First off both babies are doing great in the NICU! They were born via c-section on Friday February 8th during the big blizzard. I was 30 weeks 4 days and and U/s showed that Roo had not grown in 2 weeks and had little or no diastolic placenta flow. I am going to introduce them to you and do an update on how they have been doing over the last week. Hopefully some time this week I can get together their birth story post.
Let me introduce to you our little miracles. I'm going to use their names once and then I will refer to them as Squirt and Roo like I have been this whole pregnancy.
Baby A, who we nicknamed Squirt is a boy. He was born at 4:08 pm, weighing 3lbs 2oz and measuring 16 inches long. We named him Ca.lvin Alf.red.
Baby B, who we nicknamed Roo is a girl. She was born at 4:09 pm, weighing 1 lb 7oz and measuring 13 inches long. We named her Ro.byn Edi.th.
When Squirt was born he was screaming and breathing pretty well. They put him on a CPAP after a little bit when his breathing became labored. His oxygen setting started at 40% and has slowly been lowered over the past week. There were times it was lowered and then needed to be raised back up for a day. He is now at 21% which is basically room air setting. He still needs the CPAP for pressure. Whenever he get's taken off the CPAP to get weighed and washed he does better each time.
He was on phototherapy for jaundice for a few days, but came off Friday. It is so nice to see his face a little more again. When he was on the phototherapy his face was covered by those "sunglasses" to protect his eyes from the light.
Up until Wednesday he was getting all his nutrition from the IVs. He still has the IVs and will for a while, but was started Wednesday on a little colostrum squirted in his cheeks every 2 hours. He loved it and did so great on it they started him on a gravity feed of my breast milk through a tube on Thursday. He started off at 1ml every 3 hours and is now up to 6ml every 3 hours! If he keeps doing as good as he is they increase 1ml a day. Today he should be on 7ml every 3 hours.
We actually got to hold him for the first time yesterday!!! Since he has been doing so well when he is off the CPAP for a short time, they took it off, swaddled him up and handed him to us. He was still on the IVs and all the sensors. It was the most amazing feeling finally having him in my arms! We have been able to touch him, change his diaper and comfort him over the past week, but always inside his incubator while he is hooked up to everything and his head was always covered with a hat and face with CPAP and "sunglasses". We were finally able to see his whole head and face for the first time since birth. We finally got to see that he has medium blonde hair like me. I took every second in. Every little expression, sneeze and yawn. He liked being in our arms and did so well. So relaxed and his oxygen saturation stayed at 100%! He was awake for a while looking up at us. I can't wait to do it again!
When Roo was born she was crying a little, but put on the CPAP right away because she was so tiny. Her oxygen setting started and has stayed at 21% from the beginning! She seems to only need help with the pressure. We are told she does well when taken off to be weighed and washed, but only for a short time before her breathing gets labored again.
She was also on phototherapy for jaundice, but came off Thursday. It is so great to be able to see most of her face again. Because she is so tiny, when she had the "sunglasses" on top of the CPAP her face was completely covered. Couldn't see anything. Now we can see her eyes again. Her coloring is getting a lot better. When she was first born she was so red. Over the past week her skin has gotten lighter and lighter. Her coloring almost looks like a normal newborn now.
She was also started on my colostrum on Wednesday. Just a little in her cheeks too. She also loved it and did great with it. On Thursday when she was started the 1ml gravity feed she did good for some of the day, but then was having some stomach issues so it was stopped to let her belly rest. They kept her off it yesterday, but will try again today. We were told this is common because of her size and we could go back and forth many times before she has solid feedings.
We are absolutely amazed each day by how far they have come already. I had calmly prepared myself for them being on vents and not being able to touch them for a while. I had no doubt in my mind that they would make it and thrive, but I prepared for worse. Every day the nurses and Drs don't have much to say about them other than they are moving along and what they do have has been good or some little setback that was expected. They tell us often how amazing they are doing. We look at each other shocked at the little strides they are making and we celebrate each one. We praise our little ones and tell them what a good job they are doing. They are our little fighters! We are so proud of them!
