A Family of Four

Sorry it's been a couple of days, but we've been busy!!! There have been lots of ups, and a few downs, but overall very successful.

Isaac started us out on Sunday with orders to turn off his oxygen (he had been on 1L of flow at 21%). Ryan and I went to church, and when we got back, Isaac was tube free! Then, they decided it was time to move to a crib from his isolette. Our nurse, Amanda, saw to it that his crib was outfitted with a KSU Wildcats quilt. He was sleeping really soundly all day, and started to show some signs that he was working really hard to breathe on his own without any oxygen support. So, they ended up putting Isaac back on oxygen, the same as before. He just wasn't ready to go 'cold turkey' off of the oxygen.

Isaac has also had lots of attention from the Physical Therapy lady. He doesn't complain, but he doesn't seem too excited about it either! She has taped his club foot to help position it more towards midline (I'll try to get a picture later to better explain). We also are working on range of motion exercises/stretches for his little legs. He is tolerating those well, and they seem to be helping.

As of today (Tuesday, May 25th) the neonate, Dr. T ordered for Isaac's flow on his oxygen be turned down to .5L flow. He's been on that for about 4 hours, and seems to be doing well. We'll see how he tolerates it by tomorrow morning before Dr. T decides to either turn it off, or let him go another day on .5L flow.

Sir Isaac is continuing to learn to eat. He does okay with a bottle -- doesn't quite take a full feeding (currently 45mL), but is working up to it. He needs to take some eating advice from his little brother!

As for Elias, things have remained stable, and even boring, which is very good in the NICU! His changes are that he can feed orally twice a day, and has even polished off a bottle (Monday, May 24th). He currently gets 25mL per feeding, fortified to 24 calories.

Eli is now 'wireless' for the most part. He has a feeding tube, and then all of his probes that measure his heartrate, respirations & oxygen sats. We got orders today for his midline to be taken out, so no more IV!   He is still in an isolette, but the purpose is so that he doesn't have to work very hard to maintain his body temperature. This will help him conserve energy so that he can grow quicker. He currently weighs about 3lbs 8oz (1593g). We have been told that he will make the transition to a crib from his isolette when he reaches a weight over 1800g (4lbs).

Mr. Eli is a very calm and easygoing baby. He's happy most of the time, and smiles a TON! So much fun to see! Isaac lets us know when he's upset, usually means that he has a dirty diaper!

While Isaac was tubeless on Sunday, we got a chance for all 4 of us to sit together as a family. This is something that we hadn't gotten to do yet, and was so very special! Enjoy our pictures of our Family of Four!

Again, we can't thank each of you enough for all of your thoughts and prayers. To think of the position we were in 11 days ago, and to see how far we've come, we know that it is because of all of the prayers that have been and are continuing to being sent to the Man Upstairs!