Day 88

We're still counting days because Riley has yet to make it home. She's showing a lot of promise though, thanks to the awesome nurses that have been taking care of her. After 88 days, you get to know the NICU staff really well, and there's some very special people there that really care about our girls. We actually talked with the doctor about bringing Riley home today, but decided another day or two might be best, just to make sure she doesn't regress again. We don't want her home till she's 100%. The last we want is to bring her home only to end up back in the hospital. Reese has been at home for 3 full days now. We're really getting to know her now that we're with her 24hrs a day and Conor is finally getting to be a big brother. He adores his little sister and is a big help. I wonder what he'll do when there's 2 of them.
We'll get some pictures uploaded when things settle down, probably by next Christmas.

Day 85

Sorry it's been so long since our last post, just got busy with the holidays and all. It is 945am on 27 December. Kerrie and I spent the night at the hospital. It's required that you "room in" prior to taking your baby home from the NICU. You have to do everything to take care of the baby all night, but the nurse is available if you should really need help. So, just waiting on some paperwork to get signed then we'll be walking out of here with Reese. She is weighing in at 6lbs, 15 3/4 oz, she'll probably be over 7lbs tonight.
Riley isn's far behind, just a couple more days. She's very close, and maybe we could've got her out too, but we wanted to be 100%. We don't want to have to come back to the hospital once we leave. Chances are good chance she'll be home to ring in the new year.
I think this belated gift will be Conor's favorite Christmas present.

Day 72

Reese Left - Riley Right

Reese above

Reese weighs 2695grams (6lbs) and Riley is at 2670 (5lbs 14oz). Since we last posted info, we moved out to a seperate room called the annex. This is for overflow when they have too many babies in the NICU. It was nice while it lasted because we had a window! We were out there until yesterday and we moved back into a private room. The girls are great. They had their final head ultrasound and both are fine. Riley has been spitting up alot so she had an upper GI done a few days ago to see if there was on obstruction or something. I was able to go into the x-ray room with her and watch her do the swallow test. They didn't find an obstruction just that she has reflux. So they decided today to put her on a wedge which is an incline of 45 degrees and see if this helps. They also have a formula that is thin until it is swallowed then it expands. So this will be a little heavier in her stomach and maybe it will not come back up. I don't know how long she will be on this formula we will just what happens. She is still on 2 bottles a day and will not eat. Reese is doing great! She is up to 8 bottles a day. They let her eat when she wants and how ever much she wants. But right now she seems a little tired when eating. We hope she will be home in a few days. She just needs to build her strength up so she can eat all of her bottles. I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas cards. If I missed someone, please let me know I have more I can send out. I bought the girls' dresses at Burlington Coat Factory, they have a pretty good preemie selection. The hospital had their Christmas tree set up in the corner where we were so we used it as the background. Santa Clause is coming into the NICU on Friday so they will be able to get their pictures taken with him! It will be alot of fun.

Day 60

Wow... 60 days old already they will be 2 months old on Friday! Riley weighs 2340 (5lbs 3oz) and Reese weighs 2360 (5lbs 3oz). We can't believe they are over 5 pounds already!! Sorry for not updating the blog much lately. No news is good news for sure. They both had their FINAL eye exam on 11/25 and both are cleared! Reese has been taken 4 bottles per day since 11/26. She is stuck on 4 and can't finish the 80% to move on to 5 bottles. We are hoping she is just waiting for her sister (who is still on 2 bottles per day) then they can progress at the same time. We just worry that Reese will be ready to come home before Riley. We want them home, but it would be better if they came home at the same time. They stopped their caffine on 11/26. They were given caffine from day 1. It just helped to keep them alert so they wouldn't stop breathing. It is policy that they have to be monitored for 14 days after caffine is stopped so we know we will be in the NICU for that time. Riley has been spitting up alot! She is still gaining weight though. I asked to change from the Infamil formula to Similac. We started that yesterday and she hasn't spit up since! Today we were moved to a private room. It is nice and big and very quiet. We should be in this room until we go home. It is still in the NICU so Conor is still not allowed in to see the girls. I guess that is all to report on for now. Just working on bottle feeding and gaining weight! More to come later.....

