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Thursday, May 20, 2010

Week 3

This week the girls have really lived up to their NICU "label" : feeders and growers. Nothing very eventful, just learning to eat orally (am I @ work?) and getting bigger! Both girls have had a few apnea/heartrate drops mostly during feedings or shortly after. However they are not too concerned with these because they aren't sure if they are actually "spells" of bradycardia or just a drop because of reflux (I guess they can look the same). Nursing is going a little better...but still fluctuates from day to day...today was a great day, yesterday was terrible. Just hoping that the good days get a little more frequent. The girls are allowed to try feeding orally 3-4 times per day now, so the nurses try a bottle feeding overnight. Lailey is doing better than her sister, but still only takes about 1/2 of what she needs. The biggest event of this week was Lailey joining the 5lb club (which was actually in week 4, but close enough)!! As of today, Lailey weighs 5lbs 3oz and Kennedy weighs 4lbs 13oz! They have really packed it on this week :)

I have two showers to look forward to this weekend! It will be great to see everyone, since I really haven't been able to hang out with anyone since before (or outside of) the hospital! Even though I feel better and REALLY want to tackle cleaning the house and setting up the nursery, my body has decided its not ready yet :( Hopefully next week! I think the girls will be home in a few weeks- someone told me last week that they might be home in 1-2 more weeks, but I don't really believe that anymore...there's a lot of feeding/breathing things that need to be learned first! But, we'll be patient and the girls will let us know when they are ready!! Here are some new pictures (happy Natalie ;) ?? )

Kennedy in her big girl bed:

Lailey's 5lb club picture, doesn't she look excited?!?

Daddy's first bottle with Kennedy:

Lailey in her big girl bed:

Holding hands!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

WEEK 2

Its surprising to me that these girls have really only been on this earth for a little over two weeks! I was reading the last post and thinking, "Wow, I can't believe that was only last week." So much has changed (for the better!) since last week! First, Lailey's IV was completely removed. Saturday, I was home alone and got a phone call from the NICU at 9:30pm. I think my stomach dropped through the floor...however they were quick to say "everything is ok"! Phew- they were just moving the girls downstairs to the other NICU- they said that this NICU was where they moved babies that are stable, and it is the last step before sending them home! This NICU is on the 2nd floor (where I was for the past 2 months), so I get to visit all my nurse friends everyday :) When they moved the girls down, they moved Kennedy into a regular crib because she was maintaining her heat well. Lailey was moved down in her isolette, however they removed the heat to see how she would do. She was in her own crib by Monday evening! Now that they are maintaining heat and in cribs we can hold them as much as we want... Hooray! Drs discontinued the caffeine that both girls were receiving to prevent apnea spells and have not had any spells since that has happened ...knock on wood. Also, I have been attempting nursing with both girls during two of their feeding times. Now that I can drive, I can get to the hospital for their 8:30/9:00am feed, then Nick and I go up together for their 5:30/6:00 feed. We can only try nursing for two feeds a day for now because they burn up so much energy trying this new skill that if we tried any more, they would burn more calories than they take in. Neither girl is truly "nursing" as of yet, but we're trying! Lailey is doing better digesting her food and is tolerating the fortifiers which increase the calories of the breast milk. They attempted to increase the calories before, however she could not digest it and they has to go back down. She finally gained a little weight (2oz) and has plateaued around 4lbs6oz. Dr says if she doesn't gain by Monday, they will increase the calories again. Kennedy continues to gain weight and now weighs 4lbs3oz- Maybe Lailey is just waiting for her sister to catch up! Saw the nurse practitioner on Tuesday and she had said that if they remain apnea free and begin to eat orally and gain weight, that they may be able to go home within 2 weeks!

Lailey learning to suck her thumb:


Best Smile ever! (Kennedy)


High 5 daddy! (Lailey)


This week I also got to celebrate my first mothers day, which was absolutely amazing...It meant so much after these crazy/confusing/scary past few months!! Nick made me breakfast, we went up to the hospital, and went to Kyle's and Jen's. Nick's parents were able to come to the hospital and hold the girls too...Nick gave me a beautiful ring with the girls' names carved into it- a perfect present :) He also made a huge steak dinner on monday (which I have been craving since I was in the hospital) so I got a whole extra day of celebrating!

Kennedy and Nana:

Lailey and Pops:







Tuesday, May 4, 2010

HAPPY 1 WEEK B-DAY

Today the girls are 33 weeks, technically...or negative 7weeks old. For some reason this has seemed like a REALLY long week! I feel like they were born a month ago!

Kennedy is still doing great. She remained off the vent and hasn't needed any assistance breathing. She is still g-tube fed, but is at the max amount and was just increased a couple mL's because she has started to gain a little weight back. Her IV was removed completely a couple of days ago since she is tolerating feeds so well! I was able to observe the PT last week and she says that everything looks good so far (are there standards for negative 7 week old babies?).

Lailey is doing well too-she's had a few more complications than Kennedy, but nothing too serious. She stayed on the warming table thingy a few more days than Kennedy (who went into an isolette almost immediately), but is now in an isolette. She needed some photo therapy due to jaundice. She had on these super funny "shades" which looked like tinted swim goggles haha (that's right, we laughed at (with) a preemie baby with jaundice) they were sooo cute! We forgot the camera, but thought we could get a pic next time, since they told us she would need the light for a couple of days...however the next day, no sunglasses, no light needed anymore! Great news, but maybe they will put the goggles on her just for a photo op...is that mean? She also has had trouble digesting and they were not able to increase her feeds at all for awhile, but as of Monday, they have been able to increase them and she is almost at her max too! Hasn't gained weight yet, hopefully soon. She still has her IV, however they were able to remove the lipids that they were adding to it. They removed her vent after a few days and moved her to a C-Pap...she looked sooo uncomfortable :( After a day or so of that they moved her to a nasal cannula with forced air. They were going to do 6hrs with the cannula, 6hrs with C-Pap, but she was doing so well with the cannula that they decided to do 9hrs cannula, 3hrs Cpap. That didn't last long, and now she's just on the nasal cannula with forced air- no O2 added, just room air and she is tolerating this really well. The nurse even said that when she pulls the cannula out, her O2 stats don't drop, which is a great sign! Yesterday they even got her dressed for the first time :) This is good news, not only because its so cute, but it means they aren't watching her chest for signs of distressed breathing!

We have been doing "kangaroo care" with the girls everyday for an hour, which is the most wonderful hour of the day! The nurses always say they feel so mean putting them back to bed because they do so well during that hour! They can only be out of their isolettes for about an hour a day so this is the only time we can hold them. We have gotten to change their diapers (which may not sound like such a great thing to all you parents out there, but it is for us! ) and get Kennedy dressed a couple of times, other than that, we aren't allowed to do too much. Therefore, after a while of staring at them through the isolette, we wonder what to do?? We don't feel like leaving them, but we feel awkward hovering! So strange. Both girls also have started to suck on their pacifiers (Lailey sucks so loud you can hear it outside the isolette!), so hopefully their feeding tubes will be moved to their nose soon so we can start bottle/breast feeding, or at least practicing! Ok, I think that's it for now...we have started a journal so that we can write down specific information like weights and feed amts so that we can actually see the progress...we are told so many things that we'll get home and say "Wait, what did the nurse say about____?" So hopefully this will help us remember what day it is!!