Category Archives: Baby Photos

August 19, 2010

Twins

Yes, they are twins. They are two boys. Yes, they are cute babies.

No, they are not identical; they are fraternal. No, that does not mean identical twin brothers.

Yes, I can tell them apart. How? I look at them.

Thank you. Yes, I have lost all the baby weight. No, I don’t have a big secret. I just didn’t have a third trimester.

Yes, we absolutely have our hands full. Our lives, as well as our hands, were much emptier without them.

Yes, they eat on the same schedule. We’re the parents, that’s why. No, we don’t get a lot of sleep. No we don’t know how we do it either. But we do.

Yes, they are natural. What the heck is an artificial baby?

5 Comments

August 9, 2010

The Circus Comes to Town

Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Step right up. Come and see the amazing million dollar miracle muppets!

Cuter ex-preemies you will not see.

Together Again

Only 73 days it took both boys to triumph. They have shunned ventilators; defeated breathing and feeding tubes. Tripling their weight in two and a half months, these chunky monkeys are not to be missed!

This almost surreal experience of having both twins together again has been months in the making. In January, they shocked their parents by being multiples. In March, they announced a future filled with blue. In April, they began plotting the great escape. In May, they arrived at 27 weeks and 4 days.

Now, this August 9, both boys are home!

After 10.5 weeks in the hospital following Mom’s six weeks on and off in the hospital the two have undoubtedly created one impressive hospital bill. Well worth every penny. Fattened from two pounds to almost seven. Stretched from only a foot long to 19 inches. These two and a half month old babies correct their gestational age to 38 weeks today. Mere newborns!

Stubborn and fighters. The million dollar miracle muppets are home. They’re both home. Finally. The experience of finally being all together as a family is surreal.

We're all home.

Step right up. Come and see the amazing million dollar miracle muppets – living with a finally full-time mommy and daddy.

(Please remember not to touch the muppets. Previously compromised systems are still developing into healthy big boys.)

6 Comments

August 2, 2010

Triple Threat

Our Little All-Stars

Our baby boys aren’t so little anymore. Today’s NICU update revealed that the muppets are six pounds.

I shall repeat that.

Our tubby little muppets are six pounds. I actually asked one of their doctors if they were getting a bit swollen – water retention perhaps. “No,” came the reply. “They’re just fat.”

Two and a half months ago, I was lying in a hospital bed praying for chubby babies. Two pounds sounded huge for 27-weekers. Search and Destroy have tripled in size. Instead of purple little aliens, we have the cutest babies in the NICU. (I may be biased.) Even the nurses and doctors continuously stop by the boys crib to comment on how big they’ve grown.

Today also marks 37 weeks as the twins’ corrected gestational age. They are officially full term babies. And that means they could possibly be home soon. We’re getting close – so very close.

Our oh-so-talented muppets are also just about three for three on NICU graduation criteria.

Regulate your own temperature.
Easy-peasy. They’ve been chillin’ at a brilliantly self-regulated 98.6 (give or take a degree) since the end of June when they hit a mere three pounds.

Look! No tubes!

Breathe all by yourself.
Neither muppet has a nasal cannula any longer – or any other breathing assistance apparatus. They still swing a bit when it comes to their oxygen saturation levels, but those swings are at much higher percentages. There are no more real apnea or bradycardia episodes occurring; the only issues take place occasionally during feedings. The doctor noted that they are not as concerned with minor de-saturations that occur during meals because we know precisely why they’re happening – a large nipple is stuck in the boys mouths. (Plus, they’re still breathing. Current episodes just involve shallow breathing.)

Today we were told they just want to watch for a couple more days. We’re talking homecoming dates in days now!

Just look at those chubby cheeks!

Eat all your food.
This requirement sounds like something I’ll be dealing with for many years as a parent. “Eat the rest of your dinner, Search.” “Just a few more bites please, Destroy.”

