Progress...

Both girls have now progressed to wearing clothes. They have lots of cute, tiny clothes, and we were starting to think they'd never get to wear them. But both are totally unhooked from all tubes and lines now, Rowan got her IV out last night. Also the temperatures in their incubators are being turned down gradually, so that we can see if they can regulate their body temperatures. Up until now, they have been, as Chris puts it "cold blooded little creatures..." We think they look more like babies, rather than preemies, every day. And the clothes definitely help. In the photos, Rowan is on the left, Saoirse is on the right. You'll also notice that there are no white patches on Saoirse's head anymore. Those were velcro stickers that her little cloth glasses stuck to. She had to wear the glasses when she was in her bed, because of the bilirubin lights. But now she's free! No velcro stickers anymore.

Both girls are working valiantly on eating. Who knew getting babies to eat could be so difficult? Each girl is now getting 40 ml per feeding, every 3 hours around the clock. Saoirse has been drinking her bottles on her own for more than a week now. Rowan, on the other hand, finds eating to be quite a challenge. She sucks pretty intermittently, tires easily, and spits a lot out. All of this is normal for a preemie, but it means she needs some work before she gets to come home. So she still has an NG tube (the little tube in her nose) so that when she can't finish her meal they can put the breastmilk in her belly directly.