The Rollercoaster Ride.....

AKA the NICU is back!

Going shopping or not this weekend? It's an ever changing story.

So yesterday, was a super busy day for me with Matt out of town. I stayed at the NICU until 7:15pm, so I didn't get home until pretty late (b/c I picked up our Chinese) and was tired. So, I ate, pumped, talked with Matt, pumped, napped on the couch, pumped, went to bed, pumped...I'm sure you get the picture.

One of the things we talked about was WHEN the girls were officially coming home. You see, Olivia still hadn't pooped and wasn't eating the best in the world yesterday. So, I was basically told, Sydney and Olivia MAY not be coming home together this weekend. :( Which made me pretty unhappy. Dr. Saunders and NP Michelle told me that if Olivia didn't pick up her feeds, that she'd have to get her NG tube back in because they were worried about her getting dehydrated. SO, we were put on urine watch. So, Olivia and I had a couple 'conversations' about how she had to go shopping with her sister this weekend and pickup her feeds so that she could do that AND that she needs to poop so that she is hungry.

First off, we have 3.5 hour babies. That's how often they are hungry. So, when Olivia started barking (she lets out little shouts when she's hungry) versuses Sydney's screams of hunger, at 5:45, I got her ready (changed her, no poop) and warmed her milk. She ate ALL of the 50 mils I offered her (Okay already more than she'd eaten at one time all day), and she continued to act hungry, SO we warmed another 15 mils and she ate all that. YAY. You go girl. Sydney of course screamed at 6:05 and demanded that our awesome nurse Michelle (not to be confused with NP Michelle) feed her, and like a champ she ate all of her 60 mils.

Overnight, Olivia (threatened with the NG tube), ate really well, she continued to wake up every 3.5 hours and took 75, 75, 65. AND even more importantly after 6 LONG days she finally pooped. THANK God. I was super worried about that. Sydney of course pooped and ate like normal..which means all of her bottles all night long!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO it still sounds like they may be shopping this weekend, but who knows, on the rollercoaster ride of the NICU things could change in an instant. However, I guess I'd better finish up around here and make sure I'm organized for this weekend! YAY. WE.CAN'T.FREAKIN'.WAIT. Give me my babies people and we are outta here...I cannot wait to say that! :)

Daddy's home, I slept MUCH better last night for probably one of the last nights in a LONG time (not that 4 hours of sleep in a row is great, but it's good).

Here are photo shoot pics from today....

Mommy holding the girls.....

Mommy with Sydney (holding BOTH girls)...

Mommy with Olivia (holding BOTH girls)....

Olivia....




Sydney....


Hope all is well,
J

Rumor Has it...

That my letter to Hazelwood's sick leave bank committee was APPROVED.

I'm seriously so excited. I cried. Of course I don't have the official word, but I have heard from a VERY reliable source...my friend Rhonda. You see Rhonda, her darling daughter Josey, and I went to lunch today (which was awesome, it was great to see her!) and she said to me, "I hear great news for you, your leave request was approved!" I was shocked, she thought I knew, so she was shocked as well! Apparently her husband John works with one of the 4 people on the committee who was telling John that they had a meeting and approved my leave. I'm so excited, I cannot believe it. So, I am out of work until December 8. This is HUGE for the girls in terms of health!

I hope that committee knows how fabulous they are, this is so great. When I go back to work the girls will have had 3 of the 5 RSV shots that they will get, and that is HUGE for them. Every day they are kept home during the winter, out of day care, and away from germs is better for them. I must admit that the NICU has me SUPER Freaked out about RSV season. The pure fact that a simple cold could kill my girls is horrifying, much less the fact that they could catch it from ANYONE, even adults who feel okay breaks my heart.

I know that being premature will continue to be a challenge that we will need to combat for the girls, but everything I read tells me that by age 4 (at the latest, usually it is 2) they will have caught up developmentally with their peers. The really sad thing is that RSV will continue to be a concern for us next year. I wonder how other people deal with RSV if they cannot take off work, etc. Craziness.

So, another rumor is still that the girls are GOING SHOPPING THIS WEEKEND. We still don't have an official day, just sometime this weekend. It really all depends on when Olivia poops. Poor baby. She hasn't pooped in 5 whole days as of tonight. She can toot like no adult, but she cannot poop. AND because she isn't pooping so much she's not as hungry (there isn't room, who blames her)!? I mean seriously, we don't eat and think about pooping or poop and think about eating at the same time, so it's no wonder that she's having issues eating ALL of her bottle. BUT she's doing most of it.

Both of the girls have passed their hearing tests as well, which is one of the last things they do before they leave the NICU too. YAY!

Let's see...other great news...they are still as adorable as ever! As of today they are eating ad lib. Which means they are no longer on their set eating schedule. Instead, they HAVE to eat by every 4 hours but THEY determine when in that 4 hour time period they want to eat. WELL, my formerly quiet babies are NOW noisy babies. You should hear the racket they toss up when they want to eat. Sydney screams and Olivia kind of talks. She hasn't screamed yet, but it was cute to see her talk.

