Doctors Rounds

I just wanted to send an update on how the boys are doing medically. Everything has been going so smoothly lately! The boys continue to grow and gain weight. They are slowly moving away from their prem grunts and developing newborn cries. This is all great news. As you may have read Sebastian recently came off his monitors and now it is Lucas’ turn. He will be taken off them tonight. The nurses noticed Lucas turning a bit yellow so he may be developing some jaundice. They’ll be checking his bilirubin on Monday. His hemoglobin also came back a bit lower than they’d like so they will re check on Monday and decide if he will require another blood transfusion or iron supplement 2x daily. They have both been getting their eyes checked and they seem to be fine. They keep re checking. Lucas might have a mild case of stage 1 ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) but they say that should correct itself by the next eye check. The nurses and doctors are throwing around a Monday or Tuesday discharge date. But if you have experienced any time in the NICU you know that that doesn’t actually mean we’ll be home then. They might start preparing us for the transition and getting all the paperwork done.

So, the boys and Chris and I have been working hard this past week to be prepared in case they do want to send us home soon. Our primary nurses have been wonderful fighting for the Lowe’s and a parent room. A parent room would allow the 4 of us to sleep together so we start getting used to the boys noises while sleeping and waking for breast feeding during the night. Also, after a difficult weekend of bottles, gavaging, and breast feeding we have written a feeding plan. Some nurses rose to the occassion and showed me how important it was to advocate for myself and what Chris and I wanted regarding feeding. So the boys are now breast feeding for every feed (ever 3 hours) and topping them up through their NG tubes depending on how long they feed. We started yesterday with only 1 feed that they didnt get top up and today we’re working on 2 feeds no top up. We’re fading out the NG tube slowly cause that’s the only thing keeping them here. No bottles for these guys yet so we need to become strong breast feeders. They are doing wonderfully and mami and daddy are so proud of them! They even gained weight last night after a full day of breast feeding. Go boys!!! So soon enough we’ll actually be ready to transition home…..

AND THAT’S WHEN THE MADNESS WILL BEGIN. HAHA!