Today has been a good day! Brise and I went to the weekly dinner for NICU parents sponsored by Pierce’s Project. There, we met the parents of the other set of triplets in the NICU. Their babies have been in the NICU for 8 weeks and were born at 24 weeks old. They told us about some of the things they have learned and they told us about their method of tracking their babies’ progress - a premie journal. I’m thinking about getting one, but I think this blog may serve the same purpose for us. They also let us meet their babies and the progress they have made in 8 weeks is amazing! It gave us hope because we can see how much is possible in just 8 weeks.
It was also a good day for the babies!
Aubrey and Lydia both got PICC lines today. Finn already had his PICC line from a couple of days ago. Each baby has had his/her own strengths and weakness.
Aubrey has had respiratory trouble - he had a lung bleed and has had to have three doses of surfactant to keep his lungs from sticking closed. But, Aubrey has been our champion pee-er. Some babies don’t urinate for days and that can be really dangerous. Aubrey’s urinary tract has worked great. Today we learned that he is also our first baby to poo. It’s not something we ever thought we’d celebrate, but the news really made us feel great. It’s a milestone and one that Aubrey has reached first. Aubrey also has gained weight. All babies lose weight after birth and our babies have been no exception. But Aubrey is only 2 oz under his birthweight having gained about 3 oz in the past couple of days and weighing 2lbs today! He’s been eating about 2oz of milk each day in addition to the fancy NICU powerade. Aubrey is also on about 24% oxygen, which is only 3% more than normal air. He is definitely improving at breathing!
Finn has been our blood pressure champion. He has maintained his blood pressure since the beginning. He has also been eating milk since Sunday and is digesting it all! He has had a PICC line since Tuesday. All of this has helped him gain weight so he is now 1lb 11 oz, 3 oz below his birth weight. Not only that, but they may try to extubate him tomorrow. That means they’ll remove the tube that gives his lungs air and he will instead be breathing with the assistance of only a bubble cpap. That’s a great step forward and we are so proud of the progress he is making!
Lydia has been our breathing champion. She has been on the bubble cpap since Saturday and has been a champion. The doctors had expected to have to intubate her again, but so far, she has been breathing just fine. Lydia’s weakness has been her blood pressure and she has been on dopamine since birth to keep her blood pressure high enough. Today, however, she went cold turkey and has exceeded expectations, keeping her blood pressure up all day! We couldn’t be more proud! Not only that, but she’s been eating milk today and has managed to digest most of it.
All of our babies are doing such a good job and fighting so hard. Brise and I are amazed by how strong our babies are.
