Rub a Dub

Today's quick stats:

MILO

Weight - 4 lbs 14 ozs (2.21 kilos for you metric types)

Oxygen - nasal cannula, 4 litre volume (decreasing soon hopefully), 26 - 30 percent

Feeds - 43 mls breast milk w/Prolacta every 3 hrs along w/ an electrolyte supplement

MADDY

Weight - 4 lbs 6 ozs. (1.985 kilos)

Oxygen - nasal cannula, 2 litre volume, 22-26% (every so often 21%!)

Feeds - 40 mls breast milk w/ Prolacta every 3 hrs.

Elaine has bathed the babies a couple times now, but yesterday was the first day that Dad was an active participant -- instead of just acting as the staff photographer. That's not for lack of wanting -- the problem is that Dad has hands like catcher's mitts, fingers like sausages, and the dexterity of a rhino -- a blind, deaf rhino. Yes, all attached to that skinny body. That means when you're looking to perform a delicate operation quickly (such as bathing a premature baby with a lot of gizmos attached), you probably want someone else. But, now that the babies are getting a little more durable, Dad can be trusted (mostly and with supervision). So how'd Dad do? Passable.

Dad bathes Milo with help from Aneko.

Washing Milo's back and bottom.

Dad's general impression is that bathing a baby is akin to wrestling a small, very fragile, greased pig. They're stronger than you think, they generally don't like being put in the water, they squirm like heck, and they taste like bacon (just kidding -- chicken actually). Add to all this the fact that the babies have their nasal cannula and feeding tubes, and you've got delicate mayhem. To keep the babies warm, the nurses prepare a bath with water at 100 degrees, and there is also a nice warming lamp present. Once all the preparations were complete, we delicately placed Milo in his bath where he immediately peed. We've decided to spare you all the photos of that fun, but we will save them so we can embarrass him when he's a teenager.

Maddy post-bath and pulling Daddy's finger.

In other news... You may have noticed above that Milo is getting an electrolyte supplement in his breast milk -- basically the neonatal equivalent of Gatorade. Unfortunately, the little guy is having a tough time shedding all the fluid he's retaining while keeping up his essential minerals. The eminent Dr. Tannenbaum, who treats our little sprouts these days (and knows funny when she sees it!) has been working on striking the right balance with Milo. The problem goes something like this: retaining extra fluid can cause Milo to have to work harder to breath and is generally just not so great for him. To fix it, the doc gives him diuretics, which help him to excrete (i.e., tinkle out) the extra fluids. But, the more Milo pees, the more his essential electrolytes go along for the ride. For now, the strategy is to get his electrolytes back in balance and as he continues to recover from his PDA surgery (remember that?) he should have an easier time eliminating the fluids.

By the way, the twins turn ten weeks old -- 35 weeks corrected age -- on Sunday.

Milo (right) snoozes with little sister.