The Howlands: Trying to kick the C-Pap

Today has been a good day for the Howland twins. Kaden has gotten rid of the bili-light and has been tolerating his high-flow cannula better this time around. The nurse said he had a few desats at the beginning of her shift this morning just before it was time for him to be placed back on c-pap. When they are this little they like to keep their oxygen saturation between 80% and 95%. He had a few desats when we arrived for his noon care times but when Dr. Egger caught up with us to give us a little report and began to talk about the c-pap, Kaden’s saturation continued to climb above 95% and set off the alarms in the unit to the point they had to turn his oxygen down. I think he was saying, “I’ll show you what I can do.” We love it when he sets off the alarms for having high oxygen levels. He has continued to do well on the cannula throughout the day and was even on room air for a while. His nurse thinks that it is his way of showing who his favorite nurse is. The nurses say he does the best when Bryan and/or I are there and they can tell he really enjoys his visits with us. He opens his big eyes up and studies our faces and the alarms start dinging, the good kind of dinging. It is amazing how he will turn his head to our voices and look right at us. I just love it. Today we even got some smiles out of him. He loves having his head messaged and there were times when he had a huge smirk on his face. His belly looks so much better since they have adjusted his feeds and he seems so much more comfortable other than throwing a fit when they put him back on c-pap, he even let out a few toots this evening. He also has been doing less of the color changes which is a huge relief. It really had me worried yesterday, to the point of tears. We pray that he keeps this up and he can get rid to the c-pap for good.
Braylon continues to just plug along. He is still on full feeds and I think I can see a little chub starting to form on his cheeks. They are going to try and thicken his feeds to help with his reflux. He has had a few desats and Dr. Egger believes they are related to his feedings rather than him forgetting to breath. He still gets to wear his clothes when he doesn’t mess on them. Today he had a hospital onesie on and he was just swimming in it. He really enjoys his holdings twice a day and has gotten our schedule down. He knows that he gets held at noon and 8pm and will lay in his little bed with his eyes open waiting for Bryan or I to come pick him up and rock him. I love it when Bryan is here because while he is holding Braylon I can spend time with Kaden and vice-versa. Last night we each got to hold a baby at the same time.
I had my two week follow up appointment and everything is looking good. My incision is almost completely healed and my blood pressure is back to normal. I have lost five more pounds since last week. I told them this is the first time I am actually excited to step on the scale. I’m moving back down to my smaller maternity clothes. At least I am getting my money’s worth. Hopefully I won’t have to keep my next follow up appointment in four weeks (we are hoping we are home by then), but the nurse practitioner is very nice and I have really enjoyed her care.
The boys had another visit from Grandma Brenda and a first time visit from Mike M. Brenda was able to get some more great pictures of the boys. She was even able to catch Kaden with his smirk. Kaden had his first family picture with mommy and daddy also. We haven’t been able to get a good one with him because he has always had the head gear on for the c-pap. He was really loving the camera today.
Bryan has headed back to Lewiston for his work week. It was hard again to see him leave, we both really miss each other while he is gone and he really misses his boys. I don’t think it will ever get easy. The phone calls with little updates have already started after the boys 8pm care times. It was nice to call and tell him that the boys are continuing to do good.
My Grandma, Great-Grandma Cloann, is going to be staying with me at the Ronald McDonald house until the end of this week. It will be nice to have her company. She made it to the boys 8pm care time with me and was able to steal a little snuggle from Braylon. When we left both boys were swaddled and sleeping. Kaden lost his hand privileges because he was pulling on his tubing, so he got put in a little baby straight jacket. He looked so comfortable swaddled in his bed I went ahead and swaddled Braylon and he enjoyed it too.

Kaden smiling