thetadpoles.com

When I was on bed rest time just seemed to eek by. The main highlights of my day were trips to the bathroom and 7 pm so I could watch Jeopardy!. Now days seem to blur into one another. I am shocked that tomorrow is Halloween. I don’t know what day of the week it is (I had to ask TWICE today). Going to Michaels to look at yarn (so Tamie can start making the twins some hats) seemed to take so much longer than it should have. I just shuffle along like a little old lady. A couple of stores and by the time I get back home I’m STILL late on my pumping schedule. If I am this unorganized with a pump how am I going to do when I need to breastfeed 2 on a schedule?!

UPDATES:

• Loen: So many things. Last night I saw her open her eyes for the first time. Very exciting stuff. It reminds me of a baby kitty opening its eyes. Today Loen’s oxygen levels would periodically drop while she was on room air. They would hit the ventilator to give a couple of extra breaths. The doctor felt that is a “soft sign” she has a PDA. PDA stands for patent ductus arteriosus. When babies are in the womb there is no need for the heart to be pumping blood to the lungs since they get their oxygen from the placenta. There is a little bypass or duct that skips the lungs. Once the baby is born the bypass usually closes on its own within 24-48 hours. The more premature a baby the more likely it is the duct does not close causing oxygenated and deoxygenated blood to mix. That can cause a drop in oxygen saturation. None of this is for sure, he just thinks it might be the case with Loen. We will know more over the next week. There are 2 courses of action. One would be to give the medication indocin which helps to close the duct. If that does not work they would do surgery and place a tiny staple to close it off. It is not a open heart procedure, they can do it at the bedside. (Here is a good explanation with pictures of a PDA) So that is on our wait and see list. I guess she pooped a lot after her enema yesterday. Her abdominal xray this morning showed she had a tiny amount of air in her intestine so the doctor decided to try her on 2 ml’s of breast milk today (5 ml = 1 teaspoon). Not enough to count nutritionally but he said when food is introduced it causes a hormone to be secreted that helps to mature the intestines. When we went by tonight at 8:30 we couldn’t tell how things went. They are going to give her another 2 ml’s at 11 pm. They but a tube down her throat into her stomach. That is how they are getting the milk down but they can also check to be sure she is digesting it. Before her next feeding they can draw back stomach contents from the tube with a syringe. They can tell if she digested it, how she is tolerating food etc. We will know more tomorrow.

• Derby: Not much to report on my little man. He still hasn’t pooped. The enema didn’t do much for him, even though they gave him another one today. Yes I know I am giving poop updates on my kids, but this stuff is our new excitement. The doctor said that Loen seems a couple of days more mature than Derby. So whatever happens to her he expects to see in him a day or 2 later. His blood pressure was a little low so he got some platelets. He weighed in at 810 grams (1.8 pounds) today. Some of it is actual weight gain some is just fluid. His little neck was puffy and it looked like he had a double chin. When Tadd and I said goodnight the nurse said he liked it because his respirations went up and he started to move a bit. The twins new trick is to lick and suck on their vent tube, it is pretty cute.

Sorry that was a very technical post.