Day 89

Well, we're finally done couting. Riley came home on 31 Dec, just in time to help us ring in the New Year. We finally have 100% of our family together. The only person still getting their normal sleep is Conor. Even Shamus' sleep schedule has been disrupted. Thanks for all the prayers and support. We will continue to update this blog, but I don't know how often we'll get to it.

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!!