Worn out little boys

Good evening all, how is everyone? I hope all is well. So, do you rememeber when I said that the boys had a transport team, and a special bed, and ambulance that they came over in?  I finally saw it tonight! I didn't get to see it that night because I was in surgery. Craig saw it tough, and said it was crazy. When we were going in to the NICU tonight, one was in the hallway. Wow, that is intense!Let's be honest, it's probably better that I didn't see it, right?  I probably would have freaked out. Now that they are older, I can look at it, and admire it. Okay, let's get started.

Brady
Brady is doing okay, but I am a little worried. He had a few bradycardia episodes tonight, and a few low saturation events. He also is still pale. He definitely needs some blood. They have not given him any because his retic count has been okay, even though his h&h, which I think is his hematocrit and hemoglobin has been low. They want to give his body a chance to produce blood on his own. This is good, but is also bad because we have the issues that were mentioned. The nurse told the doctor that he needed blood, but the doctor said that he wanted to wait to see the number in the morning. We called to check on some blood today, and big surprise, it is missing...again. This will make bag number 4. Now we are getting pissed. Anyway, we did a little bit of kangaroo time, but it was a little stressful for both of us. His monitor went off for most of it, and he pulled his tube out of his nose, which dropped his rates. Once he started to cry and stress, I put him back. I love holding him, but if it makes his issues worse, I will let him sleep and get his rest. He was 1270 grams tonight, which I think is 2 lbs 12 oz. His big improvement today was that they started bolus feedings. This means that he gets a syringe full every three hours. So, he went from 7.5 ml of food all the time, to one big gulp! He gets 20 ml right now, and the max he can have is 24 ml. What happens is, they fill his syringe, plug it to his tube, and you hold it up and let it free drip. It takes a long time, but that's so he doesn't throw up. They said that he will start to get a little more fussy now, because he will start to get hungry at the end of those three hours. He did cry a lot tonight. It is still isn't a full cry, but he lets it known that he is upset. he pooped a ton and a half tonight for us. He had some blood tinged mucous today that they had to suck out, but the o2 really dries him out. Hopefully he will get some blood tomorrow, because I can tell he doesn't feel good.

                                                              Look I'm sitting up already, haha, no.. he had help!

                                                                     Peek-a-boo, holding my nurses hands, she is my bestie!

Patrick
Patrick looked good tonight. He was very quiet, which worried me a little, but then Craig said he is up to his full feeds, at 5 ml/hr again. Last time he was at his feeds he was quiet too, because he loves the "booby juice" as Brady's nurse calls it. They crack me up. I don't know how much he weighed tonight because Craig did it, and he is snoring next to me right now. I will have to check. His head looks more formed today, so he is looking good. We are just waiting for his hair to come back in. They lowered his vent after a good gas, and hopefully, it will go down throughout the week. The he gets the CPAP.

                                                       Looking like a little man again

                                                                    Getting my food, yum

                                                                     Full belly and my pacifier = love

Have a great day everyone!
The Connors