The babies biggest change is that they are now old enough to regulate their body temperature as a full term newborn would so they no longer need incubators! They are now in 'Babytherms' which provide some warmth from the mattress, but other than that they are pretty similar to normal hospital cots.
Both babies are being 'cycled off' CPAP and have a set time off the CPAP every twelve hours. Lilian is on 3 hours today and Jacob 2 hours. Lilian had built up to 4 hours a couple of days ago but the final hour was a little hard for her so the Doctor's decided to leave her at 3 hours for a few days. During the time off they are put onto a similar machine to high flow, but with a much lower air pressure.
Jacob is being fed 3-hourly, so he now matches Lilian. They both seem to have lost weight but it's difficult to say for certain as they have been weighed in different hospitals using a number of different scales. The Doctor's aren't too concerned with this as the babies look a healthy weight and all their figures look good. Jacob has had fortifier added to his milk though, like Lilian already has, as there have been some changes made to top-up fluids he was getting, so they want to be sure he can grow while feeding solely on milk.
Jacob's longline has been removed as our local hospital have stopped his TPN. He currently has a Cannulla in one of his hands for a drip of Sodium Chloride, which is to replace the salt he is losing. The Doctor's are looking to add this via his feeds in future (as all his other medications are now administered) so that they can remove his Cannulla too - it will be so nice for him to have both his arms free, and may stop him from potentially injuring the staff and Mummy and Daddy when he waves his arms around!
Here are some pics of the babies in their new environment - I managed to catch Jacob while he was being cycled off CPAP so he only has nasal prongs providing 'Low Flow' which is just a tiny amount of oxygen.
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| Jacob |
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| Lilian |
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