Let's start with Claire! She is growing and putting on weight! She was born at 2lbs 14oz and she now weighs 3lbs 1 oz, she has gained all her weight back and then some. Good girl! She is struggling eating out of the bottle, she is still so small, she doesn't quite have the suckling program down too well yet. They tried again today to get her to eat out of the bottle and she took very little so they are going to continue to feed her through the tube for now till she gets a little stronger.
Claire and Matt are also struggling a bit with what they call "Brady's" which is simply where their little brain forgets to tell their lungs to breathe and pump air. When they don't breathe their heartrate drops and it is generally not a good thing, although very common in preemie babies. The treatment for this is a dose of caffeine actually that they give once a day that helps stimulate the brain to continue to tell the lungs to GO! They ween them off the caffeine slowly and there are no long term side effects. Here is the Wikipedia definition...
Infantile bradycardia
For infants, bradycardia is defined as a heart rate of less than 100 beats per minute. (Normal is around 120-160 beats per minute.) Premature babies are more likely than full-term babies to have apnea and bradycardia spells; their cause is not clearly understood. Some researchers think the spells are related to centers inside the brain that regulate breathing and that may not be fully developed. Touching the baby gently or rocking the incubator slightly will almost always get the baby to start breathing again, which increases the heart rate. Medications (theophylline or caffeine) can be used to treat these spells in babies if necessary. NICU standard practice is to electronically monitor the heart and lungs for this reason.
Here is a cute little picture of Claire from our visit today.
Drew is doing great, he has very FEW "Brady's" and is NOT on the caffeine. He is taking three bottle feedings a day and they continue to increase the intake to all three babies it seems like everyday. Drew is a little zombie, man that kid can saw some logs! He is so laid back and chilled out, its often hard sometimes to keep him awake to eat out of the bottle! He is so cute and makes the craziest facial expressions! Here is a typical Drew picture, out like a light with the little wrinkles on his forehead.
Matt is just a cutie patootie! He has got this cute little round face and he is getting to be a big boy. He is now on bottle feedings every other time he feeds and they are loading them all up calories bigtime to fatten them up! Both Matt and Drew have gained weight too. He LOVES hanging with his daddy and sleeping on his chest. He really does NOT like the flash on the camera but I do my best to shield it away from his face. Is he just begging to have those cheeks kissed or what!?
Katie is doing very well recovering from the C-Section, she is driving and getting around like a champ. She still has to take it easy and not get too tired out but all in all she is doing fantastic! We are both making a trip a day up to see the kiddo's so we can hold them when we are there. The nurses in the NICU are awesome about making sure that they know when we are coming so that they can save their outside feeding times for when we are there. Everyone has gotten just phenomenal care at Lewisville Medical Center, we have been so blessed to have the BEST doc's and nurses, there is no way to repay these people for the care that they give you and your children. Seriously.
We continue to thank God for the beautiful blessings in our life and also pray for the other small babies that are in the NICU struggling. This whole experience start to finish has been such a miracle and testimony of God's love for us, wow. Katie, the babies and I, hope that this message finds everyone healthy, happy and well!
Love,
Todd, Katie, Matt, Drew and Claire
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