March 3, 2008

The above picture is Ryan. Yesterday Ryan was intubated, and he was so tired that he was letting the ventilator do all the work and he was resting. Today, he is taking breaths between the breaths that the ventilator is giving him. When he was first put on the ventilator his FiO2 was almost 50%; today, his FiO2 was 27% (see previous posts for explanation of FiO2). He is keeping his blood oxygenation levels up very well. The plan is to try to slowly wean him off of the ventilator today and try to extubate him tomorrow. He continues to tolerate his feedings, but he has not yet had stool.
The above picture is Reese. She is doing quite a bit better today. She has been having problems keeping her blood oxygen saturation up, and she has needed FiO2 above 45% most of the time. Today, her FiO2 was 27% and she was maintaining her blood oxygenation above 88%. She is tolerating her feedings, and had her feedings increased again today. She has started having stools. Her bilirubin level has come down from 10.6 to 8.4. Rylie gained weight between yesterday and today. His weight was up 30 grams, which is just a little bit more than one ounce. Ryan and Reese have not yet gained any weight. Babies loose weight after they are born; this is normal. Ryan and Reese have lost weight, but they have not yet gained any weight.

The above picture is of Rylie. He has his FiO2 at 21%, which is the same as room air, and is maintaining his blood oxygenation above 94%. He is still getting CPAP. The nurse says that when he is getting a bath, or some other care that requires removal of the CPAP, his blood oxygenation drops down into the mid 80's; so, he still needs the CPAP for now. He was having some problems with his feedings, so they were stopped for a while and then restarted at a lower rate. His bilirubin level has come down, so he no longer needs phototherapy. His cap was off today, and we finally got a look at his hair; as you can see he has dark hair.

Randall got to hold Rylie today (see pictures below). The whole time that Randall was holding him, his blood oxygenation stayed at, or above 95%. Rylie opened his eyes for a short time while Randall was holding him. Randall did not want to give him up so that he could go back into the warmer.




Today was very emotional for us. Shelley was released from the hospital. We came home; we needed to spend time with Racheal, and we needed time to rest. We were glad that Shelley was doing well enough to be able to come home; but it was very stressing to have to leave the babies.
Please pray that God will help provide financial help. The babies do not have any insurance, and the longer they are in NICU, the bigger the bill will be. We do not qualify for any of the financial assistance that the hospital has, and we do not have the funds to be able to pay the hospital bill. The babies may qualify for SSI since they were born premature, but they might not qualify because their weight is too high.