Day 52

Reese weighs 1905 (4lbs 3oz) and Riley weighs 1915 (4lbs 3oz). The girls are still in an open crib and keeping their body temp up. They had their hearing test today. They put sensors on their head to monitor brain waves. They put sensors over their ears that plays sounds at a whisper. The computer tracks the brain waives and it tells if it passes or not. They both passed, 100% both ears. Next week they have a follow up eye exam. I hope it is the last one. It just depends on if their eyes are mature or not. Riley isn't much into waking up to eat. She is allowed 2 bottles per day if she shows signs she wants to bottle feed. Most of the time she just stays asleep. Not worried about it, she is still pretty young to start bottle feeding. She will decide to do it when she wants. On the other hand, Reese is doing great with bottle feeding. She was upgraded to 3 bottles a day (when she shows cues). They have a protocol for bottle feeding. They keep track of how many mLs they take per bottle and divide it by the total amount of 3 bottles. If she takes 80% then she moves on to 4 bottles per day. So right now she is taking 39mls per feeding. 39mLs x 3(bottle feedings)=117mLs. She doesn't take the whole bottle because she gets too tired. So they take the total amount she did eat and divide it by the 117. If this equals 80% or more, she gets to move up to 4 bottles per day. They keep doing this until she gets 8 bottles per day.
Conor had a great birthday. He had his favorite breakfast, biscuits and sausage gravy and hashbrowns. He had more gifts to open and we played with his toys all day!

Day 47

Conor and his pirate ship cake

Conor looking at Riley

in a big crib now

our nurse sent this to us. Reese giving us a wink goodnight!

The girls are gaining weight really quick! Reese is 1730 (3lbs 13oz) and Riley is 1720 (3lbs 13oz). They were born Reese 940 (2lbs 1 oz) and Riley 910 (2lbs 0oz). We looked back at how low they dropped before coming back up Reese 850 (1lb 150z) and Riley 780 (1lb 12oz).

They were moved to a regular open crib today. Their temp is staying regular. Our goal now is to get them to start bottle feeding. They are only allowed to try 2 bottles per day if they show signs they want it. It is alot of work for them so we can't push them. They only get to eat for 3o minutes then we push the rest in the tube. They will burn too many calories if they try to eat longer. They are still trying to figure out how to breath, suck and swallow at the same time. Reese is doing really good! I fed her 15mLs today and Riley didn't want to wake up so we just let her sleep and pushed her milk through her tube.

Conor's pirate birthday party was a success! He had a great time at the House of Bounce with all his friends. We can't believe he will be 3 on Sunday. He is such a great kid. On Monday, Tom was dressed for work in his blues with a tie. Conor said to him, "daddy, you have your work shirt and a tie on..... I am so proud of you". I had the best birthday! Conor was able to see the girls through the glass door. He saw them and said wow... and tried to touch them through the glass. When Tom and the nurse went to put them back he said, "but they have to come with me". We can't wait to bring them home so we can be a family!!

12 Nov, 09

Riley above - our nurse took this and emailed it to us!

who is who?? they are looking so much alike now. you try and guess...

Day 40

Everything is going great. Reese is now also off of her nasal canula. We can now see both their faces clearly and pick them up so much easier. Reese is now 3lbs 5oz and Riley is right on her heels at 3lbs 4oz. The girls have been progressing on their feedings now too. Today they made it all the way to bolus feedings. Instead of using gravity we used a bottle for the first time. Each girl took 2mL from the bottle, then the rest got pushed through their tube. We will slowly try bottle feeding about twice a day, depending on how the girls are doing. Hopefully they'll take more from the bottle each time until they are getting their full feeds from the bottle.
Reese and Riley both had follow up eye exams on Tuesday, everything came back normal. We will try and post pics soon.

