Maybe a few more weeks of the NICU

Another good day for the Howlands. Both boys have continued to do well today. Braylon has been either bottle feeding or nippling about half of his feeds without very many brady spells or desats. Dr. Egger said to start preparing for him to be discharged in about a week or two, although, we are not getting our hopes up. Bryan will be bringing the car seats up on Saturday in case we really do get to do the car seat test within the next couple of weeks. It is one of the requirements for discharge. He will also be bringing up any essentials we may need to make Braylon feel at home at the RMH such as the bassinet, blankets, etc. if he does come home before his brother.
Kaden has continued to do so well on his cannula that they are letting him stay on it 6 hours at a time and then back on c-pap for 4 hours. The nurses said that they really can’t tell the difference in his respiratory status on c-pap or cannula, which is great news, meaning his lungs are developing enough that he may be able to tolerate the cannula full time soon. Dr. Egger wants to try a “bubble” c-pap with him on Thursday. It is very similar to the cannula in appearance but gives a little more pressure like the c-pap. This would eliminate all of the head gear that is required for c-pap, which will be more comfortable for Kaden, and if he tolerates it, he will not have to alternate between two different devices allowing him to use his energy for better things such as growing. It doesn’t look like he will be going home as soon as brother but shouldn’t be too far behind. The doctors and nurses keep saying he may surprise us though so to go ahead and bring both car seats up.
Both boys may require some extra help when going home. Braylon may need to go home on a small dose of caffeine to help with the brady spells and that would mean he would go home on a monitor. Kaden may or may not need caffeine and/or oxygen when he is discharged, which would also require a monitor. Although I think it might help ease my anxiety about taking the boys home since I have gotten so use to watching the monitors, the nurses keep telling me it won’t help us sleep any better at night instead we will just be overly anxious about all the false alarms. Hopefully we won’t have to mess with any of it. The more I think of it, I would rather not turn our home into a smaller version of the NICU.
Sunday will be a big day for the boys. Not only will it be their first Easter, we are planning on holding them together for the first time. Both boys are stable enough to do that now but we are holding off until Bryan is back to share the big moment. It will be the boys first time meeting each other again since being in the womb. The monitors and oxygen are connected to these huge booms that can stretch almost to the center of the room which will allow us to keep both boys on the appropriate equipment while holding them. Bryan and I are so excited; it feels like we have been waiting a long time for the boys to be reunited. It will have been over a month since the boys have been side-by-side. There will be a ton of pictures I am sure.
The boys have their first eye exams tomorrow. I am told that this can be a little disturbing to watch but not necessarily painful since they numb their eyes before using the clamp like device to hold their lids open. They encourage the parents to be there so they can hear the results straight from the eye doctor but warn them about the appearance of the procedure. I have an idea of what it is like since I had eye surgery several years ago but am not really looking forward to watching it be done to my children. I will let you all know how it goes.

Interesting Fact: Today we met with our discharge nurse because she had some questions about our insurance. We asked her how much it cost to have our boys in the NICU. To our surprise it cost almost an average of $4000 per day each, so $8000 a day. Since delivery Braylon has racked up a bill around $180,000 and Kaden's is around $295,000. By the end of the week our boys will have spend $500,000 or 1/2 a million dollars by the time they are 1 month and a couple days old. Wow!!! This does not include my medical costs at all. Thank goodness for insurance.

Kaden with his puppy dog blankie from G-Grandma Betty and G-Grandpa George for Easter


Kaden just hangin' out in the NICU


Braylon holding his own binkie


Braylon having a heart-to-heart with his monkey blankie from G-Grandma Betty and G-Grandpa George, from his Easter basket


"I'll be going home when monkeys fly out my butt" (Bryan made this saying up, if you couldn't tell)


Momma feeding Braylon