Erik and Isaac-2 months old!

Our little men are doing fine at home. I stay pretty occupied keeping their bellies full and their diapers empty. Ivan is such a great little helper-so willing to fetch things for me when I am taking care of Isaac, since he's on a leash. Both babies were weighed this week. Growing like little weeds. We go to lots of doctor appointments so they are watched carefully. Thankfully nobody has gotten sick.
Erik taking a little snoozeroo. Tsk-on his belly.

Isaac with his fashion accessory.

Four bright little eyeballs...and Isaac is bored with the whole thing. Ivan, Erik, Isaac.

Erik 9# 5oz. Isaac 6# 5oz.

This is Isaac in the little gown that was specially made for my Dad when he was born because he was a preemie as well and there was nothing to fit him. Isaac is all upset because he thinks it's a dress. Mooo-om!!

Isaac's eyeballs are lookin' good

Mom and I just spent two action packed days driving to Missoula and back with 2 babies for Isaac's followup eye appointment. The NICU team checked his eyes once a week and sent the images to this eye doctor so this was the live exam. They are checking for retinopathy which can occur during oxygen therapy if the dose is too high. They don't want to see O2 saturation levels above about 97 percent while a baby is at risk for this. The blood vessels that grow around the eye are just under the retina and don't finish growing completely until very near term. In a preemie, the blood vessels can grow abnormally-toward the center of the eye instead of around the curvature and toward the front of the eyeball. Growing toward the center of the eye pulls at that thin retina and can cause detachment. Isaac's are fine-the vessels are mature and grew like they were supposed to. As he is home on oxygen, we are glad to not have to worry about the dose being too high. We are thankful to cross a worry off our list and not have to make that long trip again soon! It was a beautiful drive and we enjoyed the fall colors immensely.

So our days here consist of keeping tummies full and diapers empty, and going to doctors. The days and nights are busy but we are loving these three little boys!

Home again...

Happiness is...
...having my baby home
...being the Mom of 3 boys
...finding toy hay bales in my purse:)

My Mom stayed with Ivan and Erik while Lance and I went to Great Falls to pick up Isaac today. It was quite the ordeal as we had to meet with the rep for his equipment and then drag it all home as well. He is doing fine and it's good to have his sweet little face around again. He has oxygen, an apnea monitor, and a couple medications. I am so thankful for all the fantastic support we have in our family and friends...

Pics of my boyos

Isaac is still in the hospital at the moment so these are mostly from his brief few days at home. He is doing fine there and hopefully we can give it another go sometime this week. We don't ask when anymore, just wait and see what each day brings. We miss him!. You'd think one baby would fill up a house but there is just something about that sweet little face.

Isaac with his oxygen up his schnoz, recovering from his surgery. Looking kinda crabby about it. This was on Saturday. We brought him home Tuesday (10/6) without it. The timing on this one is hilarious. Here I thought Erik is my mild one and it looks like he's taking a swing at his much bigger brother.

Ivan wants to be in on the first feeding at home with Isaac.

Little baby Isaac, home in his nifty swing. The little hand to the left tells the rest of the story. Ivan thinks that swinging should be a more vigorous activity:) Ivan is adjusting very well to being outnumbered! He is a great big brother and helper.

Isaac, Ivan, Erik

Erik and Isaac. Not hard to tell them apart:)

I seriously have my hands full with these two! Isaac and Erik.

Ivan has been having an absolute ball in the fall leaves. We go out and play in them every afternoon. I actually do get a few in a bag.

Isaac's first airplane ride

We had 2 blissful days at home with all our babies. On Friday, Isaac started to have some respiratory distress so I took him in to the ER. They took great care of him here in Chester and got him on some oxygen. But they are obviously not set up for neonates so we took the evening flight to Great Falls and he is back in his cozy NICU bed. You probably didn't even know Chester had a direct flight to Great Falls. Poor little Isaac didn't even enjoy it-he screamed the whole way. He is negative for RSV (respiratory syncitial virus) and the regular flu. Test for H1N1 (swine flu) has to go to state lab and won't be back until at least Monday. So he will be in for at least a few days until those results are back. He is very stable with the oxygen and doesn't act sick. Dr. Duritz is on this week and he was the neonatologist who was there when the twins were born. He has twin grandsons himself so he told us that ours are the 2nd best looking twins he has ever seen:) This morning Dr. Duritz talked with us about Isaac's chest x-ray. It shows diffuse infiltrates (little patches of white on the lungs where a normal x-ray shows dark). He said if the baby has no other symptoms the x-ray would be considered insignificant. But since Isaac is seeming to need continuous oxygen the x-ray indicates bronchopulmonary dysplasia. His lungs are a little inflamed and irritable. The upshot is that he will come home on oxygen and be on it until he outgrows this. There will always be some dysplasia but as the lungs grow, the new tissue is healthy and eventually the diseased portion is a small percentage of the entire lung. One of Dr. Duritz's twin grandsons had the same issue as a neonate. He was home on oxygen for 6 months, and is now doing fine, playing sports, hiking in the mountains, etc. So he will outgrow this and for now just needs some "vitamin O" (oxygen:). It could be for a couple weeks to a few months. We feel so thankful for all that is available to us medically to help our little son:) We will also have to be careful at home to not use scented products or burn candles as these are all irritating to sensitive lungs. They emphasized the need to continue to keep our visitors to a bare minimum (we are allowing grandparents only at this time). He weighed in last night at 5# 11oz. Lance's parents and my Dad were both in Great Falls on other business but were able to stop by the hospital and offer their support so that was nice. Lance and I visited again this morning and fed our little man. He is doing very well on his oxygen. The NICU will move to their new unit in the new tower on Monday so he gets a new cushy room at the resort. His nurse gave us a quick tour and it is beautiful and state of the art. Lance and I came home to the other two boys and we all took a NAP:) Mom went back home for the rest of the weekend. I did take some pictures of the 3 boys so will get them on here soon but wanted to update while I had a few minutes. Ivan is awake now so those few minutes are up:)

