Well, after much complaining from friends and family for not updating the blog in a while I figured we would let everyone know what's going on in the Hininger household and the St John NICU. Sorry for the delay.......its not like we are busy or anything.
OK, to catch everyone up, here is what has happened in the last few weeks.
On Aug 21st we got to decide wether to take Alex home on caffeine and a monitor or let him stay in the NICU for a little while longer because he didn't pass his sleep study with flying colors. We were really hoping to not have to take the boys home with monitors but Oh well. They have been tangled up in wires since they were born. The first week Alex was home was actually a piece of cake! You folks with one at a time don't know how easy you have it :)
Its very strange to to treat a baby that has been born for 3 months as a newborn since they actually aren't even suppose to be born yet.
We were extremely excited to bring one of the boys home but it was a bitter sweet experience as it would greatly interfere with the amount of time we could spend with Cade and Connor.
One week after Alex had been home, Cade and Connor took and passed the car seat tests. Next was the PCG or sleep study. Both failed :( This means that they were still having bradys and apneas - though typically only with feedings.
The neonatologists decided that we were old hat at this and let us go ahead and take Cade home with caffeine and a monitor.....great more wires to trip on and get tangled. Connor didn't do as well on the test as he was desating often during feeds. This prompted bringing in a speech pathologist to examine his eating patterns and make recommendations on how to get rid of the desats. Then they ordered a barium test to watch his swallowing under X-ray to make sure it was going down the right tube. After that test the recommendation was to thicken the milk with rice cereal so he could control it better with the back of his tounge and keep it from partially choking him. As of Saturday this has really helped and we are extremely excited to learn that he may be able to come home in the next few days.
As for home life, this has been comical to say the least. We are somewhat prisoners in our own house. We were given strict instructions to keep these boys out of public places and REALLY limit visitors for a while. Their release just so happened to coincide with school starting and we all know what germ factories elementary schools are. Also with the HINI flu (thats what Court and I call the H1N1 Virus) and RSV season getting close, we feel the best thing for everyone is to stay put til we can build up some immunities. Every morning Court fixes 16 bottles to make it through the day and we go through about 20 to 24 diapers a day!
Cade and Alex have actually done a lot better when we finally gave in and decided to let them sleep together. They kind of console each other instead of screaming for us to do it for them. Cade is such a sweet boy and has a personality that is polar opposite of Alex. Cade is completely content chilling and staring at things where Alex typically needs constant stimulation or entertainment. As soon as we get Connor home, he'll have more constant entertainment than he knows what do to with.
Very soon our family will be complete. Barkley has tolerated the new additions very well considering. I think when we bring another home though she's gonna decide to pack up and leave. :)
More soon.......if we have a spare minute
