34 Weeks

My boys are 34 weeks gestation today!!

Brooks had his cannula taken out yesterday and is showing off without it, staying at 99 or 100 saturation. Nolan continues to do amazingly, he had only 1 brady yesterday, and I think they attributed it to reflux.

Today the brady alarm number was taken down to 80, so the amount of bradys they have will severely decrease. While I was there, Nolan didn't have any and Brooks only had 1 think, and it was while he was eating.

We were also there for the rounds today, where the neonatologist goes around and gets updates on all of the babies. The only thing keeping them from going home at this point is their inability to bottle/breast feed, which is exactly where they are expected to be. We keep on practicing though, and they are definitely getting better.

Nolan is 4 pounds, 13 ounces. Brooks hit the 4 pound mark yesterday and today is 4 pounds, 1 and a half ounces.

It continually gets hard to say goodbye at night. The only thing keeping me from staying longer is that my body starts shutting down around 7:30. My bones hurt, I feel sore in my abdomen, and I just feel exhausted. Again, I'm doing exactly what everyone told me not to do, but I can't help it.

I think I can start driving tomorrow. The only thing (and I say this now when I'm tired, we'll see in the morning when I'm wide awake) keeping me from going to the hospital early tomorrow is the fact that they started giving us discharge information today. I am in a mad rush now to try and get things ready around the house.

 It could still be a few weeks till they come home, but they are trying to prepare us: they told us to bring a car seat in, so that when they feel they are ready, they can do the car seat test (spending like an hour and a half in the car seat, hooked up to monitors to make sure their air ways are capable of making it home); they gave us lists and guides of how to care for premies at home; and told us we'll have papers to sign as the time gets closer.

I'm going to try and think of things to help parents prepare for a NICU experience. Luckily, ours has been non-eventful so far. The main thing I can think of is to ask questions and pay attention to what is going on. Shane and I know what every beep, bong, blink, and doorbell ring means- if we didn't, we'd probably go crazy.

I'm so happy our babies are doing well. I continue to pray for their growth, and I hope they can start feeding more often so they can come home!