Nov 9, 2009

Day 37
Reese weighs 3lbs 3oz and Riley weighs 3lbs.

Both are doing really good! They took Riley's nasal canula out of her nose!!! What a big day for her. Now we can see her face so much better. I will try and take a picture and post it tomorrow night. Reese was weaned down on her vapo therm from 2.5 to 1.5. We hope tomorrow they wean her even more. Shouldn't be long and she will be off her flow too. Next step for the girls is bolus feedings. Right now they have a tube in their nose for their feedings. They are fed every 4 hours. The milk is pushed with a pump over a 2 hour period then they rest for 2 hours to digest then feed again. The transition will be pretty quick. They will push their milk for 1 1/2 hours for 2 feedings, then they will start feeding them every 3 hours pushing the milk over 30 mins. Then they will move to bolus feeding. The milk will still be given to them through the tube, they will not use the pump. They will hold the syringe up and gravity will make the milk flow. It will go into their stomachs in about 20 minutes as if they were sucking on a bottle but not burning the calories. After that, they will rotate pump feeding, bolus feeding and work in a bottle feeding. So maybe they will start bottle feeding within the next couple of weeks. The girls are keeping their body temps up on their own. Being in the same bed and next to each other seems to help. So, from our experience with Conor these are the things he had to do before he could come home: 1. Breath on his own 2. Keep his body temp up 3. Bottle feed and gain weight......I think we are on the right track. Coming home by Christmas may not be out of reach!

Nov 4, 2009

Reese is on the right in both pictures!

Day 32 - 1 Month Old

We can't believe the girls are 1 month old today. Time is going by really fast which is good. Our goal is to have them home by Christmas. The girls are both doing great. Yesterday they had their first eye exam. The doctor comes to their bedside and dialates their eyes and checks for ROP (retinopathy of prematurity). ROP is caused by growth of retinal blood vessels which may result in scarring or retinal detachment. There are 5 stages of ROP (0-5). The girls' results were 0. The eyes are checked weekely until they are mature (Zone 3). The girls are at Zone 1 right now. Not sure when they will be to Zone 3 the doctor said it just depends on how the girls develop. They will get checked every Tuesday morning unitl they are at Zone 3. We will keep you posted. The awsome thing is, if the doctor sees that the girls have ROP, he will bring a surgical team to their bedside and do laser surgery. I was reading and Stevie Wonder was born premature and had ROP.

Reese: weighs 2lbs 14oz and is 16.35" long

Riley: weighs 2lbs 9oz and is 15.75" long

The nurses we have are GREAT!! I know I have said this more than once. Peggy is a nurse practioner. There are 4-5 nurse practioners and they work directly with the doctors and do all the procedures... Peggy is a Nebraska fan. Everytime I see her she talks about Nebraska. She was looking for a football that plays the fight song to put at the girls' bedside. She came across some N tatoos and told me she almost bought them to put on the girls. Instead of buying the tatoos, she bought them sleepers that are so cute. I had Tug (my brother) send me something OU to put at their bed and he sent me dice. It won't be long and they will be missing and something Nebraska will be in their place. Stacy (nurse practioner) comes by and checks on us everytime she is on shift. She told us she just "loves" our girls. We told her there are 50 babies in here, she has to love all of them. She looked at us and said, "love is a strong word". Last night, Amanda dressed the girls in matching onsies that I brought in. She went and found a blanket to match. Too cute! We are able to set up primary nurses for both day and night shifts. We talk to the nurses and write their names on a list. When the charge nurse does the schedule, they refer to our list of primaries and makes sure we get one of our primary nurses. It is so nice to have the same nurses all the time. They know the girls and they know us. This is very important to Tom and I. We know they are in good hands and are with nurses that are familiar with them and their medications...

We can't thank the nurses and doctors enough for what they have done and are doing for our girls!

Nov 1, 2009

Above Riley

Above Reese

Day 29

We can't believe that the girls are almost 1 month old!! They are both still doing great. Reese is 2lbs 11oz and Riley is 2lbs 7oz. We are talking about co-bedding them soon. We hope it will be within the next week or so. Today we took some preemie clothes to the hospital and dressed them. They looked so cute!

