Another Beautiful Day...

Today was another beautiful day. It was Sylvester Stallone's birthday, Jamaican independence day, and even more relevant and important in our world, Brian got to hold one of his daughters for the first time. It was a beautiful sight and both parties were very pleased. You could see this on Brian's face and you could tell this from Ella's "reaction" monitors. The doctor warned us to not get to high with the highs but when you have a few days in a row like this, its hard to not get too excited and think that the next three months are going to go exactly the same. I suppose this is the reason why the low days are soooo very low. But our hopes are high that these types of days will continue. Last night only Claire had a single apnea (see def. page) and today it was just Slade with a few. Ella hasn't had a single breathing or heart issue since the 29th of July. Slowly but surely I feel they are learning to breath and this is so refreshing, however I know they can tucker out and need more help again at any time. In addition, all babies grew an ounce and their feedings were increased to 10cc (10ml) per 3hr. feeding. We shall sleep well tonight with yet another day of good news to keep us going...

Reality

The reality is is this: We have three tiny babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. Everyday for the last 17 days we have made the trek through the hospital, up the NICU hill, washed out hands with scrub brushes, and signed in. We may do this more than 100 more days. Every two hours I extract milk because I don't have the option of formula if I wanted. These tiny babies only can have this milk or milk donated from another. We phone and check on these tiny babies every morning and every evening with our hearts thudding hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. We try and enjoy some TV after dinner but have a hard time concentrating on the "little things" in life. We wish everyday that it was the next and that time would fly by so that they would be bigger and stronger and that we could get on with our new and exciting lives.

But in an instant what I thought was reality disappeared because today I finally got to hold on of those tiny little babies and it was incredible. The reality became that it didn't really matter how long it took, how many hand washings it was, how many hours pumping I did, how much TV we missed, one day we would get to bring all three of these gorgeous little creatures home and it would be perfect.

Tomorrow is Brian's turn and if all continues to go well, we will trade off days with Ella until the other two are breathing well enough to hold. So far they are doing well and all three are now up to 8cc's per feeding. Slade gained another ounce and is determined to catch up with his sisters.

Today is a wonderful day and for now our reality couldn't be better!

Nice & Quite

So today we got to go see the babies private suite only to find out that it wasn't so private after all. There are two other babies with our trio that are also "colonized" with the same bacteria. So I wonder who had if first, not our sweet little babies of course:) But its still a neat little room that now has two nurses assigned to it so there is still a little more attention However, I wasn't a huge fan of the nurse we had today but I think that I may be getting pickier the better I get to know our babies. Since I just love this one nurse, everyone else seems unqualified.

Not a lot to update on the trio which is terrific! Claire is up to eating 8cc's and Ella/Slade are up to 6. Claire has now also hit the 2lb mark and while Slade still has a ways to go, he is up now 4oz which is great! Eat babies Eat!

Slade is still having too many brady's & apnea's and I'm thinking they are getting closer to venting him to let him rest a bit. The only real reason they think is just that he is still so tiny and just keeps forgetting to breathe.

They did another brain ultrasound on Ella today and the nurse says that its looking like its getting better, I didn't get much details but she said all around it was a good report. Yipppee! I'm going to try to find out more tomorrow when I go in and hopefully I can talk to one of the doctors about it.

So all in all, nice and quite on the trio front, hopefully tomorrow Slade will breath a little easier, Ella's brain will become even calmer, and Claire will get even bigger!

Yipppeee a Good day!

Today the Dr. told me this, "the NICU is like a roller coaster, it goes up and down with really high ups and really low lows. As time goes by the ups and downs are less steep. The important thing is not to get to high with the ups nor too depressed by the downs because it will all happen again over and over until the babies are all big and strong..."

He also explained that Ella and Slades cultures came back negative for infection however because they have tubes and wires in them, they will probably have lots of infections and as long as they aren't causing any symptoms, they probably wouldn't treat them all. In fact, he probably wouldn't of even put Ella on antibiotics for hers in the first place since she was fine. But there are seven different doctors all with different opinions. While this is strange to have so many different schools of thought, its actually reassuring to have so many educated and highly trained eyes assessing our babies. Therefore, Ella and Slade will continue their antibiotics course and then won't be treated again unless they display symptoms, so that their bodies can learn how to fight infections by themselves (overuse of antibiotics is not good).

