The boys are continuing to make progress although it never seems fast enough for me. It is always encouraging to hear the nurses, who have not seen them in a while, say how good they look. Both are gaining weight and Kaden has entered the 5lb Club as of last night. Braylon is still a member of the 6lb club. Everyone laughs about how plump he has gotten. He actually has rolls on his arms and thighs.
Kaden is still nippling about half of his feeds but keeps plugging away and does a little better each day. They have been able to gradually turn down the flow on his cannula and he has tolerated 2 liters from 3 liters for the past couple of days. Our goal is 1 liter of flow in order to go home on oxygen.
Both boys have their own obstacles to overcome before they are able to go home. Braylon has to stop having his brady spells and pass the car seat test. He is having lots of trouble with reflux which is the primary source of the drops in his heart rate. Kaden has to get his liter flow down on his oxygen and be able to tolerate it at 1 liter, although he has very few brady spells he has to outgrow those, be able to nipple all of his feeds, and pass the car seat test.
I am hoping that we will be home by their due date because they were due on Mother’s Day and that would be the best Mother’s Day gift ever. The nurses keep telling me that one day everything will just click and they will stop having the bradys, etc. I just keep waiting for that day to get here.

Here are some more cute pictures from everyone to enjoy.

P.S. Today is Daddy's Birthday but we can't say much yet until he is here to open his gifts.

Pictures As Promised

A Big Move

The boys have been reunited once again. They are now co-bedding again and both have Tucker Slings which helps keep them up right on the incline in their bed. Our nurse today didn’t think that it would be a problem to have Kaden elevated too. We are happy to see them together again.
On another note, we have been moved out of the East Pod to the Center Pod today for staffing purposes. We almost had a window room and a roommate but I threw a little fit and told them I preferred privacy over a window. There was absolutely no reason why we should have a roommate when there were several empty rooms (the staffing problem is that things are slow). I think our nurse felt bad because I think she could tell I was not happy with the move. There are people whose babies have only been there a few days and will be going home sooner than ours that could have moved. I am a little irritated that they would move someone who has been there as long as us and still has some time to go. We had made our other room feel more comfortable and then we had to move. Oh well, maybe we will have better luck in this room and we will get out of there sooner.
Both boys are making progress. Braylon has less brady spells and Kaden’s respiratory rate has been normal. They were even able to decrease Kaden’s high flow cannula from 3 liters to 2 liters. Once he can get down to 1 liter and nipple all of his feeds he will be really close to going home, even if it is with oxygen. He has a few brady spells but not nearly as many as his brother did. The nurse tonight said that he is improving by leaps and bounds and thinks that he won’t be too far behind Braylon. He is nippling every other feed and would nipple all of them if he had the stamina which will only come with a little more time and practice.
Braylon has had several massive poops today after being stopped up for over 24 hours. Thank goodness we moved him out of preemie diapers into size ones just in time because he would’ve had several major blowouts today.
I was able to hold both of the boys together tonight and it was so entertaining. They were both wide awake and interacting with each other. They were grabbing at each other’s faces and staring at each other. Braylon grabbed a hold of Kaden’s tubes and Kaden tried to suck on Braylon’s fingers. Brenda was able to get lots of good pictures and I will try and post them tomorrow.

Last night was a calm night. Both boys are doing well. Braylon is still having trouble pooping and they gave him prevacid, which helps with his reflux and some pear-nectar to help him poop. The reflux has been getting a little better, but he was still having trouble keeping in his stinky surprises for too long, but hopefully last night he gave the nurse a big ‘ol diaper sized pudding dessert. He hasn’t gone for over 24hrs so I’m sure when he does go it will be a big one.
Kaden has been doing well. He has been nippling every other feed and his respiratory rate has been staying down. He will be getting an increase in his protein, which will hopefully help him grow more, and he will now start stinking it up with his brother. The doctor also told us when he thinks the boys will be ready to come home. He said Braylon could be getting out in a week or two, and Kaden would be about a month or so. I would rather them just tell us a day or two before they knew exactly when they would be getting out. Braylon has been supposedly getting out for the last 3 weeks, and it kind of gets our hopes up.
Its been a long road, and I know things can only go up from here. I have two strong, healthy boys, and a beautiful strong wife, who hasn’t seen our home in over a month. She has been doing very well up here without me being around all the time, and I’m proud of her for that. So hopefully in the next month we will be out of Spokane and won’t come back for a long time.

