Called in to check on the lil ones and spoke with Anna.
Today has been a pretty chill day for the twins. Not much going on; which translates into a pretty good day.
Jenna only had one Apnea. All her other stats are pretty much the same.
Mid 30's on her O2. Still at 5.7cc's on her feeds.
This morning Jenna had her eyes wide open while she checked out the world around her. She was also pretty active and squirming around.
Blake is pretty similar. He's in the low 30's on O2. 3.7cc's on feeding. Not much to report.
The Dr. (Dr. Su) hasn't made rounds yet, so hasn't set forth today's orders on feeds or CPAP settings yet.
Both of them have had a very uneventful day.
Right now, they are in the "boring" phase of the NICU, as some people tend to call it.
They aren't really going for any huge milestones right now, just growing, eating more, & staying healthy. Because of that, some of our posts may in turn be rather boring.
But that's ok; we don't like Drama around our house, so this works out well for us. :)
Anyway; hope everyone else is having as good a day as we are!
-J
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Some Tue night snuggles
Just got back from visiting the kiddo's.
They were so cute tonight. Both of them were in exactly the same position, all snuggled up.
Jenna had a Brady right as we walked into the bay, but she quickly recovered on her own. Heather said she had already had another one in the hour she was there. Sooooo unfortunately she wasn't behaving enough to gain a lil outside time. Mom was sad, but we both understand that she needs to be in a good state in order to handle the stress of being moved around and out of her isolette.
So, we just sat with her and watched her sleep.
Blake was doing pretty much the same thing except he didn't had any A's & B's.
Deena said Blake seemed stable enough to give Kangaroo care a shot. This was Blake's second outing and the first time mom got to hold him & she was glowing!
He did pretty good. He didn't d sat and seemed very comfortable after we got all settled in.
Him and mom had about 15min of snuggle time before he was tuckered out and ready to rest again.
Both of them have been doing very good with their breathing. Both are down into the low 30's on their O2.
Jenna gained back an oz and is at 1lb 15oz. Sun she measured in at 12.25 inches long. She's still on the same amount of feeding.
Blake gained another oz and BROKE THE 2LB MARK!!!! Whooo Hoooo
Their weight has been fluctuating a bit, so he'll probably hover around this weight for a couple more day before putting this milestone behind him. Still an awesome thing though!
He measured in at a stringy 13.25 inches. He's grown quite a bit since his grand entrance.
His feeds remain the same.
We are very thankful for another good day. Hopefully we can string about 30 more like this one. ;-)
They were so cute tonight. Both of them were in exactly the same position, all snuggled up.
Jenna had a Brady right as we walked into the bay, but she quickly recovered on her own. Heather said she had already had another one in the hour she was there. Sooooo unfortunately she wasn't behaving enough to gain a lil outside time. Mom was sad, but we both understand that she needs to be in a good state in order to handle the stress of being moved around and out of her isolette.
So, we just sat with her and watched her sleep.
Blake was doing pretty much the same thing except he didn't had any A's & B's.
Deena said Blake seemed stable enough to give Kangaroo care a shot. This was Blake's second outing and the first time mom got to hold him & she was glowing!
He did pretty good. He didn't d sat and seemed very comfortable after we got all settled in.
Him and mom had about 15min of snuggle time before he was tuckered out and ready to rest again.
Both of them have been doing very good with their breathing. Both are down into the low 30's on their O2.
Jenna gained back an oz and is at 1lb 15oz. Sun she measured in at 12.25 inches long. She's still on the same amount of feeding.
Blake gained another oz and BROKE THE 2LB MARK!!!! Whooo Hoooo
Their weight has been fluctuating a bit, so he'll probably hover around this weight for a couple more day before putting this milestone behind him. Still an awesome thing though!
He measured in at a stringy 13.25 inches. He's grown quite a bit since his grand entrance.
His feeds remain the same.
