12/17/2009
12/14/2009
Aunt Bo
When I was little, I called Abby, BoBo. It just kind of stuck - only as she got older it got shortened to Bo. She's decided that she wants the babies to call her Aunt Bo. Friday night she and Parker had a special conversation and she got to hold Payton for the first time.
Baby Steps
Big Sister Payton - She has been working hard the past week. She is now out of her incubator and in a crib. Her feedings have been changed from a continuous amount to a bolus feeding. Every three hours she would get fed. They started by stringing her feeding over 2.5 hours, then kept decreasing by 30 minutes until she was getting fed over 30 minutes, once every 3 hours. Now she's doing some bottle feedings. It's a lot of work for such a little girl to try to remember to breath and suck and swallow. During last weeks Thursday night - Friday morning shift, they admitted 7 new babies to the NICU. They needed room so they moved Payton to the satellite NICU. It's down the hall from the other and for babies that need a little less direct care. She is currently sharing a room with a set of twins. She's such a big girl now. :)
Little Brother Parker - He is holding his own. He still has his strider a little from when he was intubated. But it's much better. Mostly, you can only hear it when he gets really mad. We're spending a lot of time sitting in the chair in his room looking around and talking about snow and his room when he gets home and the new car seat we bought for him. He's still on his continuous feedings. They want to make sure he has a little more time to heal from the strider before starting because any reflux could aggravate it. He's on a 2 week decreasing round of steroids to see if that helps. They had an ENT doctor come check him out last week to see if they need to do a scope on it. Dr. Lusk decided that they would wait until this round of steroids and see what happens. At that time they may decide to do a scope.
So we keep moving forward. And we keep having more and more time to snuggle with the cutest, more adorable babies on the planet (and I'm not biased). :)
Little Brother Parker - He is holding his own. He still has his strider a little from when he was intubated. But it's much better. Mostly, you can only hear it when he gets really mad. We're spending a lot of time sitting in the chair in his room looking around and talking about snow and his room when he gets home and the new car seat we bought for him. He's still on his continuous feedings. They want to make sure he has a little more time to heal from the strider before starting because any reflux could aggravate it. He's on a 2 week decreasing round of steroids to see if that helps. They had an ENT doctor come check him out last week to see if they need to do a scope on it. Dr. Lusk decided that they would wait until this round of steroids and see what happens. At that time they may decide to do a scope.
So we keep moving forward. And we keep having more and more time to snuggle with the cutest, more adorable babies on the planet (and I'm not biased). :)
12/08/2009
Getting ready for Christmas
Santa visited both NICUs over the weekend. It was set up by March of Dimes so that we could have their pictures taken. It was so nice to get to do something normal for our babies. They wore Christmas jammies from grandma. We had a good morning with them. :)
12/04/2009
The Brady Bunch
No, not that one.
Bradycardia
Payton and Parker are both having issues with these. They have had mild ones that they are able to resolve on their own. They have had some that they need to be stimulated to come out of. They have had some that are bad enough that they need to be bagged to come out of it.
They've had lots of them, all kinds. Their heart rate drops, the oxygen saturation drops. There's really no sign that it's coming, just all of the sudden it is and the alarms are going off, nurses coming quickly into the room.
It's scary when they have them. Payton has had one that she needed to be stimulated to come out of while both of us were holding her. Parker has done it too (although it's been a little better since going back on the steroids). It helps a little that now we know what to do to try to help stimulate them when they have one.
Hopefully, as they keep getting bigger and their brain develops more they will remember what to be doing all the time. For now, we just keep trying to pay attention when they get out so they don't get away with it.
Bradycardia
Payton and Parker are both having issues with these. They have had mild ones that they are able to resolve on their own. They have had some that they need to be stimulated to come out of. They have had some that are bad enough that they need to be bagged to come out of it.
They've had lots of them, all kinds. Their heart rate drops, the oxygen saturation drops. There's really no sign that it's coming, just all of the sudden it is and the alarms are going off, nurses coming quickly into the room.
It's scary when they have them. Payton has had one that she needed to be stimulated to come out of while both of us were holding her. Parker has done it too (although it's been a little better since going back on the steroids). It helps a little that now we know what to do to try to help stimulate them when they have one.
Hopefully, as they keep getting bigger and their brain develops more they will remember what to be doing all the time. For now, we just keep trying to pay attention when they get out so they don't get away with it.
12/03/2009
The weekly update
The latest -
Payton is doing well. We've moved off the high flow nasal canula to a normal one. The high flow was irritating her nose and causing a bloody nose a little bit. And she doesn't need the high flow anymore. She's gone up on her feedings twice this week. She has her temperature probe off and is keeping herself warm inside her incubator (she's not quite ready to come out of there yet). She even got to wear clothes for the first time yesterday. She is loving time that we spend together in one of the chairs. She even has a new bow in her hair from one of her favorite nurses, Lynsie.
Parker has managed to stay off the vent. He is having a little bit of a rough time getting going and staying that way on his own though so this morning he started his second round of steriods to try to help him. He is still on the high flow nasal canula. He has gone up on his food this week too. They are going to start working with him to loose the temperature probe (one less wire). He is very alert now that he is feeling better. He even does really well when we do his bath at night.
These updates are subject at any time to change. But to night if you need us, we'll each be at one hospital snuggling with them. :)
Payton is doing well. We've moved off the high flow nasal canula to a normal one. The high flow was irritating her nose and causing a bloody nose a little bit. And she doesn't need the high flow anymore. She's gone up on her feedings twice this week. She has her temperature probe off and is keeping herself warm inside her incubator (she's not quite ready to come out of there yet). She even got to wear clothes for the first time yesterday. She is loving time that we spend together in one of the chairs. She even has a new bow in her hair from one of her favorite nurses, Lynsie.
Parker has managed to stay off the vent. He is having a little bit of a rough time getting going and staying that way on his own though so this morning he started his second round of steriods to try to help him. He is still on the high flow nasal canula. He has gone up on his food this week too. They are going to start working with him to loose the temperature probe (one less wire). He is very alert now that he is feeling better. He even does really well when we do his bath at night.
These updates are subject at any time to change. But to night if you need us, we'll each be at one hospital snuggling with them. :)
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