Day 70 Update

Good Morning Everyone. I hope everyone is ready for Turkey Day tomorrow!

Yesterday we had the pediatrician for Leah and Micah and the treatment team meeting for Golda. Golda's meeting was first, at 11 am. Pepa came with me to St. Mary's so he could feed and watch Leah and Micah while I was in the meeting. He propped the bottles in their carriers and then took them out for burping - luckily the babies were in cooperative moods and it went smoothly. In the meeting I was introduced to Golda's OT (occupational therapist), PT (physical therapist), ST (speech therapist) and pediatrician. The social worker rounded out the team. The OT and PT do the same things in babies this young; they are working on getting her to do regular baby stuff - support her head, push up on her arms, sit up with help, lay on her tummy, stretch out her arms and legs as well as follow objects with her eyes and head. Physically, she is a little delayed, but not "officially" since with her adjusted age she is only two weeks old! But, because of her low weight she doesn't have the muscle mass yet to hold up her head or really push up on her arms, but she is getting there! The speech therapist has been working with her so she keeps her suck reflex - she puts her pacifier in her mouth while she is eating and works on oral stimulation. The pediatrician said she is doing well medically, but isn't fully stable yet. Her G-tube is still looking red but is getting better with the bactroban topical antibiotic (stronger bacitracian). Her ankle wound (from Golda pretending to be a grasshopper) is also looking better now. She is up to 2.06 kg which is finally an improvement (4 lbs. 8.7 oz.) over the 2.03 kg she was hanging out at. The pediatrician is pleased that she has starting gaining again since moving there. They are anticipating that she could medically stabilize in two to three months, as she grows bigger and at that point we can re-visit the idea of her coming home to wait for her surgery. They feel that she will probably be covered only by Medicaid at that point and that they will pay for a nurse to watch her for eight hours over night while we get some sleep and/or tend the other babies. I am not getting my hopes up since it may not happen, and in fact we may choose not to bring her home before the surgery so she can continue to get the care she needs while we continue to give the other babies and Harry the care and attention they need. The good part is that we can do trial runs - over night visits with her at St. Mary's and at home - before making any decisions.

Leah and Micah went to the pediatrician for scheduled vaccinations. I asked to speak to the doctor as well because of a few issues. First, we have all been fighting off coughs and colds and I wanted to make sure they didn't have it before getting the shots. Their throats were fine and their chests were clear so that was good. Next, Leah actually lost a little weight over the last week. She was 8 lbs. 4 oz. but this week she was 7 lbs. 14 oz. and we were concerned. Micah, however, keeps right on gaining regardless of how much he spits up! He is now 10 lb. 4 oz. Additionally, the AR formula was working to keep the food down during burps, but they still spit up and complained often while eating and after. The doctor recommended changing the formula to Alimentum since that is the next one the GI docs will recommend we try.

We got the formula last night so they have been eating it now for five feedings. It definitely comes back up much more than the AR (much more) but they do seem a little more comfortable on this formula. We are going to stick with it at least 48 hours and see how it goes, but oy, this stuff stinks when it makes its return visit!

Harry had his Thanksgiving show on Monday at school. He looked so cute in his pilgrim outfit! I saw him wearing the hat and shirt while he was sitting in his chair waiting to go up to the stage. When it was his class' turn his hat was missing in action. No clue what he did with it! Anyway, he was the last in the line to go up to the stage and I was watching with anticipation to hear him say his lines since I knew he knew them (we practiced almost everyday). Little stinker just stood there looking around and didn't say a word! Luckily they said the lines to the poem and sang a song as a group. He added a half a line at the end of the poem and sang the last line of the song, but that was it. To see him up there he didn't look nervous, but he certainly acted like he had stage fright - imagine! Harry, shy! Who'd've thunk it?!?!?!

I will be going shopping today with some gift cards (thanks) for some baby clothes. I can't believe it, but Leah, Micah and even Golda have all outgrown their preemie clothes and Leah and Micah are starting to outgrow their newborn clothes! It's great that they are growing so nicely, but geez, it's going so fast!

Okay, that's it for now. I have some photos that I want to post, but I will have to do that later. We wish everyone a very happy turkey day! Gobble Gobble!