Thursday, April 2, 2009

What a ride....

The last couple weeks have been absolutely crazy. With everything going on, it seems like the last couple weeks have flown by. Going from the absolute terror of vision loss in Blake, to astounding highs with their move to canula, crib, all the extra holdings, real baths, and the latest good news of completely successful eye surgery. And that wasn't the last.

Dr. Su called me yesterday evening to congratulate me on Blakes wonderful eye exam. He also told me that the twins were telling them that they were ready to try bottle feeding.
Arguably the biggest thing that has kept Kim and I grounded and focused on the positive has been our focus on the upcoming milestones. This whole time, we were told that they needed to be on canula with a flow rate of less that 2 liters (that just measured the amount of air going into their nose). Right now we are at 3L and it'll probably be a gradual reduction, so we were not expecting bottle feeding for another week or two.
Several of the nurses have been commenting that the twins have been rooting (sucking on the pacifier) so well that they doubt that they'd have any problems with bottle feeding. Sooooo Dr. Su and the rest of the Dr's decided to take the somewhat unorthodox move and let them try bottles while still on high flow canula. One of the other Dr.'s came from a NICU where they would bottle feed while kids were still on CPAP and they had great success (as long as the kiddo was ready), and our twins seem to be telling them that they are ready for some bottles.
Sooooooo.... today will be a BIG day as the speech therapist will attempt bottle feeds with Jenna at 1:30pm & Blake at 2:30pm. The speech therapist will also evaluate how well they take to the nipple and if there are any skills that they/we need to work with them on. I'm stuck at work, but mom will be on hand to witness this momentous occasion. She's also be armed with camera to take lots of pics and video. My work project was just postponed, so I'm seriously considering sneaking out of work to be with my lil bundles of joy. It's sooooo hard to be away from them for any length of time. :(

Another thing that is just too good to be true; now that they are on canula airway (which is MUCH less restrictive) we can pretty much handle and hold them as much as they can tolerate. So we can roll into the bay, say our greetings to the nurses, and just pluck them out of their crib and hold them. It seems like every day we are getting closer to being "normal" parents. It's a good feeling. :)
While we have had some really great news in the last few days, we have learned our lesson when it comes to being complacent and too comfortable in their progress. We really are enjoying all the great milestones they've reached, but remain aware that at any min things in the NICU can change drastically. With every good day, comes more health and more good days, however there are still some challenges that lie ahead. The first and biggest is taking to bottle feeding, then there is always the possibility of an infection, NEC, food digestion, breathing issues, etc. While the chances of complications goes down every day, they are still present and we can not forget that. But..... in the mean time we will bask in their success and enjoy every minute we get to spend with them.

Here are the stats.
Jenna: She's gaining on her lil brother. 4lb 13oz!!!
Blake: Still holding a lead, albeit a shrinking one. 4lb 15oz! He's ready to break into 5lb territory.
Earlier this week, Kim and I speculated on when they would break the 4lb barrier.
I said Fri, but probably Sat. Kim said Sat. Looks like he may surpass both our expectations (as usual).
I thought Jenna would hit 5lb Sun, probably Monday. Kim though Monday. Looks like she may prove us wrong as well.

I just got an update from Kim.
Dr. Su decided to begin weaning them off canula support a little bit. He's moving them from 3liters to 2liters. They normally drop by 1/2 liter increments, but he feels that they are doing great and that they can handle the change pretty easily. They made the change this morning at 9am and the kids have been doing fantastic.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to hear, Jason. I'm sure I speak for the rest of the team when I say it's great that things are much better for you this weekend. We'll miss you in MW, but have fun with the kids!

Gabe

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Sounds like the kiddos are going into the home stretch! So glad to hear that you are all doing well!
Melissa and Chris