Conor got a pair of Hulk hands. They were supposed to be for his birthday, but Aunt Judy wanted to buy a pair for Tom (really for her) so he (she) could box Conor. So we didn't wait for his birthday and he loves them!

Conor had a great time trick or treating this year! He would go up to the house and say Please and Thank you....then come back to us and say "I got candy, next house". Then when we got home he helped hand out candy and he would answer the door and say "wow" at all the kids. Then later that night he said, "mommy, they didn't scare me". He is such a big kid.

Oct 30, 2009

Above - Conor holding Jack.. he is getting great practice!

First time to hold them together! We wonder if they remember each other. Reese has the pink hat on

Day 27

To clarify, the girls were in a level 3 nicu when they were born. We have stepped down to level 2. Same building, just across the hall. Tom was able to kangaroo hold (skin to skin) both the girls tonight at the same time. Riley is up to 2lbs 7oz and Reese is 2lbs 9oz. They are both doing really good. We hope they will be able to co-bed within the next couple of weeks.

Conor is doing good too! He talks about his sisters. He says he can hold Reese and I can hold Riley. This morning he gave me a big hug and said "mommy, you're my favorite son"... it was soo cute!! Tonight we brought the laptop up to the hospital and we did the webcam with him. He was able to see his little sisters! He kept saying wow and ahhh.... Out little guy is getting so big!

Oct 26, 2009

Above - Riley, she loved her bath!!

Above - Reese, she never cried during her bath, but she wasn't quite sure what to think..ha/ha

Well, we haven't posted over the weekend because things were pretty calm and quiet. Both girls are now without any IVs, so we were able to give them baths. Riley got a bath on Saturday and Reese got one today. The girls really enjoyed there time in the "spa." See the pictures. You can also go to our other website to see lots more pictures, look in the top right of this page for the link.
The really good news... neither the Doctor or the nurse have heard a heart murmur in Reese over the last 2 days. We have not had an echocardiogram to confirm it yet, but she's currently not showing any signs or symptoms of a PDA. Riley has been weened down to 3.5lpm on her vapotherm. They both have been on room air (no supplemental oxygen).
Also, the girls have graduated to the other side of the NICU. The NICU is divided into 2 sides, one side has the more critical babies and that's the side that all the new "admins" go to. The other side houses the bigger and less critical babies. Our girls were moved to the other side, not so much because they reached a milestone, but really becasue it was getting crowded where they were and Reese and Riley were the most stable babies to move.
Both girls HCT level are being watched. HCT tells them if they are producing red blood cells. If this number is below 35 they could need a blood transfusion. Both girls are a little low so they are receiving an Epo shot 3 times a week (mon/wed/frid). This is a hormone to help them to produce red blood cells. We understand that they could get this shot for a while, which is better than a blood transfusion. So we pray that it works. We will keep you posted. They get their first shot tonight.

Oct 23, 2009

Sorry, it's been a short while since our last update. There was really nothing new to report, everything was "status quo" for a few days. Yesterday, we had some minor setbacks. First, both girls lots their PICC (central lines). These lines are central IVs. They thread a catheter into an arm or leg and into a larger vein. This allows for larger amount of fluids to be introduced into their blood without worrying about irritation or overload that may occur with a normal IV.
Since both girls are progressing very well on their milk feedings, the loss of the PICC line is not a huge concern right now, but it does limit the amount nutrients they are getting.
We also learned yesterday that Reese's PDA re-opened. We were unaware that this was a possibility, but it was confirmed on an echocardiogram. The Dr. has decided not to treat with Indocin yet, he'll just monitor Reese and see if the PDA caused any "stress." So far, Reese has been doing well.
Riley has not used supplemental oxygen for almost 3 days now, she's doing great. Riley also finally broke the 1000gram mark, she is currently weighing in at 1020grams. (2 lb, 4 oz)
Reese's current weight is 1150g (2lb 8 oz), she's slowing down a little and allowing her sister to catch up.
Conor has finally recovered from his cold and is doing well. I really wish he could see his sisters. He's going to be a great big brother. He got his flu shot yesterday and keeps telling everyone about how "that man" pinched him and checked the muscle in his arm.
Thanks for reading.

