05-26-10

Last night, we turned the corner in the hospital hall heading towards the NICU when my phone rang. I barely had a signal but I answered anyway. On the other end was a friend and the best Mother/Baby nurse ever. She informed me that she just saw the girls. My first thought was that we were about to meet in the hall because we were heading toward the door of the NICU. That didn't exactly happen because she was on the 2nd floor of the Women's Pavillion. Apparently, the girls were moved to the NICU annex upstairs. According to the nurse practitioner, they were stable enough to move upstairs. She said that it is a really good thing for them to move up there. If J-Hubb had not called us, we would have walked in and had to ask where our babies went too. This is the second time that they were moved and we went on a hunt to find them. Somebody should have called!!! I know nurses are busy but dang one call to tell us that they moved couldn't hurt too much. They know we come everynight at the same time. I even called the daytime nurse and reminded her that we would be there by 9:00pm for feeding.

On Monday the girls had their first eye exam. Doctor said that their eyes are immature. Of course this is normal for premature babies. But great news is that the doctor saw no sign of ROP (Retinopathy). ROP is a potentionally blinding eye disorder in premature babies. It is an abnormal developement of the blood vessels in the retina of the eye. This is great news!

Yesterday, Brooklyn had some tall orders to fill from the docs. They wanted to try her off the airflow cannula, stopped her Lasix and a couple of other things. She is still on 1 liter and room air. With Quinn, they moved her to 1/2 liter for a couple of days and then tried to ween her off. I called late afternoon and the nurse said that she was off for a couple of hours but then had to put her back on because she was working too hard while she was feeding her by bottle. My first thought was not a happy one. She didn't need to try and feed her and take her air flow away. Of course she didn't eat good. She was concentrating too hard on keeping a breathing flow. Even when Quinn was off cannula, we would put it back on her while she ate to help her out and not stress her too much while she was learning. It just seemed like they were making her quit cold turkey. It took a few days before Quinn was strong enough to eat without her cannula. Needless to say, Brooklyn was put back on her cannula and had high respirations for the rest of the day. I just wanted to scream at the nurse. Why would you want to put two huge tasks on a baby and stress her out. The entire point was to make them learn to do all these things without help. But you can't do them at the same time. She has to gradually learn and get better at performing these things at the same time. I was a bit frustrated. She isnt even a 3lb baby and you are asking her to perform like a full term baby on her first try. I DO NOT THINK SO!

Luckily last night, Nurse Judy noticed her exhaustion and told us to just hold and not feed. She wanted to give her a relaxing break and thought the holding would calm her down and help her respirations lower. She was right, Brooklyn went right to sleep and was breathing fine as Richard held her. She looked so pale and out of it. I just wanted to make her feel better. So the only way I knew how was to voice my opinion to Nurse Judy. I usually don't like to suggest things that is out of my realm and profession. However, it worked for Quinn and perhaps it could work for Brooklyn. So I suggested to Nurse Judy to move her down to 1/2 liter before just taking her off completely. I understand that you have to push them to make them learn. But do it slowly! Cold turkey is not the key for premature babies.

Quinn did very well last night taking the bottle from me. She is so darn adorable. She is doing so well. She stayed awake the whole time and I didn't have to fight her too much to get the bottle in her little mouth. Usually it is a fight because she glues her tongue to the roof of her mouth. But she actually wanted the bottle and didn't fight too much. She could use a lesson from Brooklyn on burping loud and proud. She has little petite burps. Brooklyn will let it go and doesn't care who hears her.

Quinn has this purr that is so funny. I call it her baby snore but it sounds so sweet. Richard has it recorded on his phone. But when she sleeps, she lets out this purr and it is consist with her breathing.

Miss Brooklyn was not her usual Punky Princess last night. She was so peaceful. Richard and I made the comment of how unusual it was to see her so out of it. Poor baby was exhausted and was ready for some loving from her Daddy. She didn't stay awake and talk to us as much as she usually does either. But when he first started holding her, she was giving him the meanest look. Her eyes were squinted and she had them pushed together. She even had a little roll of skin at the stop of her nose from her pushing her eyes together. It was her mad look. Richard calls it her "Momma-Look." Apparently, I have this look on my face majority of the time...so he says. But she didn't relax her face until she was ready to snooze. She was keeping up her guard. Silly girl.

Now time for weight updates!!! Quinn topped the scales at a whopping 4lbs 7oz. CHUNKY CHICK! Brooklyn tilted the scale with a grand 3lbs 1oz. YAY for Brooklyn. She broke the 3lbs mark. Now we just need to ween her off her cannula and NOT cold turkey, we will be good.

I cringed when I heart she had the same nurse as yesterday. She told me that Brooklyn had been D-stating several times today. My first thought was "She saw you and realized you are the one that made her work too much." D-stating is her way of telling you that she is not happy. Sass-A-Fras! Love her too much.

As they do better, I see a light at the end of the tunnel and I want to take them home. But I don't want them hooked up to anything when I take them home. So I will continue to be patient and wait my turn to take care of those little angels. My worst fear is that something will go wrong when they are home. I plan on watching them sleep so I know they are breathing. I won't have the monitors to beep at me and let me know that they need to catch their breath. I will be a nervous mother hen when they come home. I will probably keep them at home and not go anywhere for fear they will get sick and have to go back to the hospital. This is a prewarning to all of you: I will be the "Anal Wash Your Hands" Mom. Expect me to be overly protective especially in the germ category.

Pray that Miss Brooklyn catches up to Quinn and gets off her cannula. She needs to be at least 4 lbs to graduate from her BOX!