Day 6

Yesterday (Friday) I was released from the hospital. Unfortunately, we had to leave without our babies. It was very hard for us but we know that they are being well taken care of. The day before we had been told that Cooper was going home with us but over the night he had what they called a "minor blip" that is keeping him in NICU for five more days. He was having trouble with sucking, breathing and swallowing all at the same time while he was eating. His oxygen level would dip very low while he was eating. They explained that babies learn these skills during the 36th week in the womb and that both Cooper and Chloe still needed more time to learn them. The nurses showed us how to monitor their stats while feeding them so we would know when to slow their intake of the bottle down. It's going very well. Cooper is up to eating 40 to 50 cc's and he has improved greatly over the last two days. He's very alert and looking around while we are feeding him. We are truly enjoying our time with him. As of this morning, Chloe was still in the "tanning bed" for the jaundice, still had the nasal aspirator and feeding tube. We feed her one bottle per day and the rest of the time she receives the milk through her feeding tube. She is doing really well digesting the food. She is up to 12 to 15 cc's of milk. Last night, I prayed that we would see one less thing taped to her face this morning. When we got there the doctor hadn't come around yet but the nurse told us that her jaundice level went down and that her stats stay the same each time she takes her nasal aspirator out :) so she thought maybe the doctor would take her off both. I'm hoping that when we go back up there for the 5:00 feeding time that my prayer might be answered.

Here are a few pictures from this morning's visit of Cooper. We didn't get any of Chloe. She has the eye shades on so you can't really see her adorable face. I will definitely be taking LOTS of pictures this evening if the shades are gone!