The NICU adventure begins

Beautiful Mia Natalie!

Jimmy feeding Jacob!

Melissa burping Mia!
Jacob being burped!

Since they are premature, Jacob and Mia will be spending some in the neonatal intensive care unit. Every three hours is "hands on" time. This is when the doctors and nurses do their checks on them and Jimmy and I can feed and hold them. Apparently this is the blessing in disguise of the NICU. It really gets them on a schedule. Their digestive systems are immature and they have had some difficulty moving the food from their stomach to their intestines. The nurses check their tummies before each feed to see if they have passed on their food. They suction what is in their tummy out through the feeding tube (in their nose). It all seems to have clicked in the past day and the docs have been increasing their feeds and reducing their IV nutrition. Hopefully in the next two days they will be off IVS completely. We are feeding them a combination of breast milk and formula, as they are still learning to suck. We aren't sure when they will come home as it all depends on them. They need to be taking all their feeds, gaining weight, and maintaining their body temperatures.