5 Weeks Old

Brooklyn started out the day with a big poopy diaper.  Some even ended up on the floor - go figure.  Sweet Tayden had a rough day.  He made it all night without his cannula and then this morning his breathing was pretty rapid so they put it back on.  This afternoon his breathing continued to be fast and the nurse noticed that his lungs sounded crackly - like they had some fluid on them.  His hands and feet were also a bit swollen.  The nurse practitioner decided to give him some medicine (Lasiks - not sure about spelling) to help with fluid retention.  We were pretty worried, but the nurses and nurse practitioner all assured us that this is perfectly normal.  The road to breathing independently can be rocky for preemies and requires numerous trial and error periods for several babies.  By our second visit this evening, his breathing was back to normal (on the cannula) and he was sleeping soundly.  During our first visit both babies were wide awake.  It is so neat to see their little eyes looking around and you can start to see their different personalities.  We had our first "storytime" and read to the twins. It was such an amazing experience to have the babies looking at us and listening.  I realized that as someone who loves reading and knows how important reading to your children is, I should have done this weeks ago.  We read to them when I was pregnant, but I just hadn't thought about taking books to the NICU.  Now I will each day!!!!  They didn't try to bottle feed Tayden tonight due to his breathing, but I worked with Erin (one of the nurses) to feed Brooklyn and she took 11mL before getting tired.  Several nurses have suggested we get some Dr. Brown's bottles to try them on.  They are supposedly great for preemies, so we will be getting some this weekend.  Please pray that these bottles will help with the feeding and that Tayden's lungs will get stronger each day.