Quick Update

The boys are doing great. They are both piggies now and are eating between 3-4.5oz every 3-4 hours. Today the home nurse was here to weigh them and they both gained well. Zak went from 5lb 11.5oz to 6lb 8oz in 7 days!! Ryder went from 4lb 9.5oz to 5lb 2oz in a week. They both gained more than the average 1oz per day.

Yesterday we took Ryder to see the pediatric urologist to check on his possible hernia/hydrocele and the chordae. He thinks that there is no hernia and just a hydrocele, but we go back in December for him to see if things have changed at all. Ryder will have surgery to fix the chordae, be circumcised and to also correct the hydrocele in March. Zak will also go in March to be circumcised.

Perfect Fit

So we were mean horrible parents yesterday. While at the mall we saw some cute kids Halloween costumes in Pottery Barn Kids so we went in to look. Of course they would not fit the boys, but then we saw stuffed animals with the same Halloween costumes on. The stuffed animals were smaller than the boys so we knew it would fit them. After discovering that stuffed animal clothes would fit them we went down to Build A Bear and found lots of choices to pick from. Of course we both had our favorites, but we ended up with 2 very cute costumes. We got a Redskins football outfit and an Oriole's baseball outfit.

*I want to go back and get some more cute clothes we found like a really cute pair of jean overalls*

Trip to ER

Ryder definitely gave us a long stressful night last night. I will start at the beginning....the NICU discharged him saying he had 1 testicle larger than the other, but all was fine int hat area. At the first pediatrician appointment they thought he had a hernia and/or a hydrocele (collection of fluid) so we scheduled an appointment with the pediatric urologist who saw him in the NICU. That appointment is this upcoming Wednesday. Yesterday when the home nurse was here to weight the boys we noticed his right testicle was twice the size it had been and was very hard now so we went to the pediatrician last night. She then sent us to the University of Maryland Pediatric ER to see a surgeon there because she thought it was a hernia that might need immediate surgery. After being there for about 7 hours and seeing several different doctors and surgeons they decided he does have a hernia and a hydrocele that will need to be fixed soon, but they did not feel the need to do it last night as an emergency. So we are waiting to see the urologist next week to see what he says and then find out if he will be having surgery or not. Will keep everybody updated.....

An Update

The boys are doing good. Zak had a few days where he didn't gain weight, but he is now gaining weight just as Ryder is. They are doing much better with eating. Every 3 hours they are eating 55ml which is just under 2oz. They are eating it much quicker and not having problems like they had been. We have hit the spit up phase so that is always fun. They are also starting to stay awake for a little bit after 1 or 2 feedings. We had our first family outing yesterday to Babies R Us. The boys just slept the whole time. They seem to enjoy the car and sleep very well while going for a ride.

Eye Doc & Pediatrician

Today was a busy day for the boys. We went for a follow-up visit to the eye doctor that saw them in the NICU. He did another eye exam and both boys look great, they are no longer at risk for ROP which can cause blindness for preemies. They will go back in March for a follow-up to check and see how their actual eyesight is.

The pediatrician also went well. He checked them over and said they look good. We go back to see Dr.McGrath next week for another check-up to make sure they are gaining weight and then their first vaccines will be at 2 months.

Homecoming

The boys were discharged from the NICU yesterday afternoon!! We knew Ryder might be coming home soon, but when we went to visit them on Sunday the nurse told us both boys were coming home Monday. Everything has been going well. It was somewhat of a long night because we have to wake them up every 3 hours to feed and not wait for them to wake up on their own. Also, they both decided night time was a good time to be awake and alert and not sleep.
We had the 1st of 4 home visits from a nurse today. She just checks their weight gain, eating and makes sure they look good overall. Zak is the same weight as he was 2 days ago so no gain, but also no loss. He is weighing 5lb 1.5oz. Ryder gained a little bit from discharge and is now weighing 3lb 15.5 oz. We go to the eye doctor tomorrow morning for a follow-up to their exam they had in the NICU. Also, we go see the pediatrician tomorrow. So a busy day.

Eating Update

Ryder is doing much better eating from the bottle. He will generally finish all of his bottle, sometimes leaving 10ml or less (he gets 30ml per feeding). The nurses said that he does better if they offer the bottle at every other feeding so he is not tired and will then take the whole bottle. So he is getting there. His weight from last night was 3lb 10.6oz. He also got his first bath the other afternoon which he seemed to enjoy.

Zak is doing better and recovering from his intestinal infection. He will be on antibiotics for 7 days so should be done them the end of the week. He is still receiving nutrients, fat, and antibiotics through IV. They did start to allow him to have a little milk. They started at 5ml every 3 hours and he did well so moved him to 10ml every 3 hours. Today they changed him to 15ml every 3 hours and he sucks the bottles down and wants more. So as long as his tummy and intestines tolerate the milk they will continue to slowly increase his feedings. His weight from last night was 5lb 1.8oz.

Zachary

Last night when we went to see the boys we walked into their room to find Zak hooked up to some new tubes. So the doctor came in and explained it all to us. At his noon feeding yesterday he seemed reluctant to eat his whole feeding and then he vomited some of it back up. They looked at his belly and there was some skin discoloration and his tummy was distended. Since preemie babies can have intestinal problems they like to be more cautious than normal. So they took an x-ray and saw that his intestines were swollen, but that there was no air or anything else bad seen. They decided to stop all of his feedings for 48 hours and keep him on an IV for nutrients just to give his intestines a break. They also have him on antibiotics just in case there is an infection, but have not found any through blood work yet. He also has a tube in his mouth which goes into his stomach and is suctioning out anything in there just to keep his intestines completely empty. He did not gain any weight overnight, but also didn't lose any so that is good. Hopefully he will get to start eating again because he was doing really good with eating from the bottle.

Ryder is doing good as well. He gained more weight again last night and now weighs 3lb 6.4oz. The nurses have been trying to get him to eat from a bottle and some feedings he will eat about half the meal and others he chooses not to eat any from the bottle. He is working on it though.

Bottle Feeding Battle

Well, we are now on the roller coaster of trying to get the boys to eat from a bottle. Zak has taken to it much better than Ryder. Ryder took his first bottle great a few days ago, but since then has decided he doesn't like to work for his food. So he is getting his feeds through the feeding tube still. Zak on the other hand has been doing pretty good eating from a bottle. He will generally eat about 25-35ml of his 35ml feeds by bottle. The nurses and Ben have had good luck with getting him to eat, but he seems to just sleep through his feeds when I try to bottle feed him. It is extremely frustrating, but they are slowly getting there. The nurses and doctors say it is something that will just click with them one day and then there will be no turning back. So I am just waiting for that day to come so i can bring my boys home. We took the car seats in to the hospital last night so they could do the car seat test sometime. The nurse today told me that they tried last night, but both had problems so when they are closer to being ready to go home they will try again. The car seat test is just putting them in their car seat and making sure they can stay in them for 1 hour without dropping their breathing or heart rate. When they are young their neck muscles are not strong enough to hold their heads up which can cause breathing and heart rate problems. Also, Ryder had his hearing test today and passed.
The whole situation of the boys coming early has been very tiring physically and emotionally for both Ben and I. We know the boys are doing good and will be coming home at some point, but it just gets hard some days.

Ryder Made Another Change

Well, this morning when we went to see the boys their nurse let us know that Ryder was going back into the heated isolette. The doctors feel he was using too much of his energy and calories to maintain his body temp which resulted in him not gaining weight. So when we left the NICU today they were getting him a new isolette heated up. Hopefully he will continue to gain weight once he is back in it and will be ready to come out for another try soon.