Good Morning! I will combine the update from yesterday afternoon and this morning to give you the latest! Yesterday Dad brought me to North Shore and we went up to see Leah and Micah. They are both doing great. When we got there we got a big surprise - Leah was also off her CPAP and was breathing room air with the help of an oxygen cannula (regular old oxygen, like you always see)!! Her brother was still doing great on room air with no assistance! They were both on the UV lights for high bilirubin levels. However, I asked if I could hold Leah, not realizing I was asking Micah's nurse! She said she couldn't answer for Leah, but I could hold Micah! Well, that was all I needed to hear since I have only held him for two minutes once. She took off his little UV mask and placed him on his tummy against my chest (Kangaroo care). It was amazing! I was so happy I started crying and so did he! We both calmed down and he started snuggling in so much I had to remove his tiny little face from my cleavage! Ah, boys. I got to hold him for about a half hour. He just laid there all snuggly and comfy, so comfy in fact that he forgot to breath (apnea and bradycardia) and his heart rate fell. Quite scary. I remembered from previous times to pat his tush, but that didn't work, so the nurses in the room said to tickle his feet. When I did that he jumped and started breathing again and was fine. I know these are normal occurrences for premies, but I am doubly glad that our NICU won't let them leave within five days of having one. It will absolutely suck if it happens when we think they will be coming home, but even worse would be for it to happen at home without nurses around. He was fine afterwards and when the nurses returned they said I should take it as a complement that he was so comfortable with his mommy. NICU logic is strange sometimes! The best part of course was that I got to kiss his little head all I wanted (and so did Pepa for a few minutes before he left). Oh, and Micah has his first nickname - since the CPAP mask was so irritating to his nose his nurse realized that the mask they were using to cover his eyes from the UV light was equally irritating. She went on a search around the NICU and found a smaller black mask for him, kind of like the mask Robin wears in Batman - thus his nickname - Batman!
I had to leave there right after that since it was sibling class night at LIJ and Harry was getting to see Golda for the first time. I made it down stairs and Jon and Harry were waiting. We headed right over to LIJ and left Harry with the class. Golda was doing fine, same as the day before which for her is the best we can expect. I asked the nurse if they were going to try to remove her from the CPAP or if they would just leave her on it until she heals or until the next surgery. She said she wasn't sure and would ask the surgeon, but her guess was that they wouldn't try to wean her off it since they don't want her wasting energy on breathing, but would prefer her to use it all for healing from the surgery and getting bigger. That made sense to us. Harry came in with someone from child-life and he was very happy to meet Golda. They had taken a photo of her with all her tubes and wires to explain everything to him so he was prepared for what she looked like. Jon picked him up and the child-life specialist said he could touch her. Harry was so excited since they don't let them touch the babies at North Shore. He held her little foot and hand. They took a photo of that as well (and in fact, Jon signed a release so they can use it in promotional material!). It was really nice seeing him bonding with his littlest sister.
Okay, that stats: Golda is now weighing 1060g (2 lbs. 5 oz) down a bit form yesterday. They aren't concerned though since they feel it was mostly liquid weight from the extra fluids she received during surgery. The nurse said they expect her weight to stabilize in the next few days and then start increasing with real calorie-fat ounces. Micah is 1670g (3 lbs. 11 oz.), up from his 1650g at birth. He is eating 8ml of breast milk every three hours. Leah is 1270g (2 lbs. 13 oz.) still down from her birth weight of 1360g. No worries there though as she is taking 5ml of breast milk every three hours, oh and according to her nurse this morning, her bilirubin count is down and she is anticipating they might take her off the UV light today (which translates into more holding time for mom!!!).
As for mom, I am doing okay I guess. The pain is a little less each day, but get really bad towards the end of the day. Tomorrow, the staples come out. I am not looking forward to the process, but I hope the tugging sensations will be less after they are out. I was able to walk into the hospital and up to the NICU without assistance yesterday, but leaving again and the whole LIJ trip were quite difficult. Again, hopefuly that too will get easier. We are going to run some errands this morning and then head to the hospitals to see the babies. I will update again tomorrow morning!
Little Leah, 1 day old.
Micah, 1 day old.
A better shot of Micah's cute little face.
Harry meeting Golda - this is the one they want to use for promotional material.
This is the one they took to explain what Golda will look like. You can see her scar from her surgery, her stomach drain, her Broviac in her chest for feeding, her mask protecting her eyes from the UV light, and her CPAP. It does look scary, but she is doing remarkably well for a baby with her problems and is incredibly fiesty - fighting the nurses and kicking Harry.
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