Biggest news of the week - we got to hold all 3 babies at the same time! If you're friends with Brian or me on Facebook you've already seen the pictures (we got 200 likes each! Wow!)
Here's my first time holding all 3. They're not in order because James has the white hat so he had to be in the middle. Logan is on the left, James in the middle, Mason on the right. If you know me you know I prefer that they be in order (Mason, Logan, James), but the hats were in charge here. Also, Logan's bed is to the left and James's bed is to the right, so it was easier this way.
I only got to hold them for a few minutes but I loved it. And they did great! A tip for anyone who ever has NICU babies - always say yes to photo ops. I got to do this because we allowed the hospital marketing people to take pictures of our babies for marketing materials. (Brian almost said no too!)
Brian got to hold all 3 babies the next day. They're actually in the same order here (Logan, James, Mason). He got more time too! He said it was one of the best days of his life. I agree!
I can't wait to hold them all again!
We finally ran out of breast milk this week. I actually can't believe we made it this long. I'm not good at pumping! Unfortunately it's all I do! I figured out that I spend around 4 hours every day hooked up to the machine! That doesn't include the time it takes to set up and clean up! But I know it's so good for the boys. They are supplementing with donor breast milk right now. We'll switch to formula next week because they save the donor milk for tiny babies. We're actually too old but they let us get it because we've had tummy issues. So we'll take it! My new goal is to get at least 1/2 of their milk from breast milk. If not I'll just do my best. That's all I can do right?
Here's the weekly update on each one of the boys.
Mason:
Mason doesn't have any major changes this week. He's now on 1.5 liters on his nasal cannula. (I learned this week that it's 1.5 liters per minute not per hour.) This is great news because he can maybe start trying to bottle and breast feed once he gets down to 1 liter. Yay! I can't wait! Our goal is to get him down to 0.5 liters at 100% oxygen (this isn't really much at all) and leave him there until he can eat and breathe at the same time.
Mason also had an EKG this week to look at his heart to make sure one of the ventricles isn't enlarged. This is a normal thing they look for in preemies with chronic lung disease (all of our babies have this because of how early they were born and because they were on ventilators for so long). Mason did great! No issues. That means he can come completely off oxygen when he's ready. (If the echo had shown an enlarged ventricle then they would just keep him on oxygen until it was better.) I assume they'll check for this on Logan and James too later.
Mason's only real issue this week was a diaper rash. He had to lay on his belly with his little booty in the air with his diaper off for a few days so it could get better! Poor guy! Good news - he's allowed to wear pants again.
Here's some pictures of Mason from this week:
Mason without tape on his face. He wasn't happy!
Logan:
Logan has had another great week. He's currently on the lowest cpap setting as of today. The goal is to wean him to the 3 liter nasal cannula by the end of the week. He's doing so well with his breathing! Nurses keep commenting about how great he's doing!
Logan has not had any other withdrawal symptoms since last week. Yay! He was so sad! They've actually been able to wean his methadone and he's tolerated it very well.
Here's a few pictures of Logan:
He likes his paci a lot if you can't tell!
Logan is super laid back! And super sweet! He loves to cuddle and he loves his paci!
James:
Mr. James has had a good week too! And yes he's Mr. James. I think it's the attitude that makes it fit him. He's a good baby really. He's just the crankiest of our 3! Compared to some of the other babies I hear in the NICU, ours are not cranky at all (even James).
James finally got back to the 3 liter nasal cannula today. Yay! He seems to like it so far. He had less desats (episodes where his oxygen level goes down) than he had on cpap. I think maybe he didn't like the cpap. James got an EKG yesterday too but for a different reason. His doctor wanted to make sure his heart looked good (and that his PDA was still closed) before changing his respiratory support. He did great! No acute issues. So his doctor weaned him to just oxygen today. Yay James!
Here's a few pictures of James from this week:
He looks suspicious doesn't he?! He makes this face all the time with one eye cracked open! He's just not sure about grown ups!
We had some visitors this weekend again too! Everyone came to hold Logan because they've had to wait so long!
Teresa with Logan
Lou Ann with Logan. I'll have to watch this one. She may try to take him home with her!
And don't worry. Mason and James got loved on too!
Nana with Mason (in his new hat!)
Lizzie with James
We also had a great 4th of July! We bought lots of fireworks, had a little neighborhood party, and went to another party the next night to shoot fireworks. And the boys got red, white, and blue hats in the NICU. Sorry I didn't get good pictures of them in their hats! But here's our loot from the fireworks stand:
And Addison picked out the grand finale - the Loud and Rowdy!
I can't wait to see where we are next week! Thanks so much to everyone for the continued support and prayers!
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