No Chicken Legs Here!!!

Hey Everyone!

Jeremy is sick with the flu so I thought I would do the posting for him today. Mallory weighs 5.06lbs!!! and Kelby weighs 4.3lbs!!! They are getting soooo big.
Mallory is taking 2 bottles a day of 60cc. She was up to 3 bottles for a day or so, but that was to much work. The whole suck, swallow, breathe - is a lot of work for a little girl. She is on very little oxygen only .25L of oxygen flow and sating a 100.
Kelby should start taking a bottle in the next day or so. She is in a big girl crib and is only on .5L of oxygen flow and sating 96.
The doctors want to get them both off of oxygen this week. They are also looking for a a pedi. crib to co-bed them both in. When they find one we will take lots of pictures of that. Still no dates when they are coming home. I thought for a little while Mallory would be home by next Friday, now I am thinking it may take her another week or to two weeks.
Hope everyone is having a great day. Praise God for my healthy beautiful girls!!
Jennifer

Kelby hit 4 lbs!!

Not a lot to report today other than Kelby has hit 4 lbs! She is now an even 4 lbs and Mallory is 4 lb 13 oz. Mallory is still getting three bottles a day and is handling them well. She's occasionally a little too tired to finish off the whole thing, but she's doing great. We thank God for all the progress they have made! Kelby should be able to take a bottle soon, her oxygen requirements are still just a little too high.

Update

Not much new to report - the girls are both doing great. Mallory is now taking three bottles a day. She is now 4 lb 11 oz and Kelby is 3 lb 13 oz. They are getting bigger everyday and are getting more alert all the time. Mallory was really sleepy at lunch today for her bottle feeding, but she took most of it - she was just really relaxed and comfortable. Kelby is staying awake a lot more now and is a lot more alert, I held her yesterday while she was getting her feeding and she was awake the whole time, just looking around. They are both looking so much bigger and healthier now. We should have them home in a few weeks!

Mallory's First Bottle!

Mallory's First Bottle Feeding!

Well, Mallory had her first bottle feeding at 12:30 today and she did SO good!! She took the whole bottle and didn't drop her oxygen once. She had to stop every once in a while to take a breather, but it looks like she's going to get it down soon. The therapist that came in to help with it said she was "Rockin it!!" We're so proud of her! Kelby will be right behind her. They are going to keep Mallory on one bottle feeding a day for a couple of days and then they will start to increase the bottle feedings. One step closer to coming home... Kelby is still doing great as well, not sure yet when they will start the bottle feedings for her, but probably pretty soon. Her oxygen levels still drop a little when she's moved around and messed with, but overall she's doing great. Mallory is now 4 lb 5.5 oz and Kelby is 3 lb 9 oz.

March for Babies

We have formed a team for the annual March of Dimes - March for Babies.

We will be walking in the March for Babies on May 10. Click on the link to the right to donate or to join our team.

From the March for Babies Site -

The money we raise helps fund research to find out why premature birth happens and what can be done to prevent it. Premature birth is the #1 cause of newborn death and the biggest threat to babies' health today.

The March of Dimes mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

Please join us if you can - or donate to help prevent premature birth.

Thanks.

Update!

Well, the girls are still doing extremely well. They are both still off CPAP and doing great. Mallory is down to the lowest setting on the canulas and they may take them off today - she'll be breathing completely on her own without any extra oxygen! Kelby is not far behind, she's on a really low setting also. Mallory also got moved into a crib last night (which is actually just the clear box/tray bed the full term babies get put in), she's been regulating her temperature on her own, so she's breaking out of her incubator into a "big girl bed". Kelby is also doing great with that, so she will probably be moved into a crib in the next couple of days also. They are going to start bottle feeding them in the next day or so also. We'll see how that goes, but they're both ready for it we think, they try to eat their hands when it's time for their feedings. They have been giving them pacifiers when they are feeding them so they can start to correlate sucking with getting full. The hardest thing for them is doing more than one thing at once, when they're as young as they are, they're just not ready to suck, swallow and breathe all at the same time. The doctors and therapists seem to think they will pick it up pretty quickly though. They're getting bigger everyday, Mallory is now 4 lb 4 oz and Kelby is 3 lb 8 oz. We should have them home fairly soon, we've just got to get them to take bottles and breathe at the same time. Thank you all again for all of your prayers, God has done some amazing work with our baby girls. We'll update again soon.

We are off CPAP!!!