On another note, being that all our little ones are "colonized" with that really contagious bacteria, they are being moved to a different "bay" tonight and will be put in one large private room all together, yippee! While this is done to protect all the other babies, I actually love it because it decreases their chances of new bacteria and infection b/c they won't be near any other babies and they will have their own nurse. Plus it will give us a lot more privacy now and when we begin kangaroo care. Oh and they have to have the center for infectious disease control come in and do a consult of the NICU because of our beautiful bacteria ridden babies to make sure all the proper precautions are being taken not to have an outbreak of the entire NICU. Ooops!

Claire has now been increased to 6cc's every three hours for food and both Ella & Slade are up to 4. The food intake is beginning to rise exponentially and we LOVE it! Also what comes in must come out and that process is working perfectly as well!

Slade had less apnea's today so again they are waiting on the ventilator and we are still holding out hope that he will pull it together on his own and stay on the cpap machine.

So all in all a good day. The roller coaster rides up again, our favorite nurse returns from her weekend off and our babies now get the rock star lifestyle they deserve!

Here is a picture of my favorite meal from the room service menus when I was in the hospital, the fruit and cheese plate...yummm! (more pics to come of babies, I'm trying to figure out how since my camera even with the flash off shines a bright green light which hurts their little eyes).

Could be better, Could be worse..

So I just don't know what to think anymore when we visit the hospital. Somedays I'm told so much in a language I do not speak that its hard to comprehend and even harder to explain. But I'll give it a go. So the infection that Ella has is due to certain type of bacteria that spreads really easily thus her confinement. It can cause infection in babies or it can just lay dormant in the body. A lot of adults have this bacteria in their mucus and on their skin but it is such a simple bacteria that it does no harm. When a person has been exposed to this type of bacteria it is called colonization. This just means that it is now a part of that person and as they grow older they become immune to it, but with a baby it can or cannot cause infection. Are you with me? So we find out today that both Slade and Claire have also been "colonized" with this bacteria, however do not have infections from it. However, since they have it, they now too have to be isolated to protect the other babies in the NICU from getting it. In addition, they will have blood cultures done daily to make sure it doesn't cause an infection in them. The dr. said it is kind of weird that they all have it since they've been in incubators but it could of come from nurses touching one baby and then another or it could of even come from my c-section and them having contact for a brief second with my own beautiful bacteria. As they get bigger this bacteria will be less of an issue as their own immune systems will easily be able to tolerate it. Grow babies grow! So while it may not cause a problem, its just another thing to worry about although we are trying not to.

On another note we are still waiting on today's cultures to see if Ella's infection and Slade's infection (not due to the bacteria above but due to the common strepa...?? one) are still positive or negative. Once they are negative they will do antibiotics for 10 days more and then stop. We don't want them on antibiotics too long or they can form an immunity. Slade is still having a few too many breathing episodes (apnea's) so they are considering putting him on a ventilator for a few days to let him rest a bit and then let him begin learning the breathing process again. We are hoping that he just starts remembering to breath more often on his own so this doesn't have to have this happen.

Good notes. Well Ella was taken off the ventilator and handled it great. In fact, her cpap machine is pushing the lowest amount of "breathing reminders" than the other two babies already. All three babies are handling feedings well and Claire today was increased to 4cc's, Ella to 3cc's and we are still hoping Slade will get increased sometime soon (more food = more growth). And finally, I haven't heard much of anything out of the nurses or doctors regarding brady's (heart rate drops) this week, so I'm figuring those are getting better too. The little things definitely make our days and all babies are opening their eyes and looking at us when they are awake which is just awesome.

Once again, I hope tomorrow is a better day for the Milligan trio and that they have a growth spurt kind of day!

Another Rollercoaster Dip...

