At Long Last, Another Update

HAPPY ONE MONTH BIRTHDAY, BABIES!!!!

Lainey, Emery, George

Sorry for the long delay in updating the blog...I need to find a couple extra hours in the day! The stronger and bigger the babies are getting, the more I am at the NICU and being "hands on" with their care, feedings, etc. Here is the latest rundown on each baby.





Elaina
Lainey is getting sooo big!!! As of today, drum roll please, our pink little cutie pie is 4 pounds 7 ounces!!! I could hardly believe it when I saw "2000 grams" on her chart today! She has continued to breast feed, though she usually only takes in a small amount before getting tired and then we have to put her feeding in thru the feeding tube. Today I gave her a bottle for the first time and she took in 13cc's like a champ! She is getting the cutest, most edible chubby cheeks too! She is still having some apnea events, so she is still on oxygen. Hopefully these will subside on all the babies as they approach 36 weeks gestation (they are currently 34 weeks, 2 days).


Emery
Our little peanut! She is still the littlest, but oh so strong! She is weighing in at 3 pounds 11 ounces!!! She is also continuing to "practice" breast feeding and, like her sister, gets sleepy easily. She is always good for a cute smile, followed by the cutest, sadest little pout, and then a smile again. She keeps us laughing! Yesterday, Ryan gave her her first bottle. She only took in 2 1/2 cc's but the nurse gave her a bottle this morning and she took in 12 cc's! This is all one step closer to them coming home! She is also having the occasional apnea events.

George
George...sweet George. He has all the NICU nurses loving him! He is quite the charmer. I think it comes from his tough beginning, everyone was pulling for him and he has made leaps and bounds in his recovery. Our little guy who we could barely touch when he was first born and after his surgery has become quite the little cuddler. He melts my heart! George is weighing in at 4 pounds!!! I think he will catch up to his big sister soon...he was on some medication to clear up his "hazey" lungs so he has been peeing out a lot of fluid lately. We are waiting to give George bottles until he is off the CPAP entirely and we can move his feeding tube to his nose. He was off CPAP for a day or so, but he was getting tired so he is on the CPAP for 3 hours, then on the cannula for 6, alternating. Boy, does he LOVE his cannula! He is breastfeeding as well...he is definitley a "boob man" as he puts his sisters to shame in this department! haha! He does so well with it and also goes after his pacifier with a vengeance. He also HATES to have a messy diaper and he will always let you know when it's time for a clean diaper!

These babies are my whole world...and I speak for Ryan as well. I often think when the nurses ask, "do you need anything?" when Ryan and I are holding a baby or babies, "no...everything I need in this world is right here behind these curtains." True bliss!!!

Another Update...as promised!

Mommy and her girls, Emery on the left, Lainey on the right:
Mommy w/George:

He's really been enjoying Kangaroo Care now...before his surgery he pretty much just wanted to be left alone...now his cuddly side is emerging!

Lainey is in a "big girl" crib now!!!

She loves her binky! (Actually, they are all binky babies...they LOVE them!)

Emery was a couple days behind her sister, but she is also in a big girl crib now!

Sleeping so soundly!

Umma Cindi bought the babies their first valentine shirts...they were all sleeping so soundly I didn't want to wake them so we just laid them on them for the pictures!

Lainey (typically Lainey will be in pink):

Lainey is doing great. Her most recent cranial ultrasound showed that the ventricles were shrinking!!! Such a huge relief! At her most recent "weigh in" (yesterday) she was 3lbs 6oz and she's getting some meat on her bones!

George:

George is doing great too. He is up to 24cc's for his feeds, and fortified with extra calories...tomorrow he will go up to 27cc's which is full feeds for him right now, his "goal" is 30cc's, or about 1oz, 8 times a day. His PICC line should be coming out soon and he may be going to a canula/CPAP alternating soon as well! He is weighing in at 3lbs 9oz...taking the lead as the biggest!

Emery (typically Emery will be in purple):

Emery helps to keep us sane! Thank God, she has not had any major issues (knock on wood)! She is at full feeds for her size, which is 3lbs! Finally, all the babies are at least 3lbs!!!

Ryan and I spent the evening at the hospital, as we do every night, but today was Valentine's Day and we couldn't have asked for a better way to spend our night...on a "date" with our 3 little ones! We had a very romantic dinner in the waiting room...Taco Bell! haha! I think it was our best Valentine's Day yet! :)

A Quick Update

Things are going well this week. Here are some pictures and a quick update on everyone.

George, not happy...they were checking his nose to make sure the CPAP isn't irritating it too much:
My cute baby boy!

George is doing well on the CPAP. We have been able to hold him every day! He loves Kangaroo Care...he snuggles right into us...he's so sweet! He is 3lb, 6oz...most of his swelling from the surgery has gone down too.

Sweet little Emery in her big girl gown:

This is a preemie gown, up to 5lbs!

Emery is still amazing us. She is such a strong little girl! They removed her PICC line yesterday! She is 2lb, 13oz. We "practiced" breast feeding for the first time today and she latched on for a little bit...she kept "smiling" at me...oh such a cutie!

