Days 93-102 - April 26-May 5

The girls have been in the hospital over 100 days now.  When they turned 100, they got to go on a special trip.....outside the hospital for the first time!

Andrea and I look kind of weird in the picture. Oh well. Aubrey is on the left and Paige on the right in these pictures. Here they are happy with mommy.

And both screaming next to daddy.

The field trip was encroaching on their normal dinner time, so they were both a bit hungry.  Those electronic things in their car seats are portable oxygen and heart rate monitors.  They're designed for adults and didn't like the girls' heart rates of 150, so we constantly had to silence the alarms during the field trip.  Here's a picture of them in the stroller.

That oxygen tank is for Paige.  A few days before we went outside, we spoke with one of the girls' doctors to see if it would be a possibility.  Paige was still on high flow cannula at the time, and it wouldn't have been possible to take her outside on high flow.  So, in part because we wanted to go outside and in part because she was probably ready, Paige was switched back over to low flow (she had previously been on it about 3 or 4 weeks ago, but didn't tolerate it well) and has been doing very well on it for the past 3 or 4 days.  She is currently on 60 mL/minute.

Both girls had another eye exam this past Wednesday or Thursday to see how their retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is doing.  Aubrey's eyes appear to be slowly improving still, and Paige's eyes were no better or worse from last week, so no treatment is required yet.  They'll both have another exam next week.

There really haven't been too many changes with either of the girls besides that.  Right now, the only thing keeping them from coming home is their inability to drink all their milk each feeding.  I would say that as a daily average they are able to drink about half of their milk.  We try to give them pep talks and explain the situation to them, but they don't seem to listen to us very well :)

Here's Aubrey working on one of her feedings.

When she's awake and alert, she likes to look right at our eyes.  It's really cute.

Playing whack-a-baby with mommy:

We find her this way a lot.  She manages to burrow down in her blanket and get her feet sticking out.

Aubrey's reflux seems to be what is keeping her from progressing more quickly.  She spits up quite a bit.  Poor little girl.

Here's Paige looking at mommy.  She's not quite as interactive as her sister, but she appreciates being held the most.

 Here she is eyeing her rattle toy thingy

Paige has been doing pretty well.  She requires a lot of our attention.  If she isn't being held and is awake, she'll get cranky until someone picks her up and holds her.  We're not really sure how we'll do it when they finally come home due to Paige being so high maintenance.  Andrea bought this wrap thing, and Paige seems to enjoy it, so maybe Andrea will have to walk around with a baby strapped to her all the time.

Here's our two little monkeys snuggled up to mommy. Aubrey's on the left in both pictures above and below.

Well, that's about all I have to report.  Sorry I haven't posted in so long.  It's hard to find a quiet time that is at the same time as me feeling motivated to update the blog.

Let's end with weights. Aubrey's weight puts her between the 3rd and 5th percentile when adjusted for gestational age.  Paige is just below the 3rd percentile when adjusted for gestational age.  Aubrey's head is between the 10th and 25th percentile, and Paige's is between the 5th and 10th percentile.

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

     Day 88 -   5 lbs 14 oz   18 inches

     Day 102 - 6 lbs 6 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

     Day 102 - 6 lbs 2 oz