Well it looks like I spoke too soon in my last post and now both Slade and Ella have infections. Both are very common and are being treated with antibiotics however Ella's is SUPER contagious (only to other babies, not adults or kids). She has been put in a room by herself off to the side of the main room (with door open) and every time we or the nurses visit her we have to wear a gown and gloves now. Its hard to say how either one got these infections as they are so easily spread that you can carry both types of these bacterias on your clothes. We are definitely not happy about this new news however the Dr. assures us that they will both be cured easily with antibiotics. To help reduce the chance of the infection spreading, they will also be removing Ella's ventilator tonight if she lets them. On a good note, neither baby is acting "sick" but rather have a lot of movement and no fevers. Please keep these babies (& our little Claire) in your thoughts as they fight through these next few difficult days.

On a good note, all babies are tolerating food great. Ella & Slade have now been moved up to 2cc's every 3 hours and Claire up to 3cc's every 3 hours. In addition, they are definitely putting on weight now with Ella now up to 2lbs 2oz, Clair 1lb 14oz and Slade 1lb 11oz. We are so happy Ella has surpassed that 2 lb goal and can't wait for the others to join her. We also got to get all the babies foot printed today, which while it was neat to watch, I sometimes wish they'd just leave the poor things alone and quit messing with them all the time (they actually don't touch them too much but we had a nurse today that I felt was overdoing it in the show off department). Hopefully tomorrow will be a better days for the Miligan trio

Where did all that hair come from? (+ 2 Videos)

All three babies once again are thankfully doing well. The only real concern we have right now is that Slade continues to have too many apnea's (breathing pauses). They have tried several different methods of fixing this and are not sure why he is having them. To be on the safe side they have did a blood culture and have sent it off to check for infection. Just in case, they have also started him on antibiotics. The Dr. tells me he doubts this is the case since he doesn't have any of the other attributes of a sick baby like fever, inactivity, or skin discoloration but they would rather be proactive. The other possibility is that he is low on blood due to so many tests so they are giving him some extra of that as well. We will find out tomorrow evening regarding the culture and hopefully these extra apnea's are just due to too little blood rather than an infection.

Ella is doing well and no issues thus far from her surgery, yippee! She is still on the ventilator and they will take her off as soon as she is ready, she's getting closer and closer each day. One of her little eyes popped open today so now I've seen one of each babies eyes which is so neat, I love progress! They have upped Ella's feedings to 1cc every 3 hours so hopefully she will start growing fatter and fatter real soon! Oh and we've decided that she definitely has my side of the families ears while Slade is a Milligan in that department as well as several others.

Claire too is doing great and received a little extra blood today to keep up with the amount they take out for testing. She was doing so well on her 1cc that they are now feeding her 2cc's every three hours. She still is on a rate of 30 on her cpap machine although I am hoping they reduce that soon as she seems to be having less and less apnea's.

All in all we are very happy with their progress, they seem to be right on track. However, while every day seems too short for Brian and I to get everything done and visit them enough, the days can't go by fast enough for them to get bigger.

Today the NICU was extra full and it was really sad to see so many sick babies. Being that they are the largest level 3 NICU in Texas they often get quite busy and today was no exception. They had several babies flown in from other cities, one that is just so small. Seriously, this baby makes our trio look full grown, so sad. In our room of babies (room 4, there are 7 rooms total), every bed was full and it was hard to watch so many couples at the bedsides of their babies, some crying and some just staring. I didn't realize how hard it would be to see all the other babies and the raw emotions that they induced in their families. Also, the difficulty when one baby you were used to seeing is suddenly no longer there and your not quite sure what the scenario is and you cannot ask. And while it makes me so sad, it makes me also so grateful that while our babies are small, they are thankfully healthy and not sick like so many of the other babies. So so grateful!

Below are videos of Ella with her hat off so you can see a full head of head (looks brown to me but the nurses say she'll definitely be a blond.) Also, is a funny video of Slade with a super tiny pacifier in his mouth that pretty much covers his whole face...oh and you can see his little foot in this video too!