The Fetal Position, Not just for Preemies...

Mendy enjoys her new bed, cold as usual. The girls new crib, also known as cell block C.

Renna napping away.

Reagan, not napping, as usual.

I'll preface this post by saying that this is Adam, and while I may not be as funny and cheerful as my lovely wife, I do have a few minutes to post on our blog to keep everyone updated. I got some exciting and scary news yesterday while at work. Mendy called and told me that Reagan took her entire bottle in one feeding, then she told me that the doctors wanted to move us out of the NICU and up to our own room in the pediatric ward. My first statement was "Wow, are you sure there ready? That's pretty scary!". So while I like to think of myself as the risk taker in our little family, I have learned that when it comes to my little girls, I'm already the overprotective Dad I swore I wouldn't be. So yesterday around noon they moved the girls to our own room and we get to take care of their diapering, feeding, and the monitoring of their breathing and slowed heart rate episodes. Needless to say we are getting about 3 hours of sleep a night, and walk around like zombies most of the waking hours. One of us has to be with the girls 24-7, so we have employed both of our mothers to help us out. We are so thankful that both of our moms have been able to help out, we can't thank them enough. Their help has allowed us to take a few cat naps during the day to catch up on our sleep. The girls have been doing OK since we moved. They do of course realize we are amatuers at intensive care babies, and have decided as most children will, to test their parents in every way possible. We love being able to be with them as much as possible, but I must say when that alarm goes off at 4 AM that says one of them has stopped breathing, we both almost jump out of our skin. Then when it goes off again at 4:17AM our hearts jump out of our chest. Then when it goes off at 8:00 AM, both of our stomachs turn over. Needless to say, when this is all said and done were are going to crawl into the fetal position and suck our thumbs every time we go through the line at Walmart and suffer the constant beeps as they scan our groceries. That being said, we love being with our little girls and can't wait till we can get them home. Renna has been taking all of her feedings by bottle, but still has to have some supplemental oxygen. She is at the lowest possible setting for oxygen supplementation, which is called "whiffs" by the nurses here. Reagan required a blood transfusion yesterday (her third), but is still not requiring any oxygen. She does not seem the least bit interested in taking her meals by bottle. She enjoys having her feedings through a tube in her nose, thank you very much, and will not suffer the lowly task of sucking milk out of a rubbery nipple. So while one daughter needs "nose candy" and the other is hooked on O2, we carry on. We appreciate every one's thoughts and prayers, and really look forward to getting our girls home.

42 days and counting...

Reagan

Renna

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Things have been busy here as usual. We have decided our life will now always be crazy and we will always be tired! We wouldn't have it any other way. Anyways, we finally made the big move home from the hospital hotel to our home on Sunday! What a huge move...I never realized how much stuff we had accumulated in 5 and a half weeks. It is great to be home but bittersweet without our little girls here. We both slept really good in our own bed for the first time since the birth! So now my days are even more busy if that is possible. I am making the thirty minute drive to the hospital twice a day and only going home for a short time in the afternoon. I am now officially a mommy on the go! The girls are doing well. Renna weighs 4lbs. 9oz tonight and Reagan is 4lbs. 7oz. Reagan is quickly gaining on her sister. It is so good to see their little faces filling out and some fat accumulating in their little legs. Renna had to get her third blood transfusion yesterday, but seems to be having a lot less slow heart rates and breathing episodes today. Hopefully the blood transfusion is doing its job. Renna had an amazing day today. I arrived this morning and they informed me she had met the goal of taking all of her feedings by bottle in a 24 hour period! No tube feeding anymore for her! She got her tube pulled out of her nose and is vigorously nursing and drinking her bottles. I know she would eat more if they would let her. They tried to turn off her oxygen canula today. She is doing pretty well without it when she is resting. When she starts drinking her bottle or moving around too much she has to have it turned back on. But we are very pleased at these giant leaps in the direction towards going home. Way to go Renna! Reagan is having a lot of nasal congestion and snotty nose. This is especially hard for her trying to learn to take her bottle because she can't breathe well thru her nose while she is trying to suck. This process of suck, swallow, and breathe is hard enough for preemies but especially for her since she is having trouble moving air thru her nose. They cultured the discharge several days ago and the doctor told us tonight they are going to start her on some nose drops and an oral antibiotic. We hope this gets our little lady some much needed relief. It makes me really sad hearing her snort and gasping. I am sure this is just the first of many colds and sinus infections. Now we are just hoping it is nothing too contagious that Renna might get as well. So we are all doing pretty well. We have been working to get things squared away for when they finally come home. My mom and grandma came and helped me on Saturday and Monday. Adam is working tonight to try and finish staining one of the cribs so they will have a place to sleep when they finally get to come home. For all who don't know Adam has made both of the cribs out of maple and they are absolutely beautiful. I will try to post some pictures when they are completely finished. I must say that it has been a long road in the NICU and everyday I see babies go home that have arrived only days/weeks ago...it is very frustrating but I am happy for them. Just a little (okay a lot) jealous. I guess I have to remember how lucky we are and how much God is continuing to bless us. Hopefully we are at least now on the downhill slide and starting to see a little faint light at the end of the tunnel. Adam and I will never take for granted getting to hold our little angels whenever we want and have them in our own home! The girls will be six weeks old tomorrow. We can't believe that. I guess it is true what everyone says about how fast time flies once you have little ones. I had to post a few new pictures of the girls that Adam took with his new camera. He is getting pretty good!

