Kangeroo Cuddles... fun for all the family

The Huddlestons of Karori have a new favourite pastime; it's called Kangeroo cuddling. Apparently babies show vast benefit from regular "skin to skin" contact with their parents, so the NICU team have been very keen for us to get up close and personal with our beautiful girls. We've been loving this incredibly precious time with our babies for 6 days now, and it gets better and better.

It doesn't matter how stressed your world is, its impossible to spend 60-120 minutes with your baby snuggled on top of you without all of your cares drifting away. We've also had a chance to monitor their incredible progress from the closest viewpoint.

Olive has had a week of spectacular progress. You'll notice her CPAP (Continuous Passive Airway Pressure) "gas mask" is totally gone. It was phased out over a two day period, firstly replaced by the "Wellington" CPAP (which Eliza is currently sporting) which utilises much smaller probes into the nostrils instead of the full-on mask. She then began a trial phase with no airway assistance and has done so well it is staying off. So she is breathing by herself, clever girl!

In fact the only difference between her and a "normal" full term baby is that she has a tube to feed her milk through. All of the other wires you see in the photos are the monitoring equipment to measure her heart rate, respiratory rate and O2 levels.

All of this good news means that Megan and I are much more comfortable within ourselves that she is  not only growing into a healthy and happy girl, but also a very pretty one. We never doubted that, but I'm sure you'll agree it's easier to see that now.

If you think she looks a tad chubbier, you are right. She put on a whopping 70 grams overnight, and is just a shade under her birth weight and right on her expected growth curve. And all she has ever eaten is Megan's milk! Currently at a rate of 21mls every 2 hours.

Eliza too has made terrific progress this week. But as she started life a relatively behind her sister she does have a longer road to travel. She spent a couple of days under UV LED lamps to help correct her very plummy colouring. Apparently they help break down the surplus of red blood cells in her system (the result of her small share of the placenta).

Her colour has certainly improved, and she is delightfully interactive in the cuddles. She loves grabbing hold of fingers, chest hair (mine of course, ouch!) and flinging her legs all over the show. She is certainly the busier of the two.

Also her "long line" IV drip which went into her leg has been removed because like her sister, Mum's milk (13mls per 2 hours) is giving her all she needs to catch her sister up. Both babies hand IV drips are gone too. Her 28 grams overnight puts her at 928grams, and quickly closing in on the magic 1 kilo mark. Go Eliza Molly Go!

And what a present for us today. She also has graduated to the "Wellington" CPAP. This means we get to see her pretty face too - just like her sister's but a little smaller and still slightly rosier.

How good are my three girls then eh!