Five Weekers

Well, it's been kind of a crazy week for the girls. The nurses explained to us that this is normal but they had kind of a not fun week. When they first went on the CPAPs and cannula they were rock stars and wouldn't drop their heart rates or oxygen levels and when they did it was only for a moment. This week I have learned how to revive my kids when they stop breathing! I know it sounds scary but don't worry--it's actually normal, as crazy as that sounds! It's just this stage of their prematurity. They are learning more and more how to breathe on their own (with assistance of cannula) and sometimes when they are "bearing down" either because they are uncomfortable, pooping, or getting reflux, they forget to breathe and have to be rubbed or helped along to remind them to breathe. They usually shoot a larger dose of oxygen up the nose and a lot of times that helps them to remember, oh yeah, I'm supposed to breathe! In a few weeks the nurses say they should be out of this phase and more automatically breathing on their own. It just hasn't been the best week because they have had a lot of "spells" when we are holding them so we have had to put them back in their incubators more than one time. But the week ended well yesterday as they were all angels and their beeps and alarms (that tell us that they were dropping, etc.) were pretty quiet. But.... even though it seemed like this week was a step backwards it did have steps forward too! For one, they are all on nasal cannulas now! So hopefully they behave and never have to go back on CPAPs. We'll see....

Mckenna: Mckenna probably had the worst week of the three. She was really lethargic at the beginning of the week and had tests run on a couple different routine things. They find out that her hemoglobins were low, and she had a urinary tract infection. Sooo.... she had another blood transfusion on Monday and they started her on antibiotics for the urinary tract infection. It's amazing what a little blood and drugs can do! By Saturday and Sunday she was doing much better. As you can see in some of the pictures when she was on the CPAP she also was retaining her liquids so she looks puffier than normal. She also had to stop her feeds for a few days because of all the fun stuff going on so her feeding is starting over again and she is only back up to 5-6 milliliters so far. Hopefully we can eventually get her to full feeds like the other two. Her brain stuff is doing pretty well though. They suck out about 10 mils of liquid from her brain everyday and it used to be a motor oil color (lots of old blood floating around) and now it is a light amber color. So hopefully it just keeps getting better and we just hope that she can eventually absorb her blood clots so that she doesn't have to have a shunt in her head the rest of her life. We'll just wait and see. Mckenna is also at 2 lbs. 11 1/2 ounces! So she is so close to 3 pounds! She is also a wiggler and a mover (enough that she moves a little too much and then can't gain weight). As you can see in the picture below, she will kick her legs and wiggle herself down into the bottom of her bed and have her legs hanging out of her swaddle. She does it about every half hour and it makes the nurses crazy because she won't stay in her tight swaddle.

Mckenna at 5 weeks with ring on left hand. As you can see, she has wiggled herself to the bottom of her bed once again!

Mckenna on one of the unfun days. She's holding Mommy's hand for support!

Funny picture I had to take. I opened up her cover over her incubator one day and she was just chillin' like this. Pretty cute!

Oh, one last thing with Mckenna.... I did get to hold her last night without a cannula attached. She was breathing on her own. I held her about an hour like that (and she was high sating which is really good) and she stayed off of it for an hour back in her bed before she pooped out and went back on the cannula. So she is really doing great respiratory-wise more than the others!

Madison: Besides the crazy up and down with breathing, nothing really new with Madison this week. Except she has the same wiggle problems! I think that Mckenna and Madison might be handfuls when they can crawl and walk. Madison was already trying to make her escape when we came in yesterday. In one of the pictures below you can see that she almost made it to one of the doors out of her incubator. I'm not sure where she was headed. Probably just ready to be done with the NICU! I'm just amazed that for such small babies they can get themselves out of the blankets around them and to the doors. And the nurses are watching them constantly so they wiggle out in a matter of minutes. Crazy wigglers. Madison is still on full feeds and is up to a really high calorie dosage to help her gain weight because she has the hardest time gaining. I think it's because she's always trying to make escapes out of her bed! Madison is still the smallest weight at around 2 lbs. 7 1/2 ounces.

Madison at 5 weeks old, I know the ring is not on her finger but I'm holding it in the picture. She also loves to hold Mommy and Daddy's fingers!

Here she is making her escape! Unfortunately, for her, the door is locked (fortunate for us).

Carly: Carly made a big milestone this week and reached 3 pounds! She also graduated to big girl diapers and is now in true Preemie diapers (not the micro-preemies like the other two are still wearing). As you can see in the picture below, they are still a little big on her. I think she looks a little Urkelish in them. You can tuck them under a little bit but Dad changed her diaper before this picture and didn't tuck them under. Carly, so far, is the most laid back of the three. She doesn't wiggle around and try and get out of her bed like the others. She's pretty content to just relax. And that's why she has gained the easiest. And she doesn't have to be swaddled as much as the other two. She is pretty happy go lucky. Yesterday she weighed 3 lbs. 1 1/2 ounces.

Yesterday, we were also able to give Carly a bath (sponge bath)! It was so fun and I think for the most part she liked it. When I was cleaning her mouth she kept on sticking out her tongue and wanted to lick the washcloth. Such a funny girl! This picture is Dad holding her after her bath. She smelled so yummy!

So, I lost one of the pictures of Carly so I will post a new post in a second here with it....