TWO MONTHS!

My beautiful boys are TWO MONTHS OLD today! I can't believe it has been so long!

Everyday, DH and I have driven back and forth to the hospital to see them, change their diapers, take their temperatures, hold them, feed them, etc, etc . . .I'm starting to think I should get paid at the hospital! :)

They are truly amazing little babies! Today, Mason weighed 6lbs 7 oz. Christopher weighed 6lbs 1 oz. They have more than doubled their weight since birth!

More on the boys:

Mason-
Weighing 6 lbs 7oz and eating 55cc's at each feeding 8/day. He gets many of his feedings by bottle or breast, however he still needs some support from the gavage tube (feeding tube inserted through his nose). He is also still on the monitor that measures his RR (respiratory rate) and HR (heart rate) via three probes on his chest. Mason is also working on getting his HCT (hematocrit) high enough so that he won't need a blood transfusion. His current level was 24 today! :) That is up from 20 last Monday. This is great news since it should be between 32-42. Basically, the HCT is is the number of red blood cells he has in his blood--without an average amount of the red blood cells he has no energy. That means no energy to eat from the bottle or breast--which then means no going home. . . it's a vicious cycle.

Mason has had good results in most other areas. Yet, I am still concerned about signs of very early ROP in one of his eyes. Unrelated, I am also wondering how long this crazy yellow/green eye drainage he has is going to continue. They ran a culture on it and nothing seems to reveal red flags. Everyone keeps saying it must be a bad case of 'clogged tear ducts'. Well that damn tear duct has been clogged for over a month now and I can only de-crust and wipe out his eyes so many times in a day. I wish there was a better answer.

Anyone have experience with this? Thoughts?

Over all, Mason is a pretty happy little boy! He loves to eat and suck on his pacifier. He is also a big fan of being held after he breast feeds--which he is getting so good at. It is fast becoming our favorite time together :) He has also passed his OT (Occupational therapy) appointments with flying colors! Dr. Sue is so impressed! :)

Mason 1 day old. . .

Mason 2 months old. . .

Christopher-
Weighing 6lbs 1oz today he has finally broken the 6 lb weight barrier! He is currently eating 53cc's at each feeding 8/day. However, he is not as advanced as Mason in his 'nipple feedings'. He takes most of his feedings via gavage, but is working hard with the speech therapist to become better at latching on during bottle feedings, which will then help his breast feedings as well. Christopher has had a few successful breast feedings so far, but they are limited to a maximum of 10-15 minute bursts. His HCT (Hematocrit) is much lower than Mason's which of course means he has even less energy. Monday is was only 19, so the news of 20.7 today, although low is welcome news because that means it is increasing. He has already had two transfusions and I (and the doctors) would like to avoid another one if possible. Transfusing can trick the body into stopping the production of new red blood cells. It causes the body to think, "Hey! We got enough here--hold the production line!" --which in turn only makes things worse later down the road.

Moreover, I think Christopher reflux is what is holding him back most. It really is bad. He is constantly refluxing, coughing and waking up from sleep. No wonder he is tired! If I had that kind of reflux, I wouldn't want to eat either. The only thing that seems to solve the problem is to hold him during and after his feedings-- pretty tricky when you have twins exclusively on your breast milk and need to pump/feed every 2-3 hours!

Christopher is also still on the monitor that measures his RR (respiratory rate) and HR (heart rate) via three probes on his chest. He has had no alarms today; A welcome Birthday gift I am sure! While Mason may have to be watched more closely for ROP, at last check Christopher's seems less likely to cause as much of a problem, although the chance is still there. Christopher also has one more OT appointment on Monday at 11am. Hopefully he will still be right on track and not need anymore appointments with Dr. Sue by the time he goes home.

Christopher is a very sweet little boy! He likes to observe a lot. He can sit wide-eyed in my arms for over an hour just looking around at things in the room. He holds his hands across his chest and seems to know wayyyy more than a little baby his age should. While he has not shown as much interest in nipple feedings as Mason has, he is beginning to come around. Lately, he has begun to develop interest in his pacifier. This is great not only to help train him for nipple feeds but also to perhaps help with the amount that his 'tongue tied' issue effect his feedings. Using the pacifier can help stretch out his tongue, bringing it forward and sometimes correcting the problem on his own without the need for 'surgery'.

Christopher 1 day old. . .

Christopher 2 months old. . .

Happy two month birthday to my adorable little angels!

I love you more than words could ever say. I can't wait to have you home with Daddy and I-- we are hoping you will BOTH be home to stay by Christmas!

Love, Mommy.

xoxo

My boys are breathing on their own!

Chris is off the nasal cannula!

That means both boys are breathing by themselves. :) Chris is still having some dips in his oxygen levels but hopefully over the next few days, he will be able to figure it out on his own. Chris is also has begun breast feeding-- well, kinda. He has had two very short tires at it. He also had a bottle for the first time yesterday. He took 5cc's so that's not bad for his first time.

It's hard for me to make him do the feeding for a long time, because he seems to get so easily tired. He's still very puffy with his edema so I don't want to over stress him at this point--and he has his IV in his head! I'm afraid of bumping it too much. He still needs it for his antibiotics being given for the staph infection that was from his PIC-line.

Mason is still breast feeding one time per day. He is taking quite a bit. Yesterday he went for 25 minutes with just a few burp breaks! Mason's other feedings are a mixture of bottle feeds and gavage feedings.

We are hoping they continue on the good path that they are currently on. But we know it will be at least a few more weeks before Mason could come home-- and even longer for Christopher. It's a mixed blessing: we would love nothing more than to have them home right now-- but on the flip-side, we haven't finished their nursery yet!

D&C complete. Should've gotten some bloooooood!

The D&C is over. Thank God.

The recovery that night was pretty rough. I was extremely dizzy and nauseous until quite later the next day, and frankly not myself again until Friday. (D&C was Monday)

But, it had to be done-- and hopefully now I can concentrate on my boys--and their eating difficulties. Like I need anything else to worry about. . .

The boys are 31 weeks old tomorrow. AND 3 weeks old today!

Mason, although eating 27cc's of breast milk, has been spitting up for the last few days since they increased his 'calories'--meaning they added a powder that adds two calories at a time. When it was just two added calories, he was perfectly fine, but since the doctor has increased his added calories to four, (24 total. 20 calories of breast milk + 4 powdered calories = 24 calories total) he has not had a feeding without some sit-up or residual. Frankly, he spit up on me a few times as I was kangaroo-ing him on Thursday.

The added calories make the breast milk "richer". The nurse equated it to "Having Thanksgiving dinner at every meal" vs a regular dinner. Yeah, you might get sick of that too. My poor guy.

Christopher isn't even feeding that well. He has, again, been pulled off all feedings and given a blood transfusion to try and help him to eat--at all. Not even the 'gentle-easy-to-digest' Neocate formula worked. The doctor is hoping that he just wasn't feeling as well and needed some added strength to be able to digest his food properly instead of spitting it up or having the complete amount of breast milk he was given, come back as residual. So he recieved a dose of blood yesterday. Little Chris is O+ like me! I hope this works or they will have to do a test to see if his digestive system is blocked somewhere.

Sigh. Mommy and Daddy are such fans of food-- boys, you should be too! Grooooow little ones!