May 24, 2010:
32 weeks, 3 days. 20 days of life!
Things have been sort of status quo so to say. Our babes are considered "feeders and growers" in NICU-land meaning they are stable and pretty much need to eat and grow.

Ryan is currently at 3# 3 oz and Nathan is 2# 14 oz. Hopefully this week, I will be able to say they are both >3#. Huge milestone! Ryan has been successful on room air only to have somewhat fast breathing (although they don't believe that the small amount of flow he was on helped any.) Nathan continues to be on 2L per nasal cannula with 30% flow. He has been unable to wean so far from it as his oxygen saturation levels dip when they attempt to do so. He might have a brewing umbilical cord infection, but they are currently just watching it. Both boys are hit or miss with their wake/sleep times with cares. They are so fun to interact with when they are awake. They have also done very well with learning how to suck and swallow. The lactation consultant has stated that they are advanced for their age in this area. Wahoo! I work with both of them daily on the suck/swallow stuff to get breastfeeding underway one of these days. They are still exclusively fed every three hours through their tube that starts in their mouth and into their stomach. The breastmilk is fortified with extra calories to help with their weight gain. It has been working wonders so far! Ryan and Nathan respond very well to "k care" and rapidly fall asleep with good heartrates, respirations, and oxygen saturation while out with Kris or myself. They have been maintaining their core temperatures very nicely while out of their "space ships" in which Kris refers to their isolettes. They have been transferred from isolettes with humidity to air isolettes and they are almost ready to convert to an actual crib!

Today Kris started his new job and I went back to work as well. So many changes for us. I am definitely tired and ready for bed! My day today consisted of pumping (yeah-that's round the clock), getting ready for work, driving to the hospital to do cares with the boys, bathe Nathan,work on nuzzling, suck/swallow, holding, eat lunch while driving to work, go to work for 4 hours, go back to the hospital to hold and do cares, eat another crappy meal (as Kris and I are too tired to cook and it's after 8 PM), and wrap up emails, mail, and other tasks to get ready for tomorrow. Probably doesn't sound that bad compared to most people's lives with kids, dogs, spouses, yards,sports, etc., but crazy for ours (as is a change!)

Anyways, we have all been doing very well. Learning to transition to this new way of life for now.....