Girls Together Again!

Yesterday was an absolute blast! Madeline took a little field trip to Sofia and Josephine's room and we got to hold all three of them at once! After that we put them all in Sofia's crib and just stared at them for an hour or so! Non-stop entertainment!
(Update-wise, they are all doing well...Josephine is happy on HIGH-FLOW and they have even weaned her down since she's been on that. She just needs to get a tad bigger so she can be in a crib too. Sofia is still without breathing support and doing great. Madeline is on low-flow and is handling it so far! All are gaining weight at the appropriate rate and, more importantly, pooping!)

Here are some pics from yesterday. It was a bummer because our digital camera ran out of charge so we had to take most of the pics using the camcorder (and those were grainy). The first pic is the real camera. I also had to include not only two videos from yesterday, but a video from Friday because I caught such a cute sneeze on camera by Madeline!


OK, I want to see how good you all are. Who is who, from left to right in the pic below?! Post your guess in the comments!

Update on Josephine

She had a procedure done yesterday to look at the function of her vocal cords, and to look at her airway structure/function. She did a good job...they warned me that she could come back from the OR vented if it was necessary, but she came back only needing CPAP- a good thing! They found out that one of her vocal cords is definitely paralyzed, but the other one seems to compensate. This means that she should be able to eat by mouth! She will probably have a hoarse or raspy voice but I don't see this as a big problem. We also found out that her airway structure is a little weak and a bit abnormal. As of right now she doesn't need a trach tube put in. The doctors believe she just needs to get bigger and stronger. I can live with that! I really hope they are right and she won't need a trach, but if she does go home with one, that isn't the end of the world. Only time will tell!

Madeline and Sofia are doing just fine! Currently, Sofia is without any breathing assistance! Madeline had her OT "workout" today and she loved it! Life is pretty good; lets keep it that way!

34 Weeks Tomorrow!

Hello! It's been a pretty decent last couple of days! Two of our girls are in CRIBS!!! Who knew being big enough to be in a crib would be such an important milestone! Sofia and Madeline both moved into cribs on Saturday. The nurses tried with Josephine but she couldn't keep her body temperature up (she is the smallest, so it's not a big surprise). Since Sofia and Madeline are in cribs, we are at free will to pick them up whenever! We haven't really abused this too much yet because we don't want to overstimulate them.

Sofia was on and off of any breathing assistance (low flow canula) for a couple of days, but for now we're sticking with the low-flow. It won't be surprising if she stays on for a bit because they are weaning her caffeine this week. Caffeine helps prevent spells (when breathing and heart rate go down) but at their age, they should be outgrowing these spells anyway. Sofia, along with her sisters, had her second eye exam on Saturday. The results showed her eyes are still immature but show no sign of retinopathy of prematurity! Yay for now!! Nothing much else to report about our little Sofia.



Madeline has been loving her high-flow! She hasn't become any worse since they stopped the steroids: such a great thing! Madeline likes being in a crib as well. On Saturday, she was almost too warm so they had to get rid of a layer. Her eye exam showed the same results as Sofia. The video below is so adorable! I had put in her pacifier but left her to go check on Josephine. I was sure that the pacifier would be out by the time I got back, but she figured out how to keep her hand in that spot so she could continue sucking! Luck or smarts?






Josephine's been having it the roughest lately. In the pic below, she is on high-flow, but they weren't able to keep her on it for very long. She is back on CPAP, but I am just thankful she's not on the vent! I would love it if she stayed off that for good. She is just having a lot of de-sats but other than that she's not acting sick. I'm sure she just needs to catch up, and her de-sats are only prematurity-related (at least that's what we're hoping for!) An ENT doctor will probably check her out sometime this week to see if there's anything going on with her airway. She will have to go to the OR room for that but I'm not really sure how invasive it is. I hope we find out some answers! I'll update later this week when/if we find anything out. The good thing is that she's still tolerating her feedings, and she's growing! Also, her eye results were the same as her sisters. Not too shabby...


