Worldless Wednesday

Changes Changes Changes

Wow, so it's been a really long time since I posted. Sorry 'bout that:) So many things have been happening in a very good way to the boys in the last week or so. We've gone from Landon 3lb1oz and Grant 2lb12oz to 3lb9.8oz and 3lb3.4oz in the matter of two weeks. We're up to Landon nippling (bottle or breast feeding) every feeding (8/day) as tolerated and Grant is up to twice a day. Landon went from being able to wear clothes (finally!!) to air mode in his isolette, to moving into a open crib today! Grant is just shy of being able to wear clothes (weight wise) and I'm sure will be on the same road soon. Bri and I have been busy feeding and burping the boys and snuggling of course, after their care times. We've even gotten a laugh or two in when they seem to be having a competition to see who can land the heaviest diaper after a care time. So far it's tied with each mastering 37grams!

Grant: 8 week bday

Landon: 8 week bday

Landon-needed a pic like Grant's with the pacifier

Landon

Grant's first bottle

Grant

Grant-posing

Landon-sleepy after a feeding

Grant-no, that's not a missing left hand it's just Grant wiggling!

Grant

Landon loving his new froggy pacifier

Grant loving his new froggy pacifier

Christmas Eve was special for the Siegrist grandparents as they were allowed to come visit for an hour thanks to the nurse manager lifting the ban in the spirit of Christmas.

Grandma & Landon

Christmas day we were surprised with a ton of gifts from Grandma & Grandpa Siegrist along with a visit from Santa and his elf (enough though I doubt elves have nose ring piercing....

Bailey helping Daddy open gifts

Nyla taking over the empty boxes

Visit from Santa

Landon sporting his new xmas hat donated to all the babies in the NICU

Landon Christmas Eve

Landon Christmas Day

Landon

Landon-bright eyes for Daddy

Landon not too happy about his cute xmas outfit

Daddy gets to hold both babies! Landon/Grant

Landon

Grant-all snuggly against Dad

Landon/Grant

Landon

Grant

Grant-waiting to be changed from a dirty diaper

This week will be busy with working on the nursery and feeding the boys. We hope every one had a very merry Christmas and enjoys the start of the new year! Thanks for all of the well wishes!

Bri-working on the recessed lights in the closet

3lbs and one whole bottle!

(From Tues. Dec. 15th)
We've had a couple of very exciting days! Grant managed to wiggle out of his diaper TWICE Sunday morning and was laying naked, posing for a men's magazine (nurse's words) in his isolette! He peed all over his bed in the meantime and needed new bedding. That's one way to get it!
Grant (2lb 12oz) continues to do very well sucking on his pacifier and will hopefully start bottle feeding soon.They're waiting until his respiratory levels get better (back on 3L vapotherm). He's starting to get very agitated around care time which is a great sign, knowing he's getting feed/diaper change. He also loves to have mommy and daddy hold his pacifier for him, diverting the attention away from Landon.
Landon passed the 3lb mark (3lb 1oz) and took his entire 6pm feeding by bottle! We were so proud of him! Landon has been on and off the nose canula the last few days. It seems like he only needs it when he's kangarooing and feeding (which is great!).

Landon

We were able to have a photo session with a different Christmas outfit and hats. Loved it! Landon of course was sleepy and Grant was wide awake!

Landon on left; Grant on right

Grant

Landon

Sippin' and suckin'

Yesterday Landon was approved to start bottle feeding once a day! He was able to take a few sucks before he got really sleepy but managed to get down a few cc's. Today I was able to try giving him his bottle at the end of a 2.5hr kangaroo session which seemed to do the trick because he was wide awake and loving it. He ended up taking over half of his feeding by the bottle and no desats! I was so proud of him! The nurse was very impressed too:) Tonight they decided to take him off of his nose canula again to see how he'll do. He has been doing very well the last couple of days that it has been back in. When I came in this afternoon after the shift change both boys had their nose canulas in their mouth! They looked like little vampires!

Cuddling with Grant

Grant

Grant continues to do well with his pacifier and will probably start bottle feeding next week as well. After dinner I went in to say goodbye for the night to find Grant screaming! I was nervous something was wrong, peaked in and saw he just wanted a little attention....a diaper change, feeding, and his pacifier. I hope he's not becoming high maintenance! I was able to capture his "grip" on film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W2v_QN-OHI

Grant

Last night's weigh ins were Landon 2lb14.6oz and Grant 2lb9.4oz.
I think I've also made it easier for "followers" to leave comments on here so feel free to share your thoughts!:)

For those cat lovers out there, check out this video of my spoiled girls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EceR5tbJ7zc

No Oxygen! Well, for a few days.....

So we're starting to finally settle in to our new "home" and routine at Wilson Hospital. The boys are literally two chair widths apart from each other. It's the perfect set up for Brian and I to be able to kangaroo together! New likes: isolettes are close together, they get weighed every night, and we usually have the same nurses with only three shifts throughout the day. Dislikes: old fashioned way of washing your hands (no cool sensor automatic system like Crouse), nurses don't wear gloves to care for the boys, and less involvement during care time (only get to change their diaper "sometimes"). The staff has been great and I was even able to score some more gel soothies from the nurse manager (it helps I have her son in class;)) which are a MUST for nursing moms!
 It wouldn't be routine if the boys didn't test out the bili lights here. Added bonus: COOL SHADES!

Grant

Grant-Yup, go ahead, take my pic

Grant-ok, I only wanted to show mommy my spikey hair for a second; now put me down!

First family pic-kangarooing EARLY Sat. morning, hence the tired looks on our faces!

Brian is away for the week visiting my brother down in Texas with my dad for his graduation from basic training in the National Guard Air Force. So proud of him! It's been a little lonely here being by myself but I've managed to decorate the tree and eating cafeteria food isn't actually all that bad plus it saves on having to make dinner when I get home!
The boys have been pretty stable in the last week since the transfer. I was able to get a couple of shots as they were waiting to leave.

Grant-ready to go pacifier and all!

Landon-bundled and ready

When the transport team was getting the boys all ready in the isolette Landon put his arm around Grant like he was protecting him. It was the cutest thing! I tried to capture it the best I could:

All set! See you in Binghamton boys!

Monday we had a pretend Sears photo session and got a bunch of cute pics with Santa hats of course. Thanks Bri for being such a good sport!:)

Landon on the left, Grant on the right (looking a little gray because their "crit" levels are a little low. They'll test again next Monday to see if they're rising. Otherwise they might need another blood transfusion)

Grant

Landon-Ok, just wear the hat a little longer please!:)

Shiney blond hair!

The boys have been steadily gaining weight  (Landon 2lbs 12 oz and Grant 2lbs 8 oz) and doing well (for the most part) on their feedings. They did need to add a fortifier to the breast milk to help with their calories and nutrients. Landon is on caffeine (to help with bradys/apena and desats), iron, potassium, and sodium. Grant is on caffeine and potassium. Landon who has been off of the vapotherm since a few days before leaving Crouse was only on the nose canula with oxygen until last Friday when they decided to try him without any oxygen at all and he made it through five days without any major desats. Yesterday he was having more alarms than usual so they decided to give him back his "puff" of air. Grant went from 3 liters of vapotherm to 2 liters for a day on Monday to nothing on Tuesday. He lasted through yesterday as well until he started having a lot of bradys and was put back on the vapotherm. So long story short-Grant needs that extra "push" to keep his lungs expanded and Landon needs that extra "puff" to breath. I think they just didn't want those ugly nose canulas for the Christmas pictures:)