Oh, a friend of mine, a very nice girl that I "know" from a website that I am on, who lives in STL and is a photographer has offered to take some pictures of the girls for us. She too has a baby who was born prematurely (Eli, he's so cute) and she completely understands the complications caused by the restrictions placed on premature babies (like no public places, including photographic studios) until after RSV season (so late April/early May). I'm so excited. She takes awesome pictures (her website is http://www.stephaniecordle.com/), and I know that the girls will be great subjects for her. Thanks Stephanie, that was a super generous offer of you to make and Matt and I really appreciate it. She also offered to take maternity pictures for our friend Amy and baby pictures for our friend Stacey. Who knew that one could make such good friends online, but these women have been there for me countless times, they mean a lot to me and I hope they know it!

WEll, here are some pictures from today. Photo shoot time was cut a little short due to the fact that out of the 7 hours I was at the NICU today the girls only ate 1 time, whereas before they would have eaten at least 2 times. You've gotta love the 4 hour schedule!

Sydney....


Olivia....


Well, that's all for tonight. Matt's in Florida and I'm on my own. I promised him that I'd clean up around here, so I'd best be going to do some of that! We should be posting pics of the nursery in the next day or so!

Hope all is well!

J

The H Word

Welcome to our blog for the weekend of Sept 19 - 21.

These are photos from a 'photo shoot' Jeni did with the girls on Friday afternoon...

Olivia

Olivia is on the left and Sydney is on the right!

So in the world of the neonatal intensive care unit, there are a few rules that are strictly enforced by the nurses:
1. Everyone must wash their hands!
2. Only 2 visitors per baby!
3. Don't use the H word around the babies.

If you haven't guessed, the H word is "Home." As patients progress towards being released from the NICU, the nurses don't say anything about 'going home.' They refer to their release as 'going shopping' or 'going to a football game'.

So, why am I pointing this out? Well, we were told that if the girls continue to progress as they have the past few days, then they could be 'going shopping' by the weekend!

That's right, they have made some big moves towards leaving the NICU. On Friday night, the nurses and doctor decided to remove the girls' feeding tubes. They did this for a couple of reasons. One, they wanted to challenge the girls to eat on their own instead of depending on getting their feeds through the tubes. Two, upon removal of the tube (on accident when one of the girls yanked it out) they saw that the thrush had colonized around the outside of the tube. This is part of the reason why the thrush has been so hard to kick. The medicine for it had been going down the tube, thus not killing it where it was growing... So as of Saturday morning, the girls were officially all on their own when it comes to eating. They have minimums they need to eat at each feeding but so far we've been encouraged that several times they've taken all of their bottles...

Olivia

Sydney....

After their tubes were removed on Saturday, our nurse on decided to attempt to cross another milestone/test for the girls: They both had their carseat tests. This test required the girls to sit in their carseat for an hour without having any heartrate or breathing issues. Both Sydney & Olivia did great and passed!


Sydney...

Olivia...


Jeni and I spent alot of Saturday with the girls making sure they had plenty of time eating from the bottle and getting pictures without tubes on their faces! I went home a little before Jeni and did some yard work. I grilled some bratwurst for dinner and we had a nice evening at home. After dinner I hung a couple more decorations in the nursery to get it completely ready for its new residents.

Sydney...

Olivia...

Sydney....
On Sunday, I got up early and visited the girls for their 8 & 9 AM feedings. I stayed until Jeni arrived around noon and then headed home. Jeni stayed most of the afternoon and then came home before we quickly left again. We went to the wake for Jeni's great uncle Kenny and then swung by her mom's to pick up dinner that she made for us.

Tonight has been a quiet evening at home, but many of our conversations have been about what's to come in this next week. I think the reality of the girls being here hasn't hit us yet, but we are MORE than ready. We've been ready for a couple of month. Now we'll see how crazy our lives are about to get...

Well, that's all for me. I'm off to bed. I'll be flying off to Florida for work tomorrow afternoon and will return Tuesday night. Jeni will be in charge of keeping all of you up to date.

Take care!

M

A Day of Firsts....

Today was an interesting day to say the least.

Some of the firsts for today include:

1- Daddy held BOTH girls for the first time...see below (note that is Sydney who is sleeping and Olivia who is smiling (yes I know it's just gas)).

2- I discovered and experienced that Motherhood is not always glamerous (you know besides all the morning sickness, hormones, gaining weight, being in the hospital numerous times, giving birth, and attempting to lose baby weight)...add to that being PROJECTILE VOMITED on. Yes, it was gross. But hey...Olivia felt better afterwards and I was completely soaked (my sweatshirt, t-shirt,undergarments), you name it, she got it. Poor baby, hey wait...poor me, it was COLD in there today!

3- The girls started pepcid for their reflux/gas issues. Hopefully this helps and they will eat better.

4-the word going home potentially next week was mentioned, no date of course, but it was mentioned.

