The Week in Review

Hi everyone! It's been a busy week (okay, 10 days) since I last posted an update. Here are the highlights:

My mom and Tim's parents came to visit for Mothers Day weekend. We all attended CPR training at the NICU and the grandparents got some training on bottle feeding our preemies. Since they'll be helping us quite a bit once the boys come home, they all need to have this important training and information. Plus, it was nice to have our moms here for Mothers Day - and for them to spend time with four of their grandsons.

I met with another pediatrician last week (I've "interviewed" three of them) and have decided to go with Dr. Rougeau. She impressed me right off the bat when she brought a note pad into the room to take notes on each of the boys. :) I think I'll get along very well with her!

The final chapter of the milk saga has been written and gone to print - so to speak. Bronson milk bank pasturized my milk last week and shipped it to me just this morning. We now have 140 bottles of milk in our freezer - plus all the bags that I add to the collection every day. (Thank you again to Uncle Tim & Aunt Sarah for that chest freezer!)

Tim's birthday was the 14th and the boys wanted to throw a little birthday party for him. Valisa helped decorate our room at the NICU to celebrate. We put up a photo of each of the boys and a bunch of streamers. The boys gave Tim some photos of them to keep on his desk at work.

The 15th was a big day: We ALL tested negative for MRSA!!! Since this was our second negative result, we're no longer in isolation. No more gowns and gloves!! Yippee!! On Saturday, the nurses offered to move us out of our tiny room and back into the main part of the unit - in the room we started in. So we've got our new digs set up where there's plenty of natural light and space for us to move around. It's so nice to not feel like the local lepers any more! AND - the best part is that I've been able to start nursing again. I'm only doing it once or twice a day, but the boys are doing very well with it.

Jim & Carrie MacCaughan visited the boys on Saturday. It was great to see them and the boys were so happy to finally meet Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Carrie. :) I'm sure our boys seemed so incredibly small to them - since "little" Jimmy Walter is pushing 18 pounds already!

Joey has been doing amazingly well! Since our last post, the flow on his nasal cannula had been reduced gradually. As of Sunday, he is off the high-flow cannula and just getting a trickle of oxygen (25 cc's). We hope to ween (sp?) him off oxygen completely over the next week. He's doing well with his feedings - and has had his feeding tube removed on Sunday as well. That means he's bottle-feeding or nursing for all his feedings now. If he falls asleep during a feeding, he'll wake up hungry the next time around. "Tough love", as Dr. Vitale puts it. :) Joe is weighing in at 4 lbs 12 2/3 oz - my little peanut.

Tom started getting steroids on Mothers Day. His oxygen requirements had been going back up and he seemed to be working harder to breathe. On Tuesday, they put him back on CPAP. That was not a good day for Mom, let me tell you. Its clear to me that Tom is so uncomfortable on CPAP and it's so hard to see him unhappy. But I guess the alternatives are much worse. He received a full dose of steroids on Monday and Tuesday, but has been weening since. I'm not sure Dr. Vitale has seen the results he'd hoped for with the steroids, as Tom is still on CPAP. They've reduced his flow from 6 to 5 and hope to move him back to the high-flow nasal cannula in the next few days. He does continue to gain weight (he's getting all feedings thru his tube, as he can't bottle feed while on CPAP) and is currently 5 lbs 6 1/3 oz.

Sam, like Joe, is at 25 cc's of oxygen - and dangerously close to coming off oxygen all together. On Tim's birthday, Sam's feeding tube was removed - more "tough love". He's doing very well with his feedings and gets just over 2 ounces in his bottles. We've nicknamed Sam the Spokesperson for the group. He's definitely the most vocal and doesn't shy away from telling you exactly how he feels. :) Sam is one of the "big boys" weighing in at 5 pounds 8 2/3 oz.

Henry is HOMEWARD BOUND!! Last Monday Henry was moved to just 50cc's of oxygen, then weened until his oxygen was removed on Sunday. He's doing very well without any oxygen support - and it's so nice to see his face without anything going up his nose or taped to his cheeks. :) He's been eating like a champ: losing his feeding tube and eating 2 ounces just like Sam. Right now we're targeting Friday (yes THIS Friday) for Henry to come home. He's got a busy week ahead of him, so we'll see how he fares. We may need to wait until the weekend to bring him home, depending on how he handles his circumcision (this morning - he did very well), vaccinations (tomorrow) and eye exams (Thursday). (All the boys will get vaccinations and eye exams this week.) We also need to test him in his car seat to make sure he fits and that he can maintain proper oxygenation while seated in that position.

Sam and Joe won't be too far behind Henry - potentially heading home next week. We'll see how well we can ween them off oxygen and how well they do with their feedings.

The toughest part of our journey may be yet to come: dividing our time between Tom at the hospital and the other three at home. Tom is in for the long haul and probably has another 3-4 weeks ahead of him at the NICU. We'll be recruiting all sorts of help to care for the three at home so I can spend ample time with Tom - who will certainly need some TLC in the coming weeks.

I really wanted to post some photos with this update, but I've run out of time. I have to get to the hospital to feed the boys. I've got photos of the boys, our new digs, Tim's birthday party, Mothers Day and more. I'll get them out here soon - I promise! Gotta run. Thanks for all your prayers and support. We couldn't do it without you!

Lots of love,
Tim, Kristin and the boys