Our little blondie, Elaina:

Oh so sweet! She had pulled out her feeding tube and we couldn't resist taking advantage of the photo-op! Look at those little lips!

Lainey is such a strong little girl. Her latest ultrasound was "stable", which is great. The ventricles are not getting bigger as of yesterday. They don't expect to see improvement at this point, so stable is the best thing we could hope for! They will do another u/s on Thursday. Lainey has "practiced" breast feeding twice now, and latched on both times. She does really well too! She is 3lb, 3oz.

Here are some new Kangaroo Care pictures too.

Ryan held both girls at the same time the other night for the very first time. They didn't really seem to aware the other was there...they snoozed the whole time. Emery is on the left, Lainey on the right. You could really see the differences in them when they are right next to eachother. Emery's hair in photos looks lighter than it is in person. Lainey is very blonde, Emery is more dark blonde/light brown. Both are 100% adorable though!! :)

Daddy and his little buddy:

Mommy and George:

Mommy and George:

Daddy and the girls:

I will do my best to update again on Thursday or Friday!

No More Vent!!!

I can't seem to get the pictures in order, but who cares!?!? Our little boy is off the ventilator and now has his CPAP!!! We were at the hospital last night and they were going to do another blood gas and it was so good the doctor decided to take him off the vent!!!

Here he is with his CPAP:
This is just as they took the vent out:

Just before they took the vent out (mommy is so happy!):

George's gorgeous little face without anything on it:

The last picture with his ventilator:

His new CPAP:

We were so happy to be there for this! I think George is going to be quite the ladies man...he already has all the nurses in the NICU wrapped around his little finger! So many of them came up to us this morning saying how excited they were that he is making such great progress now! Daddy even got to hold his little boy today for the first time...what an awesome moment! We both had tears!

Off to visit our little angels now!!!

Two Week Update

Wow! I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since we became a family of five! Here is an update on everyone.
Lainey:

Lainey is doing great! She is just about back up to her birth weight and is on "full feeds" which for her weight is 25cc's. Her feeds are being fortified, which means they are basically beefing up my breastmilk so she is getting more calories. Her PICC line is being removed today too...no more IV's!!! She is back on the nasal canula and having fewer breathing events...though she likes to pull her canula out and suck on it. It is so cute, she puts it in her mouth and just looks around like, "who? me?! I didn't do it!" She has been very alert lately too, opening her beautiful eyes...still not sure what color they will be though. She is starting to fill out now, but is still a teeny little pumpkin!

Emery:

Emery is also doing so well! She is off the nasal canula, on room air now! She still has her PICC line, but hopefully that will be gone in a few days. She is a couple days behind her sister on feedings because she was on medication to close her PDA and they halted her feedings for 36 hours. She is up to 10cc's and they will go up 2cc's every day until she is at full feeds. She is also almost back to her birth weight. She is a feisty little girl! She likes to snooze, but when you do something she doesn't like, oh boy, she will let you know! But she is easy to soothe and I love that I have the ability to soothe her!

George:

This is how George's isolette has been since his surgery. It has been important for him to be left alone to heal...it is hard to see him like that and not be able to do anything for him. As hard as it is, the best thing we can do for him is to leave him be right now...it is a very helpless feeling for us as his parents.

We were able to sneak in a quick picture of him...he is still pretty out of it, they have been keeping him on morphine for pain. Poor little guy has so many pokeys in him right now. We were delightfully surprised today though. When we got to the NICU we saw that he is off the oscillator and on a regular ventilator again! This is a step in the right direction. He is getting steroids now too for his blood pressure, I think he has one more dose. A side effect of the steroid is that it can also help to clear his lungs...a good side effect! His x-rays have been showing improvement. He is still very puffy from all the fluids, but hopefully this time next week, he will be good as new and showing us what is real personality is really like! The doctor said that if he has a good night tonight, she'd like for us to hold him tomorrow!!!

Here is a picture of the oscillator that he was on until today...it is very "industrial" sounding. We are glad to see it go, that is for sure!

I know some of you are really wanting to visit right now. With George healing slowly, we hope you understand our reasons for holding off visits. Hopefully next week we can have a few more visitors, but right now, his recovery is the most important thing.

Oh, and Lainey's cranial ultrasound on Tuesday showed that the bleeding has stopped but the ventricle is enlarged. There will be another u/s tomorrow to see if the ventricle is getting larger or smaller. They will also make sure the spinal fluid is flowing ok. I will update when we get the results of the ultrasound.

We are exhausted but that's ok. We couldn't be happier to have our babies here and getting stronger. I'm sure it's nothing compared to when they come home! haha!

George's Surgery

Just a quick update to let everyone know that George is out of surgery. It went very well. He is still "out" right now and will be for pretty much the entire day. He is on an oscillator right now, which is a step higher than a ventilator. It keeps his lungs pretty much fully inflated, since he is a little too sick to breathe right now and his vent settings were pretty high. So hopefully he will only be on that a couple of days. The doctor said he should be like a new baby in about 48 hours. Thank you for all the prayers for us and our little angels. It is so appreciated!

I will update tomorrow after Lainey's cranial ultrasound too. Now, off to take a nap...neither one of us got much sleep last night!