One very important item that I forgot to discuss in yesterday’s blog entry is that April was able to weigh herself during our trip home yesterday to pack up some clothes to move into the hotel. She is down a whopping 32 pounds (as measured the day she went into the hospital, although I think she gained another 5-10 pounds in water during her hospital stay due to the drugs she was on (magnesium sulfate)). She is excited for this loss and it really shows on her belly, which is greatly diminished. Her total gain was 62ish pounds, which she worked very hard to put on so that we could have these big babies so early!
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/Great news for Sawyer today! When I visited him around 2 pm this afternoon, he was off the morphine and his breathing was looking great (morphine also acts as a respiratory suppresant so it was contributing to his problems – he is now on Tylenol)! They took a chest x-ray this morning which showed that his chest cavity was clear of air, so they shut off the vacuum to see if any would accumulate during the day. Since he is off the morphine, he is once again active in moving his limbs around and has taken more of a fetal position. He was looking great during the hour I was there.
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/At 4 pm they took the chest x-ray and his chest was still clear. The chest tube came out at 5 pm and he was also put back on the high flow cannula since he was doing so great with his breathing (he was at room oxygen level all day). Being off the morphine has also really helped the apnea, which was greatly reduced today. We are having a hard time figuring out his exact weight, but believe it to be around 3lbs 7oz so he has also gained a little weight back. I’m sure he is very excited to be getting food in his stomach again tonight. We pray that he will tolerate it well (he will be staring over at 4ccs).
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/Brinlee – April had the opportunity to hold Brinlee this afternoon. She is up to 15ccs of food each feeding and gained approximately 1.5 oz during the last day for a weight of 3 lbs 1.5 oz. She is very lively and keeps her eyes open the most of the three. (Newer update: Brinley gained an additional ounce today.) April’s update: All the nurses think Brinlee is beautiful and has an attitude (sounds like her mother).
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/Kimball – Kimball has gained some good weight and is looking less like an old man. As of last night, he was up 1.5 oz to 2lbs 15.5 oz. and tonight he broke three pounds by just a tiny bit (He is at his full dose of food as determined by weight). He is now going to be on consistent caffeine dosages to minimize the apnea that he is having (he gave Adam’s dad quite the scare during his first visit). April’s update on Kimball and yes I am quoting: He’s cute.
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/FYI, the t-shirts I described yesterday are a huge hit in the nursery, making our children famous.