We're Home!!!!!

We finally made it home today at around 2pm. The boys did okay in their car seats but we were definitely glad to be home. They are eating every 3-4 hours so far and we are settling in for the first of many long nights.

Our final hospital photo!

Home at Last

Sleeping babies!

Homecoming delayed until tomorrow-boo!

We had a bit of excitement today with the car seats. In order to take the boys home, we had to test the boys in them for an hour by putting them in the car seats like they would be in the car and monitoring them with their hospital monitors for an hour. The boys did not pass their car seat test because they all had difficulty breathing when strapped into their car seats. The design of the car seats that we have were not built for preemies so I had to scramble to return the car seats and go buy new ones so that we could re-test the boys tonight. This evening they all passed with the new car seats and so we should be going home mid day tomorrow, Thursday.

Michael's Hospital Picture

Konrad's Hospital Picture

Zachary's Hospital Picture

The babies are coming home

As many of you know, the babies are coming home today. We are extremely excited to have them home and to introduce them to our friends and family. Although the babies are strong enough to leave the ICU and come home, they are still premature and fragile. We have to be extra careful to protect them from getting sick over the next few months, especially during cold and flu season which ends in early May.

The greatest risk to our babies is an illness called RSV. For adults, children and full-term babies, RSV is typically not any worse than a common cold. For preemies, it is much different. It is a serious virus that is VERY easily contracted and it poses major risks (pneumonia, bronchiolitis, and other more serious complications, some fatal). Our babies have all of the the highest risk factors for contracting serious RSV - they were born at 30 weeks, were multiples and had low birth weights.

RSV is spread through physical contact, through the air via a cough or sneeze, or picked up via touching an infected object. Since it can live as long as 6 hours on your hands and up to 12 hours on objects, you can see how difficult it is to prevent exposure. It is very easily spread, especially from child to child, and studies have shown that other infants pose an even higher risk at spreading RSV from one infant to another.

You might ask, “Can’t they just fight it off and it will build up their immune system? Kids need to get sick, right?”. The simple answer is no. Since our babies were 3 months pre-term, they did not acquire the necessary immunities to fight off infection. If they acquire RSV, they would very likely be re-hospitalized and develop other serious complications.

To protect the boys from RSV and other illnesses and complications, we ask that all visitors do the following:

- When you arrive to the house, please wash your hands for at least 1 minute (sing the long version of happy birthday twice) and then use hand-sanitizer as needed before touching or holding the babies.

- Please refrain from coming over if you are currently sick, if you live with someone who is currently sick, have been in contact with someone who is sick, and/or if you have not been symptom-free for at least 5 days.

- If you smoke, we ask that you refrain from smoking 30 minutes prior to visiting because the babies' lungs are very sensitive. Our pediatrician strongly recommends against any passive and second hand smoke exposure, so if you plan to visit please bring a separate, smoke free shirt to change into and wear at the house.

- If you are parents to a baby or toddler, please either refrain from bringing them to the house during RSV season or please be certain that they are not sick and have not been sick for at least 2 weeks and we may ask that they wear a mask in the house or near the babies.

Thank you all so much for all of your love and support thus far and we appreciate your understanding as we try to do what is best for our boys.

Love, Mike and Leah

February 22nd, 2008

So much has happened over the past few days! All of the boys graduated to cribs from their isolettes, and they have all maintained their temperatures in the room air so far. They all got their circumcisions and survived (although their mother almost did not, boo hoo) and they are all healing nicely. They all have their feeding tubes out and they are taking the majority of each feeding by mouth, sometimes they cannot make their goals but for the most part they are taking their bottles by mouth entirely. They all still have a bit of trouble breathing while eating, not every feeding, but here and there. They usually self recover from their breathing troubles pretty quickly but it can be a bit scary feeding them all. The best news is that it is looking like some if not all of the boys will be coming home next week which is very exciting. The only thing keeping them in is the feeding problems and we are hoping that they will resolve over the next few days. Here are some current pictures of the boys.

Michael

Konrad

Zachary

February 18th, 2008

All of the boys are eating by mouth from bottles now. Instead of having a 3 hour feeding schedule, the NICU has a system of feeding called "Cue based" where they only feed the boys if they wake up and show feeding cues and signs of being hungry. They let the boys sleep between feedings for as long as 5 hours but if they don't wake up then they wake them up at 5 hour and feed them. This is really hard for Mike and I because sometimes when we come to visit we cannot hold the boys because they are in between feedings and need to sleep or at least wake up by themselves and if we hold them we might get them off schedule or wake them up early. I can only get into see the boys once or twice per day and I really think that it is important for both me and them that I hold them and bond with them so I am honestly not sure if I like the cue based feeding theory but I am trying not to be a momzilla so I haven't thrown a huge fit yet. The boys are doing well with it though and they are taking most of their feedings by mouth. Michael is 3 pounds 10 ounces and Konrad and Zachary are 3 pounds 8.5 ounces. They are all 41cm long or around 16 inches and their heads are around 11.5 inches each. Konrad and Zachary have lost their cords but Michael is hanging on to his still. All in all they are still doing well.

February 16th, 2008 - We are so CUTE!

Our boys are so cute! They are growing every day and getting so big. Michael ate his whole bottle again today and Zachary at 18cc of his. Konrad is still learning to suck but I know he will figure it out soon! Here are some pictures from today's visit, just look at these babies :)

Michael

Konrad

Zachary

February 15th, 2008

Uncle Chris, Aunt Chrissy, Jessie and Brett came to visit the boys this afternoon. Brett and Tessa came too but they weren't able to come in to see the babies. I am so very proud to say that each of the boys met a milestone today. All of the boys are drinking one bottle each day and Michael drank his whole bottle, 30cc, this morning! Konrad and Zachary are close behind and drank 8cc and 9cc this morning. Konrad lost his umbilical cord this afternoon and he has a very cute belly button. Zachary started sucking his thumb today! He has been playing around with the idea for a while now and this afternoon he finally got his thumb in his mouth and started sucking. Each day I see them the boys look older. Their hair is getting longer and their heads are getting bigger and they seem to be more alert and awake before their feeding times. Michael is leading the pack at 3 pounds 8 ounces and Konrad and Zachary are close behind at around 3 pounds 5 ounces each. All three of the boys are just about ready to come out of their incubators because they are maintaining their temperatures by themselves without help from the heaters in the incubators. They should all come out into cribs sometime next week. As long as things keep going the way that they are, it looks like the boys will remain at the hospital for atleast 2 more weeks and maybe 3 weeks.