Good Morning! Yesterday we went to visit Leah and Micah, then Golda. They were all doing well. Big happenings? I got to "Kangaroo" Leah because she was off her UV lights! That means they brought out the big screens to block us and she came out of her incubator to lay on my chest, skin to skin. She seemed to enjoy it, trying to snuggle in. Daddy came over and smooched his little girl's head and we both talked to her. She finally dragged those heavy eyelids open to take a look at us and seemed surprised. It was kind of cute - she would look at me then at Jon and then close her eyes, then repeat, like she didn't believe what she was seeing. I guess it is partly because no one has really ever been that close to her face before and maybe we were the first people she has seen really in focus. It was wonderful to be able to really hold her and after about half hour, forty five minutes I had to put her back in her incubator and go pump!
Jon tried to donate blood while I pumped, but his blood pressure was too high - I couldn't imagine why! I visited with Micah for a few minutes then we headed out to see Golda.
It was very good timing because when we arrived the surgeon was there just finishing up his exam of Golda. So I finally got to meet him and discuss his long-term plans for her. Golda will be allowed to heal with no stomach feedings until next Friday (two weeks from surgery) when they will do a repeat contrast X-ray to see how she has done. If the stomach appears to be fully healed they will begin giving her 1ml of food every hour to see how she does. If it doesn't appear to be fully healed, we delay feeding another week. There is no rush to feed since her stomach healing is most important. Once she does feed they will slowly increase the amount up to a full feeding by gastric tube. When she has done that and meets all the other criteria for a preemie to be released she will come home (that means maintaining body temp, gaining weight steadily, moving her bowels and emptying her kidneys, being of sufficient size to do the above things). She will be coming home with the gastric feeding tube and drain still in place so we will be trained in how to feed her with this method and how to clean out her drain (draining saliva from her mouth and the blind ending of her esophagus). She will be checked frequently by the surgeon and when she reaches approximately 6 months of adjusted age (the age she would have been if born full term, 8 months actual) and the average weight for that age (14-18 pounds) they will schedule the reconstructive surgery. That's a lot to come to terms with since it really differs from what we had been told while still pregnant so I am really glad we ran into him yesterday.
Okay, now for this mornings updates: Golda had a good night, nice and quiet. She is off her UV light and was looking up at her nurse while we were on the phone (yeah, no mask!). She weighs 1056 g (2lbs 5.24 oz.) slightly down from yesterday, but they think she might be started to level out and will start putting on real weight now.
Leah is up to 9 ml of breast milk in her NG feeling tube (a tube that goes down the throat into the stomach) every three hours. She is up to 1365 g (3 lbs 0.14 oz.) and her bilirubin count is down so she is finally off her UV light too!
Micah had a wonderful night! In fact, I was so happy by this report that I forgot to ask about the results of their brain ultrasounds (all three normal by the way)! Micah is up to 12 ml of breast milk every three hours and he is now taking every other feeding by bottle!!!!! I was so excited because I had just asked about the process yesterday and they estimated it would be another week before they even tried to give them a bottle and here he is showing them up :) His bilirubin was down, but not enough to get him off the UV blanket. He now weighs 1730 g (3 lbs. 13.02 oz.).
All in all, better than we could have hoped for after only one week. I spoke to the doctor at North Shore the other day and she thought I seemed bothered by her good news. I explained that I keep waiting for the bad news because I know that NICU stays are usually roller coaster rides and I don't want to be taken by surprise by a dip so I can't believe they are really doing this good. She said I could believe it and enjoy, they are really healthy, strong babies, in spite of being eight weeks early and they should continue to steadily progress. I am still trying to prepare myself for any eventual downward turn, but with each day of great progress its getting harder to do. When they told me this morning about Micah's bottle feeding I started crying with relief - another big hurdle down. When they finally do come home I will probably completely lose it! But, it will be fully worth it!
I don't know if I will get to see my little ones today (sniff). I have to go buy some nursing bras (quite desperately), then go to my doctor to get the staples removed. I am anticipating that will be quite painful since any pressure on my stomach cuases extreme discomfort and that will not be just any pressure, so we are figuring that after the doctor I will be fit for bed and that's about it. My parents and / or Jon will most likely go visit so the babies don't have a day without visitors.
Okay, another update tomorrow!
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