SUMMARY: These little monkeys continue to amaze us each and every day. We had a parent/doctor conference today, and got the real skinny on her thoughts regarding their progress, her outlook on their health and her prediction for a discharge date. Overall, she said she is extremely impressed with their vigor and determination, and has no concerns for major developmental issues in the future (this is coming from a woman who does NOT sugar coat anything). At a whopping 3 lbs 11 oz (Quinn) and 3 lb 8 oz (Coop), I think it’s safe to say they like my milk. The next milestones include getting over the bradycardia, breathing on their own, taking more feeds directly from the breast or bottle, and maintaining their body temperature without the isolette.

Read on if you want details:

* Lung Development – Both boys are doing pretty well in the lung department. While the doctors would like to see them coming off the respiratory assistance a little faster, the fact of the matter is that the pneumonia and severe respiratory distress syndrome set them back a bit, so we aren’t pushing them too much. They do have Chronic Lung Disease (this sounds MUCH worse than it is), but the doctor doesn’t think it’s severe or that it will cause long term problems. Cooper is still on the hi-flow canula, but they are weaning him off slowly. Quinn has actually graduated and is on the low-flow canula. The next step once he gets stable is to take him off oxygen support altogether!
* Head bleeds/hemorrhages – Both Quinn and Cooper’s head bleeds continue to improve – making these *almost* a non-issue.
* Apnea/Bradycardia (A’s and B’s) – Cooper is still experiencing some brady’s (slowness/absence of heart beat), but the doctors assure us that given how early they were born and their gestational age (33 weeks), this is to be expected. They are actually impressed that they aren’t having more bradycardia episodes (Quinn hasn’t had one since May 12th and Cooper is only having 1-4 a day). We expect/hope for these to disappear entirely in the next week or two.
* Nutrition – They boys are both taking about 1 oz of my milk every 4 hours. We breastfed and bottle fed for the first time this week. We can breast or bottle feed one out of every four feedings, and they are fed via gavage (tube to the stomach) every other feeding. Needless to say, this is a real treat for Chris and I, and the boys seem to like it too! The doctors and nurses are EXTREMELY impressed with how well they are doing with these feeds. One of the milestones they need to meet before going home is to be fed via breast or nipple every feeding, so we are on our way.
* Body Temperature – One of the next big goals is for the boys to hold their body temperature on their own so they can graduate from the isolette to an open crib. Plus, that puts them one step closer to living together again! Studies suggest that preemie twins grow faster/better when they feel each other, so we are anxious for them to sleep/live side by side again.

We still don’t have a firm date on when we will be bringing the boys home, but the doctor said that if things keep going as planned, she will be able to discharge them in mid July – which was their due date. While we can’t wait to get them home with us to really start our family life together, we are exercising more patience than we thought existed and are not going to rush this process.

Thanks again for all the wonderful support. We are lucky to have brought our boys into a world with so much love.

Mom and I had our first argument yesterday because I wanted the world to see the really cool photo of Cooper and I breast feeding for the first time, but she was having no part of it! So, I’m late posting this entry because I thought I could convince her, but she’s sticking to her guns on this one. I guess this is where I’m supposed to learn to choose my battles.

The good news is that since I was delayed a day in reporting the news, I can announce another milestone. We also took a bottle today for the first time. The nurses only expected to “introduce the nipple” to us, but we showed them what a true Carmichael is made of. We slammed the whole bottle, much to their amazement.

So from now on Cooper and I will either be given a bottle or breast fed three times per day (once a shift) – our other feedings will be via gavage (tube down our throat that makes us gag). I much prefer the breast, but that’s just me.

Growing like mad,

Quinn (weighing in at 3 lbs 8 oz and brother at 3 lbs 6 oz)

(picture has NOTHING to do with this entry, but I’m just so darn cute)

We’ve officially moved down to the transitional intensive care unit!

Ok, ok… maybe it IS just because the NICU was getting too crowded and we were the next ones to hit the road, but we are psyched regardless! (Thanks for the bubble burst) Mom and dad like it a lot better in this room too because it’s much quieter and there’s a big window so they can see sunshine for at least part of their time here.

Cooper

(Guest Blogger AGAIN – Mom)

People aren’t kidding when they say time flies by when you have children. I just can’t believe how fast the month has passed since we delivered these twinkies. More amazing is the progress they have made in 30 short days.

