Days 73-79 - April 6-12

Andrea's doctor was going to induce her on April 8 (38 weeks) if she had not already gone into labor, so the girls would be 4 days old today if Andrea would have stayed pregnant.  Life would be much different, to say the least, but it's amazing how much both girls have grown from when they were born.  They look like "real" babies to Andrea and I now (minus the wires and other stuff).  They've both had a pretty good week overall.

Both girls had another eye exam on Tuesday to test for ROP progression.  Their eyes did not get any worse, which is good.  One of Paige's eyes seemed to have improved from last week's exam.  Both girls are still classified as ROP stage 2, so they'll have another exam next week.

Let's talk about Aubrey first today.  Here's a picture of her in her bouncer.

The couple of times that we've put her in the bouncer, she has seemed to enjoy it.  You can make the thing vibrate, which we did, and we were a little worried it would give her flashbacks of being on the oscillating ventilator, haha.  Apparently she doesn't have a very good memory yet.

She has now been breathing room air for a little over week and has been doing great.  Right now, the only obstacle that is preventing her from coming home is figuring out how to eat all her food.  Her feedings have been increased to 44 mL every 3 hours (up from 42 last post), and she is usually able to take between 10 to 20 mL from a bottle when she is awake.  It seems like she takes a bottle 4 to 6 times a day.  Sometimes she forgets to swallow the milk, and it just comes out of her mouth and down her chin.  She's also been spitting up a few times a day.

Not much else new in Aubrey's world.  I estimate she'll be able to come home in 1 to 3 weeks.

Paige's turn.

She completed her 5-day course of steroids and seems to be a little more comfortable now.  She is still on high flow air at 4 liters/minute and between 25% to 35% oxygen.  Her doctor said that she doesn't actually need that much support, but he wants her to be getting humidified air from high flow to help prevent bloody noses (low flow air is not humidified and was really drying out her nose).

Paige really surprised us a few days ago when she almost magically figured out how to eat from a bottle.  She suddenly just figured out the suck-swallow-breathe process.  She isn't able to drink very much (usually less than 10 mL) but we're happy with that.  She seems to have pretty bad reflux (heartburn), which makes her very uncomfortable at times.  Paige rarely spits up.

Here she is enjoying her pacifier with daddy after getting a nice hairdo.

Paige's lungs are still very immature, so there's a good possibility that she'll have to be on oxygen for a few months when she eventually comes home.

Weight time!  According to a phone app I have, if they had been born today they would be about 7 lbs

Aubrey:

     Day 1 -   2 lbs 2 oz     14 inches
     Day 8 -   2 lbs 7 oz
     Day 17 - 2 lbs 11 oz
     Day 27 - 3 lbs 1 oz
     Day 36 - 3 lbs 4 oz

     Day 46 - 3 lbs 7 oz     16 inches

     Day 56 - 4 lbs 0 oz

     Day 62 - 4 lbs 9 oz     16 1/2 inches

     Day 72 - 4 lbs 14 oz   17 1/2 inches

     Day 80 - 5 lbs 5 oz

Paige:
     Day 1 -   1 lbs 13 oz   14 1/2 inches
     Day 8 -   1 lbs 12 oz
     Day 17 - 2 lbs 2 oz
     Day 27 - 2 lbs 10 oz

     Day 36 - 2 lbs 13 oz

     Day 46 - 3 lbs 5 oz     16 1/2 inches

     Day 56 - 3 lbs 10 oz

     Day 62 - 4 lbs 1 oz     17 1/2 inches

     Day 72 - 4 lbs 4 oz     18 inches

     Day 80 - 4 lbs 14 oz