Busy Day for Babies

Charlie, Annaleigh and Lily started their day today with eye exams. Perhaps not the most pleasant way to wake up, but I’m sure they were happy to get them over with. Their eyes were dilated with drops and then the eye doctor took a look too see how the blood vessels in their eyes were developing. As expected, all three babies’ eye development was immature, but beyond that there were no other issues. They will all be monitored once every few weeks until they go home to make sure everything is progressing normally, but no one anticipates any problems. Definitely good news!

After their eye exams Charlie and Lily were able to relax, but Annaleigh still had some excitement ahead of her. The doctors decided that she is ready to come off the CPAP and move on to the nasal canula. While the CPAP forces air into the babies lungs to help them breathe, the nasal canula simply provides a gentle flow of oxygen while the baby does all the work. Annaleigh was definitely ready to get rid of the CPAP and has been doing wonderfully on the nasal canula. We’re so proud of her, breathing like a big girl.

Annaleigh has the whole breathing thing down, however she is lacking a bit in the weight gain department. For the third night in a row her weight remained the same at 1115 grams, or 2 lbs 7 oz. Her nurse told us not to be concerned, that Annaleigh has been reaching a lot of other milestones, such as coming off the CPAP, which are causing her to work harder and burn more calories. That makes sense, but we are still hoping to see a nice gain from her tomorrow, and I will of course stalk the doctors tomorrow to get reassurance that nothing is wrong.

Charlie and Lily are both doing well with gaining weight. Lily put on 35 grams for a total of 1235, or 2 lbs 11 oz, and Charlie hung on to his 3 lb status with a gain of 30 grams. Lily is still on the CPAP and seems to be improving a little more each day. She has been having fewer episodes and has been better about bringing her oxygen level back up when it drops. Charlie is still clinging to his BiPap, but those days are numbered. The nurse practitioner said today that they plan to move Charlie to the CPAP either tomorrow or Wednesday. He still has plenty of episodes, but they still think it’s time for him to move on and work those lungs!

This evening the babies were sleepy from their busy day. I held all three babies this morning, and this evening the girls came out again for a cuddle with Joe and me. Charlie, however, was wiped. He was so conked out in his isolette that he didn’t even more when we were touching him and holding his hands. He must be resting up for his battle with the CPAP!

A better look at Annaleigh's new breathing aide. The cannular lets us see her beautiful face much more easily than the CPAP tubes.

Lily is alway wondering what's going on. Her eyes are just mesmerizing.