3/26/05 For those of you who keep updated by this site, I apologize for the missing days. Sophie came home last Monday, on March 21, 2005, an things have been a little hectic around here since then .The basics are as follows. Sophie is Home! She wasn't sleeping much throughout the night, but actually slept from 12:30am-3:30am, then again from 4:30-6:30am. She just woke up for the feeding! She is 6 lb. 3 oz as of Wednesday when the traveling nurse came to see us. She is still on just a bit of oxygen, and we have her on her cannula at home. She is so sweet! Between Will, my mom, and me, she spends most of her time sleeping on someone's chest! She had an eye appointment friday and they are still pretty sure she won't need the laser surgery.
Lucas is 7 lb. 2 oz as of today (what a chunk!) He is finishing all of his bottles and we are expecting him to come home on Monday, 3/28/05. We are so excited he will be home! He'll also be on oxygen, but he has significantly decreased in what he needs since last week. He also had an eye appointment and they decided not to do a touch up laser surgery. He's doing very well! I will continue to update the pictures, so keep checking, but i may only be able to update the website once a week or so after they are both home. It's a busy life, and we are LOVING it!
3/17/05 We got news that Sophie will probably stay in the hospital until next Wednesday at least. She has been doing great off her oxygen, but they want to monitor her for a few days to make sure she continues to do well. GRRRRR.... She is doing fine though, and took 20 cc's from breastfeeding today, and then finished her feeding by bottle.
Lucas is even better today. He has taken every bottle since 8PM last night and has been doing well with them. He got bumped up to 70 cc's a feeding. I snuggled with him for a long time today and he really seemed to enjoy it. I can't wait to snuggle him at home without all the wires!
3/16/05 Lucas is doing much better today and is taking more bottles. He finished 3 and took about 3/4 of a fourth bottle today. He is more active and keeps looking around with this inquisitive look on his face. What a cutie! He weighs 6 lb. 5 oz. and got a bath today.
Sophie decided today that she no longer wants to have supplementaloxygen. Her saturation level was high, so they took her off the cannula, and she did fine! Cechk out the pictures! She weighed in at 5 lb 8 oz and is still taking all of her bottles. She has been bumped up to 68 cc's every feeding, and she is doing a great job of drinking it all. She got a bath today and peed on the nurse afterwards!
3/15/05 Sophie finished all of her bottles again today and is still on just a bit of oxygen. She was very alert today! I gave her a bath and she didn't overly enjoy it, but did ok. She made all sorts of funny faces at me while i was bathing her. She weighed in at 5 lb 5 oz again today. She is so beautiful!
Lucas weighed in at 6 lb 3 oz today and I have never seen him so awake! I gave him a bath too, and then tried him with the bottle. He didn't finish it, but most of it. While i was tube feeding him, he opened his eyes soooo wide and just stared at me. He kept looking around the room, so when he was finished eating, I turned him around so he could see the room. He would look around for a while, then look up at me, then look around again. The nurses kept walking by and laughing at how big his eyes were and saying he was nosy by staring at everyone. I tried to get him to fall asleep while I held him, but he just kept staring, so I finally had to put him to bed so he could get some sleep. What a cutie!
3/14/05 Lucas is getting better every day. He had a slow day with the bottles, decided to tube feed most of the day instead. I got to do kangaroo care with him during his lunch though. He weighs 5 lb. 15 oz. He was down on his oxygen as well. The Physical Therapist was impressed by the fact that he is already tracking again with his eyes, even this soon after his surgery. Nice work Lucas!
Sophie weighed 5 lb 5 oz today and is still taking every bottle. The doctor told me today that if, at her eye exam on Wednesday, it looks like she won't need laser surgery too, she will probably be going home at the end of the week! We are praying she won't need the surgery. We don't want her to have to go through that too, plus, we want her home!
3/13/05 Sophie is doing well today. She weighs 5 lb 3 oz and finished all of her bottles again. She is awake much more now than she used to be, and spends a lot of time looking around and sucking on her pacifier. She has really learned how to scream, and many times can only be comforted by someone picking her up and cuddling her.
