The boys were still getting phototherapy throughout the day. We were then surprised by some more positive test results from Ben indicating he was able to come out from under the lights. Since he was off the lights, we were finally able to remove his eye/face mask. This was the first time that we could get a really good look at them. The nurse decided this was a good time to give the boys their first bath. Giving a bath in an incubator is not exactly easy or fun, but it does a nice job of keeping the baby warm while you fumble around as a new parent. Cody took the lead mostly because he enjoys being first at everything.
Here is Cody washing Alex. The first step is getting these little dry cloths wet and dripping water over the baby. Of course, you start at the cleanest parts and work your way to dirty parts. Cody is dripping water over Alex's face and head.
Once they are wet, you can use water with soap and additional cloths. There is just a waterproof pad under him to catch whatever water was dropped. They really handled it quite well. You dry the body parts off with burp cloths as you move your way down the baby to keep them warm.
Here is Ben getting his hair cleaned. He was not super happy with it, but it gave us a good chance to see his pretty eyes begging us for mercy. I was mostly taking the pictures, but we did do this together. I stood on the other side of the incubator working with Cody.
Day 4:
Today we got to do Kangaroo Care again. This is basically skin to skin time to help calm the baby and to help the mom's milk supply. It was the first time that we were able to get Ben out to be held. I held Alex and Cody held Ben. They have you take your shirt off so you can get the real skin to skin benefits. I'm not usually rocking the hospital gown nowadays, but I'll do it to hold my boy.
Here is me and Alex:
I didn't get a picture of Cody doing the Kangaroo Care because I was already sitting with Alex, but the nurse took one of us for the NICU. Here is a picture of a picture sitting on my counter, so it is not very good... but it is cute. They got us a second recliner so we could talk to each other while we held the babies.
They are still hooked up to the monitors while you do this. It can make holding them difficult, but you just have to work around the wires and stuff. They did really well in general. Their alarms went off a couple of times, but it was usually because their positioning got in the way of one of the monitors. Cody had no hesitation about holding and manipulating Ben. They were snoozing together on the recliner in no time. They both slept with their mouth open and drooling. At one point, Alex's monitors started really going off, so Cody jumped up and got Ben back in his incubator and was dealing with Alex before I could even prop myself up. He is proving to be a very involved and helpful dad.
Overall, they are doing very well. They are on all room air, which is a big deal. The problem requiring the phototherapy is pretty much over, but it is very common in babies, even in full term babies. They are having some minor feeding issues, but nothing that is unexpected. They are hoping that my milk helps with some of the problems and a little maturity fixes the rest.
I am doing okay. I'm having quite a bit more pain. It feels like the front of my body is going to melt off. It doesn't help that my milk is starting to come in, so things are even crazier here. I am getting discharged tomorrow, so we start a whole new part of our journey. I don't know how we'll be here for the boys, but we'll do what we can.
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