August 2, 2001
Week of July 29th
4 weeks old! Mia 1 pound, 9oz. Annika 2 pounds, 12oz.
We are so proud of the progress our girls have made this week! Mia is off all her IV fluids and is taking all her feedings orally as well as her medications. She was on two antibiotics, one for sepsis and one for possible pneumonia (turns out it wasn't). Our biggest surprise this week was Annika pulling out her breathing tube on Saturday night. The doctors had been weaning her down gradually all week but they were not planning on taking it out completely for 2 more weeks! She decided she had enough and she is now on CPAP (continous positive airway pressure) which forces air into her lungs via nasal prongs. This helps prevent her lungs from collapsing, but she does all the breathing by herself now. She is doing excellent and is surprising everyone with her progress. Both girls had their eyes checked on Friday for ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) this is common in preemies and involves the blood vessels of the retina growing in the wrong direction. Their eyes checked out fine, there was no evidence yet of ROP and they will be checked again every two weeks until the danger has passed. Both girls are now taking 9cc of breastmilk; hopefully they will start putting on the pounds!
Week of July 22nd
3 weeks old! Mia 1 pound, 8oz. Annika 2 pounds, 6oz.
Breastmilk feeding was started again this week. The girls seemed to tolerate it better than last attempt. The amount was gradually increased all week and Mia was tolerating 4cc ( about a teaspoon) every 2 hours. Annika was on 3cc every 2 hours as she was still having a harder time digesting. This week was also the first time we both got to hold the girls at the same time. Dean held Annika, Meg held Mia and the girls snuggled for 1.5 hours! Mia was started on antibiotics for possible sepsis (blood infection). She did not appear to be overtly ill but her blood cultures showed she had an infection which the doctors say is very common with preemies. Both girls have had several head ultrasounds to check for bleeding in the brain which is common in preemies and all results have been great!
Week of July 15th
2 weeks old! Mia 1 pound, 3oz. Annika 2 pounds, 5oz.
This week was by far the hardest because of Annika's surgery to close her patent ductus arteriosis (PDA) the cardiologist from UCSF, Dr Farmer came to the hospital with her surgical team and performed the surgery in 40 minutes. Annika recovered nicely but it was a terrifying experience for us letting our 2 week old baby undergo surgery. The doctors explained that there was really no choice in the matter, she had to have the surgery in order to keep blood flowing to her vital organs. The same night Annika had surgery, Mia had complications with her breathing tube. The doctors were not quite sure what was wrong and talked to us about how far we wanted to go in case she had serious problems. Fortunately, all she needed was a new tube and she was down to her previous readings on her ventilator. Whew-long week!
Week of July 8th
1 week old! Mia 1 pound 3 oz. Annika 1 pound 13 oz.
We held Annika for the first time! She did well with kangaroo care (laying skin to skin on mommie's chest) for an hour and 20 minutes- the same day that both girls were started on breastmilk. Feeds were stopped two days later because of complications with the girls not digesting the milk well. The doctors were worried about NEC (necrotizing entercolitis) which is common in preemies but can lead to serious complications and surgery on their intestines. The girls are being fed through an IV also from which they receive the necessary nutrients, fats and fluids until they can go on full oral feedings. We held Mia for the first time that week also! Very scary because she was sooo tiny but she did well. Both girls have been under the bili lights (lights to help break down bilirubin in the blood which if not broken down can cause serious problems) all week.
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