Unh.
Waah.
Unnhhh.
Nom. Nom. Nom.
Waaah.
Coocoocoo.
Fwp.Fwp.Fwp.
Unnnh.
That's as close as I could get to mimicking stereo twins in text. Of course, in real life it is both louder and cuter.
I know I had promised an update over the weekend, but guess what?
WE HAVE TWINS!
Am I punchy? You bet!
Tired? Heck Yeah!
Ecstatic? Doubly! (hehe).
Even with the assistance of Nana Pam all last week, Nana Pam and Papaw Grant over the weekend and now Grandma Karla, it's been a crazy week and a day since these little tykes came home. Sleep is a precious commodity for mommy because she is up all the time and for daddy because he is working all the time.
That being said, it is fantastic to have them at home! Not making daily trips to the hospital, not LIVING in the hospital...being able to cuddle with them anytime we want - that makes up for almost everything.
Both are doing well. Penny is basically just a regular baby, albeit a very very hungry one. She is consistently eating 4oz bottles + nursing. We are not sure where it goes! She has managed to get up to 7lb 9oz but very little of it is baby fat. Mostly she's just a muscular little thing.
Isaak had his first follow-ups at UNC on Wednesday and everything looks pretty good. He weighed in at 8lb 4oz and so is continuing to have steady weight gain. This is a great sign that he is absorbing nutrition from his g-tube feeds. They bumped those feeds up to 14ml/hr and we will go to 15 on Sunday if he tolerates that well. So far so good. He is still on TPN, of course, and will be for the foreseeable future. The good news is that more than 60% of his nutrition is coming from enteral feeds and that helps protect lil' guy's kidneys, liver and pancreas.
I think we've managed to transition well to being Isaak's nurses. Bekka is proficient at mixing his TPN and getting the IV ready to go and we are both well-versed in Broviac care at this point. The home health company sends a nurse once a week to get blood draws and change his dressing. We are both far too familiar with g-tubes so that isn't an issue. It's not fun, but we look at it as positive step with this little guy rather than the setback it was for Ollie. He "eats" a mixture of 50-50 maternal breastmilk and Elecare and is doing well on it. He still only gets 2 10ml (1/3 oz) bottles a day, but hopefully it will be 3 very soon and then we can start increasing the amount. Baby steps are the order of the day (week, month and year).
Both kids have eye exams on Friday and we hope to see further clearing of the RoP and maturing of their little preemie eyeballs.
A few notes on helping Many folks have asked how they can help out. It's often overwhelming for us to think of any needs on the spot (rest assured there are some). Amanda M. and Robin B. set up a Care Calendar for Ollie long ago. We didn't really think we would need it again, but it's still there and Amanda has been keeping it up to date.You can click over to it here and enter Oliver as the password (capital O is important). This will allow you to sign up for slots to visit and help out. We may add some more daytime visits to help keep Bekka sane. We so much appreciate the generosity we've been shown in food, gifts and time from our family, friends and acquaintances. It stinks to be on this side of the helping others equation again, but know that many of you have "paid it forward" so much over the last couple of years that you probably have a nice down payment on a beach condo. Thank you!
A note on visiting: As preemies, these little guys have very fragile immune systems and will for the first year of life. Please make sure you are well and members of your immediate family are too. It pains us greatly, but for now we also ask that you not bring children to visit due to increased infection risk (yeah, we are sort of like the hospital). When you visit, please wash your hands immediately and use some of the hand gel we have scattered around. That's what we do every time we come in from the wider world and we appreciate your help in this.
That's it for now. I'll do what I can to get pictures up soon as have a bunch of cute ones (a given I guess :).
I know I had promised an update over the weekend, but guess what?
WE HAVE TWINS!
Am I punchy? You bet!
Tired? Heck Yeah!
Ecstatic? Doubly! (hehe).
Even with the assistance of Nana Pam all last week, Nana Pam and Papaw Grant over the weekend and now Grandma Karla, it's been a crazy week and a day since these little tykes came home. Sleep is a precious commodity for mommy because she is up all the time and for daddy because he is working all the time.
That being said, it is fantastic to have them at home! Not making daily trips to the hospital, not LIVING in the hospital...being able to cuddle with them anytime we want - that makes up for almost everything.
Both are doing well. Penny is basically just a regular baby, albeit a very very hungry one. She is consistently eating 4oz bottles + nursing. We are not sure where it goes! She has managed to get up to 7lb 9oz but very little of it is baby fat. Mostly she's just a muscular little thing.
Isaak had his first follow-ups at UNC on Wednesday and everything looks pretty good. He weighed in at 8lb 4oz and so is continuing to have steady weight gain. This is a great sign that he is absorbing nutrition from his g-tube feeds. They bumped those feeds up to 14ml/hr and we will go to 15 on Sunday if he tolerates that well. So far so good. He is still on TPN, of course, and will be for the foreseeable future. The good news is that more than 60% of his nutrition is coming from enteral feeds and that helps protect lil' guy's kidneys, liver and pancreas.
I think we've managed to transition well to being Isaak's nurses. Bekka is proficient at mixing his TPN and getting the IV ready to go and we are both well-versed in Broviac care at this point. The home health company sends a nurse once a week to get blood draws and change his dressing. We are both far too familiar with g-tubes so that isn't an issue. It's not fun, but we look at it as positive step with this little guy rather than the setback it was for Ollie. He "eats" a mixture of 50-50 maternal breastmilk and Elecare and is doing well on it. He still only gets 2 10ml (1/3 oz) bottles a day, but hopefully it will be 3 very soon and then we can start increasing the amount. Baby steps are the order of the day (week, month and year).
Both kids have eye exams on Friday and we hope to see further clearing of the RoP and maturing of their little preemie eyeballs.
A few notes on helping Many folks have asked how they can help out. It's often overwhelming for us to think of any needs on the spot (rest assured there are some). Amanda M. and Robin B. set up a Care Calendar for Ollie long ago. We didn't really think we would need it again, but it's still there and Amanda has been keeping it up to date.You can click over to it here and enter Oliver as the password (capital O is important). This will allow you to sign up for slots to visit and help out. We may add some more daytime visits to help keep Bekka sane. We so much appreciate the generosity we've been shown in food, gifts and time from our family, friends and acquaintances. It stinks to be on this side of the helping others equation again, but know that many of you have "paid it forward" so much over the last couple of years that you probably have a nice down payment on a beach condo. Thank you!
A note on visiting: As preemies, these little guys have very fragile immune systems and will for the first year of life. Please make sure you are well and members of your immediate family are too. It pains us greatly, but for now we also ask that you not bring children to visit due to increased infection risk (yeah, we are sort of like the hospital). When you visit, please wash your hands immediately and use some of the hand gel we have scattered around. That's what we do every time we come in from the wider world and we appreciate your help in this.
That's it for now. I'll do what I can to get pictures up soon as have a bunch of cute ones (a given I guess :).
Posts
Thanks for the update.Good to hear that life at home for you four albeit it hectic & exhausting is moving along with positive reports. I know it has got to be a great feeling to be able to sit in your comfortable chairs and sleep in your own bed, what time the little tykes let you get some sleep. Try to take care of yourselves to stay well for Isaak & Penny. You continue to be in our thoughts and prayers. Love, Mom&Pop Milloway
ReplyDeleteYaaaay babies! I'm bummed about cancelling on you for Thursday....but as you stated, their immunity is tiny just like they were. Can't wait for pics, and I hope to see you all VERY soon!
ReplyDeletePictures?
ReplyDelete