good news.

Well. I talked to Dr.T today and he told me Charlie would be coming home Wed!!! I had originally planned for Tues, but they did not inform me until today of an eye appt the boys have Wed morning. So he will stay for that and as soon as thats over we get to go home!! And I am not rooming in. I decided I'd had enough hospital time. Im starting to like going less and less. I'll have to make more of an effort when Charlie is home and Brady is still there.
They took Brady off his canula today, and it stuck. They took him off yest and he had to be put back on again. Dr.T said we would talk more about Brady's discharge on Wed. assuming everything goes well until then.
They are getting their circumsized this week! We will still have to take Charlie to have his hernia repaired but thats down the road 9 mos - 1 yr.
Charlie is weighing 4 lb 8 oz. and Brady is 4 lb. 10 oz (?). Im not 100% on Brady's weight, but its close enough. Anyways. more updates when Charlie's home. Merry Tuesday.

Disappointment.

So Brady is not coming home this week. He ended up desating before they did his car seat test, due to reflux. They started him on prevacid to help with the reflux. He has now had 4 doses (it usually starts working around doses 4 to 6) and the reflux is getting better. When they started the prevacid they had to put him on 25% O2 to keep his level up. Jessica (their fav nurse) said she was going to try to wean him down to 21% today. Hopefully he will do well.
Charlie is great and if he takes all his feeds well today they will possibly do his car seat test tomorrow, which is the final thing we need, before rooming in to go home. I had a meeting with the dr yesterday and he foresaw a maximum of 7-10 days before they would be able to go home. So Im still hoping to have a baby home before Monday if Charlie stays with the program. Im not getting my hopes up this time, like I did with Brady on this past Monday. We are baby ready! And its driving me nuts that I dont have them home!

Quick update.

So Charlie is breastfeeding! Yay! He is nipple-ing (bottle) all his feeds. Tomorrow I will attempt breastfeeding both boys at the same time! My mom did this and was very successful - I hope I have the same luck.

Both are out of the isolette's, that happened on Friday. They are doing well. As of yesterday they told me Brady would be coming home this week. He was supposed to do his car seat test today, but some minor stuff happened so I think they may try for tomorrow. I have a meeting with the neo tomorrow at noon. They said (yesterday - tomorrow may be diff) if they pass their cart seat test they can go home! Discharge class is tomorrow at 6! Hopefully both boys can come home this week! That would be amazing! They are both doing so well. I freaked out and had to run out and buy some little things, like the travel set of baby wash and some bottles, just in case they are home before the shower on Sunday. My next post should have some pics of the boys at home!!

Breast feeding.

Yay! I was able to breastfeed Brady for the 2nd time today! He did great! Brady is bottle feeding 6 times a day, and the nurse said they might up him to all feedings with the bottle tomorrow (he eats 8 times a day). Charlie is up to 3 times a day with the bottle. He was stuck on 1 bottle a day for a while, and has recently been doing very well. Hopfeully he will go up to 4 feedings tomorrow, then on to 6 times and we can start breastfeeding.

Both boys should be coming out of the isolette's shortly. Brady is up to 1806 grams (3 lbs. 15 oz.) and Charlie is 1764 grams (3 lbs. 14 oz.) The limit to come out of the isolette is 1800 grams but they have to be maintaining their temperature, when the isolette is set to 28.0 degress Celcius. Brady's is set to 28.5 Celcius and Charlie is at 28.0. So if Charlie gains weight and Brady's isolette temp goes down they will be able to co-bed. Any day now! They are almost through the NICU!

Bottle feeding.

Today the boys got their first bottle!! They both did very well. They each get 29 ml. of 26 calorie breastmilk (they have to add extra calories to the breastmilk to make it 26). Brady took 21 ml. and Chalrie took 20 ml - on their own! The rest was administered through their feeding tubes. They both had no brady's or desat's! They did so well! We are so proud! The dr. said they are doing very well and the nurse practitioner hinted she thought they would definitely be home before May 10 - their original due date.

Brady was taken off his nasal canula today as well. They had taken him down to .5 liters yesterday and was able to come off today. Charlie is on 1.5 liters and should be off his canula in the next couple days. Charlie weighs 3 lb. 4 oz. and Brady is 3 lbs. 9 oz. They are definitely growing! We've set Sunday, April 19 as our Baby Shower date. It's getting close, soon they will be home!

1 month in the NICU

Happy 1 month Birthday boys! As of yesterday, Sat Mar 14, our boys are 1 month old! It coincides with my cousin Ashley & Cory's Wedding, which was a nice get away for us. The boys are doing very well, still on the nasal canula's but hopefully they will be coming home soon. They both weigh a little under 3 lbs but are doing very well and are gaining weight every day. They have come a long way in such a short amount of time. I cant wait for them to come home!



Jeff and Charlie

Me and Brady


Charlie


Charlie


Jeff and Brady

3 weeks ago from this Saturday.

Well I suppose I should officially update this thing.

Its official. The boys are here! Born on Feb 14 2009 Valentines Day! at 27 weeks 6 days gestation. I developed severe pre-eclampsia and was no longer able to provide a healthy environment for them.

Brady Lee was 2 lbs. 12.75" long
Charlie Duane was 1 lb. 14 oz. 13" long

They are currently in the NICU.
We have had ups and downs but currently they are doing great and the nurses say they are very strong. They are off the ventilators and on to the CPAP things. They are like a nasal canula only the nose phalanges are longer and stick into nose more (which bothers them - they are constantly sneezing because it tickles their nose). After they are off these they will probably switch to a regular canula for extra oxygen even though they are on 21% which is room air (or so they tell me). Sometimes the boys have apnea and forget to breathe on their own so they will have a desaturation and thats where the oxygen comes in handy. Often they will pull the CPAP's out and sometimes the nurses wont hear an alarm, which means they are doing well on their own.
I have held both boys, and we are now able to kangaroo care (skin to skin) with the boys twice a week for now. Its absolutely amazing to hold them! We just took some pictures tonight so I will get that on here as soon as we get them uploaded. Lisa came up to the hospital the day after they were born and took some great photos. You can check those pics out on her Blog.
They are both still on TPN (Total Parental Nutrition) that helps give them extra calories throught their PICC lines. They are also receiving breastmilk through an orange tube that goes down to their stomachs. The next goal is to get them on relying on breastmilk wholely for their nutrition so they can take the PICC lines out, as well as to wean them off the CPAP's which I feel at this point could happen any day. The NP told me tonight that they kind of are dragging their feet at taking them off the CPAP's because they dont want to do it too soon. Luckily they are not on too much oxygen for it to cause additional problems.
The first week or so was more hectic and roller coastery. They have stopped causing so many problems and it looks like both boys are getting more healthy every day!