Getting closer...

Well, the first half of the week seemed to be going very slow.  But, yesterday made up for it!

Brienna is now bottling whatever she wants, whenever she wants it, which is the end of the feeding program.  She's been doing very well with that and is still gaining weight.  Today, she is 5 lb, 3 oz.

Brooklyn is now bottling her full volume every three hours and will move to ad libitum (same as Brienna) tomorrow.  Brooklyn has been a little behind because she still needs to be paced quite a bit when she eats, otherwise she forgets to breathe.  Due to the pacing, she had been moving through the steps a little slower than Brienna.  Brooklyn currently weighs 5 lb, 9 oz.

They will have an apnea test performed on Sunday night-this was postponed from Thursday night because they were still having too many feeding-related spells.  We will get the results of the apnea test on Monday afternoon, and IF the tests come back OK, then they will send both girls home on Tuesday!  Both girls have occasional spells, so we're unsure what the result of the apnea test will be-they may need medication and/or apnea monitors.  If they are put on medication, that will likely mean an additional 5 days in the NICU. 

Both girls will also need to pass the "car seat test" on Monday, which involves sitting in a carseat for 90 minutes without any drop in heartrate or Oxygen levels.  We've been told that Brienna may need a special carseat, since she's still too small for her regular one.  We'll find out more on that on Monday.

Have a good weekend!