Buy One Get Two Free!: January 2014

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

4 months!

Woo hoo! 4 months old!

Spell watch update... Sammy made it to day 4 this weekend, so close! He is now on day 1. Elsie is on day 4, she could be home on Thursday! Danny is on a perpetual day 0. He is having lots of spells when he spits up, he has trouble clearing his airway and chokes. We are trying new things with his feeds to try to prevent this, but it really is maturity and learning to cough to clear out his airway.

Not much else to report, just working on breaking the kids out of the NICU. Here are some pics...

Danny

Sammy

Danny

Sammy

Elsie

Sammy

Danny

Elsie

Danny

Elsie

Our feeding process is nurse a baby, then top them off with a bottle of high calorie supplement. In this pic, I had nursed Sammy and Danny at once, topped off Sammy with a bottle, then put him on my shoulder to rest while I topped off Danny. Sammy slept for 10 min, then woke up and squirmed his way down to try to feed again. When he got there, he realized my shirt was in the way and is trying to pull down my shirt. Babies are smart little creatures.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

New growth!

All 3 babies had their eye exams and it was good news all around! The doctor said Sammy's eyes are showing lots of new growth and the blood vessels are sprouting new buds. We we so relieved to hear this. Not out of the woods yet, we still need to wait and see if all the new growth develops correctly, but very positive news. Danny's and Elsie' s eyes showed more improvement, the doctor said their eyes are almost at newborn status.

Weight check: Sammy is 8 lbs 3 oz. Danny is 8 lbs 2 oz. Elsie Mae is 7 lbs 5oz.

After several weeks of experimenting with rice cereal, tucker slings, and sitting up after feeding, Elsie and Danny were placed on reglan and zantac to ease their acid reflux. As much as I am resistant to put my babies on meds, I can say I already see a difference in just 2 days.

Hopefully this will be the final turning point and we can come home soon.

Sammy is on day 3 of a spell watch, so he could come home as early as Tuesday. Danny and Elsie were on day 0 when I left last night.

Here are some pics :)

Elsie

Sammy

Danny

Elsie

Elsie is filling out her jammies

Took a few pics of Danny while changing his diaper...

he is so expressive!

Elsie with her puke shield on

Sammy extra relaxed after eating

Danny is too milk drunk to burp

Love this outfit and love that it is getting too snug :)

Not sure who is sleepier, Daddy or Sammy...

Daddy and Danny

Danny propped up in his bouncy chair

Monday, January 20, 2014

The never ending spell watch

In the 5 days since the last post, we've been all over the place with spell watches. The babies start on day 0 and every day without a spell they go up until day 5, then we go home. Every time they have a spell, they return to day 0. Elsie has gotten to the last 48 hours, Sammy and Danny have both made it to day 2. As of today all babies are on day 0. We may never leave :)

Everybody has crossed the 7 lbs mark! Sammy is our best eater and now has 3 chins and weighs 7 lbs 10 oz. Danny takes in as much but spits out an ounce or so a day, bring him in at 7 lbs 5 oz. Elsie Mae, or as I affectionately call her 'pukey face' due to the astronomical amounts of spit she produces a day, is at 7 lbs 1 oz.

We had our first bout with meds this week. We have been very fortunate thus far not to have any babies on meds, but Sammy has some preemie hypertension (high blood pressure), and so they started him on a small daily dose to control it. They also mentioned medication for Elsie to help with her severe reflux. The poor girl wretches like she is gagging on a chicken bone and wears vomit like it's an accessory to her outfit.

Here are some pics :) You'll notice all babies live in bibs now. Each goes through almost half a dozen bib changes a day. And bibs are easier to wash (and not fold) than outfits. The end.

Sammy wears his bib over his face to block the light

Elsie during her swallow study

Danny

Mommy napping with Elsie

Elsie comforting Danny

Sammy

Sammy peeking at me

Tracey with Elsie and Danny

Elsie

Danny

Sammy

Elsie

Elsie rubbing Danny's head

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Happy Due Date!

Today is our official due date! The team of doctors, nurses, therapists gave us a singing card in celebration of reaching this big milestone, it put a huge smile on my face...I even danced a little :)

Now that Danny ditched his cannula, all 3 babies have clean faces with no tubes! It's great to see what our babies actually look like, since they have had items taped to their faces since birth.

I was so excited I told Barbara that I wanted to get a picture of all the babies together. This is not an easy task. And although I thought we were not successful at first, when I looked back on the array, there really are some funny shots. Barbara left for a well deserved vacation this week, and she won't be back before we go home. I won't lie, I cried all the way home on her last day. Our nurses have become our family, it is hard to imagine life without them.

Since Elsie has continued to have 1 or 2 spells a day, we are going for a swallow study this afternoon to try to pinpoint the origin of her reflux. This will help us decide on a course of action for treatment. This means Sammy has been bumped to the top spot for going home. They are transitioning him to the Neosure which is the going home supplement. Very exciting! I think we honestly still have 1-2 weeks. Sammy had no spell yesterday, but one today. It's back and forth.

Ok, here is our first try at a photo shoot. Danny was not happy because he hasn't pooped in a few days, Elsie was trying to eat Danny's arm because it was her care time, and Sammy doesn't have a care in the world...