Lucas weighs 5 lb 13 oz and is doing better after his eye surgery. He has more energy and finished a bottle last night, this morning, and this afternoon. He's starting to get back in the swing of things, although his eyes are still pretty red. He too loves to be held and snuggled, and we don't mind at all!
3/12/05 Lucas's eyes are looking a bit better today, although they are still swollen. He is still taking his feedings via tube because he is still very tired and stressed from the procedure. He will probably begin bottle feeding some again tomorrow. He weighed in at 5 lb. 15 oz, but we are pretty sure he is retaining some fluid, which they have prescribed meds for. He is still opening his eyes for us, and enjoys cuddling with us when we visit.
Sophie passed her hearing test yesterday and continues to finish all of her bottles. She got bumped up to 60 cc's every feeding, which is also where Lucas is! She weighed in at 5 lb. 3 oz. Dr. Hamlett said that if she continues to do well with her feedings and passes her eye exam this week, she will probably be able to go home sometime this week or next!
3/11/05 Sophie is still finishing all of her bottles and they have removed her feeding tube. She finished bottle # 10 in a row today at noon, and she was bumped up to 58 cc's each feeding. She also passed her hearing test today. She is still on just a tiny bit of oxygen, but they are hoping she will wean off of that soon. She has to have her eyes checked next week to determine if she will need laser surgery too.
Lucas is doing better today. His eyes are swollen, which is normal, but he is more active and alert. He was sucking very intently on his pacifier, so we tried him witha bottle,but he wasn't quite ready yet. He is still tube feeding, and doing well. He is on .1 oxygen on his cannula, which is not very much at all. He is eating 60 cc's of milk every feeding.
3/10/05 Lucas had a very rough day today. He had to have laser eye surgery to correct his retinopothy of prematurity. Essentially, because his eyes weren't completely formed when he was born, his eyes started to form excessive blood vessels which would have eventually detached his retina causing blindness. He underwent laser surgery to burn those areas where the blood vessels were forming to stop them. He did alright through the procedure, although he fought the doctor the entire time. He had a few apneas, but did not have to go back on the CPAP or ventilator. He was exhausted though. He weighed 5 lb 12 oz.
Sophie apparantly figured out the bottle. She took ALL of her feedings today by bottle, and finished all of them. She weighed in at 4 lb 15 oz. She is getting very big and finally is getting some baby fat. She is soooo cute!
3/9/05 Sophie breastfed some today! We tried her for the first time and she took probably 30-35 cc's (definitely 25, we weighed her, but then she took more afterwards). She weighs 4 lb 15.8 oz. She is still doing well and is so sweet. She loves to cuddle!
Lucas weighs 5 lb. 9 oz and tried to breastfeed, but didn't quite get the hang of it yet. He'll figure it out though. He finished his bottle this morning at 8am. He had a heart rate drop this morning, but hasn't had any apnea!
3/8/05 The babies are 3 months old today! Lucas weighs 5 lb. 8 oz and had a slow day with the bottles. He finished two. He slept really well all day though. He did well with Physical therapy and has gotten much more expressive with his facial expressions.
Soph weighs 4 lb. 13 oz and also finished two bottles today. She slept through her physical therapy! Neither baby has had an apnea or heart rate drop in 4 days.
3/7/05 Soph weighed 4 lb. 11 oz today and finished two bottles while i was there (one at 8 am and one at noon). She got a bath too and really enjoyed it! She is getting more and more expressive, and as her face fills out, she is starting to look more like Lucas!
Lucas weighed 5 lb. 7 oz today and also finished two bottles. He spit up a lot on the nurse as she tried to burp him after his first bottle, but he kept all of it down when I fed him and burped him at noon. Both babies will be getting hearing screens either today or tomorrow. One more thing checked off that they have to do before they go home!
3/6/05 Lucas weighed in at 5 lb. 5 oz today. He only got to try bottle feeding twice because he had to get some blood, but he finished his bottle both times. I got to snuggle him while he ate through the tube though. He looked much better after he recieved his transfusion, much more pink and happy.
