Keeping Up with The Twins: 37 week update

The twins would have been at 37 weeks of gestation yesterday, which means they would have delivered sometime this week. Sounds about right, because they have matured to near-term babies' size; Austin is at 6 lbs, 5 oz. (near the birth weight of his mom), and Malia is at 5 lbs, 5 oz. So with Austin at home we're all still getting used to his routines, which will serve as a mini-trial for the full throttle parenting rigors that are to kick in when Malia makes it home.

Austin has been in tow with us for most of our errands, including visits to Hoag to see Malia. The nurses love seeing him as a NICU visitor rather than a patient. Overall he's been pretty manageable through the nights, although he was a bit irritable on Saturday night due to his Friday vaccination... poor little guy! The doctor's visit revealed also has a bit of an inguinal hernia that will likely require a surgery at some point when he's a little bigger, but he's otherwise doing very well and gaining weight steadily.

Malia is still a bit of a slow-go, but she's certainly not losing any ground on Austin. They have her on a 30 calorie supplement in her feedings, which may be the culprit in stopping her up and not pooping for 4 days. We were glad to hear that she finally worked it out last night and bombed a 78g load (nearly 3 oz.)! After Austin's scare we don't like to see them go that long, but it's better that they work it out without intervention. Because of her growth, the nutritionist has approved taking her back down to the 22 calorie supplementation (what Austin is also on). She's still inconsistent with her feeding stamina, but she's certainly getting better. Lately she has been stringing together 3 or 4 full feeds, but then peters out on the next one or two. It's not really a setback, as we don't want her to come home too soon. But it does seem as though she's edging her way closer to getting out of there soon, although there's no way to say exactly how soon.

Now some pictures...