Three Steps Forward - Two Steps Back

First - let me say that I really do love the people over at the Duke Special Infant Care Clinic. They are very sweet and will do just about anything for you. They genuinely seem to care for the girls and always seem happy to see us. They have been very encouraging and I really do enjoy seeing them and talking to them when we visit.

BUT - I'm beginning to feel like every time we visit the SICC, we take two steps back. We always seem to be doing pretty well when we show up. Then, they give us a new idea or new instruction and next thing you know, we are going backwards.

Our newest setback involves, as always, feeding. We have been doing really good. The girls have been taking 80mls about 80% of the time. The visits to the pediatrician showed great weight gain. We were quite excited. I will admit that the girls have been throwing up a bit more. I thought it was due to the increased volume and we not burping well. Sometimes, we knew it was our fault. There were definately times when we would try to force down the last few mls and we would cause them to gag and throw up. The girls have also been choking a little bit with their feeds. It sort-of comes and goes really. There were a few days when they were doing really, really well not choking. Then they would have a few days of difficulty.

Well, when I shared all this with Amanda (the Speech Therapist who is really the sweetest thing ever), she was concerned - especially with the choking. Her suggestion was to start using the #2 Dr. Brown nipple instead of the #3 nipple. The #2 nipple is slower. Okay. We'll try it.

Well, once again, it's been a disaster. The girls just can't suck hard enough to drink enough. Since using the #2, they've had less 400mls per day. That is no where near enough. So, once again, we had scrapped the doctor-prescribed plan and gone back to what works - the #3 nipple. For the last two feeds, they have eaten much better. We will be more careful and try to keep them from choking as much.

Other than that, the visit was good. Abby even made the growth curve! She's now at 10%. Natalie is almost on the curve. Abby weighed in at 11.8lbs and Natalie 10.5lbs. They are getting longer too. Abby is 22.5 inches and Nat 22 inches even.

Also on the good side, the clinic was able to give us lots of free cans of Neosure formula. They also included two coupons for two frees CASES of formula. With my milk production still woefully low, this really comes in handy.

I really do love the doctors, ST, and support staff at the clinic. But, it really seems like each trip becomes an exercise in futility.

Well, it's 12:30am and I hear babies grunting on the monitor. It's time to make the donuts:-)