Both girls came off CPAP yesterday afternoon. They are both doing great so far. It is so great to see Kelby's face. She looks like her sister, a little different, but they have the same nose. We got some pictures of both of them and got some pictures of them together for the first time, we'll post those later today. We each got to hold both of them together for a while, it was so great to see them laying there together. Mallory is still a little bit bigger than Kelby, but Kelby is gaining on her. Mallory is 3 lb 15 oz and Kelby is 3 lb 6 oz. The nurse told us today that they may get their feeding tubes out soon and start taking bottles. They are doing great. We want to thank everybody again for all of your prayers.

Update

Both of our girls are still doing well. They have gone up and down on their oxygen requirements over the last few days. Mallory had to be put back on CPAP last night. We think she just needed a little break, they should try to take her back off in the next few days. They have told us that is completely normal for them to go back and forth, they'll get there soon. They tried taking Kelby off of CPAP over the weekend, but she wasn't quite ready, they had to put her back on it after about an hour, we didn't get to see her without the CPAP, we're ready to see her without the tape and everything covering her face. They are both doing well though. They are eating well and tolerating feedings. They have taken Mallory off of the continuous feedings and she is doing well, they're now feeding her over thirty minute intervals every three hours. Mallory is now 3 lb 14 oz and Kelby is 3 lb 3 oz. We'll update again soon.

We have two 3-pounders!!!

Just a note to let everyone know Kelby hit the 3 pound mark. Mallory is now 3 lb 12 oz and Kelby is 3 lb 1 oz. They are doing great today. Mallory has not had any of the SVT's since they took her off of the medication two days ago. They are going to try to take Kelby off of the CPAP later today or tomorrow. Mallory is being put back on the 3 hour feedings and Kelby will be put back on them this weekend. Hopefully they will do well and won't have any apnea after their feedings. We will update again soon.

Mallory's off CPAP!!

Well, the girls are both doing really well. Mallory came off of CPAP today (We posted some pictures in the slideshow above). She's doing really well so far. Kelby will be right behind her, they are going to give her a few more days, they are still turning down her oxygen requirements everyday. They took Mallory off of her heart medication today to see if the SVT (rapid heartbeat episodes) has gone away on its own. We'll see in the next day or so if she has to go back on it, so far everything looks good. They are both gaining weight and looking bigger everyday. They'll be home before we know it. We can't wait, we miss them so much every time we have to leave the hospital.

Another update

Both of our girls are doing really well this week. They have both come down on their oxygen requirements. They are both eating well and gaining weight. Kelby hasn't been gaining quite as much as they'd like, but they seem to be happy with her progress. Mallory is now 3 lb 8 oz and Kelby is 2 lb 12 oz. They are starting to increase Kelby's calorie intake to get her caught up with her sister. They are both wearing clothes now and looking bigger every day. We got a new camera (Thanks Todd and Stacey!) so we will be posting more pics soon. We got to help with both girls' baths yesterday, and we got some good pictures of both of them. We'll post those as soon as we can and we'll update again soon.

Update

We have so much to thank God for. The girls are doing really well, and the last few weeks have brought a lot of good news. Mallory and Kelby are still growing and doing well breathing. The doctors are really pleased with their progress. They have each told us that they are anxious to turn down their oxygen requirements everyday, but they don't want to rush it. They say that by next week, they will try to take them off of the CPAP to see how they do without it. Mallory is now big enough to wear clothes, she has been since the first of this week. Kelby will be soon.

We got some great news last night. As we mentioned before, Kelby had a brain bleed that showed up when she was about 4 days old. It was a Grade 4 bleed, which is one of the worst they can have. Basically, there was bleeding into the ventricles of her brain. They told us at the time that they would just have to watch it and see what happens, I think they were expecting to have problems with it. They went into more detail than I will here on the blog, but... point to the story... They did another head ultrasound yesterday morning and they found almost no sign of the bleed. The doctors all told us that they were shocked. They said there were a few small areas that were affected by it, but there is a good chance that she won't have any long term affects at all. If anything, the doctors said she could possibly have some developmental difficulty with movement or stiffness of her arms and legs, but if (big IF) that does show up, it can be treated with physical therapy. We thank God everyday for these baby girls and everything He is doing for them. We also thank Him for all of you who have been praying for the girls over the last few months. Thank you all again for your support and prayers.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! The girls are both doing really well. Mallory is now 3 lb 3 oz and Kelby is 2 lb 10 oz. She's gaining on her. They are both doing well on CPAP, their oxygen requirements have both come down and their settings are continually being lowered. They have made a lot of progress over the last few weeks. They are both tolerating feedings well and are gaining weight everyday. We will post more pics soon, our camera died right before Christmas, we'll have a new one soon. We've been taking pictures with disposable cameras and will have those developed soon also. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. A lot of prayers have been answered in the last few weeks. We'll update you again soon.