that's my blanket!

Times must be tough in the NICU, because earlier this week, the Twinsler's were removed from their separate incubators and placed together into an open crib. They call this co-bedding and its something that they do for most preemie twins as it is suppose to help them develop. Although they are both still fluctuating w/ their oxygen needs, both twins continue to grow and develop. Last night was actually the first time that I realized a substantial change in their appearance - they have chubby chins! More to come soon...

-tinny out

On a roll?

The end of last week was pretty rough, but our girls had a pretty good weekend and Monday. Ava is in a new, open crib, waiting for Ella to get done w/ her antibiotics to "co-bed". It's a sleepover! Both babies are over 3lbs and growing. They are both still on the nasal canulas w/ varying levels of breathing assistance. Last night Rachel and I got to help give them baths, but because this is a pg-13 blog, no pics, sorry! but to tide you all over, here are a few recent snaps. Above, Ava and I are kangarroing, below, you see Ella wide awake & alert.And here is Ava sleeping w/ her mouth open... Thanks for all your support...

-tinny out

Visitors

The girls really enjoy visitors. Here are some pictures of their recent guests. Grandma got to hold Ava during a feeding on Wednesday (I am sure that Grandma from North Carolina is very jealous).
Nate and Whitney have visited several times...
Who's that behind you, Ella!?!?
-tinny out

Ups and Downs

What a crazy couple of days. Rachel and I are headed to a baby shower for the Twinsler's that we are really looking forward to, so I need to keep this brief. Ella is doing pretty well. She is breathing room air, w/ some extra flow through her nasal canula. She has 3 more days of antibiotics, she is almost ready for an open air crib, and is taking her feeds well, and last night she hit 3 lbs!Ava has now become our little stinker. She has had an uncharacteristically rough couple days, and the doctors think that she may have a blood infection. They started her on antibiotics and are taking blood cultures from her daily (just like w/ Ella earlier this week). Overall they are both healthy, and the nurses keep telling us that this is just what preemies do, ups and downs.
Thanks for all your love and support!

-tinny out

Thursday Update

The girls had a pretty good days today. They both continue on oxygen and surprisingly Ava is requiring more than Ella. They both continue to have episodes of heart rate drops and at times have trouble keeping their oxygen saturation up, but this is mostly right after eating or if they are stimulated too much. Because of this step backwards a lot of tests were done today to make sure there isn't anything else going on. So far, they haven't found anything else going on. The plan is to wean the oxygen as tolerated. We will keep you updated.

About the infection....I'm not exactly sure where to start. One of the cultures drawn about 5 days ago ended up growing staph, which may again be a contaminate, but because this is the second culture that grew staph they decided to change the antibiotic. This new antibiotic will take care of the staph and enterococcus. They also pulled out the PICC line just in case that was causing the infection. The doctors as well as Nick and I are very confused and frustrated with this changing infection. I just hope they are treating the right thing.

Nick promised to post more pictures this weekend.

-Rachel

Thursday AM

I went in this AM to see both my girls back on nasal canulas. The nurse said that both twins did a lot better overnight once they had the breathing assistance in place. Yesterday was quite a day w/ a lot of commotion, so let's hope that was the case. Nurse says that this is totally normal w/ babies of this age ~31-32 weeks, they are just being "preemies."

-tinny out

Rough Night...

The NICU is kinda strange. It has its own energy and it ebbs and flows in no predictable way. Sometimes its calm and soothing, other times its loud and chaotic.

We've had a pretty good run for the past week or so. Ella was taken off oxygen this past weekend, and both girls have been more or less taking their feeds and growing (Ava is now 3lbs 2 oz. and Ella is 2lb 12 .) They both seemed to be having less episodes and self-stims. This morning they "popped the top" of Ava's crib. This is what they call it when they open up the incubator's top, essentially making it a normal open air crib. I think she wanted to feel the wind in her hair.

I'll let Rachel blog about the blood infection, but I'll just say that we had a solid 8 hours of "yeah, we're good" until the story changed again... Ugh!

So tonight, Rachel and I headed to the hospital for one of the more difficult visits that we've had yet. In short, the NICU was flowing in a really bad way; lots of alarms and noise, lots of babies crying, and an overall very eerie vibe. The twins started out OK, but started to have episode after episode for no apparent reason. None of the usual tricks that the nurses use were working. Ella is back on a nasal cannula (room air w/ added flow), and Ava's color looked too dark to me. It was really painful to be there, I felt helpless, and it was even more painful to leave... Lots of tears tonight.

-tinny out