We are very thankful for another good day. Hopefully we can string about 30 more like this one. ;-)
Tuesday
Jason worked from home today so we got a morning visit in together this morning. When we got there and peeked in at Blake, he was "fighting his boundaries". haha He kept stretching his legs out of his snuggie. He also had his arm stretched out. Sure reminds me of when I was pregnant with them. Blake was always stretching out. Most of the time I could feel his feet way low and his head up in my ribs. I told Jason several times, I think he is standing up in there. On most of the sonograms, he was sitting upright. Guess he prefers to be all reclined and stretched out even today. Think he'll ask for a Lazy Boy recliner by the time he is home? haha Jenna was all bundled up and resting nicely. I just can't get over how shinny her hair is. That and it has gotten pretty thick and is getting longer. So cute!
They both went up a .7cc on their feeds. Blake is at 3.7/hr and Jenna is at 5.7cc/hr. Last time we called and checked on them this afternoon, Jenna was at 30 o2-yay!!!
Well, we are about to make our evening visit. Hopefully we will get to hold our little darlins......
They both went up a .7cc on their feeds. Blake is at 3.7/hr and Jenna is at 5.7cc/hr. Last time we called and checked on them this afternoon, Jenna was at 30 o2-yay!!!
Well, we are about to make our evening visit. Hopefully we will get to hold our little darlins......
Monday, February 9, 2009
February 9
Today has been a steady day for Blake and Jenna. I went and visited this AM and they were both sleeping during my entire visit. They were both snuggled tight and looked just so comfortable. I sure wish they were snuggled up with me though. I stayed for a while just watching them sleep.
I bought some material to make Valentine isolette covers. I plan to make some covers throughout their stay and then once they graduate from NICU, I want to piece them together to make baby blankets for them.
Jason and I spent a couple hours visiting them tonight. We were both missing them quite a bit. On Sunday we had spent several hours there during the day and in the evening had decided to stay home and get some extra rest. Although we called a couple times and checked on them and then at midnight we were both up and contemplating making a midnight run to visit our little angels. We missed them very much. We did manage to go to sleep but both woke up this morning with them on our minds. So tonight we felt like we were catching up. Blake's feedings went up to 3cc/hour. He has had a stable day. Jenna has also had a stable day. They both weighed in tonight at 1 lb 14ounces. Blake's little face was all covered up tonight. Between his CPAP and tape, chin strap, and over sized cap that covered his eyes, we could only see his cheeks. We didn't want to disturb him, he seemed to be sleeping well. They had just completed the suctioning and assessment before we got there so he was tuckered out and was resting. He looked very peaceful. When I peeked in at Jenna and started talking to her, she opened her eyes and looked around. As Jason and I continued to talk to her, she looked in our direction. It is just so wonderful to see her respond to us. Then a little later as I just say and watched her, she vegan moving her head. She was actually trying to turn her head from facing left to facing right! And she could've completely done so if it had not been for the CPAP tubing. She is very strong! Our little gal repeatedly lifted her head enough to turn it midway, as far as she could reach and hold her head there while trying to completely turn it. I had to get in there and move her head back to facing left and gently hold it there to encourage her to stop. She has always preferred laying on her tummy with her head facing to the right. She does know what she likes. Thing is, to help develop and strengthen the muscles, they have to be rotated from time to time. From tummy to back, facing right, facing left.....Jenna was having none of it tonight though. She must have tried a good 6 to 8 times while we were there. Heather, her night nurse tonight, said she is quite the "spit fire". I agree. And we love to hear this. It is so wonderful to hear and see how strong and feisty she is. Fire crackers do come in small packages afterall. Beth, Blake's nurse tonight, has spent time quite a bit of time with both and says she thinks Blake may be the laid back one and Jenna may be the instigator. It'll be interesting seeing more of their personalities show.
Well, it is late and time to sleep. We are hoping that they have a stable night and morning in hopes that we will get some kangaroo time with them tomorrow. I just can't wait to snuggle them!!!
I bought some material to make Valentine isolette covers. I plan to make some covers throughout their stay and then once they graduate from NICU, I want to piece them together to make baby blankets for them.