Soph weighed in at 4 lb. 10 oz and finished three bottles and almost finished a fourth. She is doing very well, still at the bare minimum on her oxygen.
3/5/05 Sophie finished two of her bottles today and almost finished another. She got to kangaroo care with Will today and she LOVED it! she fell into a really deep sleep and just cuddled and cuddled him. She weighed in at 4 lb. 9 oz today.
Lucas finished three of his bottles today. He tried to kangaroo care with me, but he was VERY fussy. He rooted for a while, and was just all around whiny..... until he went to the bathroom. Then he calmed right down and fell asleep. He weighed in at 5 lb 3 oz.
3/4/05 The babies have moved to the neonatal Continuing Care Unit (NCCU)! This is such a big step for them. It is the step between the hospital and home. They are doing really well over there. They moved at about 4:30PM yesterday, so when Will and I went back to feed them at 8, they had a new location! They are now wearing apnea belts to monitor any periods where they stop breathing, and their Sat monitors to measure their oxygen saturation. They also still have their nasal cannulas and feeding tubes.
Lucas is on about .1 on his cannula and is eating 56 cc's of breast milk every 4 hours. He finished his bottle last night at 8, drank about 45 cc's of it at midnight, and finished it again today at noon. He weighs 5 lb. 5 oz.
Sophie is eating 47 cc's of milk and finished her bottle last night at 8, and also at midnight. She drank about 1/2 today at noon, but would have finished it if i could have gotten a burp out of her. She weighs 4 lb. 9 oz. I was able to do kangaroo care with her today, and we are looking forward to Will's first kangaroo experience this weekend!
3/3/05 Sophie weighed in at 4 lb. 7 oz today and finished about 22 cc's of her bottle at lunch time. She is still barely on ooxygen, and was quite sleepy today. She did very well with her physical therapy while i was there.
Lucas finished about 25 cc's of his bottle, but he finished his bottle completely last night and also this morning at 4 AM. He was very sleepy also and I got to cuddle him for a while after he ate. He weighed in at 5 lb. 2 oz.
3/2/05 Lucas weighed 5 lb. 2 oz today and was switched from the hood to the nasal cannula yesterday afternoon. He is on about .175 on that. He is doing very well and finished his bottle in about 20 minutes last night (hungry boy!). Orders have been written to move both babies to the Continuing Care unit, so hopefully sometime soon, a double room will open up over there so they can go together.
Sophie weighed in at 4 lb. 5 oz and is still barely on the nasal cannula. She finished her bottle in about 15 minutes last night, including burping time! She ate about 35 cc's from her bottle at noon today, and we are going to try her again on the bottle at 8 tonight. While she was eating last night, I was feeding Lucas and I was talking to the nurse who was feeding her. We were laughing because every time I started talking, Sophie would open her eyes and look around. When I would stop takling, she would close them again and focus on eating. She opened her eyes about 4 different times when i was talking.... Guess she knows her mama's voice!
3/1/05 Sophie is still on just bubbles of oxygen and is doing well. She weighed 4 lb. 2 oz today. I did not try to bottle feed her at lunch time because she had to get an IV so she could get some blood, and she was pretty worn from that. I did hold her while she ate though, and she seemed to enjoy it. She has recieved orders that she can be transferred to the Continuing Care unit, but they are going to keep her in the NICU until Lucas gets closer to being transferred so they can stay together. Sophie also got orders that she can be bottle fed as often as she tolerates it.
Lucas is still on 35-40% oxygen and is doing well. He finished his bottle last night and weighed in at 5 lb. 1 oz today. I snuggled Lucas (kangaroo care) while he ate and he refused to calm down until I put him at my breast. Guess he knows where he is supposed to be when he eats! He was wide awake and very expressive while I was there, and he tucked well and cuddled like a Pro!
Posted by our3babies
at 9:46 PM CST
Updated: Tuesday, 8 January 2008 9:49 PM CST
