Happy Halloween!

Since halloween costumes were out of the question this year, we celebrated with hats! Thanks to the Meek family for sending these. It made all of our day!

 

(Andrew on the left, Paige on the right)

These pictures were truly the highlight of the day, as Paige and Andrew were both misbehaving otherwise.  Andrew continues without feeds and we are anxiously waiting for him to poop -- we have talked more about bowel movements in the past couple days then we ever dreamed possible!  He may get fed again tomorrow but we will start back at the very beginning.  Frustrating, but we'll survive.

Paige decided to start vomiting last night and continued through the morning.  Her feeds are now being held, too, although her exam is a little more concerning because her belly is a bit distended, she's more sleepy, and she is having more brady/apneic episodes.  To be cautious, we did a complete blood count and cultures this afternoon to make sure we aren't missing anything.  She also got an xray of her abdomen, but thankfully that was unremarkable.  They are watching her closely overnight and are giving her body a rest.  For this reason, we didn't get to hold either of them tonight, which was hard.

Since neither of them are wanting to digest my breastmilk right now, we are making a couple of changes.  When they do restart feeds, we will use Progestimil, which is a formula that is easier to digest.  I will also completely eliminate dairy from my diet to see if that helps.  That is in addition to eliminating alcohol, caffeine and anything spicy or greasy.  What is left, right?!  Hopefully this will help though and we will be able to switch back to breast milk at some point. 

Thanks for checking in on us.  We are hoping for a good night's rest for both of them tonight and some good news to report tomorrow!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Today was a big day for both of our little ones.  Paige came off her biliblanket and advanced her feeds to 15 mL every three hours.  Our first big feeding goal is to reach 20 mL, as this means we can stop giving her nutrition through her IV.  We are almost there!  Andrew's big accomplishment was coming off his oxygen!  And he even beat his sister in doing this!  This is a huge step for him and also meant that we got to see his cheeks for the first time:)

Andrew is having a little more difficulty with his feeds, although this isn't too surprising.  One of the early complications of being growth restricted is to have slower gut development and motility.  We have been advancing his feeds much more slowly than Paige, but he still isn't quite tolerating the smaller amounts.  His feeds are now stopped completely and will be held until he starts moving things through his system a little better.

Its easy to get down about the minor setbacks, but everyone keeps reminding us that we will keep taking two steps forward and one step back.  So far we have been lucky in that our steps forward have been huge and greatly outnumber our minor setbacks.

Tomorrow we'll spend the morning and evening at the hospital.  The break in between is to make sure Daddy doesn't miss out on the Redskins game!  I must admit that he did skip the game last week though to hang out with the babies -- its amazing how priorities change so quickly:) 

Pictures

Here is a link to our picassa album with pictures.
Twin Album

One Week Old!

While this site is still a work in progress, we wanted to get an entry posted and get the web address out, as its hard to keep up with all your emails and send individual updates!

We cannot believe that they are already a week old today!  In just seven days, they have already accomplished so much and we have a lot to be thankful for.  Both Paige and Andrew have made great progress from a respiratory standpoint and have weaned off their pressure support and only require minimal oxygen support now.  They also both received their first bit of breastmilk a couple days ago.  Each of them started mid week at 1 mL (a couple drops) every three hours and will advance slowly each day.  Feeding will likely be our biggest obstacle and will take weeks to reach our overall goals, but at least we've made a start!  Both of them have apneic and brady episodes (times which they stop breathing and drop their heart rates), but that is very normal for this age, as they are still undergoing brain development to control this.  They usually recover from this with a little pat or shake and are both getting caffeine (or as Jack says, their daily "cup of joe":)) to help with this.  Blue lights are still on for both, as their bilirubin is a little high (also very normal for this age), although they only need biliblankets at this point and are free of their overhead lights and face masks - Andrew is VERY happy about this!

We are already learning that they each have very distinct personalities!  Andrew is way more active and quite the wild man -- not a big change from when he was inside!  We always had the most difficulty getting his ultrasounds done!  Paige on the other hand is much quieter and sleeps very calmly.  She will occasionally open her eyes but definitely feels sleep is a priority and often is passed out even during our holding sessions.  Andrew on the other hand is wide eyed as soon as he hears our voices and fights to stay awake throughout the time we hold him.  He seems to definitely be aware of our presence. 

Being home from the hospital and sleeping in our own beds is definitely nice, although it is hard to not be in the same building as them.  We have been visiting twice a day though and love staying later at night to "put them to sleep."  Jack will go back to work on Monday, which will be another adjustment, but we are getting settled in with this new routine and are working hard at home to get ready for their arrival! 

Thanks for checking in on us!  We will attempt to post each day so that we can all celebrate their progress!