They both had another eye exam on Wednesday. The opthamologist said that both girls' eyes had improved a little bit from the previous week, but are still not out of the danger zone as far as needing surgery goes. The opthamologist seemed happy with their improvement, but since they're still ROP stage 2, she plans on doing another exam next week. These eye exams make both girls extremely mad, so afterwards Andrea and I figured out how she could hold both of them in our old room.
If we had known their cords were so long, we would have done this sooner. Here are some close-up pictures (Aubrey is on the left, Paige on the right).
Let's talk about Paige first this time.
She has been doing very well. Her high flow has been reduced to 2 liters/minute with about 30% oxygen. Her feedings have gone well, too. She set a Roberts record a couple days ago by taking 26 mL in her bottle. 36 mL would be a full feeding on her new fortifier, which makes her milk 28 calories per ounce (normal milk is 20 calories per ounce). She usually eats between 10-25 mL per feeding, depending on how awake she is. The rest gets pushed down her feeding tube. Here she is during one of her feedings.
Paige is eating better than Aubrey is now (not that it's a competition or anything, haha). I just tell Aubrey that she's being a good big sister by letting Paige catch up to her so that they can go home at the same time. I know I shouldn't be comparing the two girls, but it does help me track their relative progression (or regression).
Paige has also surprised us in that she absolutely loves being held and snuggled. For the first two months after she was born, she hated being touched or handled. Now, sometimes the only thing we can do to calm her down is to hold her. I suppose that's how most babies are, not that I would know.
Aubrey's turn.
Aubrey was doing well until a couple of days ago when she started to have bradycardias (slowdown in heart rate). They used to happen only while she was eating, usually caused by stomach reflux (baby heartburn). The past two or three days they have been happening frequently. Her cry is starting to sound a little hoarse, also. She was having so many bradycardias this morning that the NICU people decided it was time to get her into a room closer to the staff so that people can respond more quickly when she has her heart rate episodes. It was kind of a demotion as far as room changes. The last time we changed rooms, it was kind of like the equivalent of going straight to high school out of elementary school. Now we're kind of like in middle school. We have now been in all three of the twin rooms in the NICU (the current one is the best of the three, so I'll lobby the charge nurses to not move us again until we go home). Here's our little darling before we changed rooms.
The most likely cause of Aubrey's bradycardias is reflux. Basically, when she has reflux it stimulates a nerve (vagus nerve) that causes her heart rate to slow down. Her breathing rate will also slow down, and sometimes she'll even stop breathing for up to 15 seconds. Like I said, reflux is most likely the cause of these problems, but there is also a chance that she has some type of respiratory infection given the whole picture. We're told that when preemies get the common cold, it can cause them to have bouts where they will stop breathing, similar to what happens to Aubrey. Aubrey's nurse took samples to test for bacterial and viral infections and sent them to the lab, so we'll know a little more in 2 days or so when the results come back. Pending these results, she was put on 2 different IV antibiotics (gentamicin and ampicillin) just in case she has a bacterial infection.
She was changed over from breast milk to Enfamil AR yesterday, which is the baby spit-up formula, to see if that would help with her reflux. It appears that it hasn't, so her doctor has also stopped her feedings to give her a little break. Because of this, she got an IV put in her arm so that she can get fluids and nutrition until she starts to eat again. She has been put back in a heated incubator to help her conserve energy. She is also back on high flow air given through a nasal cannula.
All in all, Aubrey seems uncomfortable. Normally she rarely cries, but recently she has been crying often (though not as much as Paige does). It looks like Aubrey won't be going home as soon as we had hoped.
On a high note, Aubrey was seen by another pediatric orthopedic surgeon. As far as he could tell, there were no problems with her left leg. If you recall, we thought she had a little bit of a clubbed foot and torsioned tibia when she was born. It now seems to be resolved and we are no longer putting her foot brace on.
Height and weight time. According to one of my phone apps, a typical full-term baby weighs 7 lbs 8 oz and is 20 inches long.
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 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
Day 88 - 5 lbs 14 oz 18 inches
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
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
Day 88 - 5 lbs 0 oz 18 inches
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