more ups and downs

It’s amazing that in less than a week the boys change so much. They look bigger, have more color, and are more alert every time I come back and see them. Both boys are doing well, and have been separated again. Braylon was having to many brady spells and needed to be more elevated after he ate. The nurses didn’t think that would be fair to Kaden since he was doing alright just the way he was. It also makes it easier for us to do their cares. The crib sharing was fun while it lasted. Plus I think Kaden was getting tired of Braylon bragging about breast feeding and nippling all his feeds and stinking up the place.
Kaden was able to nipple a couple of feeds today. They have put him on lasix, which helps him get out the extra fluids that he is holding onto. This also allows his respiratory rate to be lower and then he is allowed to eat from a bottle or mama. We leave it up to him. They also said to not be surprised if he loses a little weight since they put him on it, but as of last night he weighs 4lbs 9oz. He is starting to be a little porker. Ash and I decided to try and nipple feed him every other care as long as he is up to it. We hope that it will help him grow and hopefully get him out of here faster.
Braylon has been doing a lot better with his brady’s since being elevated. As of tonight he only had a hand full, which is a move in the right direction. It seems to be with him whenever one problem gets better another occurs. He has been getting some stomach problems we think. Before when he was done feeding you could guarantee that he would have a surprise waiting in his diaper, today and yesterday it hasn’t been happening. After he eats he doesn’t really want to burp or leave a surprise and that has been irritating him. He will fuss and fuss and all we can do is try to get it out. The nurses brought him some gas drops and it seems to work but it takes a little while for it to sink down into his system. Hopefully he will do better tonight and he will let out a good one for his nurse. Even with his recent strike on pooping, he has gained weight and is now at 6lbs 1.2oz. At the rate he is going he will be crawling out of the NICU.

Little Mr. Stinky Gets A Bath

Over the past couple of days we have noticed a little odor while holding Mr. Kaden. Usually there is a stench to the probe that is wrapped around their feet to monitor their oxygen level but once you cover it back up you can’t smell it. Bryan and I started to notice that even after Kaden’s probe was covered and we were holding him we would get a whiff of stinky feet still. I told Bryan, “I think he is starting to smell like a stinky foot” and Bryan responded, “Yeah, I noticed that too.”
Yesterday while holding Kaden skin-to-skin I discovered that the smell was coming from behind his ears. I told the nurse about it and she said, “Yeah, with little guys like this, they work so hard breathing we don’t want them to waste their energy fussing over a bath so we just usually give them a spit bath.” So I tried to clean behind his ears some which helped a little.
I mentioned to the boys nurse today that Kaden was beginning to smell a little sour and she said that I could give him a bath, we would just have to be quicker than we would be with Braylon. I felt bad for the little guy and thought about how uncomfortable it might be for him to have not had a real bath; I could only think of how itchy it would feel.
He did really well with his bath and didn’t fuss nearly as much as his brother did. It did wear him out for most of the day but he was so calm after we were finished and he look so much more comfortable and looked like he was sleeping better. I love his little chicky fuzz hair after I dried him off and it was so nice to snuggle and kiss on him and not be reminded of the high school gym, although it didn’t ever stop me.
Both boys have continued to gain weight. Braylon weighed 5lbs 9oz and Kaden weighed 4lbs 7oz. Braylon is still a big eater and doing very well with feedings. He still has lots of apnea spells which is the only thing keeping him in the NICU but at least he is with his brother. We are not anxious to separate them now that they are co-bedding.
Mom is exhausted and running on fumes. So please forgive me for not being real good about keeping up on the blog. I think the hectic schedule with two babies in the NICU for over a month is finally starting to catch up to me.

Kaden buns


Kaden “enjoying” his first bath


Getting dried off



Mommy with a squeaky clean Kaden


Oh Yeah! And the boys with their 6 week old picture with their bear

P.O.S. Morning

Today started off badly, no it wasn’t with the boys but what we had found out before their noon care time. Ash and I were leaving the McDonalds, and had walked down the hill to where we usually have to park our car or jeep. Well usually we have both vehicles parked down on the street but the night before we had parking spot for the jeep. We had our usual stuff, cameras, the pump, some lunch for us, and what Ash had pumped from the night before and early morning. I was driving so I went to the driver’s side door, obviously. Before I had even attempted to open the door I had noticed something different about our car and I as I walked closer I saw a small hole in our window and it was completely shattered and looked like a spider web. Ya, some P.O.S shot our window with a pellet or bee-bee gun. They made us miss a care time with the boys, waste our time looking for a place to replace our window, and have to deal with the insurance company. So today could have gone a lot better, but what can you do?
We were still able to see the boys and that brightened our day. They are both doing well, but they still have a ways to go before we are able to take them home. Braylon is still having brady spells, and Kaden is still breathing to heavy for us to be able to nipple feed him as much as we want. The doctor and physical therapist decided that we could feed Kaden as long as his respiratory rate was under 60 breaths per minute. Last night and yesterday he was able to take 3 bottle feedings, which were 21, 23, and 40mL. Kaden’s full feed is 40mL so that was great, but later on he was tuckered out and his respiratory rate was too high for him to try anymore. We figured that we would give the guy a rest, like the nurses say “he’s not going home tomorrow, so no point in pushing him too much.” Braylon has still been doing well on his feedings, but he seems to get a little tired every now and then. He weighs 5lbs 6.5oz and Kaden weighs 4lbs 5oz. The boys are gaining some weight and trying to get out as fast as they can. Mom and Dad hope they will get out soon, so we don’t have any more un-expected costs. Dad got a speeding ticket the other day also, yay me!