Happy 3 Weeks!

Happy 3 weeks Brennan, Landon & Brooklyn! This is such a big day for them! They are now at 26 weeks gestation and 3 weeks old. When they were born they had a 25% chance of survival, now they have an 80% chance. We're still not out of the woods, but they're so much stronger. These babies are so resilient! Today was photo day in NICU Room 1 - here's our superstars!



Brennan Nicholas 1lb 10oz (birth weight 1lb 4oz)

Brennan has had a really rough week. I posted about his scare on Saturday, and he is doing 110% better! His blood pressure is up, only on 1 medicine (out of 3) and only on a very small amount. When their blood pressure is up and stable they pee better. When we came up today, he had just peed his entire bed again. You'd never think someone that little could pee that much! It was all the way up to his shoulders! That's good, but wow! He is getting so much more personality - he's our calm, quiet one. We are so thankful! As far as medical updates go...he had his PDA ligation on Wednesday (had to match everyone else!). He's recovering really well, especially given how sick he was over the weekend. We just keep praising God for His healing hands on our babies! He had a cranial ultrasound, which came back with good news! The brain bleeds are slightly decreased - not a huge change, but at least a change in the right direction. Only time will tell how this will affect the boys. He is still on the conventional ventilator and doing quite well on it. He's hanging in there!



Landon James 1lb 14oz (birth weight 1lb 7oz)

Landon is still pretty feisty, but calming down a bit. As you can see, he's not restrained (at the moment!). Probably sedated! We joked with the nurses that we'll have to get prescriptions for Morphine and Ativan when we bring them home because they've been on it so much here! Tonight, Landon's nurse peeked in at him because he was making his monitor go off and he had both hands on his ET tube, most likely with a crazy look in his eyes! That's our boy! Always keeping people on their toes! It's so neat to see they each have such distinct personalities! Medically, Landon has had a great week. He did get the intestinal drain like Brennan (they both match now - PDA & drains) and that is slowly inching out. He did have a perforation of his bowel, and I believe he did have Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) or their just watching him for it (can't remember and I didn't write it in my notebook!). He did have the bile vomit and has been more lethargic this week. Also, a couple cranial ultrasounds ago, the ventricles in his brain appeared larger, but was not big enough to worry about. Yesterday they came back smaller and his bleeds slightly decreased as well. Way to go boys! He & Brooklyn will be given a diuretic to help them get rid of some of the fluid (he hasn't really gained 7oz of regular growth!). Hopefully it'll get them back down to size. All in all, a pretty stable week from Rocky! :)



Brooklyn Danielle 2lbs (birth weight 1lb 3.5oz)

Our sweet, plump Brooklyn...I tried to get a flattering picture, but just wasn't happening today! She had the PDA surgery on Friday and really swelled up after. It's been really hard for her to lose the fluid. Hopefully the diuretic will help get her back to size. There isn't any definition between her belly and her waist! She's had a slow recovery from the PDA ligation - she's been really limp and needed to go to the JET ventilator. (Landon was on it for a couple days) She seems to be responding well! Brooke's the closest to eating breast milk! On Monday, if she continues doing well, they'll assess her by following dye through her digestive track to make sure everything is in tact and flowing appropriately. Occasionally in babies that haven't had food in a long time, tissue forms near the stomach which would cause a back up. I know how good that is for them and can't wait until they're ready!!



I made this collage of their pictures at 1 week old and 3 weeks old. Their skin looks better and they're filling out. Looking more like babies every day! Our amazement continues as we watch them grow and mature. Never in a million years would we have expected to be in this situation, but we have been encouraged by all of you. God doesn't give us more than we can handle, and when it seems like it is, we need to remember to lean on His strength. We can't do this alone, but with His peace, calmness and strength. There's a song with the lyrics, "He gives us strength for today" that continuously plays in my head. (preggo brain still can't remember the rest of the song!) Reassuring me that we can get out of bed each day, go to the hospital and just love those babies. He gives us physical, emotional and mental strength to endure all of their ups and downs, taking one day at a time.