Grandparents

 

 

Brandon's parents came to visit again today.  Judy's friend Connie made the babies these awesome crochet Mizzou hats.

 

 

 

 

Cribs

Brinley and Cooper were put in cribs today! Just another step closer to coming home - and so nice to be able to handle them so much easier. You haven't really changed a poopy diaper until you've had to do it through two portholes in an incubator plus throw in all the cords they've got attached to them. The cribs make it so much easier. This means they are able to regulate their body temperature on their own - in a sleeper, a hat, and two blankets swaddled around them at all times of course :)

Cooper in his crib

Brinley's one preemie shirt that used to fit her perfectly is now almost a crop top and is a 3rd quarter sleeve now.

Her belly looks funny/ really big in these pictures but it's really not - it was just how she was propped on my lap while I was taking pictures.

Brinley in her crib

 

Cooper

March 26

Not much to report today - still working on nursing, still not quite getting it. A feeding specialist came in today to check them out - she put a pacifier on this wand thing and stuck it in their mouths and it was hooked up to a computer and gave a reading on their neurological process while sucking on the pacifier.  It showed that Brinley was not quite ready neurologically to nurse but that Cooper was very ready. Which is in line with how the nursing seems to be going with them.  Cooper is so close and is getting very frustrated himself that he can't quite get it.  Brinley is just still having fun and loves her cuddle time with mom, but she'll get it - she's much improved from last week still.  The neonatologist still says they are right on target with their gestational age - 36 weeks on Saturday - but it's still getting very frustrating. Especially knowing they have to do this before they can come home...

 

If you've had children, you'll know that all modesty goes out the window when you give birth, but it's a whole different level when you're trying to nurse babies in the NICU.  Today I had 5 different people, men and women of all different specialties, standing in a semi-circle hovering over me within a few feet as I was half-naked trying to nurse the babies, with the lactation specialist sitting right beside me using her own hands to "help" us nurse.  So strange.  And even more strange that at the time, I didn't actually feel like it was strange!  It was funny too because Brinley seemed to love the attention and was so wide awake during her turn with the audience, and would follow with her eyes when someone was talking. She was definitely doing more listening and trying to be cute than actually trying to feed!

 

 

 

 

5 pounds!

 



Cooper is 5 pounds today!  Brinley is now 1/2 pound behind him which is actually pretty close for twins - most twins have a pretty big weight disparity.

We are now in what the doctors/nurses call the boring period.  There was a lot of activity when we first got in the NICU - new developments every day. Now it's slowed down, and we're in the "feeding and growing" stage - focusing on trying to nurse and just gaining weight.  So there will probably be lots of days in the next couple weeks with no words, just pictures!

 

 

I think the nursing isn't going well, but everybody assures us that this is normal.  We still try twice a day and they seem to like trying but they just don't get how to latch quite yet, but at 35 weeks they still aren't expected to.  We've been told it will seem like they're never going to get it, and then all of a sudden they'll just get it.  It just has to do with their brains not quite being developed enough to put it all together at this point.  So we'll keep trying...we are both getting a little frustrated as well with being in the NICU - we're really ready for them to come home, and are getting tired of going to the hospital all the time!!!

 

Their personalities have started to change a little bit - where Cooper was the more fussy one, it's now Brinley who has her fussy moments - really just when she's hungry.  We can definitely see the effects of their rigid schedule, and when she doesn't get her feeding exactly on time, she gets really pissed and let's everybody know!  While Cooper doesn't hardly cry anymore, he has become very expressive, and makes lots of good faces.  He has a really good grumpy face that he uses a lot - he doesn't cry, he just seems to be giving us dirty looks sometimes!  When Brinley is happy and content, she has the most peaceful face, and it won't change at all for hours at a time while she's sleeping.

 

In other exciting news, we've found a woman to come to our house and watch the babies once I go back to work!  We thought with two and Brandon going to work early so I'd be alone in the mornings with them, that it'd be much easier to have someone come to our house instead of taking them to a daycare center or in-home daycare. And it will actually be cheaper than going somewhere.