Oct 21, 2009

Above is Reese laid back enjoying her lunch!

Above, the nurses are all awsome! We played around and they did plaster molds of their hands. The one on the left is Reese and the right is Riley. That is a quarter if you can't tell. You can see their wrinkles, veins, finger nails.... it is really cool. It will be something they will have when they get older to see just how small they are. Maybe we will do their feet next!

Update

Day 18 in the NICU. The girls are doing great. Riley is up to 1/2oz of breastmilk per feeding and is continuing to go up every 12 hours. We are hoping by this weekend she will no longer be on any IV fluids and just on breastmilk and caffine. She weighs in at 970grams (2lbs 2oz). Reese isn't up to 1/2oz yet but will be there very soon. Maybe by next week she will also be off of IV fluids and just on breastmilk. She is weighing in at 1130grams (2lbs 8oz). Tom and I continue to hold the girls everyday.

Oct 18, 2009

Above - Riley 10/19/09 Below Reese 10/19/09

Here is a picture of Reese from today! I think she looks alot like Conor did as a baby.
A good day today. Reese is up to a whopping 1090 grams (2lb, 6oz) and Riley is up to 945 grams (2 lb, 1oz). Reese has one day left on her anitbiotics. Not a whole lot going on. We are still getting to hold them everyday. We sit there and watch them sleep and grow. More to come later......

Oct 17, 2009

We found out earlier this morning that Reese's pda closed! So now she is back on her feedings. Her weight this evening was 2lbs 6oz! She even looks like she has a double chin already. Riley is doing great too. She weighed in at 2lbs 1oz! When they were born they stayed in humidity. Now they are both off humidity. Still watching both of their blood oxygen levels. Both still have to have a little oxygen to keep their levels up. That's all for now!

Oct 16, 2009

Day 13 already! Riley weighs 930 now and Reese weighs 1020. Riley is doing great. They have increased her feedings and will continue to increase them every 12 hours. Reese is the same. She had her last dose of indocin today at 4:00. We hope she gets her echocardiogram tomorrow sometime so we know if her pda closed or not. She will stay off her feedings until we get results.

Oct 15, 2009

Well, another hurdle we have to jump over. The last couple of days the nurses have heard a heart murmur on Reese. Today she had an echocardiogram and has an open PDA. The doctors decided to go ahead and treat her. So she had her 1st of 3 doses of indocin today at 4:30. We will know Saturday morning if the medicine worked or not. We have decided that Reese was jealous of her sister getting all the attention so it is her turn now. Please pray that the medicine works like it did for Riley! Reese will be taken off of her feedings until we get the results Saturday.

Reese weighs 970 and Riley weighs 900

Oct 14, 2009

the girls are doing great. Reese weighs 950 grams and Riley is 905 grams. Riley had her 3 doses of indocin and had her echocardiogram this evening. The cardiologist said that her PDA has closed!! It was great news tonight. Her chest x-ray was good also. So now they will start her feedings back up tonight.

So we jumped over another hurdle! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

