The last blogged update talked about weight gain...at that time the girls were still in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and feeding both through Gavage (a tube through the nose and bottle) we went from 'weight gain' to 'home' in a very short amount of time. During that time both Victoria and Violet were transferred to the Intermediate Nursery which basically is just that, a Nursery. The girls were now in open air cots, feeding exclusively via bottle and were taken off their daily caffeine as they were no longer experiencing sleep apnea issues.
During this time Evangeline was once again trialed off of her CPAP. The first time she lasted about 36 hours but then her breathing started to become a bit faster then ideal and this meant that she was working a little too hard and this would interfere with her weight gain (too many calories burned)...so the CPAP went back on. It was hard to see her once again with this apparatus but the fact that she lasted 36 hours was a good thing it meant that next time we trialed her off she may not have to go back on again, ever! It also meant that her little head and nose got a much needed break; it was hard on her sensitive skin to have either those prongs up her little tiny nose or that mask irritating the bridge of her nose. Her weight gain still continued to be less then ideal although she was gaining daily it wasn't quite as fast as everyone wanted and she continued to measure in only the 3rd percentile. Ideally everyone wanted to see her at least in the 5th percentile. So, the decision was made to add another type of supplement to her feed. This time protein only. Sort of like a body builder I suppose....Evangeline the body builder....the lean mean baby machine??? Hmmmmm. Not quite what we had in mind but whatever works to get our little girl out of the hospital and on with the rest of her life.
Back to Violet and Victoria. We had a conversation with our Pediatrician on the Thursday (June 30th I think??) that ended with 'Let's regroup and see where we are at on Monday' to 'ok, here are your babies' well, not quite but pretty much. No regroup...in fact the decision was made with very little consultation with Todd and I. An amazing and wonderful surprise/ birthday gift but definitely a surprise. We hadn't even picked up diapers yet! I felt completely unprepared. I wasn't worried about the feeding and changing etc. as we had been participating in that all along but it was everything else. I felt like it was a bit of a scramble to get our home just right for the girls arrival. My birthday was on the Monday and the girls were out on the Tuesday July 5th. I spent my birthday 'day' getting pampered at the spa, taking a nice long leisurely walk with Todd on a gorgeous day along the Seawall, had some cocktails at lunch to an early dinner out with a lovely glass of champagne, some white wine and halibut cooked to perfection.... I spent my birthday 'night' in the hospital with our girls doing the night feeding and care nurses close at hand if need be - both wonderful things yet oh so very, very different. If I had known that July 3rd would have been my last full night of sleep I would have slept more that entire weekend! Too bad you can't bank sleep and save it for later. Someone should invent that.
It's not been two weeks since the girls have been home and life has some sense of normalcy and routine to it. Things have been going fairly well. They feed approximately every 4-4.5 hours and I usually try and nap during at least one of those periods. Night is the same thing and I definitely sleep in between feedings which usually takes me about an hour for the two of them. Although already I am constantly looking for ways to make it all just a little more efficient. On that note I am happy to report that my body is now adjusting to waking up in the middle of the night and it actually seems to be getting a little easier for me or perhaps I am just so sleep deprived that I am going insane?! Victoria is usually up first - she is the 'alarm clock' and our little Violet is our low maintenance girl who is content to dose a bit and wait for her sister to finish feeding. Thank Goodness we have a low maintenance girl....I can not tell you how much easier things have been and will (hopefully continue to be) simply because of the fact that she is ok to be second in line and very nearly in the future will probably be third. (Bottle propping is next on my list. I've got to start practicing feeding two of them at once. I will be working on that over the next week or so)
For now life is mostly just about sleeping, eating, burping and pooping. The girls are slowly staring to be alert and awake a little longer each day and that is when we take the opportunity to read them a story, play some nice music or nature sounds, show them some baby art, or just interact with them by telling them about what's going on in their world, who came for a visit who phoned to see how they were etc. Since the girls were so premature sleeping is really the priority for them and for us. Hard to believe that they aren't even at their due date yet. In some ways it's also hard to believe that they will be two months old tomorrow. Can't wait for our little Evangeline to come home. Unfortunately I don't get to spend as much time at the hospital with her as I would like but Daddy or I are there every day and usually have a chance to feed and care for her as well. She is doing great, still our tiny little peanut (below the 3rd % but is over 2100 grams) You should see her eat! 20 minutes and her bottle is gone. It's really amazing to see. She is still having some issues with her heart rate dropping off just out of the blue so she will be staying in the hospital until that stops and she is ok'd to come home. I am guessing two weeks maybe but really it's just a guess.
So as of this week here are the girls weights...give or take:
(all a pound a part - give or take a rounded off gram)
Evangeline 4.7 pounds
Violet 6.7
Victoria 5.7
A big thank you to all of you and the many phone calls, emails, cards, gifts, diapers, visits, dinner making etc. We have so appreciated all your love and support. We do plan on sending out official 'baby announcement and 'thank you's' but really want to get Evangeline home first and have the five of us together. So please bare with us..things might just take a little longer then they used to.
xoxo
The Kennellys
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