Not yet

We were supposed to come home with the boys today, but Kolton his still having an issue with his eating. We got as far as rooming in, which means we had to stay over night and do all their care as well as respond to any alarms that went off on the home monitors. Kolton is still having bradycardias at the beginning of his feeds as well as during his feeds if he is tired. His 3AM feed and 6AM feed did not go well, with the 6AM feed he even had to have his NG Tube put back in and some food given that way. He was just too tired. This concerned the nurse as well as us, she called the Doctor and now we are just waiting. Waiting for Kolton to get it down. The Doctor says he probably only needs a day or two. I think it will take longer, I began to worry that something else is wrong with him, however the Doctor says it's because he is a preemie and some take longer than others.

I don't want him home sooner than he is ready, that's how things go I've learned when it comes to babies and the NICU. One minute they are ready and doing great the next they have something they need to work on. We just keep telling ourselves we are on the down hill side of this ordeal, they will come home hopefully sooner than later. It's been over 6 weeks, they have done great up to this point. They aren't even supposed to be born yet not for another 4 weeks, we don't want to push them too hard. Hopefully he will figure it all out soon and we will be posting pictures of us all together at home.

One Day at a time......

It's a song that is quiet appropriate in this situation. Most days are better than others, today I had a rough day. Kolton is anemic, his anemia is very likely causing his eating issues that he has been having. The treatment for this is a blood transfusion, which is very normal for preemies, this will actually make his second one. I do not wish this situation on anyone, I am very grateful that my babies have done so well, however when you hear one of them cry a heartbreaking cry because they are getting stuck over and over again because no one can get the IV in is more than I could bare.

This has been the most happiest, saddest, overwhelming, 3 months of my life. I never wanted to know what complete bed rest was, or what it was like to go into pre-term labor, or what a mediflight or ambulance ride was like. I never wanted to experience a labor that went so fast that I then received a natural and c-section birth. I didn't want to know what went on at Childrens hospital in Team 1, Team 2, or "The Village". Not knowing what a bradycardia or apnea or desat was would be fine as well. Sitting in a dark rooms watching monitors and listening to alarms has been our life for over a month, each step closer to going home is scary but one you look forward to. I hope to never experience anything like this again, but I would do it all over again for those two little boys.

Day 41 - That was NO circus!!

Ouuuch... We got circumsized today!

Day 40 - Almost Home

The doctor is now thinking of sending us home! We'v passed our car seat study (we can sit in a car seat and breath). We're eating most of our formula through bottles now (without running out of oxygen). The doctor says we might get to go home on tuesday or wednesday. We're going to have a lot of doctor visits for follow up though and even some nurses coming by the house to make sure we're progressing at a normal rate. We're going home with monitors as well to sound an alarm if we have some problems with our breathing. Dad has a sad look on his face and kind of a grimmace, he keeps saying something about us getting circumsized tomorrow , not sure what that means but it sounds like we're going to the circus, so it can't be too bad.

Here's a picture of the seldom seen Karter:














and Kranky Kolton..

1 month - Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to us! We've been around for 1 month on the 17th. Here is a pic of us plotting an escape from the NICU:
We've hit a few more milestones towards getting out of here. We're having hardly any bradychardia or apnea anymore and we're both able to drink a whole bottle of formula without passing out from lack of oxygen (drinking may sound easy to you, but we're not even supposed to be breathing air yet so it's a major step for us).