Sigh, Ready For Something Positive

Walked in to NICU this evening to find McKenna screaming and two nurses over her drawing her blood. Her heart rate was in the 200s this afternoon and they were testing to see if she has infections, low blood count and needing a transfusion, or if the aminophlin (medicine that helps her brain remind her to breathe) levels were too high. We still haven't gotten the results back from the tests earlier this week to determine if she has the gut infection again.

Tests came back tonight that her blood count is okay, for now. They don't think the heart rate is from an infection based on the blood work, but we won't know for sure if there is an infection until Saturday. They are taking her off the aminophlin for now to see if that lowers her heart rate, but with being off that means an increased risk for heart drops.

Kyle held her tonight for the first time. Well, he has held her up in the air while they change her sheets, but he held her in his arms, wrapped in a blanket while she was fed through the tube in her nose. He looked so proud, and very concerned. And of course she decided to freak him out by having continued oxygen drops and a heart rate drop to 67 (her heart rate is usually 160 or higher).

Please continue praying for our baby girl. She needs to start gaining weight (has been 2 lb 12 oz for several days) and to be healthy and well.

On a positive note, both babies had eyes checked today and they look like they won't have eye problems. We will have them retested in two weeks, and then not again for six months. It was awful seeing their eyes done though. Heard McKenna screaming when doctor was doing it to her eyes (I was in isolation room with Keaton) and then saw it with Keaton and had to look away it was just so awful! Won't even go into details, but I could never handle that as an adult, so I am not sure how the tinys did it!

Keaton finally gained weight - 2 oz. We are hoping he will break into the 4 lb mark this weekend, but we understand that is asking a lot. He had green residual (undigested milk) today after one of his feedings, but the doctor thinks it was just reflux. Please pray he does not get sick or any kind of infection. We still have to wait another week before his next MRSA test.

And, as always, thank you everyone for your love, prayers and support. We feel so blessed by all of you and are so grateful and we pray God bless you for your time and energy in checking this blog and in your continued prayers!

Bath Time

Learned how to give babies sponge baths this weekend and today got to give both of them one one my own. What a scary but fun and memorable experience. Both babies were alert for their baths and looking around. They didn't seem to really mind it, until the end when I left them soaking and didn't have a towel/blanket to warm them up in. I blame the nurses for that one. hahaha.

McKenna seems to be doing a little better today. Doctor thought her stomach was looking okay, although we still haven't gotten results to see if she has the gut infection again. We also determined she should only be "breast feeding" once a day because the two times a day seems to overstimulate her and cause sat drops and she has been losing weight.

Keaton is still doing awesome today. He is so alert and calm. They stopped giving him his medicine that helps his brain remember to breathe because he hasn't had a heart rate drop in a week. If he ends up having one, they will put him back on it, but for now he is off.

Looking forward to heading back to hospital tonight to see the babies and seeing how much they weigh. McKenna will begin receiving 25 ml now of breast milk, and Keaton is still at 32 ml.

Well, still no news on McKenna's gut infection. They did blood work but we haven't gotten the results yet. Last night was extremely difficult as we were there for over two hours and for over an hour of the time she kept having oxygen drop after oxygen drop. They think she just did too much that day - had one "feeding" and had a bath. At her weight and size that is a LOT of activity. So today we opted to only do one feeding and her oxygen seemed quite a bit better. Will try doing only one feeding a day with her instead of the original suggested two to see if that decreases the oxygen drops and helps increase her weight (she has lost grams past couple days). Also hoping that decreases number of heart drops too as she had a few yesterday and again today.

Keaton is doing awesome still. The nurse said they aren't retesting his infection until next Wednesday which will be two weeks after his original diagnosis. That's a bit frustrating, but I am sure there is a reason for it.

He has moved to "nipple feeding" which can include a bottle every three hours, instead of just two or four times a day. I was really excited about this because it meant Kyle got to feed him with a bottle tonight for the first time. He was frustrated at the difficulty of getting a 33 week gestation baby to feed since he hasn't picked up on the sucking very well yet, but he did really good for the first time ever feeding a baby. After about twenty minutes and Keaton only eating 9 ml we decided to do the normal tube down the nose feeding.

Keaton lost a few grams tonight too, so he is at 3 lb 11 oz now. That's okay. It's expected for him to lose since he is burning calories while feeding now. And, today he got to wear his first onsie. He looked so hilarious. It's a preemie onsie but man did it swallow him whole! Will have to post a picture of it. He looks so cute.

As always, thanks for your prayers, comments, love, support! We are so grateful and wish we could express it somehow...