Destroy is a rock star in this arena. Both kids are now on the “discharge diet.” This consists of straight breast milk with two servings of higher calorie formula per day. Yesterday, Destroy woke up at 9:30 a.m. for his 10 a.m. breakfast date. A nurse in our pod let the boys nurse know that I’d be in soon to give Destroy his bottle. By 9:45 a.m., Destroy was screaming so loud that the nurses were begging someone to just hurry up and feed the child. Today, Destroy drank his milk so quickly and expressed great displeasure with me when I took the bottle away. Since he was still making overt mouthing motions, I tried giving him his pluggie. That was spit out right quick with a look that clearly stated, “There is no milk in that piece of plastic, Mom.”

Search is doing well too, he’s just not quite as interested as his brother. His culinary disinterest is what puts him a couple days behind his brother in terms of release dates.

Our next step is “rooming in.” We’ll spend a day or night in a hospital hotel room (yay, spending more time in the hospital). The boys will not have any monitors or medical staff hovering around. It will be just up to us to parent them – but that non-hovering medical staff will be right there should we need them (or panic and think we need them).

We’re hoping that we’ll have a baby home by the end of the week. Eat, breathe and stay regulated boys!

5 Comments

July 28, 2010

Don’t Chart That!

Happy two months to my little muppets! Sixty-one days down in the NICU, but we’re making progress. The last two hurdles to clear are a full five days with no As and Bs (apnea and bradcardias) and steady oxygen saturation and two full days of taking all their feedings via the bottle.

Mommy's Little Man

We’ve now reached that point where time has slowed down. We’re so close, but not quite there yet – or should I say not quite home yet. And every progressing day brings stronger feelings that they are MY children (with subtle overtones of “back off nurse”). We are eager to take on the life-changing experience of full parenthood.

This morning a nurse told us not to bother Search because they liked to let him rest. Jon was in process of changing a poopy diaper. This was the first time in two months someone had told us not to touch our babies without a very specific medial reason. (And as Search’s mommy and daddy, we’d made the executive parental decision that our child would rest better when not stuck in a smelly diaper.)

Naturally, Jon and I have grown incredibly close with them and feel that we are getting pretty good at reading their cues. This particular skill has been greatly enhanced by some of our favorite nurses who subscribe to the “they’re your babies – you deal with them” method of care. Yet because their regular nurses spend so much time with them, they’re part of our family right now too.

During their NICU stay the boys have amassed an awesome team of nurses who know them and their quirks as well as us. (Dear Search and Destroy’s regular night nurses – I’ve never met you, but I’m assuming you’re just as awesome as our day and evening nurses).

Destroy

Search and Destroy still swing. One of the neonatologists continues to call them the “Swing Boys” instead of the “Stream Boys.” But they’re recoveries back up to full oxygen saturation have become so much faster that the monitors are often up to half a minute behind. Last week, Destroy’s levels dipped low. A nurse unfamiliar with him rushed to his bedside and hurriedly started trying to stimulate him while frantically looking back and forth between a bemused looking Destroy and the offending monitor. Moments later, our nurse returned from her break. She peered into the crib and calmly noted, “He’s fine.”

“But I really don’t like those numbers!” the unfamiliar nurse retorted.

“So don’t look at the numbers,” our nurse suggested. “Look at the kid.”

When the boys swing during feedings, our nurses barely give us a second glance. They know the boys and they know us. They’ve made it clear when we’re visiting they rely on us to let them know if something is off. Jon and I have chosen to interpret this as a great sign of confidence.

Search

But a nurse who doesn’t know them often thinks of them as “the twins” or “the baby.” Our nurses know them as Search and Destroy. The nurses who don’t know them don’t know that they’ll immediately recover from a swing. A nurse who doesn’t know them doesn’t know if they have competent parents. And a nurse who doesn’t know them charts EVERYTHING. As we get closer to bringing them home, the slightest look of concern by an unfamiliar nurse prods exclamations of “Don’t chart that!” out of fear that it will ultimately delay homecoming.

It’s a vicious little circle since the reason our boys are doing so well is due to the conscientious team of nurses and doctors who don’t take any abnormality lackadaisically. Jon and I appreciate everything that the NICU staff have done for the muppets. And to Search and Destroy’s regular team of NICU family – we can’t thank you enough. You are amazing, informative and entertaining. And we can’t wait to be rid of you.

The muppets are scheduled to have a multitude of vaccines today. (What a way to celebrate two months on Earth…) So we’re happy to have all that additional help taking care of potentially tired, cranky, sore, sick boys.

