Days 89-92 - April 22-25

The girls are now past their due date!  Andrea and I thought they would be home by now, but I guess they're just having too much fun to leave the NICU.

Both girls had another eye exam yesterday.  Aubrey's eyes appeared to be stable, with maybe a slight improvement.  Paige's exam didn't go quite as well.  The opthamologist said that Paige's eyes had gotten a little bit worse and possibly had some vessel dilation, so she requested a second check from another opthamologist.  The second opthamologist examined Paige's eyes today.  He said that her eyes had definitely gotten a bit worse, but that Paige was still not at the point of needing any surgical intervention.  Both girls will have another exam next week.

Let's talk about Aubrey first.

Aubrey has been doing very well.  Her bradycardias (slow heart rate) are occurring much less frequently now, and she just appears to be back to old self and much more comfortable overall.  All her cultures were negative, including the viral culture, so she is no longer on the IV antibiotics.  She has started eating again, so she no longer has the IV in her arm.  Her she is before the IV was taken out.

As you can see from the picture, the nasal cannula was also taken out and she is back to breathing normally like you and me.  We're not really sure why she had all her problems a few days ago, but things seem better now.

Last night Aubrey drank her entire bottle for me (43 mL = about 3 tablespoons)!  That's the first time either of the girls has drunk their entire bottle for me or Andrea.  Aubrey is kind of a messy eater, though.  When she eats, a lot of milk will run down her chin onto the burp cloth.  I was curious to know how messy she actually is, so I asked Aubrey's nurse to weigh the burp cloth before and after eating, and it turned out that she lost 8 mL of 43 mL down her chin.  Hopefully that will improve.

Paige's turn.

Besides the eye exam, not too much has happened with Paige the past few days.  Her high flow is still the same (2 liters/minute with 30% oxygen).  Her feedings have increased to 38 mL (up from 36), and she is slowly getting better with her bottle feedings.  I think the most she has taken from her bottle is 30 mL, but she usually does around 20 to 25 mL when we bottle feed her.

With both girls, we only attempt bottle feeding if they are awake and alert.  They are usually awake and alert at each feeding because they get a diaper change right before feeding time, but sometimes they just don't wake up, so their food gets pushed down their feeding tube.  Lately, both girls have been getting hungry about 15 to 30 minutes before feeding time, and will be very fussy/crying until food is offered.  I suppose that shows they are progressing, because they used to not really show any signs of hunger.

Well, that about concludes today's post.  I have now been to this hospital 119 days straight (Andrea's pre-term stay plus NICU stay) and have put over 4,400 miles on my car coming and going from the hospital.  I would estimate Andrea has driven about 2,500 miles going to and from the hospital (we carpool when we can).  It will be nice to not have to come down here someday.....