(So this was the post I had ready to publish on Tuesday the girl’s b-day, but my blog was “broke.” Thanks to my technology wizard hubby, it is now working again!!)
It’s hard to believe that our Peaches are a week old already?! Wow! It’s been somewhat of a surreal week for sure! In a way I just can’t believe their progress!
After Gabby’s rough start with breathing she was totally off any assistance with it by Thursday, 2 days was all she needed! Friday she was on the bili-lights, but that only lasted for one day too! She managed twice to pull her NG tube out. She is a feisty one for sure! The last time 5 days old, they decided to leave it out because she was doing so well taking her bottle! And on day 6 they got rid of the IV’s!!
Claire has been better from the get go not needing help with breathing. The child is SO chilled it is unbelievable! All she wants to do is sleep! Even when it’s eating time I think she’d rather get fed through the tube instead of have to do all that work of coordinating suck-swallow-breath to fill her own tummy. 😉 She still has time though! Gabby might be able to give her a pep-talk on that. She also came off her IV fluids on day 6 and that’s awesome. One less tube to mess with, one less thing to poke her!
Clair got to move to the step-down nursery that is not so “intensive” but they are waiting on a bed for Gabby so they are separated at the moment. I’m not wild about that, but it can’t be helped. They are just down the hall from each other so at least it’s not like we have to make separate trips to see them. I just like for them to be together! 🙂
One thing that might become a factor in when the girls can be released is something called Bradycardia or “Brady” for short. Both girls have these episodes from time to time though Claire has them much more often than Gabby. It’s when their heart rate slows way down for just a second or so. Thankfully the girls DO NOT have apnea which often comes along with the Brady’s. Their episodes are also self resolving. They don’t need stimulation or caffeine to bring them out of it. So that is a good thing. I chatted with Claire’s nurse about them this morning because I’d been reading that a lot of hospitals have policies about going 5 days without a Brady before the baby can be discharged. The nurse told me that it would depend a lot on who was there as far as residents and such. She mentioned a baby who was there and kept being held back from going home because of Brady’s and finally the NICU team came and evaluated him and said they wouldn’t have a problem sending him home that way. The truth of the matter is that full term healthy babies could be going home with Brady episodes all the time, but no one knows because they are not on monitors all the time. The fact that the ones our girls are having are very “minor” really is good. The fact that they are having them and that could delay us going home is not good. So do pray for that situation. This is something that they will grow out of, but it could be a little later than sooner, and I’d hate to have to stay longer just for those. 🙂
Some funny faces to keep you entertained. 🙂
