Update, Day 15

More of the same for the boys these past few days. Both boys have been successfully treated for their murmurs. Nolan had originally been treated but he got a mild case of pneumonia (also seems to be gone with large doses of antibiotics) so it returned. Asher's was originally tiny and got worse so they treated him as well. As of yesterday, no murmur could be heard in either of them. This is good news because in a week or so medicinal treatment will no longer be effective if the murmurs return, and surgery will have to be considered.

Now that their treatment is stopped, they're both back to oral feeds. Nolan is nearly at full feeds of breast milk and Asher is quickly catching up. They are now both above birth weight, with Nolan at 965 gms and Asher at 940 gms. Soon they will be a whopping kilo, what little fatties!

Nolan had a repeat head ultrasound today with the unofficial result being normal and unchanged. Asher has another repeat on Thursday and we hope that again it is unchanged (Asher's bleeds can't get better at this point, only worse, so "unchanged" is best case scenario).

Both boys are having increased episodes of ABDs - apneas, bradycardias and desaturations. An apnea is when they stop breathing, a brady is when their heart rate drops and a desat is when their blood is not oxygenated enough. The three go hand in hand. Nolan, because he is on the ventilator, recovers from these episodes quicker than Asher. Asher, because he is controlling his own breathing, has a slightly more difficult time with self recovery but so far has only needed to be resuscitated once and otherwise starts breathing again with a change in position. It is frustrating because Asher's breathing had been going so well up until now, but the neonatologist assured us this is normal and his lungs are going to get worse before they get better - at this point he is likely just tired. The other day we had another kangaroo care session planned for me and Asher, but that had to be cancelled because of his instability so that was really disappointing. Nolan on the other hand is still cruising along on his ventilator, showing no signs of wanting to do more work himself so will likely stay intubated for the next while. I did get a 10 minute hold of Nolan today (my first) while they changed his isolette, and am hoping for the same with Asher tomorrow.

So I think that's the overview. For those of you that are concerned when the blog is not updated, please don't worry. If I reported on every single up and down I would be writing all day - their stability changes by the hour, much less the day so it's a bit easier to manage if we just update every few days.

Keep the positive vibes coming - and check out these alert little faces.

Asher

Nolan