6 Weeks!

The babies are 6 weeks old today! They are doing great. Violet was a little jealous of her brother, so she is also in a crib now! Violet is completely off ALL oxygen and is doing amazingly. We are so proud of her. Cameron is still on 2 liters of oxygen, but he’s doing well and they are weaning him slowly. We have learned that Cameron definitely works on his own time. He gets things done when he wants to get things done.

In less than two weeks they are most likely going to start trying bottle feeding with the twins (as long as Cameron is off the high flow oxygen). I’ve heard that oftentimes this is the most frustrating part. The babies will be just 34 weeks gestation, but will need to get the coordination of sucking, swallowing and breathing to be able to take their bottles. This is a requirement to be able to go home. They want to make sure that they consistently take their bottles for at least 48 hours. During this time the babies will also start to be weaned off of the caffeine. They are on caffeine because it works as a stimulant and kind of reminds them to breathe. The nurse from yesterday said that they also start to wean themselves off of the caffeine simply because they gain weight and the dose does not go up at all.

The subject of coming home now comes up every day and with each nurse. The fact is that we have no idea still. In a perfect world, they would catch on to bottle feeding, be weaned off of the caffeine and be able to do everything on their own by the end of the year. We all know we don’t live in a perfect world, so I have to be realistic. It’s so hard having no idea when they are coming home or if one will be home before the other. Everyone keeps asking me when they are coming home and each time I have to say I don’t know.

I think a lot of people think that being a premature baby just means that you are born small. My babies were born at 26 weeks gestation… 14 weeks before a complete pregnancy. Every single part of them was underdeveloped. My babies were very sick… especially Cameron. So, when people were telling me to enjoy my time at the hospital and to relax because everything would be fine, it was very difficult to deal with. At this point, the babies aren’t nearly as sick as they were 6 weeks ago or 5 weeks ago or 2 days ago for that matter. But, they would still only be 32 weeks gestation. They still have developing to do and there are still a lot of hurdles to get over. I know most people are just trying to help, but people have to remember that being a preemie isn’t just about size.

I’m starting to wake up throughout the night just thinking about them. It’s not a bad thing, but it just makes me wish I could go peek at them or smell them or hold them or hear them breathing. I woke up at 4am the other day and was wide awake. I couldn’t get these words out of my head. Then I put the words to a tune. Before I knew it, it was 4:15 and I was pulling out my phone to jot down all of these words. Then, since I didn’t want to lose the tune, I downloaded a voice recording app and recorded myself singing the tune. Sooooooooo between 4 and 5 am the other day, I wrote a song. You might be thinking, “hey, I didn’t know Betsy wrote songs”. Well, I don’t. What a weirdo. But, I could not get this tune or these lyrics out of my head. It’s about the babies and being in the NICU. I guess I wrote it because when I was thinking of songs to put on their dvds, I was trying to find some about being in the NICU or similar themes. The only ones I found were depressing or creepy. So, I just wrote my own.

Anyway, I’m going to finish getting ready to go see my little sweeties. Hopefully, we all have a great day today!

A Few Gripes

Today is day 41 in the hospital and day 37 in the NICU.  While I wouldn’t say it gets “better” or “easier”, it does start to become more normal. We’ve adapted to the huge change in our lives. I’ve become more accepting of the fact that my babies are in intensive care. It’s never better or easier, though. My heart still aches every minute of every day. Even when I’m there my heart is aching and my eyes are filling up with tears because I’m constantly longing to take them home, stare at them, and hold them as close to me as possible.

We’ve loved so many of the nurses we’ve had in the NICU… some more than others. I’ve never felt completely uncomfortable until today, though. The nurse today was a very nice elderly woman. By elderly I mean over 70. I’m not discriminating against her age, but it seemed to me she was a few steps behind on everything. There were a few times the babies’ alarms were going off and there was a long time before a response. Cameron and Violet both had remnants of their last feedings on their faces. She didn’t know how to take Violet out of her incubator. The babies normally get assessed right before they eat (every 3 hours) so that the time in between they are just sleeping. This nurse was constantly bothering them with in between assessments and blood pressure readings. Violet was cold in her incubator (the alarm told us so) and she didn’t do anything. In fact, she left the doors open! Cameron spit up… she left it. She spilled meds all over Cameron’s blanket and then never replaced them. I could go on with a few more things, but I’m going to stop here. I think I mainly needed to type all of these gripes down to get it all out. I felt like I was going to lose my mind.

Luckily, there was a great nurse next to us and she knew I was nervous. She came to check in every now and then and would try to help with certain things. I could tell our nurse didn’t appreciate it too much, but I know I did. A few hours into the day, I went and spoke with the charge nurse. I explained that I didn’t want to get her in trouble, but I was not comfortable with her taking care of my babies and that I would prefer to not have her as our nurse in the future. She was very understanding and listened to all of my concerns. I felt bad “telling on” this nurse, but when it comes to the health and well-being of my babies that will always win. She was a nice enough woman, but I really feel that if you are working in a NICU then you need to be 100% on your game at all times.

So, it was a very stressful day in the NICU today. I was anxious the entire time and couldn’t enjoy my babies at all. After I left, I felt so guilty that I didn’t get to enjoy my time with them. Sometimes it just makes me so overwhelmingly sick that someone else is responsible for taking care of my babies. Yesterday, while I was holding Cameron, Violet was crying and moving around in her bed. I know she was fine, but I felt so awful. I couldn’t help but cry. There was nothing I could do. All I wanted to do was hold my sweet girl and I couldn’t. Sometimes this really just sucks.

On a positive note, Cameron is in a CRIB! He is finally big enough to be out of the incubator. They switched him over yesterday and he’s been able to regulate his body temperature since then. Violet is off high flow oxygen and doing very well. She’s still too little to be in a crib, but she is gaining weight. I can’t wait until I’m typing blogs while watching my precious angels sleep peacefully (because of course they will… at the same time). Please keep praying for the babies. Yes, they are doing well, but people tend to forget that I would still only be 31 weeks pregnant. They aren’t supposed to be out in this world, yet, but they are doing amazingly. My little fighters never cease to amaze me.