Recent developments include them both topping 3 lbs! Cooper just made his debut into the 3 pound club yesterday and Quinn is at 3 lbs 3 oz. Quinn also took to my breast the other day, which was kind of by accident. I was holding him when I felt I was “letting down” (when the milk ducts release milk to the nipple) and happened to tell the nurse I was feeling it. Right as I said that, Quinn smelled it and started shimmying his way to the food! I didn’t believe the nurse when she told me what he was doing, so she told me to give it a whirl. He latched on and started suckling immediately! It was absolutely incredible. We didn’t allow him to do it for long because his little brain isn’t capable of sucking, swallowing and breathing at the same time yet, but it was encouraging to see that he knew what to do.

Needless to say, I continue to be amazed at their beauty and resilience, and love every little ounce of them.

One month down, 1,199 to go!

(Guest blogger – Mom)

Shhhh… we’re surprising Chris. He went to Boston on business yesterday and I stayed up until 4 am (I’m nuts) putting the cribs and changing table together, washing the sheets and clothes, organizing the closet, etc.. He’ll be so surprised when he comes home on Wednesday!

smile or smirk?

So today I met my brother. Well… I guess I’ve technically known him (and kicked him) my whole life, but we met each other outside the womb today for the first time and I gotta say – it felt pretty darn good. We first met on dad’s chest, and after introductions and exchanging pleasantries, we quickly went back to our old positions of snuggling together, despite the forest of hair on dad’s chest (I was relieved when I discovered that it was not Quinn’s nose hair! From an initial gander, it sure looked like it…). Speaking of hair, as I was looking at Quinn and wondering how in the world he acquired so much hair at such an early age, mom and dad ooo’d and ahhh’d and talked about how lucky they are.

This experience today has me really excited for the day my brother and I get to start co-bedding. We’ve got a few days or weeks before we can do that, but hey – gives us something to look forward to.

Cooper

As promised, I’ll be posting a special condition update from time to time in an effort to keep our friends and family up to speed on Cooper and Quinn’s progress. It’s been an interesting couple weeks to say the least… It truly is amazing how far these little ones can come in a matter of days – sometimes even hours.

SUMMARY: The resilience that I’ve witnessed in my sons in the last 26 days is unparalleled to anything I’ve ever seen before. They are improving on their breathing every day, taking my milk well, pooping and peeing as necessary (!) and gaining weight at a great pace. The next big steps will be to put an end to the A’s and B’s (see below for more info), improve on breathing with less help from modern medicine/technology, and getting my milk from the breast.

Here are the dets:

* RDS (respiratory distress syndrome) – Both boys have made huge strides in improving their RDS. They graduated from the respirator to the CPAP – and are now on a high-flow nasal canula. The next step will be to go to low-flow (which is what we all get when we get oxygen in the hospital), and then NOTHING. I think we have a couple weeks before they can test the waters with no assistance, but the guys are making great progress – especially Quinn who has come back from a pretty bad infection of the lungs.
* Lung infection – Both boys were treated with antibiotics for the pneumonia. It looks as though everything is cleared up for now. Fingers crossed no other infections get in the way of their RDS recovery.
* Head bleeds/hemorrhages – Both Quinn and Cooper’s head bleeds are improving and the doctors have assured us that this is not something to be worried about at this point.
* Apnea/Bradycardia (A’s and B’s) – Y’all probably know what apnea is (shortness or absence of breath)… well, bradycardia (AKA “brady”) is the same thing with the heart (slowness/absence of heart beat). They often times go hand in hand, and let me just tell you – it ain’t fun. In fact, it’s down right terrifying. Cooper has been having them for a couple days now. When he’s experiencing one, the machines go off, and we have to shake him to get him to take a breath. Basically that helps the brain send the message to the heart to beat. Sometimes A’s and B’s happen when they are really comfy or full… The last three times we’ve held Cooper, he’s experienced one – so we think he’s just getting really comfy cuddled in our chests and forgetting to make his heart beat. The doctors and nurses say that only having a couple per day is not a big deal, and that they should go away entirely after gestational week 34 or 35 (the boys will be week 32 next week).
* Digestive Track – the boys are taking my milk fantastically (I just wish it were as easy to make it!). In fact, they are doing so well, that they may have their central line/IV taken out this weekend. We’ll see… They are going to start having them go to my breasts next week – but not actually feeding from them yet, as they don’t have the whole suck/swallow/breathe thing down yet. They can just check out their new territory and get comfy with it before we start feeding them straight from the boob!

