Thru Day 78: Ba-hum-bug!

I don't mean to be a downer, but we've had enough of the NICU at this point.  A few weeks back the docs and nurses asked if we were sick of seeing them yet, to which we responded in delight "No, not at all."  We are no longer full of delight, and are actually growing tired of going there...aside from seeing our kids that is.  So, 77 days or 11 weeks, or for all of you that like to be exact (like myself), 37 weeks gestation.  Hard to believe that they are just now considered full-term; any baby born after 37 weeks is considered this.

Monday (Day 76) was a roller coaster day.  Santa came to the NICU at 2pm, the same time Jackson's eye exam was scheduled.  The News cameras were there, and so the four of us made cameos on Channel 2, Channel 4, and YNN newcasts.  I was able to track down our appearance on Channel 4, since they posted the video on their website.  If you would like to see it, click on this link:  http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/buffalo/Santa-visits-babies-in-Sisters-Hospital?ref=scroller&categoryId=10001&status=true
We appear at the 30 second mark.  After Santa left, Jackson's eye exam was not as promising as we had hoped.  His left eye was still borderline, but his right had definitely met the criteria for laser intervention, and so at 6pm Jackson had his laser surgery.  They say not to compare kids, but it is next to impossible especially when they are twins and going through nearly the same things as each other.  Aiden popped out of his surgery with flying colors, and had a stellar and quick recovery.  Jacks on the other hand is still on meds for sedation and is also receiving morphine for the pain.  Couple things I think are attributing to this:  a different attending doctor with a different protocol/approach to recovering, a totally different kid, and he is 3 weeks older than what Aiden was when he received the surgery, so he is much more alert and aware of what is happening than Aiden was.  I actually started to watch Jackson being intubated for the surgery, but had to leave.  Word of advice: don't ever watch that.  As of tonight (Wednesday), Jackson is improving gradually.  His vent settings continue to be weaned, and his morphine was discontinued this morning, and fetenoyl was cut in half as well.  He started eating again this morning and is up to 20mls, increasing by 5mls at every feed time.  He continues to be on the vent with hopes that he will be extubated tomorrow, and is still on fluids (vitamins & minerals) and lipids to supplement his food, since he is only halfway to the 46 or so mls that he and Aiden are at.  He also continues to have an arterial line in his other hand for blood gases.  If you want to read more on blood gases, go back to the beginning of the blog, as I spoke in great detail of them many weeks back.

Both boys started non-nutritive sucking on "the breast" :) this past weekend.  Aiden took right to it like he was a pro.  Jackson did ok on the sucking part, because I think he was too much in awe that he was that close to a boob!  Ah, Jackson.  You should have seen the bug eyes.  Anyway, Aiden may attempt a bottle feed tomorrow depending on his respiratory rate.  With preemies, they have to learn how to suck/swallow/breathe while they still have lung challenges, and so we have to monitor them to be sure they don't turn blue while they are sucking.  If they start to turn blue, it means they are not receiving enough oxygen so they have to be given a minute or two to catch their breath.  Very important to constantly be monitoring them.

As of last night (Tuesday), Aiden was 5lbs. 6oz.  Jackson's last weight was Sunday and he was at 5lbs. 4oz.


Aiden:

Jackson: