thetadpoles.com

So, did you miss us? I just wasn’t in the mood last week to blog after all that was going on with Loen and the move. I was pretty exhausted. But today I have no excuses for not bloggin. I am sitting here waiting for the Sears man to deliver our new washer and dryer (man, when did we ever become grown ups?). I could unpack a few boxes but that would be too responsible and efficient of me. I would much rather look at pics of my babes and read others blogs. How about some updates?!

• US: Well we moved this weekend. This should be the last move for awhile. This time around was a well oiled machine compared to our move in October. Boxes were packed with care and marked. We hired the same guys to move the big furniture again. You can tell they were so excited to have to move 600 pound dresserzilla again. Then on Saturday the Puzders, Brent, Tadd’s dad Jim, Calder, Army, Andy, Koz and Michelle came to help move. The whole thing was done in 2 HOURS! I felt bad that the only thing I did was point out where to put boxes. The new place is beautiful, it just needs to finish being unpacked!

• Loen: On Thursday her CO2 levels were climbing and they had maxed out the pressure on her ventilator.The chest xray showed atelectasis and the right upper lobe of her lung had collapsed. The next step was to put her on a oscillating ventilator (HFOV). It sounded like a generator and shook her like she was sitting on a washing machine on spin cycle. She HATED it. The whole time she was on it she had to be sedated almost hourly otherwise she would fight it. She would do this noiseless cry and try to flail her arms even though they were restrained. It was pretty heartbreaking to watch. Sunday her bilirubin levels started to climb so they had to put the therapeutic lights on her. Yesterday her blood gases and chest xrays looked better and she was switched back to the traditional vent. Today the nurse said “Her blood gas looked great. Sometimes just being on the oscillating vent for awhile gives their lungs a chance to rest.” Even though she didn’t look like she was resting. Today her bili levels dropped and they were able to turn off the special lights. The doctor said her lungs look better (the right lobe re-expanded), he was going to stop her IV fluids and resume her feeds. So Loen is on the climb back up. Being on the HFOV they did not weigh her for a couple of days but last night she weighed in at 910 grams or 2 pounds. Did I mention that Loen wore her first outfit on the 13th??

• Derby: The day Loen was put on the HFOV Derby had his chest tube pulled. Xrays showed HIS lung had re-expanded (I swear they take turns on who is going to give us more gray hair). He still is NPO (Latin for ‘Nil Per Os’ or nothing by mouth) but his stomas are looking good. Or as the surgeon put it “the cutest little stomas”. Well if you think stomas are cute….. He was being pretty mellow the last few days. Now that Loen is stabilizing Derby’s CO2 levels are starting to climb. The doctor just wants to watch it for now. Yesterday he put out a large amount of stool into his ostomy bag. I know this is all gross but it is a good sign that his intestines are working. (Now if you thought that was gross dont read any further as there will be more poop talk) Today the doctor was talking about a new therapy where they would take the stool from the ostomy bag and refeeding it into his mucous fistula. Derby has two stomas since they cut out the dead part of his intestine in the surgery two weeks ago. The top part (ileostomy) is the end of his small intestine and the bottom part (mucous fistula) is the top of his large intestine. By refeeding into the mucous fistula it would keep his large intestine working as if it was still attached. Does that make sense?? (Poop talk over) Last night they weighed Derby and he is walloping 1151 grams or 2 pounds 8 ounces. The doctor is very happy with how Derby has been making steady progress with growth. Tadd was saying yesterday they seem huge compared to their birth. It is amazing how accustomed you get to tiny babies after being in the NICU.

Tomorrow our little ones will be a MONTH OLD. Where does the time go?

Loen in the pink outfit the Hallocks got her:

Jim (Tadd’s dad) was able to touch Derby for the first time

Derby:

Loen:

Derby wearing Tadd’s wedding ring. I wish we would have been able to do this sooner:

Derby’s big ol’feet:

Derby and Tadd:

If you look on the sidebar you will notice I have added a video player, so any new videos of the twins will be posted there. For some reason when we embed videos into a post it throws off a lot of the margins and I have to mess with it for a long time. So this new way is less mess. There is a new video of Loen a few hours after removing her from the HFOV. One day we will get a new video of Derby but lately he likes to sleep whenever I try to tape him.