3 sweet boys.

One of the benefits of having a NICU baby (or two) is that they are on this fantastic schedule. We are happily humming along here. Keeping these three clean and fed is a full time job. It is wonderful to have my Mom here for a few days. My dishes magically are washed and put away. I put laundry in the washer and next time I check it is neatly folded. Ivan is quite sweet with the babies-of course it helps to have Grama here giving him extra attention. He went out and played in the leaves this afternoon. Very cute to watch him jump around and enjoy them. We weren't sure whether to rake leaves or shovel snow today. The day started out with fog and turned to cold, blustery wind and swirling, dry snowflakes. Temp in the 20s. ZZzzbrr.

TWO Baby Eriks!!

We thought Ivan's reaction to meeting Isaac was priceless:) Isaac is home at last. Our hearts are full, our cups overflowing.

Isaac post op day 4

This blog is helping me from having the days run together quite so much. Lance and I each went to one care time with baby Isaac before heading back home to Chester today. He is improving bit by bit. His oxygen came off this morning, he is at full feedings and his IV is out. Now the game is maintaining the progress he has made. His cute little face is that much cuter without the oxygen tubing running across it.
Erik had several darling smiles for me today. Gas or not, they were adorable on his chubby little face.
Ivan and I went for a walk today. We ended up at the school and I thought he might want to play on the playground while I did a lap or two around the track but he trotted right along with me. He is working on his pronouns and mixes them up in the cutest way. He was looking at a family picture of Lance, me and him when he was a baby. He pointed out "Mommy, and Daddy, and Youuuuu!!!"
There is a hint of winter in the air. No snow here but chilly, windy and spatters of rain.

Isaac post op day 3

Just got done visiting and snuggling our sweet third son. He is doing well today and making some progress. His vital signs seem to be much more stable than they were presurgery. Of course, he is still on oxygen but he is slowly weaning off. He got to start his feedings again today. Started slowly with pedialyte this morning, then a 50/50 mixture, now tonight he is on straight breastmilk. The amount has slowly increased and he will be at 40cc during the night. He is hungry and sucks it right down. His weight is 5# 1 oz. tonight. He is a darling boy. He curled his little hand tightly around my finger while I was feeding him. Making sure I didn't leave too soon with that bottle:)

Ivan had fun playing outside today. There is a big pile of gravel dumped at the end of the backyard. To most people it would just be a pile of gravel. To Ivan it was a mountain of fun. We chased each other up and down it several times and he drove it around in his trucks. Doesn't take much to entertain a creative child.

Erik is just being his usual sweet little mild self. I'm keeping my eye on him, though. These twins seem to take turns giving me trouble. If it's not one, it's the other. Scientists keep studying and trying to figure out why people age. I don't wonder anymore:)

Isaac post op day 2

Isaac is doing much better today. He was extubated this morning and is now on nasal cannula oxygen. He is still not allowed any feedings by mouth so he is giving his pacifier a good workout. When I called earlier they said he was awake and looking around. Can't wait to see and snuggle him tomorrow.

Isaac post-op day 1

Isaac stayed on the ventilator through the night. This morning the nurses were still suctioning quite a bit of icky mucous from his lungs so they sent some off for culture and started him on an antibiotic. So that was hard news. Realistically, I suppose it's not unexpected. The whole point of doing the surgery was because he has been aspirating his feedings into his lungs so this just underlines the fact that the surgery was necessary. This evening he is doing much better. He is having less secretions and he is breathing some on his own so they turned the rate down on the ventilator to 20. It was originally 30 and it has been going down slowly as they wean him off. Hopefully they will be able to extubate in the morning. We are very aware at this point in our NICU experience that there is no script for this. It is Isaac's show and he is running it. So he calls the shots and we just take it one day at a time.
We are so encouraged by all those praying for our little one. I know that people we haven't even met are praying for him because they are friends of our friends or friends of our family members. We are touched by the thoughtfulness and love poured out on his behalf.