Where we are now

Pictures from top:
Here's Hays
First time Mommy got to hold Hays
Hays getting a tan!
Here's Will!

Our boys headed straight for the neonatal intensive care unit, just like we knew they would. Hays was pretty stable from the get go. He was briefly intubated and put on the ventilator, but that didn’t last long. He was soon put on a c-pap which stands for constant positive airway pressure, and is basically a little oxygen helmet that goes in their nose and has a tube that sits on their heads. It doesn’t look very comfortable, but it beats the hell out of the vent. Will was a lot sicker. He was intubated, but he kept fighting the vent which would cause all the blood vessels in his lungs to close up so he couldn’t breathe. They had to give him a medicine to paralyze him so he couldn’t fight and use up all his oxygen. This medication also made him super-sensitive to light, sound, touch, really any kind of stimulation, so he was on morphine and kept in as much dark and quiet as possible. His eyes and ears were covered and we couldn’t touch him. It was touch and go every hour for a couple of days and it was really scary. He finally started to turn things around on the third day and they were able to lower all of his medications and get him off the paralyzing agent. He’s been getting more and more stable every day- Thank God!!!!!
Hays came off the c-pap after a couple of days and just has a nasal canula (oxygen prong thingies). He is doing incredibly well. He had to be on the bilirubin lights for a couple of days because of jaundice, but it has cleared up and he’s off the lights. He spends most of his day in his incubator sleeping and growing. Every couple of hours they change him, feed him through his nasal tube, check all his vitals, blood gasses, etc, but other than that we want him to use all of his energy for growing. Three days ago we got to start kangaroo care. That’s when I hold that tiny baby for an hour right against my chest. The skin to skin contact keeps them warm and helps them bond with their mothers. (And helps their mothers probably more than the babies!!!) It is truly the most wonderful hour of my day. He looks like a skinny, grumpy old man and I could not love a little face more!! Hopefully Will is going to be stable enough in a couple of days so he can join in on snuggle time. They tried to remove his vent tube today, but he just wasn’t quite ready. His heart rate kept going down, so they had to put the vent back in. But we’ll give it another try tomorrow or the next day. He’s going to get there soon- I have no doubts!!! And I finally got to pick him up tonight! No kangaroo care yet, but I at least got to hold him in my hands while they changed his bedding. And I got to change his diaper- funny how exciting a diaper change can be. Wonder how long it will take me to get tired of those!!!