Wednesday, December 30, 2009

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.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

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.

Monday, December 14, 2009

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.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

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.....