 

Brinley's peaceful face

 Cooper's grumpy face

 

If it seems like sometimes they are in multiple outfits in pictures, it's not because they are from different days. They are the same day - just like full-term babies at home, they poop/spit up on their clothes a lot and require lots of outfit changes!

Brinley pics

 

Friday March 21

Cooper

                      

                This is a newborn sleeper - her feet don't even reach to where the legs are supposed to start!

2 Week Update

The babies are two weeks old today.  Here is the board for today with their stats:

Cooper is getting really big, getting close to 5 pounds. Brinley is growing steadily, but staying petite :).  Cooper has topped out on his feedings for awhile at about 1 1/2 ounce every 3 hours.   Brinley has almost caught back up with him and will probably reach the 38ml mark with him tomorrow.

I can't remember what I've updated as far as their progress goes but here's a quick list of all the "assistance" they've had and are now off of:

• Respiratory assistance (nasal cannula, CPAP machines) - have not had breathing assistance since about 4 days old
• IV - they were getting IV fluids (electrolytes, lipids) for additional help - went off those about 3 days ago
• Jaundice lights - went off these after about 1 week
• Extra fortification in their feedings - they've both topped out on their extra calorie fortifications they get in their feedings along with the breastmilk and get 24cal of extra "stuff" every feeding (to make them gain weight quicker and give extra vitamins breastmilk is lacking)
• Body temperature warmers - they've been regulating their body temperature themselves without the isolette being warmed for about 5 days now

The doctors tell us every time that the babies are doing so great, and showing so much progress, especially for 32 weekers. 

So now that they've passed all of these "tests", the last two remaining hurdles are getting them out of the isolettes and into cribs and learning how to feed orally and not through the tube in the noses.  Their is a long protocol on getting out of the isolette but they are making steady progress on that and it will probably be sometime next week.  This just makes it easier for us to handle them ourselves without the nurses help.

So the big thing is the feeding.  After evaluations by numerous different specialties (the neonatologists, the nurse practitioners, speech therapist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, the registered nurses, lactation consultants) we were given the go ahead yesterday to start to try to breastfeed.  Babies at this young gestational age just don't have the capacity quite yet to be able to multi-task - suck, breathe, swallow all at the same time - so it's quite a process trying to nurse them.  They definitely still get their feedings through their nose tubes for now; they really don't get, and are not expected, to actually fill their bellies by nursing at this point.  We try twice a day at set times (11am and 8pm) during their regular feedings.  Without going into too many details, they clearly have no idea what they're doing but they like being close to me and getting little tastes of milk. The problem is getting them to stay awake, and not be lazy about how they're getting the milk.  So we're just letting them try it out for now, and everybody says that it will just all of a sudden click with them, but probably not for another week at least.  Once they get the hang of nursing, we will get them on bottles as well because we really need them to be able to nurse and take a bottle.  They will not be able to go home until they can feed orally. This is what usually trips up preemie babies and will give us a great indicator of when we're getting close to going home.  They are very very hesitant on giving us a timeframe on when they'll get to come home, but one nurse practitioner told me a few days ago that it'd probably be a week or two, more like two, depending on how the feeding goes.

 

                                                            Brandon and Brinley after nursing tonight

I'm still pumping breastmilk for them 7 times a day (the middle of the night pumpings are starting to get to me which is why the blog isn't being updated as much and there's not as many pictures!). I'm getting about 4 ounces per pumping now or about 24 ounces a day. They're eating about 16 ounces per day combined so as of now we have about 4 additional days of milk frozen but are hoping for more still as the nursing progresses and I get more supply.

Also, in other news, I had a Dr appointment on Monday and my blood pressure appears to be going back to normal!  We were worried I'd be one of the women who get gestational hypertension/pre-eclampsia during pregnancy and the blood pressure stays elevated even after delivering but things are looking up. I'm still taking BP medicine for now, and we will reevaluate at my 6 week follow up appointment with the OB.

Grandparents Visit

My parents came up to see the babies today.

 

 

 

 

Brandon's parents came on Wednesday but I spaced out and didn't get any pictures!