Wow! A lot has happened since December 23rd when I gave birth to my precious little boys! They have been in the NICU at Holy Cross Hospital since birth, and we are eager to get them to the point where we can take them home!
Let's start with today, since I don't have to use too much brain power to remember today's events. I didn't go to the 8:00 a.m. feeding like I normally do. I was exhausted so I slept in a little bit. Troy didn't miss it though. He took my breast milk to the hospital when he went at 8 a.m. That extra sleep I got really helped. Although now it probably doesn't make much of a difference because instead of sleeping, I'm up writing this post! When I got to the hospital, I bottle fed Landon with Stephanie watching. Stephanie is the feeding specialist. She works with the babies on their technique. Since they are only 34 1/2 weeks old, they don't have the suck/swallow reflex down yet. They like to curl up their tongue instead of laying it down flat so the bottle nipple can sit on top. You also have to help with the movement of their jaws. It's rather interesting. Eating is really hard work for preemies. It can get to the point where they are using more calories to eat than what they are taking in. Once that point is nearing, the remaining contents of the bottle are given to them through a tube. Anyways, after I fed Landon, I nursed Tristan. They both do super well on the breast, as it is a different reflex from that of a bottle. I like having that "mommy" time with them as well. After they ate, we snuggled for a bit then headed out. As we were leaving, one of the Nurse Practitioners caught us, and asked us what we decided regarding circumcision. Although I didn't want to do it because I felt the boys had been through enough, Troy wanted to have it done. We signed the hospital consents and were told that it would be done a few days before discharge. Well, when we left and came back, the circumcision had been done on both boys! The nurse had to show us how to change the diaper. When he did this, Troy started to cry. He felt bad knowing that the boys were going through additional pain. It's funny because he was the one who was so gung-ho about having it done, while I had reservations about it. I only cried talking about it, but after it was done, I didn't cry. So that was pretty much today. Exciting, I know!
Over the past week, both boys were moved from their incubators to "cribs." Basically, the crib is just an open bed, with no temperature control. It makes it much easier to do everything! Landon is doing well regulating his body temperature. Tristan has been coming up a bit cold, so he may have to be moved back to an isolette for a little while. Although that would be digression, we want whatever will help him grow healthy! Same thing for Landon.
Both boys had feeding tubes in. Tristan had his removed, which I'm sure he was thrilled about. Actually, Tristan pretty much pulled it out himself, and they decided to just leave it out because he was doing well with feedings at the time. However, he too digressed, and the tube was placed back in his nose. Again it goes back to the whole calorie thing and burning more calories trying to eat. Apparently it is very normal for preemies to do this. They start off super strong, but then they wind up slowing down as the food intake is increased. They went from 5mL per feeding to 45 mL per feeding. It's a lot! So again, both boys have their feeding tubes again.
Tristan had one of his monitors removed. The cable on his foot that measures oxygen saturation was removed the other day. The one for Landon is still on his foot, however, there was talk about having it removed as well. Of course both boys are hooked up to the heart monitor.
Troy and I took an infant CPR class tonight that is offered FREE to NICU parents! That's one thing about the NICU.....there are many FREE resources out there for parents like us! If we were to sign up for the infant CPR class through the hospital website, it would have cost us about $60! We wind up getting diapers, bottles, etc. all the time! The other day somebody came around and gave us books. That was pretty cool. One of the books was called "Am I a cow?" I was wondering if they were referring to me??!!! I sure do feel like one sometimes with all the pumping that I do!
Anyways, I know some of this was just me going off on a tangent......like usual! To sum it all up, the boys seem to be doing well! I just keep praying and praying for my little guys! They are a huge blessing and a gift! They are my little boys, and I love them more than anything! They are such amazing and strong willed little guys! Being a mommy is wonderful! I can't wait to get them home where I can really go into mommy mode!
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