thetadpoles.com

Yes I know, there were no updates this weekend. Tadd and I were just trying to “be”. From sleeping in inadequate stretches, going to the hospital, and starting to pack we are pretty drained. Wait….did you get that last part?! Yes we are moving again, even though we just moved to this place in October. Not only is the new place big, new and gorgeous but more affordable, which will make it easier if I’m not working for awhile. The social worker said preemies cannot go into day care till after they are a year old. He also said it is recommended that the mother take a year off to spend with them because it is a huge developmental time for them. Since they can be behind due to prematurity they will usually will need some type of therapy (such as physical, speech, occupational or all three). So much to think about.

Well this weekend was packed. Tadd’s mother flew home to Michigan Saturday morning but she was able to stop off and say goodbye to the twins before she left. Tamie did a wonderful job of spending time with the twins when I wasn’t there. She would spend hours in the rocker next to their incubators knitting. The twins had a stable weekend which in turn made us feel stable. Though tonight Tadd and I were talking and we agreed that everything is starting to sink in. The first week was so hectic. We were happy they were alive, things were looking stable. The second week there were some setbacks but we moved ahead. Now as we are approaching our third week it is getting harder. I feel as if we make a little progress only to have something new come up. I wish we knew the outcome of this trip. We still don’t know if we are out of the woods, it is hard for me not knowing if I will be able to eventually take my babies home and we still have months to go.

UPDATES:

• Both: This morning at 4 am they attempted to wean them from their ventilators but they both responded poorly. It feels as if they spent the rest of their day trying to restabilize.

• Loen: She is now up to full feeds (16 cc’s every 3 hours). She weighs 1 lb 14.8 ounces and is now 14 inches long. She has grown a FULL INCH since birth. Tadd and I thought she was looking quite lanky. The nurses tell us that Loen looks so feminine while Derby obviously looks like a boy. It could be all pink and blue bedding they are lying on. Her PICC line has come out and she now only has one IV. Today they had to put a new IV in her and I felt so bad. She was furrowing her brow and you could tell she was crying even though no sound was coming out. Her bottom lip trembled and she was moving around. They had to get another nurse to hold her leg to try and get the line in. The nurse commented on how strong she was because she was trying to kick out her leg. Afterwards they gave her some Ativan to calm her down, my poor little girl. They washed her hair the other day and it was so fluffy. She opens her eyes all the time lately, especially if we talk to her. She will probably have to get a new breathing tube soon, hers is starting to get a significant leak due to growth. They were hoping she would do well weaning off the ventilator and just switch to CPAP (CPAP is small tubes that fit into the nostrils and the machine pushes a continuous flow of oxygen to the airways to help keep tiny air passages in the lungs open).

• Derby: Oh my little man, he continues to keep the nurses busy. On the one hand the surgeon and doctor are happy with his abdomen and the stomas look good. The flip side would be this morning when the doctor called me (I was just getting ready to take a shower and pump). She started the conversation with “This is Dr. D****, don’t worry everything is ok, but Derby has a pneumothorax and is being prepped for a chest tube.” WHA???? How can you not worry with that sentence. A ‘pneumo’ is a collapsed lung which they treat by inserting a small tube in the side of his chest to reinflate the lung. Evidentially it is common with preemies on ventilators. I was trying to decide what to do. I HAD to pump because I was engorged and I knew if I rushed to the NICU right then they wouldn’t let me in while they were doing the procedure. I called Tadd at work and he went to be with the babies while I pumped. By the time I got there everyone was stable. As Tadd said “I was just starting to feel good today when this happened”. When the babies are good we feel good, when it is a bad day it is a bad day for the whole family. When we left tonight Derby was doing ok. Both he and Loen were setting off their oxygen monitors in tandem and keeping the respiratory tech in their corner. He weighs in at 2.2 lbs and is 13 1/4″ long (I think they mismeasured his length!)

Derby looks like he is winking:

Loen looking very snuggly in her incubator blankies:

Tamie and Loen:

Derby (he has some manly looking hands)

Tadd and Loen:

Loen yawning (sooooooo cute):

Fauxma Dee made NEW monkey blankies. The nurses love the monkey theme and always comment on how accessorized their corner of the NICU is: