ups and downs of preemie world

We received good news yesterday morning that the boys not only were going to move into a step down room here in the NICU, but were also going to be placed in a single crib together! We were so excited to have the opportunity to put the boys back together again!

Our first obstacle was going to be monitoring them to see if they were able to maintain a constant body temperature on their own. Sounds simple, but for a tiny thin body can be a real challenge. Graham seemed to do okay at first while August consistently dropped a couple of points on the thermometer each hour. Graham eventually started loosing heat also. We had them in fitted body suits covered in cozy footed pjs, sandwiched between heated blankets and wrapped in a crocheted blanket each and still they lost heat. Some of this probably happened between changing diapers (cannon poops and tt spouts requiring clothing changes), but overall they simply struggled with it. I even nursed them each skin-to-skin wrapped up with them in warm blankets to bring them up to my temp, but by the time they were back in their crib an hour later their temps would have dropped some.

Another obstacle that has come up for Graham is a common breathing issue many preemie babies face; called apnea. Basically, he will forget to breathe for 20 seconds or more. When this happens, the monitors will go off and the nurse stimulates him and he remembers to breathe. The doctor tells us that apnea is 100% of the time outgrown and very common; for us not to worry too much. Graham simply has to mature some in order for the issue to stop. We were told that Graham MUST go for at least 5-7 days without any signs of apnea before we can be discharged. Last night he had one spell early in the evening. So we wait and pray and watch.

To work on the temperature situation, our doctor has decided to keep them in their crib together, but has placed them under a warmer. We tried warming them just for awhile to get them up to temperature and see if they just needed a fresh opportunity, but that attempt did not work. The doctor decided that he was more interested in them keeping their calories and adding weight rather than using them up trying to keep their temperatures steady. He says they'll get the temp thing down with a little more maturity. And the boys seem to love being in the crib together un-swaddled and undressed. They are so adorable! They curled their arms around each other and appeared the most content that we've seen.

Ups and downs. That's the rule of each day here in the NICU. When we were moved to another room, we lost the privilage of having a "suite" to ourselves. We are now sharing the same amount of space with another baby on the other side of our room. That means we are down one "chair bed," but what is sleep anyhow? (ding, ding, bong, whaaaa, huh?) We're keeping positive, learning as much as we can from the amazing staff here, and praying for our boys to be mature and strong enough to come home soon.

xoxo