Days 47-49 - March 11-13

We've had some good days with the girls.  Let's start with the most exciting thing first -- family pictures! Aubrey is on the left, Paige is on the right in the pictures with mommy and daddy.

Both girls are IV free (Paige's PICC line was taken out), so we were able to get them close together today.  The  room was a lot darker than the pictures suggest (both girls had eye exams = dilated pupils = room must be dark), so we had a hard time getting good pictures.  Oh well.  Here are some mommy and babies pictures.

Here is daddy and babies.

Here are (finally) some sister-sister photos.  Paige is on the left, Aubrey on the right in all the pictures I'm posting below.

Paige had been wide awake just about 15 minutes before these pictures were taken, but she was getting tired and a little irritated by the time we got Aubrey out of her incubator.

In this next picture, we caught Paige trying to eat her sister's hand.

I guess I should also discuss what's been happening with the girls, even though pictures are more fun.

Paige first today.

Paige's PICC line was taken out, as I already mentioned, so she is IV free now just like her sister.  She continues to slowly wean off her high flow cannula.  As of this posting, she is at 4 liters/minute on room air (21% oxygen).  We like the progress.  Her feedings are up to 24 mL fully fortified (meaning she gets an additional 20% calories) every 3 hours.

You might have noticed in the pictures that her hands are tucked into her sleeves.  She scratched herself in the face pretty good a couple days ago, which has earned her "restricted hands".

One of her eyes has been gubbery lately, so it's suspected she might have a minor eye infection.  The bacterial culture is still pending, and we should know the results tomorrow.

Yesterday, Andrea and I were getting ready to leave when we noticed that Paige was wide awake.  We lifted the top off her incubator and Andrea and I talked to her for like half an hour (Andrea did most of the talking, of course).  She just lay there calmly focused and listened to us.

Aubrey's turn.

The leg that had the PICC line in it started swelling up a couple days ago, so the line was taken out of her leg.  Instead of putting a PICC line back in, which was being used for additional nutrition, her doctor decided to just increase her to full milk feedings.  She's been doing well on that, and is getting 26 mL every 3 hours, fortified to 5% extra calories.

Just as an aside, a lot of times in the NICU rapid progression happens when accidents happen.  For instance, Aubrey would not be on full feedings now if her leg hadn't swollen up.  Another example is that when babies pull out their breathing tubes, the doctors will often wait to see what happens to the baby instead of putting one back in right away.  Accidents let the doctors be more aggressive with their treatments than they otherwise would be.

Aubrey's nasal cannula is still set at 1 liter/minute at room air, so nothing has really changed there from last post.

One of Aubrey's eyes was pretty gubbery.  When they tested for infection it showed she had Staph aureus.  She is getting some eye drops (Polytrim) for 5 days to treat it.

As I already mentioned, both girls had another eye exam today.  Like last exam, neither one has any signs of retinopathy of prematurity yet.  Their retinas are still immature, but are improved from last exam, so the opthamologist is happy about that.  In case anyone is wondering about their hearing, my understanding is that it won't be tested until May or June.

The other day on our way into the NICU, Andrea was talking with Dr Sebald, one of the awesome perinatologists here at Kaiser.  They were talking a little bit about Andrea's 4-week stay in the hospital just prior to the girls being born, and he told Andrea in no uncertain terms that had she delivered the girls even one week earlier they probably would not have survived, and that she had literally saved their lives by sticking with the IV magnesium for those 4 long weeks.

Andrea and I are both grateful for the blessing that modern medicine has been to our lives.