Kourtney

Kourtney has been having little episodes lately where she completely stops breathing and they have to bag her to give her extra breaths and they even had to do some chest compressions one time. They have no idea what happened. The second time it happened, luckily the nurse and the Respiratory Therapist were right there and they saw what happened: she was bearing down to poop and she quit breathing to strain and turned all blue and had to be masked again. So they decided to turn her liter of flow back up to 4. So it is a step backwards :(   We also talked to the pulmonary Dr. and she thinks that they will be going home on oxygen in about 5-6 weeks. The eye Dr. also came and he said that Presley's ROP is progressing really slow and that there is a 75% chance that she will grow out of it and not need the surgery! If she does though, there is a 92% success rate and that she will need glasses. So both good news and bad news this week. Kourtney is now 5 lbs and Presley is catching up quick at 4 lbs 14 oz! They are eating more and more from their bottle so at least that is progressing. Here are some cute videos I took this week of Kourtney since I posted quite a few of Presley last time. I love the one where she smiles for Mimi (Grandma). 

Presley

Here are some cute videos of Presley. I will have to get some videos of Kourtney but I wanted to wait until she wasn't laboring to breathe as they have now lowered her to 3 liters! Yay! She has yet to take her whole bottle for me yet because she always smiles at me and stares at me instead of eating! It's so cute! She is 4 lbs 15 oz today and Presley is still 4 lbs 8 oz.

Presley is Hungry!!!!

ROP

We found out this past Saturday that Presley has ROP. ROP stands for Retinopathy of Prematurity and is common in small preemies. There are different stages and zones and Presley has Stage 2 Zone 2 which means that it is moderate and it is affecting her peripheral vision. The Dr. is saying this is not too bad as it isn't at Stage 3 yet (which requires surgery) and that it is in Zone 2 which is not at the center of the eye. But, we won't know until Friday if she needs the laser surgery to correct it. Left untreated the retina can detach and would cause blindness. We of course are terrified of that happening but the Dr. has assured us that if she needs the surgery, it would be best to prevent vision loss, and that she would probably just need glasses when she gets ready to attend school which it isn't proven what part is hereditary (I wear glasses) and what part is from the surgery. I really hope it regresses and that she doesn't need the laser procedure but if she does we most certainly are going to go through with it. Kourtney's eyes are still immature to know what is going on with them but the blood vessels are already in Zone 2 so at least they aren't in Zone 1 (that is very bad).

Presley is currently on 38mL of milk and on 3 liters of oxygen and is doing great in the low 30's and is hardly having any brady's or de-sats which is great as it shows her lungs are maturing. Once she gets to 1 liter of oxygen then she can go to room air oxygen and be on the low flow cannula. Kourtney is doing good once they put her on some diuretics. She was having a lot of de-sats but once they gave her some Lasix she is great and no more de-sats or bradys. She is taking 40mL of milk and as of yesterday was 4 lbs 12 oz.! Presley is close behind at 4 lbs 8 oz.

They both are drinking 40% of their feeds from a bottle and Presley does a little bit better at this than Kourtney. Kourtney likes to chug it down and not take any breaks breathing so we have to make her take breaks! Since they usually go home around their due date I have started a countdown....38 more days....

I got some gifts in the mail today and I love them! One is a Scentsy burner for the girls that has scenes from the nursery rhyme "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and some Newborn Nursery Scentsy bars that smell like baby powder! This will be great to cover up those poopy diaper smells! Thank you Grandma Doni! I also got a gift from my Pregnancy.org June Bloom group girls and it is a silver "Peas in A Pod" necklace and has 2 pearls inside of it. I absolutely love it and I feel so loved that these girls thought of me and have been so supportive throughout this whole ordeal!



 Here are some pictures and videos of this past week:


Presley in her open crib



Presley

Presley

Kourtney




Presley saying no pictures Daddy!





Presley

 

Kourtney bottle feeding

 



My gift from my Pregnancy.org friends!

Gift from Grandma Doni

 







Open Cribs and Bottles!

Things have really started to take off and both girls are now in open cribs which is great not having to see them only behind glass now. Kourtney made the transition first since it usually goes by weight (4 lbs) and she is 4 lbs 3 oz. but Presley was showing signs that she was ready too even though she is only 3 lbs 12 oz. Also, at 33 weeks they usually start to introduce the bottle. The girls are doing good although they tire out really easy and the Dr. and nurses have said that they get tired out from trying to keep their body warm now that they are in an open crib. That's not to say they haven't suprised us, Presley took her whole feed ( 1 oz.) once through bottle! Other than that, things are going really, really good. Here are some pictures of Kourtney in her open crib, I will post pictures later of Presley in hers since they moved her after I had left for the day...

Kourtney in her open crib

Presley looking at Daddy

Where Have You Been?

The girls are doing great! Kourtney is 3 lbs 15 oz. now and Presley is catching up quick at 3 lbs 9 oz. Kourtney will soon be going to an open crib in a couple of days and they soon will begin trying to feed them through a bottle next week. No other news to report and that's a good thing! Travis returned back to work this week and that has been hard since his schedule doesn't allow him to see the girls every day so I go and have alone time with them every evening from 7-10pm.Travis and I are so proud of our little girls and are so happy that they are doing so amazing! They also finally got to see each other side by side yesterday and Presley quickly grabbed Kourtney's hand! It melted my heart...they must miss each other and wonder where the other one has been for 8 weeks...but soon they will be able to see each other every day and I can't wait! Here are some pictures of this past weekend:

Presley in her Daddy's Princess shirt

Presley

Kourtney

Presley sleeping away

Presley in her cute little dress

Daddy and Kourtney

Presley

Presley

Mommy and Daddy with Presley and Kourtney

Kourtney and Presley

Together again!

Holding hands

Where have you been Kourtney?

The Swain twins

Kourtney in her cute little dress

Kourtney holding Daddy's finger

Presley

Presley all bundled up

Presley and Mommy

Guess Who Is Off the SiPap AND 3 Lbs!

Presley is!!!! She came off the SiPap on April 11, 2011 with the intention of putting her on CPap but she did so well on the nasal cannula that they just decided to skip the CPap altogether! She is even on lower oxygen settings than Kourtney and the best part is that we get to see her cute little face again. Presley now weighs 3 lbs 4 oz. and Kourtney weighs 3 lbs. 12 oz. They each are up to 1 ounce of breast milk every 3 hours and getting bigger and bigger everyday. Here are some pictures of the past week:

Presley

Presley

Presley

Mommy holding Presley



Presley with her hat




  

Kourtney

Kourtney yawning

Kourtney

Kourtney

Kourtney with her pacifier

Kourtney all snuggled in

Grandpa & Grandma Vick Came to Visit!

Grandpa & Grandma Vick came to visit this weekend and we suprised them by having the girls wear a onesie that says "Grandpa's #1 Girl" on it. The girls behaved and both Grandpa and Grandma got to hold them and loved every minute of it. Presley is now 2 lbs 15 oz. and Kourtney is now 3 lbs. 4 oz. They are doing well and Presley is going to be weaned off to the CPap tomorrow. Here are some pictures of Grandpa and Grandma meeting the girls for the very first time:






Kourtney and her onesie she wore for Grandpa

Presley in her onesie

Grandpa and Kourtney

Grandpa and Kourtney

Grandpa and Presley

Grandpa and Presley







Grandma and Presley

 


Kourtney

 


Grandma holding Kourtney

Grandma holding Presley

Grandma holding Kourtney




Mommy, Grandma, and Kourtney

 




Daddy, Grandpa, Mommy, Grandma, and Kourtney



Grandpa and Grandma Vick