Mommy gets a Gold Medal in Slacking!

Yes, I have fallen way behind. Tomorrow will be one month since I have posted a blog on the boys. They have, overall, been doing very well. The holidays were very hectic for us. It was nice to have something to help take away some of the stress of the babes though. It seemed like every day was go go go here at our house. I grew up in NC and we had some of our old NC friends come up to visit. It was nice to see them and to be able to spend some time in between hospital trips with them. We baked all of our Christmas candies and cookies and I bought Christmas Cards. I had every intention of taking the time to write out these Christmas Cards and send them to our dear friends however, I failed miserably! The cards are still sitting on the credenza in the dinning room waiting to even be removed from their shopping bag. Maybe next year! :)

Enough about us....now for what you have ALL been waiting for!

Nolan and Logan are both growing like weeds! While Jeremy and I both wish that they would have stayed inside and cooked a little while longer, it is very neat to be able to see them reach developmental milestones that we otherwise would have taken for granted had I still been pregnant.

Nolan is currently up to 2lbs 15.8oz (he was weighed most recently on Jan 2nd). I was really hoping that he would break three pounds. I am still proud of how much he is gaining. He is currently receiving 10mL of formula every 3 hours. His feeds have been increased at a significantly slower rate than his brothers. I am not quite sure why but, he is tollerating them well so, I do not push the issue. Even with the vast difference between the boys' feeds Nolan has been keeping right up with Logan's weight gain. Nolan was EXTABATED (taken off of the ventilator) and put on a CPap machine. That was a wonderful Christmas present. He has since moved from the CPap and onto a Nasal Cannula! He is getting 30% oxygen to the cannula and 30% oxygen to his isolette. He is getting the oxygen to the isolette so that if the cannula slips out of a nostril, he has "back up o2". I think the worst thing that has happened with Nolan since my last post was that they had to replace his picc line (IV). The site was just starting to get red from having the line in for so long that they needed to move it. The night they pulled the original picc, the docs got called for an emergency and the nurses just had to put a normal IV in until the docs could get a chance to redo the picc line. Eventually they ended up having to put the picc line in the scalp because they were unable to locate an ideal vein aside from the one in his scalp. It doesn't appear to be the most pleasant thing but, I guess the docs really prefer to have the picc line in the head. This way it is out of the way and clear of tiny hands picking and pulling at the picc.

Logan is currently up to 3lbs 1.4oz (as of Jan 2nd). He is getting 20mL of formula every 3 hours. Because he is getting so much formula through his ng (feeding) tube, they put the formula on a pump (just like they do medicine) and slowly release the feed over the course of 25-30 minutes. He has also been tollerating his feeds well. The only problem is about 30 min after a feed, he starts to drop his heart rate (bradycardiac or brady) and his o2 (this is also known as desaturation/desaturating/desating). The nurses are starting to think that he may be refluxing during these episodes however, it is still difficult to tell for sure if a baby has reflux  while on the ng (feeding) tube because the tube prohibits the baby from really spitting up. Refulx is common in premature infants as their asophagus is not completely formed. Two days ago when I went in to visit the boys, we discovered that Logan has extreme swelling of his scrotal area. His penis and scrotum are extremely swollen. This is caused by storing fluid in open spaces as opposed to peeing it out. Logan lays at an angle with his head up and feet down. This causes the fluids to pour into his feet and legs. His poor little feet look like fat pads. As Logan's feeds are increased he will get a type of protein (through the formula) that he was not getting enough of before (in his fluids) and this should help to decrease the amount of fluids that he is retaining. The doc also decided to put Logan on lasiks in addition to his normal dihretic. The lasiks will be given every other day. He will be monitored and the dose may be changed according to his body's response. Logan just tested positive today for the Rhino Virus (aka: The Common Cold in adults). He contracted RV  from another baby in their nursery. The baby that was first discovered to have RV was in a basinette setting and all babies in the room were unknowingly exposed to the sickness. Thirty-six hours after swabbing all of the babies in the nursery, everyone, including Logan, was cleared of RV. Now, several days later, I get a phone call telling me that Logan's results FINALLY came back and he has RV. They do not treat for RV with antibiotics or meds. The virus runs its course (7-10 days) and leaves the body. They will check in one week to see if the virus has cleared. I am under the impression that they will swab him once a week until the virus is dead. This frustrates me because Jeremy and I were under the impression that everyone in the room was clear of the virus. The sick baby was placed in an isolette in isolation. Last night the nurse gave us the OK to hold the boys. Jeremy was holding Logan and I had Nolan. About an hour into our time with the boys, we decided to switch. I held Logan and Jeremy held Nolan. Now finding out that Logan was/is sick, we exposed Nolan to RV. Nolan has to now be watched to make sure he does not develop any symptoms or the sickness. Something so simple as the CC is so scray with barely 3lb babes. I am frustrated because someone jumped the gun and prematurely cleared everyone of the virus. While discussing this with the doctor today, I learned that infact, Logan's results were still in "process" and were not determined until late last night. Had this situation been handled appropriately and Logan's resutls not been prematurely announced, he may not be sick now. I just feel as though, especially if Nolan gets RV, this is something that could have and should have been prevented.

It was determined a couple of days ago that both of the babies have hernias. Hernias are common in premature babies because their under developed pelvic muscles are so thin that the intestines can easily slip through them if they push too hard to poop or cry or just even stretch. Any intense straining they do can cause a hernia. The good news is that both of the boys have hernias that can gently be pushed back in to place (and just as easily pop back out). This is a sign that they will simply out grow the hernia. In the event that they do not out grow the hernia, surgery will be discussed. We are hopeful that they will out grow them and the discussion will not happen! :)

The boys continue to grow and thrive in the NICU. We have experienced little to no set backs and are hopeful that we continue to move forward and closer to home! :D We are now 46 days closer to having our little men home!! :D It has been pretty rough on both Daddy and Mommy especially with the holidays coming and going. We continue to hang in there and have high hopes!



I will leave you with some updated pictures of our handsome heart breakers!




Logan

Nolan

Logan

Nolan

Logan

Nolan



Daddy and Nolan with Mommy and Logan in our first family picture!!