suck however, her ability to manage the amount of milk she gets with that suck is just too much and she 1) spits a lot of it out and/or 2) chokes. For both Heather and Emily, the challenges, most often, result in them having a very low heart-rate and/or low oxygen levels - both equally exhausting and uncomfortable for them. Again, Mama worked with the OT to learn how to feed Heather in a safer manner. Both girls did great. Mama was given a mission to go out and find a very "slow-flow" bottle-nipple - and was advised of the type and brand to look for. We're to try this for both girls until they mature a bit more and can tolerate a faster flow. Donna also recommended that all three girls be seen by the OT at the Children's Hospital once they have all come home....this will provide some good follow-up and make sure Mama and Papa's technique is on track.
The remainder of the day was equally busy - Caitlyn had another eye appointment to (again) check her eyes for complications of prematurity. So far all is well however we have to go yet again in a couple of weeks. We were assured this is standard operating procedure in this age group (30 weekers etc).
All the girls are gaining great weight - Heather continues to lead her sisters and has really started to mount some nice baby fat reserves -- chubby legs, cheeks, chin -- very cute. Emily thinks Heather is very cute too and expresses this daily through her attempts to suck on Heather's nose!
Jennifer is great - had a wonderful morning with Papa and a relaxing afternoon with Mama. She's getting back on track with her napping and bedtimes - thank goodness for small blessings :-)
Until tomorrow....
Jan
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