Jason and I spent a couple hours visiting them tonight. We were both missing them quite a bit. On Sunday we had spent several hours there during the day and in the evening had decided to stay home and get some extra rest. Although we called a couple times and checked on them and then at midnight we were both up and contemplating making a midnight run to visit our little angels. We missed them very much. We did manage to go to sleep but both woke up this morning with them on our minds. So tonight we felt like we were catching up. Blake's feedings went up to 3cc/hour. He has had a stable day. Jenna has also had a stable day. They both weighed in tonight at 1 lb 14ounces. Blake's little face was all covered up tonight. Between his CPAP and tape, chin strap, and over sized cap that covered his eyes, we could only see his cheeks. We didn't want to disturb him, he seemed to be sleeping well. They had just completed the suctioning and assessment before we got there so he was tuckered out and was resting. He looked very peaceful. When I peeked in at Jenna and started talking to her, she opened her eyes and looked around. As Jason and I continued to talk to her, she looked in our direction. It is just so wonderful to see her respond to us. Then a little later as I just say and watched her, she vegan moving her head. She was actually trying to turn her head from facing left to facing right! And she could've completely done so if it had not been for the CPAP tubing. She is very strong! Our little gal repeatedly lifted her head enough to turn it midway, as far as she could reach and hold her head there while trying to completely turn it. I had to get in there and move her head back to facing left and gently hold it there to encourage her to stop. She has always preferred laying on her tummy with her head facing to the right. She does know what she likes. Thing is, to help develop and strengthen the muscles, they have to be rotated from time to time. From tummy to back, facing right, facing left.....Jenna was having none of it tonight though. She must have tried a good 6 to 8 times while we were there. Heather, her night nurse tonight, said she is quite the "spit fire". I agree. And we love to hear this. It is so wonderful to hear and see how strong and feisty she is. Fire crackers do come in small packages afterall. Beth, Blake's nurse tonight, has spent time quite a bit of time with both and says she thinks Blake may be the laid back one and Jenna may be the instigator. It'll be interesting seeing more of their personalities show.
Well, it is late and time to sleep. We are hoping that they have a stable night and morning in hopes that we will get some kangaroo time with them tomorrow. I just can't wait to snuggle them!!!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Sunday Afternoon Update
Today has been a nice day. We've spent quite a bit of time up at the hospital today admiring our little ones. We often times just sit and stare as they sleep so peacefully with an occasional flutter of their fingers and toes. Jenna kept "fanning" her tiny fingers and would briefly open her baby blues. Blake also rested well today. He was sleeping on his back for much of our visit. His long slender legs were just hanging over his "snuggie" boundary and every few minutes he would stretch his legs out in front of him. He also kept stretching his arm up over his head and then back down by his side. It is so amazing to sit and watch these little movements. While pregnant, I imagined just sitting for hours watching our sleeping babies. I never imagined it would be this way. Never imagined peering at my beautiful babies through a plastic isolette. Only giving them an occasional touch on their arms and legs or heads. Tiny heads, the size of a plum.
Nope, never imagined things would be this way. Granted, knowing we were having twins, we foresaw the possibility that they would be born early and would have a possible stay in incubators. A short stay. Not a three or four month NICU stay. It is incredibly hard to sit and watch your precious newborns open their eyes and look your way in reaction to your voice and not be able to scoop them up in your arms and just love on them. I know in due time, we too, will be able to cradle and parent our babies just like all other parents of newborns are doing. Patience is something that you learn with "NICU parenting". No matter how patient a person you may have been before, it is a character trait that redefines itself daily. I read a quote yesterday that has stuck with me. "You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have". Jason and I decided after one very difficult night, that being positive IS the only choice we have. We decided that above fear, concern, anger, times of sadness and distress, our babies need us. They need us to be strong and positive. We know that we are entitled to the less pleasant feelings and expect to feel each and every one. But we decided together, that we would deal with those feelings the best way we can and then place our focus and energy into being positive and as strong as we can. I am so very fortunate to have Jason as my partner in all of this. Without a doubt, having him by my side, helps to keep me strong. He helps me find strength each day, by just being such a wonderful husband and daddy. We are also blessed to have the care, kindness and prayers of so many people. Together, these things help to keep us strong.
