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!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
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!!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, November 9, 2009
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
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!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Nov 1, 2009
Above Riley
Above ReeseDay 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.
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