Dan and I got to go to the Timberwolves game this past Friday night courtesy of the Twolves, who donated a bunch of great seats to the Children's Hospital. It was a close game (they lost in the last second!) During the game, Dan and I came to the realization of how when our girls have to go to the potty, it will be MOMMY who has to take them!! (I guess some places have family restrooms, so that's good.) Dan thinks that's just so funny! Ok, well have a great work week everyone!

33 Weeks Gestation, 6 Weeks Old!

It was actually a pretty good day for all of the babes today! A good birthday present for me (tomorrow!) That's all I want for my birthday: healthy babies.

Sofia is still on high flow and tolerating her feedings. She is up to 3 pounds and 4 1/2 ounces and she wore her first outfit! Those preemie clothes fit nicely! Here are a couple of pics from today and yesterday.
Josephine (3 lbs and 4 ounces) was extubated today! She wasn't even extubated because they thought she was doing too good for the vent, she was extubated because she wasn't doing well. This morning she kept having really bad de-sats where she went to the 20's and it was hard to get her back up to the safe levels (85-100). They thought maybe there was something wrong mechanically so they tried her on SiPAP but had a new vent tube ready in case she failed. Well, we all think she just hated the vent, because she is doing very well on SiPAP! We hope she continues that way because we are so happy that none of our girls are on the vent! Josie also wore her first outfit on Sunday; unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me that day. Here are a couple of pics (vented and then with SiPAP). I only have two good ones of Josephine this entry, but oh well!


Madeline is still on high-flow like Sofia and she weighs 3 lbs 6 ounces. She's doing so well, it's hard to believe that a week ago she was still intubated! She is almost up to full feedings and will probably go back to my milk tomorrow. She can't go home on that formula, it's expensive! (Plus my milk is healthier, right?) Not much else to report; we just hope she continues on this path!

I hope everyone's week is going alright! Can you believe it's almost February? Time has been going by fast (and slow at the same time...don't know how that works!) Until later!

To Tide You Over...

Quickly...

Just have to say, Madeline is on high-flow and loving it!! She was on CPAP yesterday and doing so well that they decided to put her on high-flow today. Before she was extubated they gave her some steroids to jump start the lungs, so they said her success could be temporary, but also she just could be ready now! No matter what, we aren't seeing bronchospasms and she is in room air for her oxygen needs! YAY!

Josephine is on the vent but doing pretty well. They want to extubate her early in the week...hopefully that is still the case tomorrow! She is on full feedings and still feisty!

Sofia is on low-flow, the next step after high-flow. She is doing well but still has some spells. She is also on full feedings.

Keep it up, girls! I'll try to post pics tomorrow or the next day...

What a Ride...

I just wanted to give a quick update. This week alone has been a roller coaster (not to mention the whole NICU experience so far).

Sofia is doing well still! She is back on high-flow instead of the low-flow, but she has been coasting since then. She is getting fed every 3 hours and given a larger volume. I have been enjoying our Kangaroo time together immensely, just as before. It seems like she is letting us know even more so now when her diaper needs changing or if she's upset for another reason. I see this as a good thing!

Josephine was on high flow like Sofia and was doing so well for so many days. This morning at 3 am the nurse practitioner thought it was necessary to put her back on CPAP because she was having too many spells. The spells continued through the day even with the extra help, so they put her back on the ventilator. X-rays showed "hazy" lungs, which either meant water that needs to be peed out, or pneumonia. Since her breathing was so difficult for her, they are assuming it's pneumonia. They are treating her with antibiotics that should help her, but they also did a complete culture work-up (blood, urine, spinal fluid) just in case there's another infection lurking. The good thing is that she wasn't acting sick; she was still her feisty self! I hope the antibiotics give us a quick recovery so she can get off that vent again!

Madeline is on the vent right now but she is on track to extubate within the next couple days. They have been gradually weaning her vent settings this past week and she started steroids in preparation for extubation. She has had trouble digesting her food, though. She has given large residuals in her stomach, so they switched her temporarily to a very broken down formula. I hope she starts digesting more consistently! I'm just glad that it appears the worst of her sickness is over.

We hope things improve for Josie and Madeline over the next couple days, and that Sofia continues her good streak. Wow, I can't say enough how true it is that the NICU is an up and down battle. It is starting to wear on us, but we have to stay positive! Have a great weekend, everyone!