5-NG tubes will be pulled on Monday, but maybe this weekend if the continue to eat well.

6-We nursed for the first time since we've all had thrush...Sydney was a champ (which would explain why she was so tired for her next feed, she nursed, ate 1/2 her bottle, AND NG'd the rest..poor baby was FULL), Olivia was just gaseous. :) We'll do more tomorrow.

7-We successfully survived the FIRST of my THREE due dates for the girls! :) Yes, my due date changed 3 times. They certainly are cute for babies who were just DUE today, and tomorrow, and Saturday! :)

8-I FINALLY Own my first car. Paid for entirely by me, well, and Matt. It's his THIRD car, but my first officially owned car that I bought and paid for, it's an awesome feeling of accomplishment. Can't wait until I can say the same thing about my other car AND eventually (in a gazillion years) about my house. :)

Olivia

Sydney

Without my Paci, I am lost. :(

As you can tell things are going. We're playing the waiting game and praying like all heck for next week and a home date to come! IN the meantime the nursery will be officially finished this weekend, the rest of the clothes that our family and friends have so generously given us will be washed and folded and we'll finish all our other fun things around here so we are READY. FINALLY. Not that we weren't ready weeks ago.

Hope all is well!

J

They are official!

Well, we received a piece of evidence that the girls really exist according to the government today. We got their birth certificates! This goes along with their social security cards we got a few weeks ago. So, while many may believe that they are figments of our imagination since few people have actually seen them in person, they do exist!

Nothing else too exciting in the lives of our girls. Jeni worked with our nurses and their speech therapists to introduce a new type of bottle for Olivia. This will hopefully help her eat a little bit better. We were also told that our doctors may have the girls' feeding tubes removed next week to challenge them to eat on their own. This is a little 'tough love' for the girls to push them to work harder on their own to eat. Hopefully over the next few days the girls will figure it out on their own and they'll have their tubes taken out because they aren't needed anyway...

Oh well, keep your fingers crossed!

Here are some photo shoot pics from today! :)

Sydney....

Olivia....

M

Just Another Manic Monday....

For the girls, Mondays are their worst day of the week. Why, you ask? Well, they do labs on Mondays and the girls HATE getting their blood taken for labs. They are often more crabby and tired on Mondays than any other day of the week. I expect Mondays to be especially fussy.

That said, today was a 'GOOD Monday'! The girls are starting to pick up on their feeds, which is cool! As normal, we have good days and bad days with eating. I'm hoping that today is starting a NEW trend of good eating that will get them sprung from the slammer (as I now refer to the NICU).

This morning (as usual), I was up at 6:45 and called the NICU. Much to my surprise our nurse had GREAT news for me. Sydney had eaten all but 10 mils of her bottle at 11 and Olivia had eaten ALL of her bottle (a first for her in quite a few days), but then at 2 & 5 Sydney ate ALL of her bottles while Olivia ate half or 32 mils of each of her feedings. This was super encouraging for us to hear and Matt and I were both very happy. Of course throughout the day they continued to have good and bad feeds (feeds where they were given breaks and just tube fed). We are, as always, hoping things pick up so they can come home soon!

Today, on my way to the NICU I had our carseats installed in the Tribute. It was neat to learn how to install the seats and how to take them out. The carseat installer taught me how to make sure that carseats are as tight as you can possibly make them, for which you need a lot of arm strength AND your knee. I was happy to see the amount of room left in my car, but there's still not enough space left for our other babies. :( Oh well, someday we'll have a bigger car, but not just yet.

I was happy today that our NP Michelle was back from her vacation to Florida (she didn't have to be evacuated thankfully). I missed her, as did the girls, who were showing off for her. :)

I have to admit that I am getting QUITE worried about the state of the economy in the U.S. I watched the Today show this AM (which is my new morning show between pumps and napping). It's depressing to think of ALL of the money our parents are losing in investments. While Matt and I have QUITE a bit of time before we retire, it's still scary to see us lose money too. I heard on the news that over 700 billion dollars was lost on Wall Street today. God that is DEPRESSING. :(

I also learned how HORRIBLE all the flooding was in STL from the leftovers of Hurricane Ike. My heart goes out to the many families who lost someone, had property damage, or even lost power due to the storming. All Matt and I suffered was a slight inconvenience of traffic due to flooding, thankfully. Hopefully the rain stays away for a while. I have to admit though, that I am loving, loving, loving the Fall like weather that has come from Ike. Have I mentioned yet that both Matt and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Fall? It's such a great time of year.

Oh well, keep saying some prayers for the babies that they will be out of jail soon. :) Matt and I have a bet as to when they will get sprung but we are NOT going to mention that anytime soon! We'll let you know when we know something official. What I do know is that I see a trip to a Mexican restaurant in my future this weekend! AND that we're going to get the rest of our ducks in a row this week too so that we are READY when they tell us that the girls are coming home, which is hopefully sooner rather than later.

Here are the girlies from today!

Olivia..

Sydney....

Hope All is Well,


J