Almost 32 Weeks Gestation - 4 weeks old!

Tomorrow marks the boys 32 week gestational age (they call that "corrected age"; and Tuesday marks their 4 week old birthday. They have had another good week overall; this week there will be some more milestones so we continue to keep our fingers crossed for another good week.

They started both kids on Iron today; and they went ahead with their reflux medicine change to Prevacid. There might be a day or two in between while the meds change that their reflux gets aggravated so we're hoping for an easy transition. Both will also start on EPO shots this week (3 x's per week) which helps to increase the red blood cells that are manufactured in their bone marrow. This is another routine treatment for preemies. Cole's feedings have been stretched a bit further to help his reflux so he is now on a continuous feed. He is fed over the course of 11 hours at a time, with one hour off before the next round. That means he's eating for 22 hours of the day! They were thinking that having a less full belly might help his digestive system adjust a bit better to keep the reflux under control.

JD is getting better and better with his pacifier so they were talking today about maybe giving him a try at the bottle in the next week or so. They will gradually introduce the bottle - they will only give him a little bit of food via bottle and the rest will be given through his OG tube until he gets the whole suck/swallow thing down. It will take some time for them both to adjust to bottle feeds where they can take a full feeding in a reasonable amount of time (without falling asleep or refluxing it all back up!). They keep the OG tubes in for a while, even while bottle feeding, just to be sure that they are getting adequate nutrition. Both boys will have their first eye exam this week which is something I don't really want to be present for. Apparently it is much like an adult eye exam so it is a bit uncomfortable for the babies. The nurses say that the eye doc that does the exams is very quick with the babies so that is a good thing. This is another routine thing for preemies - many times preemies can have eye/retina damage due to the oxygen levels that they experience when they are first intubated at birth. We're keeping our fingers crossed for a good eye exam for both of them.

Our routine is getting a little easier now - I'm usually at the hospital three times a day still; I can't seem to stay away. I go at 8am, then again at 11am or 2pm, and then C. and I go up at 8pm to say goodnight. My daytime visit is my favorite since that is when I get to hold them. Often times I am alone for that visit so it's great to spend time with the boys and read to them or just chit chat. It's pretty quiet around the NICU during the day so it's less chaotic than early am or evening;

We have a new roommate in our room - a 35 week old baby boy who also has a bit of reflux so we're now the "reflux boys". His family is awesome - and we are enjoying meeting some of the parents who frequent NICU like we do. There's a strange comfort in knowing that these parents are experiencing much of the same thing that we are. Everyone is so kind and caring that we have met.

Onward to another week; every day is a bit closer to their homecoming. I know I say this with every post but I can't help but thank everyone again for all of their thoughts, support, prayers and well wishes. Everyone has been amazing and we cannot thank you enough for being there for us. Many thanks and love to all.