We have spent 7.5 weeks in the NICU, and we have about the same till we can come home! And although the days fly by, it feels like we are standing still in time. Miguel said he felt like we missed Fall, since we get up early and go to the hospital and return home after dark. We see the leaves on the ground, but skip over the whole process. Here's to hoping we miss Winter and I wake up and it's Spring. :)
Baby news: Sammy hit 3 lbs yesterday! Now all babies can work toward a new goal of 4 lbs. Now that they are really filling out, it's exciting to dress them in their adorable preemie clothes everyday. It even makeshift doing ridiculous amounts of laundry tolerable :)
New regime change this week at the hospital. Out with Dr. Bliss, Anoob(Fellow) and Ellie (Resident), in with Dr. Kessler and his crew. This doctor specializes in respiratory, so we are excited to benefit from his expertise and move the trips off this vent level to hopefully a high flo nasal cannula. We made weans on all their settings yesterday already so he is wasting no time getting to know them before he challenges them to breathe more on their own. This is super awesome in my eyes, because when they move off the CPAP to high flo we should be able to move all 3 back into the same room and reunite Elsie with her brothers.
This week has seen lots of visitors who love to hold babies! Here are some pics from this week so far...
Elsie's new blanket
Daddy holding Danny
Elsie holding her binkie
Auntie Anne holding Sammy
Auntie Betty holding Elsie
Cousin Susanne holding Danny
Mommy holding Danny
Danny passed out
Elsie sleeping on Mommy
Elsie napping
Danny during care time
Vavo holding Sammy
Mommy getting some knitting time in while snuggling my girl
Sammy showing off only using 21% oxygen (that is the same as room air)!
It really is astonishing to think we have been here for 7 weeks. We just keep chugging along...
Babies are getting spoiled getting some extra holding time in with visitors
Vavo holding Danny
Pedro holding Sammy
Our new medical term for the day for all you blogettes is bradycardic. By definition it means when your heart rate slows below 60 beats per minute, or a fainting spell. A preemie heart rate is usually between 140 and 180 beats per minute, so when they 'brady', their heart rate falls so much that their premature bodies can't self recover, leading to no heart rate and therefore no oxygen being pumped through their body. Our NICU nurses are in the isolette within seconds stimulating the baby with back rubbing, talking loudly, turning on the bright lights, lifting the baby to a sitting position, anything that makes the baby's brain wake up and tell its heart to start beating again. These methods are usually very effective, and are commonly used a few times a day per baby at this age. We are told that around 35 weeks their brains will be developed enough to know to breathe and keep their heart beating and these spells should fade.
That being said, we had a bit of a harrowing day yesterday. A reminder that although we have been here 7 weeks, and in the grand scheme of things the trips are doing well, we are not out of the woods yet. The nurse had to call a 'staff assist' on Danny today for an extended brady he was not bouncing back from. She hit a button on the wall that basically summons every doctor, nurse, and respiratory person to the room. Within 6 seconds there were 15 people racing through the door to assist. Watching them bag his lifeless body until it is bright red with oxygen saturation is nothing a mother wants to see. He recovered and did well for the rest of the day.
OK, back to the happy stuff. We decorated the babies' isolettes with pictures of Mommy, Daddy, Yoshi, Emmie and each of their brothers and sister. Now when they are laying on their backs they can see their family :)
I got to do kangaroo care with both Danny and Sammy today. This was awesome. That multiple bond everyone talks about is definitely the real deal. I held them for 2.5 hours. The first 2 hours they couldn't get enough of each other, touching and cuddling. Then at the 2 hour mark, Sammy planted both hands on Danny's face and pushed himself in the other direction. He'd had enough of that. Here are some pics.
Yaaa! Double breasted!
At first they crossed arms and got close
Then they got a little closer
Then they face planted and stayed like that for almost 30 minutes breathing off each others nasal cannulas :)
During their cuddles, Danny reached out and put an arm over Sammy <3
Sammy looking all cozy next to his brother
The first few seconds they were reunited
Holding hands
Here is a video. Sorry it is upside down, that is the angle I could see their hands. Listen to hear their breathing syncs up and stays in rhythm.
Let's not forget Miss Elsie and the rest of the pics from the last few days :)
Passed out
Egg Roll Elsie
Danny keeping an eye on me
Mommy and Vavo holding babies
Sammy is a polar bear! Thanks Michelle!
3 generations
I'm dancing like the monkey on my shirt!
Danny says I'm a penguin! Thanks Michelle!
Danny is a Monkey..he can't decide what animal he likes best
Sammy is now on CPAP like Elsie. Although everyone is off the vent, they have 2 choices when they go to breathing on their own...CPAP or NIMV. NIMV gives a little extra support compared to CPAP, and both the boys needed that extra support to come off the vent. So now Elsie and Sammy are on CPAP and Danny will hopefully get there in a week or so. One more step in the right direction.
The one thing Danny is leading the charge on is weight...can we say 3 lbs 1 oz!!! Woot woot! Elsie weighed in at 2 lbs 15.8 oz. Really? .2 oz to get to 3 lbs...that is 6 measly grams. So I told her she couldn't poop tonight, she had to hold it until after her weigh in first thing in the morning :)
Now that the babies are getting a little more stable, and their weights are coming up, we were able to let the grandparents do some holding. Needless to say, both grandmothers were giddy with joy to hold Elsie. Hopefully they can get in some Sammy and Danny snuggles soon as well.
Several people have given us some preemie clothes (both new and used) and we would just like to repeat our thank yous here on the blog. Not having to run out and shop, and now having an assortment of both boy and girl preemie clothes to get us through our NICU stay is a huge help. So thank you thank you thank you!
The babies had their first eye exams today. In general, fetus eyes take 50 weeks to develop, and that is why newborn term babies still have blurry vision the first 10 weeks of life. Well with preemies, most of their retina hasn't developed so they do this eye test now at 31 weeks to get a baseline at where their blood vessels are in the retina. They will repeat the test every 2 weeks to make sure their eyes continue to be on the proper development track. So no bad news today with the baseline test. And no news is good news as they say.
Another notable event, another triplet mom gave birth today at the hospital. I met her on our triplet group facebook page, and she welcomed a BBG trio today at 33 weeks with all babies in the high 4 lbs! Woah! That's like giants compared to my peanuts. Congrats to the Fennell family for their beautiful new additions.
Oh, did I mention I got to hold both Sammy and Danny at the same time today? Thought I would save the best for last...
Mommy holding Danny and Sammy
Sammy kept trying to lift his head and check out Danny
Sammy says 'Ok mom, take my picture'
Ok Mom- no more pictures
The tape on her tube is wrinkling her face all up
Oh look an ELsie shirt sandwich
Grammy holding Elsie Mae
Danny in his new footie PJs
Sammy looking at Mommy
Vova holding Elsie Mae
She is wrapped so tight it is like a flat pancake
Sammy resting
Danny and his binkie - BFFs
Daddy getting some Elsie cuddles
Mommy and Danny
Mommy and Sammy
Mommy and Elsie
My Shampooch customer Lynne and her dog Pooky bought us these gorgeous embroidered blankets! Love them!!!
