Fussy and Hungry.....

So, the weekend came and went, just as quickly (the went part that is) as it usually does. And as usual, we spent as much time as we could at the NICU visiting the girls. As many of you can tell, we didn't spend as much time on the blog...in fact we took a blog vacation. Sorry, but it's been a stressful weekend.

Our Saturday started out with a call from Children's Hospital (right as we were getting organized to go there), from our new Dr (remember we're with the step down team now). Apparently Little Miss Fussy Pants (Sydney) had more bloody poop/stool. SO, we were having to come up with a new plan of action to figure out WHAT in the world is STILL causing these issues. Dr. L (as I will call her b/c she's from Poland and I don't know how to spell her name) called and was asking me about my issues with being Lactose intolerant. APPARENTLY it's very rare but babies this young can be lactose intolerant as well, and one of the symptoms of this is.....BLOODY STOOL. So, in order to determine this, they wanted to have her go on some lactose free formula for 48-72 hours, while I completely modified my diet and cut out any the dairy items that I do ACTUALLY eat, which isn't a problem. I have no problem modifying my diet to make sure the girls are healthy and that they are doing well. In addition, in order to make sure that we killed/identified any potential infection, Dr. L ordered cultures done and put Sydney on antibiotics which required her to have another IV placed for the next 48 hours. So, no worries. In my mind, this would fix all of Little Sydney's issues. So, we headed down to the NICU, spent the afternoon with the girls, cuddling and calming them down, particularly Little Miss Sydney. It was rather depressing to see Sydney with an IV again. Poor baby. :( We came home around 8:30 and spent a quiet evening at home. It was nice, as evenings in our house soon will not be so quiet I am sure!

The girls getting in some "Mommy-time"

Sydney

Olivia

And some cute "sleepy-time" pictures...

Sunday...typcial morning. Woke up at 6 to do mommy duty, went back to bed... Woke up to a thunderstorm before my second pump of the day. Darn it, how annoying that it woke me up. So, I got up to call the hospital to check on the girls before we showered and headed down there only to hear that Dr. L was just getting ready to call me. SO, the news is that poor Little Miss Sydney had MORE bloody stool this morning, so as of this morning she is now NPO (which means NO food for her) for the next 48-72 hours until we determine what the potential cause for bloody stool. Her cultures didn't show anything this morning, but they will continue to grow for another day. She does not present as ill (appear, look, run a fever, etc). If we can't determine that this is caused by an infection in 48-72 hours, Dr. L is going to have to put a camera up her rectum to determine if she has rectal trauma and see if that is what is causing the bloody stool. So, in the mean time, she's fussy and hungry... well, not too hungry because they do have her on IV fluids, antibiotics, and vitamins which will keep her feeling pretty full. However, as we spent time with her today, she was pretty fussy again (which is why she got to spend 2 hours of time bonding with mommy today).

Olivia now weighs 3lbs 3 1/2 ounces and Sydney now weights 2lbs 13 1/2 ounces. Poor Sydney, she's so much more petite than her sister is AND she cannot seem to gain enough weight fast enough. :( Olivia continues to be on her 2 liters of high humidity and still has her moments of over and under achieving in breathing, which makes me crazy.

Today was a crazy busy day for family visitors for the girls...Matt's Dad and Vicki came to see the girls and then his Mom and Rick, along with their friends the Boyers stopped in for a while. Everyone continues to think the girls are adorable... we just need to get them home. I wonder how long the Dr will have them on visitor restriction and house arrest. Life with preemies is, I do believe, going to be a MAJOR adjustment for a lot of our family members. They aren't allowed to go very many places or see many people, so that you can make sure they don't get sick, as their immune systems are more comprimised than that of an average newborn. No Fun. But, whatever is best for them is what's going to happen and be strictly enforced at our household at ALL times.

More of Sydney...

And Olivia...

Tonight we had a quiet dinner at home while I worked to start organizing the girls room/clothes/closet and Matt hung out watching the Cardinals game. Tomorrow, school starts, SO I'm hopefully going to work in some time to get up to West to finish cleaning out my office so that my sub can have a clean office. Matt on the other hand has to be at work by 7..stinks to be him! Tomorrow morning the girls have their first eye exam to check and make sure their eyes are developing correctly, so it's a busy Monday for the entire family!

Hope everyone had a fun and relaxing weekend!
J