5 Comments

July 26, 2010

Five Pound Fashion

When the nurses originally told us it would happen, Jon and I found it very difficult to believe. Really? Three pounds in a month, we questioned. But Nurse Susan assured us that the NICU folks are experts at fattening up children.

Destroy and the fishies

Search - Daddy's All Star

Well, today the muppets hit five pounds. Chunksters!

This past weekend the twins graduated to Newborn size diapers. This may or may not have had anything to do with growth. Diaper size increases are usually determined by the current diapers inability to contain poop. (Prior to having children I never imagined I would care so much about bodily functions.) The new diapers are much kinder to the boys increasingly expanding tummies. Last Friday, Jon noted that Destroy was beginning to look like a football – little arms and legs, big oversize midsection.

Even more exciting is today’s development. Along with the five-pound milestone, Search and Destroy no longer fit into their adorably tiny preemie size onesies. Their wardrobe options have just increased exponentially. Destroy was clad in a standard issue hospital shirt – size 6 months – which is provided to all babies, from preemie to jumbo term size. He may as well have not been wearing anything for how big that shirt is. Search was still wearing his preemie outfit since he hadn’t yet spit up on it. But when the Nurse Susan arrived for her evening shift, she found Search squirming about with the bottom snaps not even closed. Perhaps Nurse Margaret thought he needed extra breathing room.

For outfits that were still rather loose when we first clad the muppets with them, they were awfully snug these past few days. I was a proud mommy this afternoon as I toted the larger outfits into Pod B. Granted, these new outfits are still rather roomy. But they’ll quickly grow into these too. At the rate they’ve been growing, we’ll be taking home babies that actually fit into those size 6-month standard issue shirts…

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July 22, 2010

Still Not Home

Shocking news – the muppets are still in the hospital. If you’ve ever stopped and wondered, “Hmm, I wonder how long it takes for preemie parents to reach extreme levels of frustration,” allow me to enlighten you. The answer is seven and a half weeks.

This week was a particularly difficult one for me. The boys are still doing very well. They’re growing and getting ready to come home via the slow and steady method. But they’re still swinging up and down with their oxygen saturation. This was the first potential week that we may have seen the boys homeward bound. Guess what isn’t happening?

To be fair, I never really thought they’d be home this week – I thought they’d be home next week. Ever since we learned double trouble was upon us, I’d expected to bring them home in late July. But I did expect that perhaps they’d be completely sans nasal cannula and holding a steady saturation level (of 97-100 percent).

No more photos...please!

I know 36 weeks is the average gestation for twins and next Tuesday is G.G and Uncle Paul’s birthday. I thought the twins arrival would be a great birthday gift. Obviously, that didn’t happen. So I thought the next best thing would be to bring them home. Such mental decrees led me to really picture this as their due date. Ultimately, we have always been told to expect them home by their due date (which is actually Aug. 23) but they will let us know when they are ready to blow that NICU popsicle stand.

The combination of unmet expectations, closing in on the two month mark and just how darned cute the muppets are getting led to a very frustrating moment for me. It was hard to take a step back and remind myself that even though their NICU residency seems like it’s been forever, and even though they’re four and a half big boys now, they’re still only 35 weeks – still tiny. I should still be pregnant for another month! (Good grief, I honestly cannot imagine still being pregnant.)

Search

This past weekend was an absolute circus in the NICU. As I mentioned, the unit was at capacity. It seemed like there was a new admittee every five minutes. Young preemies to full term babies were rolling into the unit ensconced in their Giraffe isolettes. Nurses running to and fro, yelling out alphabet soup: TPN, PCH, CBC, ABR, CPAP, CC, ROP, ML, EKG, NG, IV, PDA and – what the heck, we’re talking children here, – ABC, 123. Babies crying. Dinging – oh, the dinging – alarms screaming from every nook and cranny. Nurses tending to babies in multiple pods. The charge nurses wandering around asking who wanted to work doubles.