~~~~~~
Blake and Jenna are having a more stable day today. Jenna is doing better with the CPAP. She is doing the same with her feedings. She lost 2 ounces but it is due to some medication. She is at 1lb 13 ounces. Blake is at 1lb 15 ounces tonight. He, too, is doing well with the feedings. He is at 2.5 cc/hour. We noticed lastnight that the glue on his scar (from PDA surgery) had come off. You can barely see a line/scar there already! For both of them, their hair has grown longer. Jenna's is still very dark thick and pretty shiny. Blake's appears to be a dark brown with areas of blonde. I'll tell ya, they sure are cute!!!! (proud mamma here).
Grandma and Grandpa Patranella came to visit today. They have been anxiously awaiting a visit. Grandma, AKA MeeMaw, had only had a very very brief peek at them before. They both have looked and looked at pictures while awaiting to lay their eyes back on the latest additions to the family. They were very excited and we had a really great time.
Nope, never imagined things would be this way. Granted, knowing we were having twins, we foresaw the possibility that they would be born early and would have a possible stay in incubators. A short stay. Not a three or four month NICU stay. It is incredibly hard to sit and watch your precious newborns open their eyes and look your way in reaction to your voice and not be able to scoop them up in your arms and just love on them. I know in due time, we too, will be able to cradle and parent our babies just like all other parents of newborns are doing. Patience is something that you learn with "NICU parenting". No matter how patient a person you may have been before, it is a character trait that redefines itself daily. I read a quote yesterday that has stuck with me. "You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have". Jason and I decided after one very difficult night, that being positive IS the only choice we have. We decided that above fear, concern, anger, times of sadness and distress, our babies need us. They need us to be strong and positive. We know that we are entitled to the less pleasant feelings and expect to feel each and every one. But we decided together, that we would deal with those feelings the best way we can and then place our focus and energy into being positive and as strong as we can. I am so very fortunate to have Jason as my partner in all of this. Without a doubt, having him by my side, helps to keep me strong. He helps me find strength each day, by just being such a wonderful husband and daddy. We are also blessed to have the care, kindness and prayers of so many people. Together, these things help to keep us strong.
~~~~~~
Blake and Jenna are having a more stable day today. Jenna is doing better with the CPAP. She is doing the same with her feedings. She lost 2 ounces but it is due to some medication. She is at 1lb 13 ounces. Blake is at 1lb 15 ounces tonight. He, too, is doing well with the feedings. He is at 2.5 cc/hour. We noticed lastnight that the glue on his scar (from PDA surgery) had come off. You can barely see a line/scar there already! For both of them, their hair has grown longer. Jenna's is still very dark thick and pretty shiny. Blake's appears to be a dark brown with areas of blonde. I'll tell ya, they sure are cute!!!! (proud mamma here).
Grandma and Grandpa Patranella came to visit today. They have been anxiously awaiting a visit. Grandma, AKA MeeMaw, had only had a very very brief peek at them before. They both have looked and looked at pictures while awaiting to lay their eyes back on the latest additions to the family. They were very excited and we had a really great time.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
A so so day
Well; today has been kinda a so so day. BUT.... we are still happy.
So last night the Dr's decided to try to further reduce the breathing machine settings. Both Jenna & Blake went down on their BPM (beats per minute) from 25 to 20 bpm's.
This is part of the normal process of weaning them off breathing assistance. As such, sometimes they do great with the changes, and some times they don't.
Well, neither of them really "took" to the new changes. Jenna required higher amounts of O2, and Blake had quite a bit more A's & B's (Apnea & Brady). This continued through the morning, so they decided to bump both of them back up to 30BPM. It was a valiant effort, but in the end, they lost a little ground. When we visited them, they were both on higher than previous O2, & Blake was still having more A's & B's.
This isn't too too unusual and not really unexpected as this is all part of the NICU experience with wee lil ones.
Sooo..... Not a bad day by any means, but not really any progress either. These type of days are going to happen and we are much happier with them than bad days.