Matching outfits are the most fun!

Both girls continue to do well in the crib. We are so pleased that they have been able to keep their temperatures up. What an accomplishment. They both are taking their bottles very well. They are getting bottle feedings about three times a day and both getting to try to nurse twice a day. This rigorous schedule wears them (and me) out! Renna is getting 35mls and Reagan is getting 33mls every three hours. This large amount of food is certainly helping them grow. Renna hit a landmark tonight, when they weighed her she was 4lbs. 1oz! It seems like a huge hurdle to hit four pounds in the NICU. Reagan is quickly increasing behind her and is 3lbs. 11oz. We are finally starting to see little Reagan's face begin to fill out a little. Our sweet girls are actually getting some meat on their bones! I love being able to change their outfits everyday. What fun to dress up two little precious girls. It is a reminder of how little they are as the preemie outfits are still huge on them. However, I have a feeling they won't be too big on them for long. My favorite part is the matching outfits. The top picture is my new favorite of them together. The next picture is a closeup of Renna (we got to take a quick one without the oxygen canula in), then Renna drinking her bottle, and then a closeup of Reagan. One day I will figure out how to label each picture but for now this is the best I got!

Together at last!

Here are some of the pictures from yesterday and today of the girls in their new crib. Our nurses suprised us with the great news that we could move them out of their isolettes and into a crib together. Both girls are still holding their temperatures up today, so hopefully they will get to stay together.

Big leaps in the right direction

Well we have certainly been busy these last few days. The girls are both doing phenomenal. Renna now weighs 3lbs. 11oz. and Reagan weighs 3lbs. 7oz. Reagan is determined to catch her big sister. They are both making so many advances the last two days. I will do a paragraph for each to make it less confusing.

Renna began yesterday with getting off of her vapo-therm which is the oxygen that she has been on that is pressurized. She was off of it for about twelve hours and then had to be put back on a regular oxygen canula. She seems to be doing great with it and they have it set at a very low setting. Hopefully she won't need this very long. They discontinued her IV nutrition and lipids and tonight the plan is to take her off of the dextrose solution she has been on! She also got to try "non-nutritive" nursing with me which is basically really hard for them right now. It is just a practicing for nursing later. Renna's milk feedings have now gotten moved up to 30mls. every three hours. This is considered full feeding and is where Reagan is right now also. What amazing accomplishments Renna has made in just this short week. We are really starting to see her personality more as she seems to be feeling so much better and being awake more now. She is our little smiler!

Reagan continues to do well with the "non-nutritive" nursing and so got to start trying to nurse for real today!! It is really hard because it makes her really tired but she is really trying. I think she is determined...or maybe stubborn like her mom (and daddy too)! Reagan did start having a few more episodes of slow heart rate and forgetting to breathe, so she got her second blood transfusion yesterday. This seems to have made her feel better and she has had less episodes today.