Destroy

Destroy and I were cuddling in a corner, observing the chaos. The one stat I kept noticing were how many of the babies had high steady sat levels. Today I asked Dr. Dong when the swings would stop. He just looked at me with a slightly pitying, slightly amused expression. “I don’t know…when they’re ready.” So much for my hopes that he’d suddenly peer at the boys and reply, “July 23. 1:32 p.m.” However, he did wryly note that yes, it will someday stop. He mentioned, “We’ve seen a lot of kids like this. It seems like the swinging will never stop and then suddenly it just does.”

Search and Destroy truly are our little miracles. And we’ve been really blessed that, despite all they’ve been put through, they’re healthy. (They’re still tiny, but they’re healthy.) They are coming home – it’s just a matter of when at this point. I’ve discovered the cure to my frustration is seeing one of the boys smile or coo. And a slightly calmer NICU helps as well. Homecoming is just a matter of weeks now. Then the boys can cause all other types of frustration for their parents.

Despite the occasionally frustrating situation we’ve found ourselves in, Jon and I are tremendously enjoying getting to know our boys. Their personalities are really starting to shine through. And double trouble is oh so very accurate.

6 Comments

July 16, 2010

Breaking Up is Hard To Do

Search “The Chubster” and Destroy “Chunky Monkey” are both doing well as they hit their seventh week of life.

When we first joined the NICU family we knew there would be ups and downs in their progress. At the time, I didn’t realize they meant that literally. In Pod B, the Stream boys are known as “The Swing Boys” and “The Dueling Desatters.”

Their oxygen saturation levels continue to bounce up and down. Sometimes we think it may just be to keep their nurses on their toes. The monitors track their heart rate, breathing rate and the aforementioned saturation levels – when levels fall below a set number, an alarm starts beeping. (We may have to find a recording of obnoxious beeping to soothe the boys once they come home.)

Time seems to stretch out as their corrected gestational age closes in on the point where they would no longer need an extended NICU stay. And since Search and Destroy are doing well, we are breathlessly awaiting the time when they come home. (Medical opinion is still placing bets on Search to precede his brother.)

Today, we saw what the light at the end of the tunnel looks like. M, the little girl across the pod, went home today. Born in March at a tiny two pounds, she proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was a fighter. On several occasions her mother reminded us to never lose hope – if her little girl could make it, so would ours. And no matter how far away the time seems, someday soon they’d all be home.

M would often sit near the boys crib, charting with the nurses. Sometimes she’d eat her bottle while our boys attempted the new technique of sucking and swallowing. Being the great flirts that they are, the nurses referred to her as the boys’ girlfriend. In that sense, we were sad to see her go. But in the grander scheme – we’re thrilled she’s gone. There will be plenty of older women in their lives…

Seeing our friend depart reminds me that our family is not too far off from being together. Search and Destroy have grown so much already. They’ve doubled their birth weight and are now a giant four pounds each.

This evening the doctor decided they were growing so well, that their calories have been decreased. (We want chubby babies, but the doctor is concerned about the potential for not-as-cute fat toddlers.) Although the boys are on a steady diet of mom’s milk, it’s mixed with human milk fortifier to fatten up babies. It also makes them constipated. So they spend a majority of their days trying to poop.

We’re hoping that the slow decrease of sludge will help relieve their tummies and as a consequence release pressure from their diaphragm, allowing them to maintain a steady oxygen saturation level. This will make for a very much less paranoid mommy.

As a start, Search was relieved of his nasal cannula today. He is no longer receiving any oxygen assistance; breathing is all up to him. So far, so good – here’s hoping he keeps it up! It’s amazing how much cuter he is without giant tubes in his nose.

Keep your eyes peeled – sometime, not too long from now – there should be a post that someone’s coming home.

5 Comments

July 13, 2010

Doctors Little Helpers

I have completely lost track of the days. I could not tell you what day of the week it is today nor whether it’s been three days or 30 since the last update. Six and a half weeks into this adventure, the boys are 34 weeks corrected gestational age.

The routine remains exactly the same day in and day out. The routine remains exactly the same day in and day out. The routine remains exactly the same day in and day out.

We park the car in the second or third row of the parking lot. I take off my sunglasses to put on my eyeglasses when we hit the crosswalk leading past the complementary valet and into the Lawrence Hospital Entrance. We walk through the first set of automatic doors and head straight for the second set to our right – you don’t need to slow down, they’ll open right as you think you’re about to smash into them. I immediately prep for the blast of cold air conditioning that cools the hallway. We enter in front of Ambulatory Surgery, pass a set of restrooms and cross one of the hospital’s lobbies. Next to the gift shop are three elevators; we take whichever one arrives first up to the third floor. We then head toward the NICU’s lavender awning located to the right of the elevator bank.

