Day 31 and Day 32

Yesterday was a pretty exhausting day for the girls, and oddly enough it was probably the most refreshing days that I've had since before I got pregnant. All through my bedrest fiasco I refused to complain, but what I did do was consistently say that when it was over I would be treating myself to a big time spa day. My body isn't quite ready for that full spa day just yet, but realizing my stress level and need for some sort of relaxation, Mike made me an appointment for a manicure and pedicure. I used to get manicures/pedicures just about every week before I got pregnant. I got them less frequently when I got pregnant, and obviously wasn't able to get them at all once I was pregnant (though Marissa did treat me to an in-bed pedicure before my last hospitalization). Getting a manicure/pedicure was probably one of the only things that I really consistently did for myself, but since the girls have been born, I've obviously been too busy to think about such things. Mike has tried to urge me several times over the past month to go get myself a manicure and pedicure - to do that small something for myself - but knowing that I'd never follow through and do this for myself while the girls are still in the hospital, he went ahead and made an appointment for me at a fantastic local spa, forcing me to take a couple hours to myself. And let me tell you, this was no ordinary manicure and pedicure - it included hot stone massage service so my hands, arms, legs and feet were massaged with warm lotion and hot stones - it was done in a private room at the spa where I laid down with a warm towel over my eyes during the entire service. I left there feeling more relaxed than I have in months and months. It was an amazing gift from my husband - a much needed, much appreciated gift. Unfortunately, this appointment ended up falling on the same day as some routine exams for the girls. While I was enjoying my afternoon, my two other little gifts that my husband gave me were still in their hospital isolettes, and not having such a great day.

Yesterday was the scheduled eye exam and follow up head ultrasound for the girls. The head ultrasound is just a little wand rubbed across the top of their heads, completely non-invasive, and was just a follow up to the others that have already been done and there were no changes to report, which is good - so their little heads are just fine. But the eye exam is a much more invasive and stressful exam for them. The idea behind the exam is to see if there are any early warning signs of problems with the internal structures of the eye. The doctor puts dilation drops into their eyes to enlarge the pupil in order to get a better view of the inside of the eye (just like an adult eye dilation exam, but it needs to be done very quickly because it can be so stressful for such little/young babies that it can cause them to have severe bradycardia/apnea episodes during the procedure). At this point in their gestational age (33wks 4days) their eyes aren't expected to be complete, meaning that the blood vessels behind and inside the eye are still growing, and not branched out long enough to meet visual receptors. This is something that is expected to be complete around 36-37 weeks. But the test is done now to look for any early warning signs of a problem, which the girls did not have any of - and it's also used as a baseline for the next exam. A second eye exam will be done around 36-37 weeks, when their eyes are expected to be complete, or almost complete. At that point the doctor will compare yesterday's exam with that new exam to make sure that the blood vessels have grown, so if they haven't connected yet, at least they'd have evidence that the vessels are growing and will get to where they need to be. So, all that said, the girls eye exam was determined to be "incomplete" - which is totally normal and exactly as expected for right now. So, this was a long day for the girls with two procedures in addition to their usual Monday activities, including two bottle feedings, getting weighed and measured (Madison is now 3lbs 2.oz and 15 1/4 inches long while Melia is 4lbs 3oz and 17 1/2 inches long) and getting a bath - for these little girls, this is a very stressful day. By the time their eye exams were done, they were completely tuckered out. They handled the test itself very well according to the nurse. They didn't have any bradycardia/apnea episodes during the procedure itself, but they did have a few through the evening and the rest of the night. They were barely able to muster up enough energy to suck hard enough to take their 8pm bottles, so we didn't force it. They both did take a little of their bottles, but constant desaturation and brady/apneas made us think that we should just let them rest, so we didn't push it with the bottle feeding thing last night.

Madison was looking particularly exhausted by the days events, her color once again looking pale, which they said could be a side effect of the eye exam, but as I mentioned in the previous blog, her color was starting to look off before the exam, so they did blood work to see where her levels were at. Sure enough, her red blood cell count and hemoglobin levels were low and she did need another transfusion. So, 11pm was her last bit of food for about 24 hours while she was getting her transfusions. She got her first dose late last night after this feeding and got the second dose this afternoon, so she resumed her feedings tonight at 9pm. Speaking of her feedings, she was decreased from 15mls every 3 hours to 12mls every 3 hours because she wasn't digesting her food well enough. Dr. Kamtorn mentioned the possibility of increasing the dose on her medication to help her digestion, so that's an option if needed just until her stomach gets used to the idea of food again. It's hard with Maddie because every time she gets into a good place with her feedings, she ends up being taken off of food for some reason, usually due to the transfusions, and it sets her back a bit more than she already was - but she'll get there in due time. In other, more positive, Maddie news - she is officially able to maintain her own body temperature and was able to start wearing clothes yesterday! So of course, being the first time that they're both allowed to wear clothes, we had to dress them alike!

As for Melia, she continues to do well. Her feedings were increased to 38mls every 3 hours and she is tolerating her feedings very well. Dr. Kamtorn made reference to Melia coming home today for the first time!

Mom and Dad: Wait...I'm sorry doctor...what did you say???

Dr. Kamtorn: (pointing to Melia) She'll be ready to go home soon -probably before I get back from vacation.

Mom and Dad: speechless

Dr. Kamtorn is leaving for vacation on Friday (I don't even want to discuss this because I love Dr. Kamtorn and I might highjack her plane so that she doesn't leave us). She'll be back in 2 weeks, on July 26th, and seems to believe that Melia will be ready to go home before she gets back, but that none of the other doctors are likely to discharge one of her patients, so she probably won't get discharged until Dr. Kamtorn gets back. She also said that she's likely take her off of the oxygen all together within a few days. This was so crazy. I mean, we knew that Melia was close to coming home, but this was the first time that the doctor herself made any sort of reference to such a thing. It was one of those sort of surreal moments where I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Thinking it for ourselves, or even hearing it from a nurse was one thing - but once we heard it from Dr. Kamtorn herself, it definitely became much more real.

Mike and I are trying to get better at it, but with our schedule being so crazy, our eating habits are suffering for it. So today a late lunch kept us from having dinner. While we were at the hospital tonight we both got hungry so we decided to have ice cream for dinner (super healthy right? ;-P). So, naturally, we had to make a pitstop at Cold Stone Creamery on our way home. We sat on a bench outside in downtown Westfield and there were a ton of teenagers hanging out, with many of them clearing being young couples, holding hands, etc. - as we sat there, watching these teenagers, my mind was half thinking about the girls and half thinking about these young kids - and a question popped into my head, so I turned to Mike and I asked him how old he wants the girls to be before they start dating. He nearly choked on his waffle cone, completely repulsed by that question. But my head was able to fast forward there for a moment tonight. The same way that this experience seems to be moving so quickly - these girls are going to grow up in a blink of an eye. I have a feeling that Mike and I will be having that very conversation for real before we even know it!

On that note, I better get off this computer - I have a nursery to finish......

:-)