October 13, 2009

Things are going pretty well. Both girls have turned the corner on their weight loss and having been packing on the "grams." Riley is up to 835 grams (1lb 15oz), and Reese has surpassed her birthweight and is now weighing in at 850 grams (2lb 2oz).
Riley has experienced a minor set back today. She was diagnosed with a small PDA (Persistent Ductus Arteriosus) the day after she was born. The PDA presented itself as a heart murmur and was confirmed via echocardiogram. PDA is a blood vessel near the heart that normally closes after birth, but which can stay open, especially in premature babies. Many times, a PDA needs to be closed, either with medications (up to 3 cycles) or if that doesn't work, then with surgery. The medication used to correct the PDA is Indocin. Indocin has some rare but "nasty" side effects, such as blood clotting, and in extreme cases it can cause a tear in the bowel. The Dr's approach when the PDA was first diagnosed was to not medicate and see if it could correct itself. For 7 days things were fine, but starting on Sunday, Riley was experiencing some minor respiratory "distress." Basically, she went from breathing "room" air (21% oxygen) to needing some supplemental oxygen, eventually breathing air that was 40% oxygen just so she could keep blood oxygen level up. Another echocardiogram was performed today and it showed the PDA has gotten larger. So Riley started the first cycle of Indocin today and should be done by tomorrow afternoon. (it's 3 doses total, 1 every 12 hrs) Unfortunately, Riley's fluids have to be restricted while on this medication and her feedings have to be stopped, this is all done to relax to bowels. So, we will expect her weight to decrease again, but we're sure she'll bounce back quick. Once the PDA is closed, she will be back to herself. She won't have any side effects.

We will let you know tomorrow late evening what we find out. Everyone is very positive that the medication will work! Kerrie did get to hold her today and she did great.

Oct 12, 2009

Reese was taken off of her photo therapy today! Now we can see her face anytime we want. She is doing great. They both have the nasal prongs in their nose. It is forced air and started at 3.5LPM(liters per minute). Reese is down to 2.5 now and still on room air! Riley, she is having a little harder time keeping her blood oxygen rate up. Her 1st week she was on room air at 3.5. Now they are giving her a little more oxygen and keeping her flow at 3.5. The nurse said she thinks Riley is just now figuring out that she is a preemie.lol.. This is something that will go up and down for who knows how long.

They're gaining the weight back they lost. They are not at their birth weight yet, but not too far from it.

Conor's update: He is sick today. Running a little bit of a fever so I hope it goes away soon. We are not supposed to go see the girls if anyone in the house has a cough, fever...for 1 week after it goes away. We can't risk getting the girls or any of the babies in the NICU sick. So today we just didn't hold them. Which is really hard, becasue when we hold them, they seem to do really good and it helps them to grow.

That's all for now. I am going to run back up there this evening. If anything changes, I will be sure to post an update!

Oct 11, 2009

Riley top picture, Reese bottom picture. Today was another good day. Reese hasn't really changed. She is still under photo therapy but we hope she gets off of it tomorrow. Riley was taken off her photo therapy today. It is nice because she doesn't have to wear the goggles anymore and we can see her face. I think she will be more happy now that she can be wrapped up tight.

The Girls

As of yesterday, both of the girls are doing great! Riley is down alot from her birth weight so they are changing her fluids. Her heart murmur seems to be softer. That could be a sign that the PDA is finally closing. Reese is still doing good. Her weight is a little down from birth but that is normal. They changed her fluids too. They both potty alot which is good, they just pee out what they need so they are a little dehydrated. The change in fluids will help this. They expect them to lose 10% of their birth weight. They are both on room air and have nasal prongs in their nose. This is just forced air but not oxygen. They call it thermal flow. Both girls started at 3.5%. Reese is down to 3% and Riley should be moved to 3% today. As long as their blood oxygen level stays up and they are not laboring to breath, they will keep moving it down by 1/2%. Their bili levels are going down, so they may take their tanning light away soon.

Conor, he is doing great. He is not allowed in the NICU b/c of swine flu. If you ask him where his little sisters are he says, "at mommies hospital growing bigger". He sees pictures and gets really excited.

Tom and I are doing good too. Just trying to be with Conor as much as we can and with the girls. Alot of going back and forth to the hospital but that is what we have to do. We both have been able to hold the girls. We have been holding one of them a day. Today we may each hold one. They just let us sit back and relax with them for a couple of hours. They are so sweet!!

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

Our New Blog

We decided to start this blog to make it easier for us to give updates to everyone. We will post updates on Conor and the girls. We will also try and post some pictures or let you know when we upload pictures to our website http://kelltho.dotphoto.com.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.