Cole passed his eye exam today. The all-night study sessions we were doing together paid off. Both babies will be checked in a month. Both babies had their second hearing tests today as well. Apparently we forgot to study for that one because they didn’t pass (it’s like college all over again). Actually, since they are on O2, protocol is to give them the same test twice, if they don’t pass, then they do a different test (actually we don’t say they didn’t pass, we say they referred, don’t ask).

Paige weighs 6 # 9 ounces. Cole weighs 5 # 10 ounces. Cole continues to put on some good consistent weight (he gained almost 2 ounces yesterday, he’s probably saving a big poop or something).

Our nurse was kind enough to go over their nippling history with us. She pointed out the babies have been taking more feeds by bottle and have slowing taken more each feed by bottle. That’s definitely a step in the right direction. It also explains why Paige was so tired today. She slept through 3 feeding sessions today. Nippling the thickened feeds sucks the life out of her (get it, sucks? I’ll be here all night, try the veal).

Tobie and I did something unheard of tonight after the hospital. We went to dinner and then to the batting cages. ( Wow, it’s like we are normal again! ). I think I need to talk to someone at the batting cages because there was no way that pitch was a 35 MPH fast ball. There is no way I’m that slow.

Yes, Moxie and Homer live

We had our meeting with the developmental crew today. The babies are doing great. There are a few things here and there we are going to work on behavior-wise with them, but overall we get the sense the babies are progressing nicely. We talked again about them coming home. We are going to table that idea until their term date (2 1/2 weeks from now).

Cole was given his barium test. Can you say ‘Passed’? Yeah, everything is flowing fine through him. When he aspirates, it’s just him being tired or taking the bottle too quickly. So that means no thickener for him. He has been kicking some butt with the bottle lately. We did find out he has two hernias (instead of the one). That’s pretty normal though. They said most of the time when the boy has one hernia, the doctors will just stitch up the other side anyways because it’s such an easy area to develop one. When he gets that hernia operation, we will know he’ll be coming home soon because they perform that surgery right before discharge. He’s also at a .2 flow, which is great for him.

Paige is doing okay with the thickened feeds. She’s not aspirating, but she isn’t taking a lot from the bottle because it wears her out quickly. We will have to play with the nipples until we find one that allows enough milk to flow that works with her suck (Suck and Flow, didn’t that movie just win an Oscar?). And her hair, wow, when she discovers gel and mouse, watch out!

What seemed like a normal day turned into one of those crazy emotional NICU days where you are left pondering your family’s place in the world.

It started off with Paige’s follow-up eye exam. The doctor said her eyes passed with flying colors. He’ll be back in a month to check again. Cole’s next eye exam is this Friday.

Next came Cole’s first auditory test. They test 4 frequencies in each ear. The results didn’t reveal much because his oxygen interferes with the test. Apparently Paige had her first test the other week but no one told us. She also needs to be retested. There is another diagnostic test that does not interfere with the oxygen, but requires this first initial screening test to be indeterminate.

Next came the barium test. It involved taking Paige to another part of the hospital to drink the barium solution to see how consumed liquid travels in her body. She kind of freaked out and started hiccuping (babies tend to hiccup when they get nervous). Right away they could see that when Paige bottle feeds, fluid gets into her lungs. They had to give her the second to last thickest feed to stop the fluid from going down the wrong pipe. Since no one noticed her paralyzed vocal cords earlier, every time we have been feeding Paige by bottle, we were potentially causing her lungs to work harder than they needed to. She may have had much healthier lungs if we would have caught this a while ago. To be honest, I’m not sure why she wasn’t diagnosed with a paralyzed vocal cord sooner. Since she had the PDA ligation and was tubed for an extended period of time, you would assume this would be part of a checklist of things to look for because she is at a higher risk for something like this. So moving forward, she’ll get all nipple feeds with this thickener. Unfortunately she’ll have to work harder and expel more energy to do something as simple as feeding. There is also a good chance she’ll be coming home with a ng tube down her throat, because she may not be able take all her feeds by bottle. Plus she should be coming home on O2 as well.

Next came the head ultrasounds. Unfortunately the techs couldn’t tell us any information until the radiologist takes a look at those exams tomorrow. If you recall the babies had possible Grade II brain bleeds the first week of life and are at risk for PVL. I guess we will know the results tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Finally came the last exam of the day, the first meeting with Pulmonologist. He said both babies might be coming home on O2. He familiarized himself with their charts and examined Cole. He said Cole was sounding pretty good. Once discharged, he would need to see the babies once a week, then once every 2 weeks, then once a month, then once every 2 months. He said count on Cole being on O2 for probably 6 months post discharge. We were anticipating Cole being on O2 for 3 to 4 months, so what’s another 2-3 months? He said it was a good thing because being on the O2 will allow the babies to grow stronger quicker. I guess that’s a silver lining, right? He also doesn’t see a reason to get rid of the dogs. That’s good too. We were worried that we might have to find new homes for them because of all the junk that comes with being a dog. (Homer just told me to woof off. Not sure what that means.)

This day was a little overwhelming. We had no forewarning all this would be happening today. Poor Tobie was left all alone at the hospital to talk with all the doctors. It was like the tasmanian devil brought a whirlwind of doctors, nurses, and techs to perform every procedure possible on the little ones in one day. Instead of closing doors, it seems as if more doors are open. We are a little in shock in how we are going to handle both babies being home on O2 and Paige home with a feeding tube. Supposedly the O2 tanks are huge and not easily transportable. We have a 2 story house. Are we going to have to pick a floor and camp out for 6 months or use the portable oxygen tanks to go between upstairs and downstairs if we can get two monster tanks? Is there anything we can do to better prepare? Plus since both babies are going to be home on monitors, they can’t sleep in the same crib. Super! I can’t believe the babies will be eligible to come home in this condition. They still seem so sick and fragile and still require so much care.