Now there are several large leaps that they have both decided to make together that started yesterday. Both girls got their feeding tubes moved from their mouth to their noses. This is a great step because it means they can practice sucking and nursing easier. So the next step was they also got to try nipple feeding, which is a gigantic leap! So they both had their first bottles yesterday. The nurse fed Reagan hers and she drank it all! Then Adam got to feed Renna her first bottle last night...she did wonderful and drank it all as well. As if that wasn't enough they also got to wear clothes for the first time! Now you can imagine how excited I was about that. Getting to dress my sweet little angels for the first time. We will definitely post some pictures later of all their cute little outfits. We appreciate everyone who got us preemie outfits as they are now going to be put to good use. So yesterday they stayed in their incubators swaddled in blankets. When we got there this morning and took their temps they were both really hot and their beds were turned down as low as they could go...so you guessed it....they are both out of their incubators/warmers now and are in a crib together! I can't tell you how amazing it is to see them swaddled together and sleeping in a crib! They have done great with it so far today and are keeping their own body temp up. We hope that this continues. They are now both getting three bottle feedings a day and doing pretty well. So many huge leaps in two short days. Adam and I are pretty proud parents right now. Can't wait to see what they get to do next. We will try to post some pictures soon.

Such Big Girls!

Well today was a great day for us in the NICU! Renna got off the ventilator about 9:00 this morning. It was a great way to start my morning. We are so excited. She is still on an oxygen canula but seems to be doing great with it so far. It is so wonderful to see her little face without the huge tube in her mouth (of course she still has the feeding tube, but you know what I mean). So this evening at 5:00 I finally got to hold my sweetheart! I was super excited. I can't even tell you how much I missed holding her for one week...it seems like she has grown a ton. We had an enjoyable kangaroo time, I am convinced she missed it too! The only sad part is her little hoarse cry. It is so sad and pathetic when she gets upset that this barely audible hoarse cry comes out. Poor little angel! But things are now looking up for her. Hopefully she continues to do well and doesn't need the ventilator again. Her incision seems to be healing great and she seems a lot less painful. We think the only thing bothering her now is her throat, as I can only imagine how irritated it is. Renna weighed 3lbs. 9oz. tonight, even without the vent tube. Reagan has some exciting news as she has now surpassed the 2lb and moved right on to the 3lb. club! We are so proud of her, she weighed 3lbs. 2oz. tonight. Look out Renna, little sister is coming up fast! So as I mentioned today was a blessed day in the NICU. What an answered prayer for our little Renna Ann.

The Rollercoaster that is the NICU

Well Renna isn't off the ventilator just yet. Yesterday the x-rays of her chest showed a little haziness so they turned the ventilator back up. Today they look much better so we are back down on the lowest setting. Everyone kept waring us what a rollercoaster the NICU is and they were definetly right. They also took Renna off the pain medication pump. Since then she has required two boluses (single injections) of the pain medication, hopefully she doesn't continue to need that. It breaks my heart to see her in pain and trying to cry with no sound coming out because of the tube in her throat! I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will get off of the ventilator tomorrow. She is still on the iv nutrtion as they continue to decrease it they are increasing her milk feedings via the tube to her stomach. Her GI tract is still moving slowly but continuing to improve. Reagan continues to do great. She still weighs 2lbs. 15oz. I don't know where all that milk she consumes is going. She seems to have a ton of energy and is always moving around burning calories, I guess. We enjoy the three times a day "kangaroo time" with her and can't wait to get to do them with Renna again, or both girls at once! Adam is going back to work tomorrow. Me and the girls sure are going to miss him during the day. He will still be able to make it to the 8AM so we can get our morning report before he heads off to work, then he will be back in the evening for the 8PM. I am sure I will have to save a kangaroo time for him to get some time in with Reagan too! Adam downloaded some new pictures of our little miracle babies. I will try to share a few periodically. He is becoming a great photographer since becoming a proud daddy. The first two pictures are of Renna on her ventilator, we always laugh about how she has one arm up. The second two pictures are of Reagan. It is so hard to get pictures of them awake, I will try to post some more later.