On a side note. Kim and I went out to my cousin Kristen and Abram's house today for a little graduation party. We'd like to congratulate Abram on graduating from the Austin Fire Academy! It's been a year since he took the entrance exam, and he made it through 6mo of intense training. Congras man, we are proud of ya!
So last night the Dr's decided to try to further reduce the breathing machine settings. Both Jenna & Blake went down on their BPM (beats per minute) from 25 to 20 bpm's.
This is part of the normal process of weaning them off breathing assistance. As such, sometimes they do great with the changes, and some times they don't.
Well, neither of them really "took" to the new changes. Jenna required higher amounts of O2, and Blake had quite a bit more A's & B's (Apnea & Brady). This continued through the morning, so they decided to bump both of them back up to 30BPM. It was a valiant effort, but in the end, they lost a little ground. When we visited them, they were both on higher than previous O2, & Blake was still having more A's & B's.
This isn't too too unusual and not really unexpected as this is all part of the NICU experience with wee lil ones.
Sooo..... Not a bad day by any means, but not really any progress either. These type of days are going to happen and we are much happier with them than bad days.
On a side note. Kim and I went out to my cousin Kristen and Abram's house today for a little graduation party. We'd like to congratulate Abram on graduating from the Austin Fire Academy! It's been a year since he took the entrance exam, and he made it through 6mo of intense training. Congras man, we are proud of ya!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Valentine Pictures
Hi family and friends~
We now have some pictures of our little valentines in a new picture album titled "Valentine Pictures". Take a look....
Tonight's visit went well. Jenna is at 1 lb 15 ounces!!! She is having 17cc/3hours. She went down on her CPAP machine settings from 30 to 20 breaths per minute and is handling it fairly well. We decided to give her a rest and some time to adjust to her new added work load so did not do kangaroo care tonight with her. All of these adjustments are in turn attempts of weaning her of the CPAP support. Although we are very anxious to have some more holding and bonding time, we are more than willing to give her the time to adjust and get stronger. We are so happy with her weight gain and strength.
Blake is at 1lb 14 ounces. He is at 1.5cc/hr. His CPAP settings are down from 25 to 20breaths per minute. In case it wasn't mentioned before, the CPAP, in a way, is like a fan blowing air into their mouths to help keep their lungs open and delivers a certain amount of breaths for them (according to the setting) but for the most part, they are breathing on their own, doing the work themselves. Blake is doing okay with the reduced setting, he has had a few apneas today though. For this reason and for reason of giving him time to adjust, we did not do kangaroo time with him either. I am REALLY looking forward to holding my little boy for the first time but would rather give him the time to adjust and get even stronger.
Don't forget to check out the "littlest sweethearts" pictures!
http://picasaweb.google.com/blakeandjenna/ValentinePictures?feat=directlink
We now have some pictures of our little valentines in a new picture album titled "Valentine Pictures". Take a look....
Tonight's visit went well. Jenna is at 1 lb 15 ounces!!! She is having 17cc/3hours. She went down on her CPAP machine settings from 30 to 20 breaths per minute and is handling it fairly well. We decided to give her a rest and some time to adjust to her new added work load so did not do kangaroo care tonight with her. All of these adjustments are in turn attempts of weaning her of the CPAP support. Although we are very anxious to have some more holding and bonding time, we are more than willing to give her the time to adjust and get stronger. We are so happy with her weight gain and strength.
Blake is at 1lb 14 ounces. He is at 1.5cc/hr. His CPAP settings are down from 25 to 20breaths per minute. In case it wasn't mentioned before, the CPAP, in a way, is like a fan blowing air into their mouths to help keep their lungs open and delivers a certain amount of breaths for them (according to the setting) but for the most part, they are breathing on their own, doing the work themselves. Blake is doing okay with the reduced setting, he has had a few apneas today though. For this reason and for reason of giving him time to adjust, we did not do kangaroo time with him either. I am REALLY looking forward to holding my little boy for the first time but would rather give him the time to adjust and get even stronger.
Don't forget to check out the "littlest sweethearts" pictures!
http://picasaweb.google.com/blakeandjenna/ValentinePictures?feat=directlink
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
