Tuesday, March 3, 2009

no news is good news

Just a quick update on the babies.  nora is still doing great on her nasal cannula and feeds, her bilirubin actually went down--just plugging along, no real changes.  the past 2 days she's been way more subdued--I guess she doesn't have much to complain about now that the CPAP is on hold.  Ryan is improving on the CPAP--he is down to just 3 hours at-a-time, twice a day.  The rest of the time he's on the cannula and he does well on it.  We expect that if he does well overnight tonight, he will be on cannula all day long starting tomorrow---we're hopeful--he seems much more comfortable on the cannula (he's got sores in his nose from the CPAP).  Ryan's also doing well with the M.E.N. -- but his bilirubin went up a bit more, so he'll probably be under the bili lights again after the next blood draw if the trend continues (which it is expected to).
In 2 more days they are going to start advancing the feeds and giving them more--so they should start gaining more weight at that point.  Right now they are both gaining weight finally, but are both about 80 grams shy of their birth weights still.  

Each day we are spending 1-2 hours kangarooing with them which is supposed to help them breathe easier, sleep better, help my milk supply--John has one baby and I have the other and we switch each day--we also read that babies who are kangaroo'd are discharged sooner than babies who are not.  So we think it's worth every minute and we wish we could do it longer, but inevitably after 1-2 hours we either need to pee or we are overheating (they wrap us up in warm blankets with the babies on our chests) and need a break.

John is going back to work on Thursday, so I will be there with both babies all day, then John will come up to the hospital after work and after picking up Caitlin from preschool.  the juggling act gets much more difficult as we  add a full workday for daddy into the picture, add a family dinner at the hospital somedays and hope that Caitlin can sit still long enough for John to spend a bit of time with the babies.  This is only the plan for 2 days since I still can't drive until Saturday--after that, we'll be able to switch up and separate our times a bit more.  Thanks to my parents and Aunt Julie for driving me to the hospital in the next few days.

Once John is back at work I will be the lone parent during the weekdays.  My schedule will look like this (once I can drive--starting next week):
-get Caitlin to school--usually at 9ish
-hospital at 9:30/10AM and listen to rounds and get updates from the RN, MD, NP and resp therapist.  greet babies if they are awake.
-10:30 pump
-10:45 baby care for both babies (diapering, take temps, clean their mouths, which get gunky)
-11am-1pm Kangaroo one baby
-1pm lunch
-1:30-pump
-1:45 baby care for both babies
-2-4pm Kangaroo other baby
-4ish pump again
-then either leave to pick up C from preschool or  wait for John and C to come to hospital (this part will vary depending on the day)
-if I'm still there at 5pm, will do baby care again
It'll be very busy days--but I'm so thankful we're able to be so involved in their care.

Thanks for continuing to lift us up in prayer--we feel it.  we really do.

Visitors today: Kathy

3 comments:

  1. I'm in awe of your strength and will continue to pray for you and the babies. They are beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Max and Ian are praying for "those tiny, cute babies" every night. May God bless and keep you all.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am so glad to hear the babies are doing well. I will keep you guys in my prayers. I wish I had half the strength you have. You have three beautiful babies and they are so loved. You can tell by all you do for them in the posts you put in.

    ReplyDelete