We greet the receptionist with a smile and “hello.” She unlocks the door and we enter, stopping to wash our hands at the sink right on the left. After scrubbing with soap to the length of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star we wind our way past the first door with it’s sign reminding us to be quiet because there are “Babies Developing. Shhhh.” In front of a kiddie table, we pick up the phone and dial Pod B. When one of the nurses answers, we say, “Hi, it’s Jon and Tricia Stream. We’re here to see our boys. Can we come in?”

The door opens and we squirt a shot of antimicrobial gel onto our hands. We greet the nurses as we rub in the gel while heading to the second and third beds (now one pedi-crib) on the left of the pod. I put my purse under their crib and ask, “How are my little guys today?” The nurse tells us they’re doing well. Jon and I set about taking the boys temperature. Destroy screams bloody murder; Search makes grumpy faces. Then it’s time to change diapers. Wipes are located above the pod sink, where we dampen them with lukewarm water. Diapers are stored in each kids respective corner. As we pick up the muppets to feed them their bottle, I ask the nurse what their weight is.

Harumph

We’re all ready to come home. The nurses warned us when Search and Destroy first arrived that time would likely mess with our emotions in this precise manner – although time passed by so quickly at first, it will start slowing down interminably as we approach our homecoming date. We are currently looking at 2-3 weeks more – but at this point, it’s all up to the boys.

Search and Destroy seem equally ready to come home. In fact, they have overheard us speaking about the three big criteria and decided to let the nurses know they’re ready. Destroy has made it his personal mission to permanently remove his nasal cannula. My poor little guy currently has a large red welt on his cheek because of his vigorous removal methods. I assumed that ripping the tape off his face would make him cry. It did not – he just gave us all a sly grin. Every time we swaddle him, we’ll see his little hands sneak out of his wrap and covertly grip at his wires.

“Well you said we couldn’t come home until we were off our oxygen tubes.” Destroy was just speeding that process along.

Search knows he needs to be taking all his meals from a bottle. So when I told him how proud of him I was because he was such a good eater, he took it upon himself to take out his feeding tube. “Look Mom, all done!”

They’re just trying to help out the doctors. And slowly, but surely, they are making great strides. It just seems like forever right now. Today, Nurse Jennifer let us know that we’ll likely see a huge difference between week 34 and 35. And Nurse June think they’ll likely graduate in about two weeks. (And Nurse June doesn’t take any backtalk from the boys. They WILL progress under her care. Period.)

Each day our routine remains the same. I just need to remember to take a step back and remind myself that we weren’t even supposed to have met the munchkins yet. They’re still tiny babies – even if they are rapidly approaching merely “small” as opposed to tiny.

Search

Destroy

7 Comments

July 11, 2010

NICU Sucks

My heart always skips a beat when I see the hospital’s number on the caller ID. So I held my breath a bit last night when the phone rang a couple hours after my afternoon visit with the muppets.

It was Nurse June. “I just had to let you know – Destroy finished another whole bottle!”

Regulating their own temperature. Check. Breathing without assistance? We’re working on it. Taking all feedings from a bottle? Major steps forward. As I mentioned before, Search’s been doing great; he eats all of his meals from his bottle. And now, something has finally clicked with Destroy. Previously, despite his sucking enthusiasm, Destroy had not quite grasped the concept of swallowing. He’d get confused at what to do next with his mouthful of milk and stop breathing while he tried to figure things out.

Nurse June put a note in the boys chart stating, “ALWAYS use the light blue nipple when feeding. Do not change nipples until specifically directed by their primary RN!” (Shockingly, June is their primary nurse.) We’d been having a lot of success with the light blue nipple. And the night before, Destroy had taken half a bottle using it.

Three days after moving in together, Destroy and Search are feeding like champs. There’s no scientific proof that the cobedding spurred the improvement, but I’m pretty sure the two had a conversation about the fastest ways to get the heck out of dodge.