Scary and Difficult Morning

Wow, so we are heading back up the hill. Two steps forward, one step back. McKenna's stomach started looking distended yesterday and this morning seemed to appear even more so. We found out that yesterday she started having bowel loops again - one of the side effects of the gut infection - which we weren't aware she was having those this time around.

This morning we began feeding and she started having her "sat drops" which really just means she is not getting enough oxygen. This could be due to the learning of suck/swallow/breathe or her head being positioned wrong, or that she is just too warn out and exhausted. So the nurse told me to just hold her instead while the tube did all the feeding into her nose. Not a big deal, right? Well, she decided that the moving around wasn't something she enjoyed and spit up ALL down my chest and tummy. Spitting up or not tolerating feedings is another sign of the infection.

As soon as McKenna was put back in the incubator she began having sat drops again, only this time her oxygen levels weren't going up. After about 90 seconds of watching her and poking her and trying to get her breathing right the nurse decided that wasn't doing the trick and she pulled out the oxygen. Couldn't help but begin crying and freaking out as my baby girl laid there needing assistance.

The nurse had to report the morning events to the doctor and they are going to keep a close eye on her, but we are fearing the worst - that she has the gut infection again. If this returns it will mean no feedings, IVs back in her, back on fluids, back on antibiotics and two x-rays a day (a lot of radiation going into her body).

Please, please, please pray for a miracle and that this was just an off morning and she is okay. Pray that she doesn't have the infection, that she can digest her food well, that the air in her gut can escape and the distention will go away, and that she can continue to progress.

Thanks everyone!!!

Holding Your Breathe

McKenna, not sure what we will do with her. The poor girl is so little she seems to be starting to learn to nurse WAY too early. She is really struggling with the suck, swallow and breathe all at the same time. Can't say I blame her. I struggle to do that when getting a drink of water. But each time I have tried to nurse her oxygen levels go way down and she gets exhausted within a few minutes. This morning she had so many "sat drops" that we stopped after ten minutes of feeding and when she was placed back in her incubator she had a heart drop. They say with time she will do better and learn how to breathe and all. Hope they are right.

Keaton was having a few problems with his feeding tonight, but he did great earlier today. They have increased it so he is now doing two breast feedings a day along with two bottle feedings a day. And today he drank his full feeding (30 ml) through the bottle. I was so proud I started to cry. What a huge step forward. That is also probably why he had such a hard time feeding tonight - warn out.

Keaton is 3 lb 11 oz tonight. One more ounce and he is back up to an ounce more than McKenna, who is still at 2 lb 12 oz tonight.

Thankful for today and the positive things that happened and praying that we continue to go downhill from here on out. Thanks everyone for the continued prayers!

Still Gaining

*First three pics are McKenna. Last two are Keaton.

Hey everyone. Tinys are doing well. Keaton is up to 3 lb 9 oz, McKenna is up to 2 lb 12 oz. We are so excited!

McKenna is back up to full feedings (20 ml with 4 calories added) but her stomach is looking a bit distended again. Please pray the gut infection doesn't come back. They have her on her tummy today to see if that will help her get rid of some of the air in her tummy.

Keaton is still at 30 ml with 4 calories added per feeding. He looks like he is getting so big. Of course, he is only 3 1/2 lb so he isn't THAT big, but so much larger than McKenna and 1/2 lb over his birth weight.

McKenna was moved over to the first row so she can be closer to the isolation room. We were worried we would lose our nurses, but we were able to keep two of them so we are grateful for that. Wish we could have kept them all.

Best Day Yet

Wow, what an incredible morning. Eyes were filled with tears as I got to hold and feed my tinys. McKenna had no interest in it whatsoever. She looked annoyed that we were even trying to get a 2 1/2 lb baby latched on. It was hilarious. The lactation consultant just kept saying over and over how adorable that she is.

Keaton did well with his bottle last night, for being his first time feeding. Nursing him today seemed to really tire him out but he did well. And, the best part was I didn't have to wear a gown or gloves. Of course have to shower and scrub between feedings, and won't be touching McKenna after feeding Keaton, but I will have an hour with her, then an hour with him.

It was so nice to be able to give Keaton skin-to-skin contact. And, his "suite" was really nice too. It wasn't curtains blocking us from the nurses and other mothers, but an entire room with the door shut. I learned how to nurse, then after that got to hold him for another forty minutes or so with the door shut...just me and my son. i was able to sing to him and talk with him, and just love on him. What a blessing.

Can hardly wait until next feeding this afternoon so I can bond with the babies. Thank you, God, for this blessing! We really needed it.

Still hard to not be looking for something to go wrong since something so wonderful happened today, but doing our best to keep our eyes focused on God and all the blessings He has given, even with the trials.

Love you all. Keep praying. God is listening. And we will continue to pray for all of you!