Feeling so big in a big boy crib

Carter now weighs over four pounds. He's gained over a pound and a half in a month. He's got enough fat on him now to maintain his own temperature so they dressed him and put him in a crib. He's on a fourth a liter flow of about 22% oxygen content and has to work for half of his feedings. The other half go through a tube straight to his stomach. There are a few things that determine when he can come home. He has to be up to full oral feedings, he has to have no apnea for a full week and either has to be off oxygen or his eyes have to be fully developed. If he were to come home on oxygen, it would be 100% oxygen which can damage eyes that are not developed all the way. So because of that, they won't send him home on oxygen at least until next Wednesday when they check his eyes again. If he is off oxygen, he could come home before then.

Today after I was done breastfeeding him, he turned red and let out two huge farts...stinky ones! I asked him if he was a stinky boy. He looked up at me, smiled, and stuck his tongue out. It was just too perfect. I proceeded to change him and holy moley, I don't think a diaper could get any worse. Liquid green vitamin poo...all the way up past his belly button. Yummy.

And below...the many faces of Carter Ryan:

Big Boy Crib!

Weston Boy

So Carter is still in an isolette so it's a lot harder to see him and take good pictures. He's also almost constantly swaddled except when we hold him. Weston is in an open warming bed and could move around a lot more. The nurses have also tried dressing him a few times. So here are a few pictures of little Weston boy.

Just lounging...

His pajamas that barely go past his knees. He is a loooong boy. Kinda like his daddy :)

Weston decided his day was just way too hard! 

Oh Bills...

I just spent an hour and a half just trying to sort through the bills we've gotten so far. All but two of these sticky notes mean billing problems. I get to deal with all of the phone calling tomorrow, but thank goodness for insurance!!!

I thought this would be a post of random things, but they're all about having babies!

So I went on a run a few days ago. I think it was exactly three weeks since my c section. The running part wasn't too hard because I went really slow but I sure could NOT recover. I had to walk home the same distance I ran because I was totally worn out. Guess I should be patient...it has been five months since I worked out.

For those who remember one of my New Year's goals was to weigh less than I did before getting pregnant...that shouldn't be too hard. At my two week appointment I weighed two pounds more than I did before getting pregnant. Now I just can't eat my feelings!! :) Haha and I'm totally eating large amounts of cookie dough right now. Uh oh.

I am really looking forward to taking a picture of my two babies TOGETHER. They miss each other!! They are looking more and more similar every day...Carter is gaining weight and Weston is no longer swollen. Ahh! I miss them when I think about them!

Its gonna be interesting when Carter is home and Weston is still in the hospital. We can't take Carter to see Weston so...we'll see how that works out!

I still don't feel like a mom. Not in the sense that I feel old, but that it's still so weird that I have a baby...two babies! I see moms of babies in the NICU that are older and I think that I can't be a mom! I should feel different or something.

So guess how awesome Ryan is...he's working full time, seeing at least one of his babies every day, and still finishing all of his classes with everything we've had going on. And don't worry...he still has time for March Madness too :) So that equates to pretty dang awesome.

Carter. They can put him on his stomach because there's no risk of SIDS when they're on constant monitoring. 

My mom holding Carter before going to the airport. 

Weston

Weston

Baby Update

Here is another baby update for those interested!

Carter now weighs 3 lbs 6 oz. What a little chunk!! :) He gained 50 grams in one day! He's now eating 28 mL every three hours and having calories added to it to help him gain weight. He is still on some oxygen because sometimes he decides it's a little too much work to breath. That's alright though. Several days ago I started non-nutritive breastfeeding with him. This just means he practices latching on for a while once a day. Generally, preemies have a hard time coordinating their breathing, sucking and swallowing all at the same time. He's doing a good job so far and a few days ago they let him try without pumping before. Today he got a full feeding from me! My milk supply kind of overwhelms him sometimes. So far he's been pretty alert so it's been a good bonding time for me. I'm SO glad he's catching on so quickly because I know so many babies have a hard time!

Weston started eating about a ago. He started with 1 mL every hour and yesterday was up to 4 mL. The milk that he eats comes out his first hole (it's yellow and liquidy) and they reinsert it into the second hole. So far they're happy with how much he's absorbing. He gets about 1/3 of his nutrition from milk and the rest from TPN. He is now just over his birth weight so hopefully he'll start gaining weight quickly now because Carter is catching up! Weston is close to being weaned completely off his pain and sedation medications and only gets them every twelve hours. He's been more fussy recently because he's a little addicted but his little cry is pretty darn cute. Hopefully I can get a video soon but his bottom lip absolutely quivers and I have a hard time not laughing at him! In about six weeks he'll get the surgery to reconnect the two parts of his intestines.

Progress

Both our boys have been doing really well since I last posted. It's amazing how busy I've felt over the past few days just trying to visit them each once a day mixed in with all the pumping I've been doing. I have been getting WAY too much milk which is definitely a good problem to have. At the same time, it's been pretty difficult to be able to pump often enough that I don't hurt. I'm working on decreasing my supply so let's hope it works soon!

Carter's feedings started up again a few days ago. He has been tolerating them well so they've increased them from 3 mL every three hours to 8 mL. As long as his body digests what they give him, they'll increase that amount each day. He is completely off all assistance for breathing so he no longer has an oxygen tube up his nose. That's better for pictures :) Even in the first few days when both boys were at IMC, Carter would flail and stretch around a lot. He did that in my belly too!

Weston is doing so well, especially considering he had such major surgery five days ago and only weighs four pounds! The only blood products he's received in several days is a dose of platelets after he got his PICC line. So that means no blood and no plasma. They have been able to wean him off the ventilator enough that with another baby they could take him off. Because Weston is so sedated for the pain he is in, they worry if he were to be taken off, he wouldn't breath on his own. They're working to lower his sedatives so they can take him off the ventilator and just give him a flow of oxygen. His cultures came back negative several days ago for the infection. His head ultrasound remained about the same with the hemorrhage in his brain so we hope that's better when they check again in about a week. They've also taken him off the bilirubin lights for jaundice. Because they are lowering the sedatives, he has been more responsive the last few times we've seen him. He tries really hard to open his eyes but it's extra hard because his eyes are still swollen from the surgery.

The two of them definitely look alike. It was harder to see the first few days but I was holding Carter last night and his face was squished some. It made him look like he had chubbier cheeks and look much more like Weston. Both boys have very long fingers, toes, and arms and Carter's hands look especially huge compared to his skinny arms. My dad joked with Ryan last night that they already had him palming a basketball.

Witnessing Miracles

At thirteen weeks into my pregnancy, they told us I was bleeding so heavily that if it continued bleeding, it wasn't safe to continue the pregnancy. At fifteen weeks, my babies were diagnosed with twin to twin transfusion syndrome. If nothing were to be done, there was a 90-95% chance my boys wouldn't survive. At nineteen weeks, Weston's already weak amniotic sack was punctured in order to perform the surgery that could save their lives. My water didn't break that day and both babies still had heartbeats 24 hours after surgery. At thirty weeks my water broke and I delivered four days later. At four days old, Weston had intestinal surgery for necrotizing enterocolitis and was 27 cm away from being pulled off life support. This was his second life-saving surgery in the seven months of his life. 


What is it about these tiny babies that their lives have been preserved by the Lord so many times? I feel blessed to be their mother and to get to be a part of their lives each day. 

Carter

Carter

Weston after surgery. You can see the two holes on either side of his abdomen. 

Weston on his ride up to Primary Children's

Carter

Weston

Weston