There’s also the competition angle. They’ve been naturally competitive since birth (see Musical Maladies), but their morning nurses have begun adding fuel to the fire of sibling rivalry. Margaret is Search’s nurse; Ann is Destroy’s. Their nurses taunt each other over the twins development.

“Gee, my baby takes all his bottles.”
“My baby finishes his bottles without desatting.”
“I hope your baby doesn’t get too lonely when my baby goes home first.”

I’ve tried explaining that we do not need to be playing favorites, but I don’t discourage them too much since their tough love bickering seems to be spurring along the boys development.

Despite the blatant favoritism, Search and Destroy seem to have a great relationship with their nurses. (Of course, they’re so cute I naturally assume everyone falls madly in love with them.)

"Handsome Like Daddy" - The shirt says it all.

It must be an interesting dynamic – the longer they care for a baby, the more attached they become – the more they care, the more they want to get rid of the child. Nurse Margaret is going on vacation this week. When she said goodbye, she let me know with a bit of a guilty tone that she hopes her Search is still around when she gets back.

We’ll come back and visit, I promise. But don’t get too attached. We can’t wait to be rid of you either. Besides, thanks to the boys nurses, the NICU sucks. My self-regulated toasty little muppets are both downing more than an ounce every three hours.

And this time, when I say the NICU sucks – it’s a very very good thing.

Hi Search!

Hello Destroy!

5 Comments

July 7, 2010

He’s Tiny

Search

“He’s tiny.” As I’ve mentioned before, it’s an actual honest-to-goodness medical diagnosis. One we’ve heard all to often. So much of the boys prognosis relies on their growth.

“They’ll grow out of it.”
“When they’re bigger this won’t be an issue.”
“No new update today. They’re growing, which is what they need to be doing.”

I think it’s the neo-natologists favorite NICU analysis.

Search and Destroy both weigh exactly 1,600 grams today – the equivalent of 3.5 pounds. Both are still on the nasal cannula with one liter of oxygen. Search is taking 60 percent of his feedings via bottle. I think he’d be able to take more if he didn’t spend the hour before mealtime suckling and mouthing to let us know he’s ready for food. By the time his milk, fortifier and vitamin milkshake concoction is ready – he’s spent. Destroy is 100 percent interested in the bottle, but he still hasn’t quite made the swallowing connection.

Guess what the consensus is on when they’ll figure out bottle-feeding completely. You got it – when they’re bigger. (34 weeks is the standard for babies to suck and swallow with purpose.)

Dr. Yuri Knauer is taking care of the muppets this week. This morning he stopped by to look at our boys. “Eesh, first we’ve got to get ride of this girly blanket,” he teased. Please note – the blanket he referred to is an adorable unisex green with a soft minky fabric. Then he mocked Destroy’s paw print onesie while telling us his lungs sounded good.

Destroy

I explained to Dr. Knauer that he was WAY off base about the onesie. Snips and snails and puppy dog tails anyone? That’s what little boys are made of!

“So in your professional opinion, when can we expect them to come home?” Jon asked as the doctor moved over to examine Search.

“Probably 3-4 weeks.” A forever away. As quickly as the time goes by, the slower the days get.

Jon and I sighed. “They’re never going to come home,” Jon moaned. You ever get that feeling of exhaustion, the despair that the battery is going out on the light at the end of your tunnel? Deep breath. In the grand scheme they’ll be home soon. But, and excuse me for a moment here, AARGH!

The doctor looked down at a squirmy little Search. He assured him that no matter what, he’ll always have a home because he would gladly take the little man home. It’s good to know our boys are so loved by their nurses and doctors, but I’m still really looking forward to taking them home.

Dr. Knauer then shared his bets were on Search to come home first. But given their competitiveness, I say anything’s possible. “They’re tiny. They need to get bigger,” he proclaimed. “That and change the silly shirt. And that’s my official medical opinion.”

Given that the nurses seem to think their wards will be home sooner, (and everyone knows the nurses really run the hospital) I bet the doctor was just being conservative with his estimate. I’ve noticed that a lot about the Kaiser docs… Additionally, Dr. Knauer obviously has some misconceptions about our boys – given that he doesn’t like the blankie or outfit.

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