A lot of you have asked when we get them home and unfortunately, we don’t yet have a firm answer. They say release is generally anywhere from a month before the due date to a month after our due date. So that makes their departure from NICU anywhere from mid-June to mid-August. I have a feeling that we are looking more like late June or early July, but we’ll see. While we can’t wait to have them home to cuddle whenever we want, we are definitely not going to rush this process. We want to make sure they are 100% healthy when we get them home and off the monitors.

Thanks again for all the positive energy – it’s working!

XOXO

Well well… I’m here to announce that I’ve hit the 3 lb mark today – in fact, I jumped all the way to 3 lb 2 oz. Looks like I’m the heavyweight champ. Does that mean that Cooper (weighing in a whole 4 oz lighter than moi) is playing with the lightweights? Hmmm… sounds like it to me. Chin up, little guy. You’ll catch up to me one day.

Quinn

So, mom brought in some clean threads for us to wear, but didn’t expect to see us in them for a few weeks. The nurses thought they’d surprise our P’s, and dressed us for the first time today! While the preemie outfits are still really, really big for us, we will be growing into them in no time! (Did I mention that I’m 2 lb 13 oz and Quinn is 2 lb 15 oz? Look out 3 lbs – here we come!!!)

The picture above is my boy Quinn – he’s looking pretty tight in his green getup.

Stylin,
Cooper

(Guest blogger – Mom)

Boy… do my guys know how to make a girl feel special…

My first Mother’s Day was outrageous. First, I woke up to a house full of flowers and Chris making breakfast for his mom and me. Before breakfast, he brought a bouquet of flowers over to me… after thanking him and digging into my eggs, he told me to take another look at the flowers. Lo and behold, I saw a sparkly thing dangling from the ribbon tied to the vase. Yes, it was an absolutely STUNNING diamond ring. I swear, this guy never seizes to amaze me.

As if that wasn’t enough, we got to the hospital that morning to see the boys, and they each had a letter taped to their isolettes. Chris quickly confessed that the boys dictated the letters to him and he typed for them. The letters were beautiful and funny (I just love the balance these boys have already!) and I will cherish them forever. The nurses also helped them document their footprints as a Mother’s Day gift, which was a huge treat! You wouldn’t believe how little these feet are…

Cooper and Quinn – take notes from your dad on how to treat the lady in your life when you are older. You’ve got the best trainer in town…

We’ve got rid of those hideous hats keeping the elephant trunks on our noses (the CPAP)! At least for now…

We’ve both been doing really well on our breathing on the CPAP, so the doctors decided to give us a run with the nasal canula (mom calls it the “Scott Peterson Mom’s nose”). We’re doing great on these so far, so hopefully we won’t have to go back to the CPAP/elephant trunk. We’ll take Scott Peterson’s mom over an elephant anyday.

Cooper and Quinn

We’ve started something today called Kangaroo Care – a preemie therapy where we hold the boys to our chests, skin to skin. This allows them to smell us, feel our warmth, and hear our hearts. Research shows that this does wonders for the development of preemies – and it’s pretty darn good for us too. :)

To read more about Kangaroo Care, check out http://www.prematurity.org/baby/kangaroo.html

Proud parents,

Chris & Terra

This is the first of many simultaneous holding sessions in our future. Would like to have been closer together, but all the wires and machines make that impossible. No sweat – we’ve got the rest of our lives to be close together. :)

Regardless, it was nice to take our first family photo (Dad with Cooper, Mom with Quinn).

What’s green, soupy and in my pants? You guessed it – a large pond of baby poo.

Mom was changing me and was so frightened/proud that she had to show the nurses who classified it as a “huge mechonium poo.” She kept telling me that I’m just like my pops and something about blow outs. Wonder what that means?

Empty,
Quinn

Today has been a big day for me (see other May 3 blog entry). I made a little deal with my nurse this morning. Told her that we could bag the respirator if she would give me a little more food. So, at 10 am I was extubated (that means the respirator was removed) and put on something called a Nasal CPAP (elephant trunk-like tube). She also held up her end of the bargain with the milk and I paid a little deposit (again, see other May 3 blog entry).

I’d like to thank my mom and dad for all the rooting they’ve been doing for me. I’m also told that some of their favorite peeps have been sending positive vibes our way, which is no doubt helping us both.

No major update on Coop – he’s trying to show me up by doing so well, but I decided to have a “first” ahead of him (again, see other May 3 blog entry). Not to mention, I’m a burly 2 lbs 13 oz today (pre poop), while he is a mere 2 lb 6 oz…

Breathin’ free,

Quinn