October 3, 2008

10:30 am
Mommy and Olivia made a visit to the NICU together this morning! After Olivia's sad sobbing the other night, I just can't bear leaving her, especially when she says she doesn't want to go! Yes, I'm a sap! I just know that she is struggling a little, being away from home and momma and daddy so long! So, I asked her this morning if she wanetd to go to Grandma and Grandpas, or come to the hospital with Momma and she immediately said that she wanted to come to the hospital with me. I packed up her Olivia bag, full of activities for her, as well as her portable DVD player with movies and head phones, and off we went. She was AMAZINGLY well behaved. We get SO many comments from the NICU staff about what a GOOD GIRL she is. Warms my Momma heart. She tells everyone that they need to be quiet when they're in the NICU. This little girl knows the drill!

And since I'm on the topic of Olivia, I may as well note some cute "Oliviaisms" from the hospital for posterity:
-Olivia calls the hospital, the "hostigull"
-Olivia calls the Elevator, the "ellagator"
-Olivia loves to be the one to push the buttons for the "ellagator". She knows exactly which buttons to push...she knows to push the up arrow to GET to the NICU, and the down to get back. She knows to push the 3 to get there, and the 1 to get back.
-There's a bubbler on the first floor and next to it there are little cups. Miraculously she gets "firsty" (aka thirsty) each and every time we pass the bubbler, and must have a cup with water.
-She calls Alec "the little guy"
-She calls Evan "Ebbin"

Updates on the boys! Alec is still nippling all his feedings. G-Tube is still out! He's a MACHINE! His temperature is doing well in his incubator, which is good! Hope that it does the trick to keep him in the cooker a bit longer to allow his body to rest a bit and him to gain some weight! The doctor plans to start Alec on the OTHER brand of preemie specific formula to fortify his bottles and help him gain some weight. She said on Tuesday after both Alec an Evan's intolerance to the Similac brand of fortifier, that SOMETIMES babies can't tolerate one brand's fat blend, but can tolerate the OTHER brand just fine. She said that the "recipe" is just a little different from Similac to Enfamil, so it's possible that they'll tolerate the Enfamil brand better. She said that she wanted to try the Enfamil brand because it is a "true" preemie formula, with more calories and has more of what preemies need. She said that if he has intolerance to the EnfaCare formula, then the plan is to again let his belly rest a few days, then try the Nutramagen. There is another option if the Nutramigen doesn't work, some formula that is neither Enfamil or Similac. Alec will start it tomorrow morning. I told her that I was NERVOUS about starting the EnfaCare. I asked her why we just didn't go straight to the Nutramigen, and she said that finding what will work for the boys will truly be through trial and error, as we discussed earlier. She wants to TRY them on the milk-based Enfacare (Enfamil brand) because it is a TRUE preemie blend and will give them more calories, etc.

And Mr.Evan...she will not be trying Evan on the Enfacare tomorrow, at the same time as Alec. She said that Evan seems to show signs of intolerance quicker and with greater severity than Alec. She would like to see how Alec does on the Enfacare first, then will try Evan on Sunday perhaps if Alec is doing okay. Alec is the test subject because Evan has more severe reactions. I also found out that Alec was on the Similac fortifier for 24 hours before showing signs of intolerance, while Evan was on for only 2 feedings and showed an adverse reaction (the 5 pukes in 1 hour).

They will both need to be fortified, and we need to find the right blend for them. So frustrating!!! I can't even IMAGINE how much this would have sucked if we did formula right out of the gate. They get only like 1-2 tsp of the formula IN my breastmilk, as opposed to 1-2 big scoops of it for mixing regular formula...they would have had SUCH tummy trouble!!! Hope their tums can hack the EnfaCare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did ask if they will be home by their due date (Oct 17) and the doctor said (in true doctor fashion) that it was her GOAL to have them home, but that she could not PROMISE. 2 weeks boys. Step it up!!! Lots of feeding intolerance will cause us to have to wait wait wait more to get them home, and gosh, I pray they have ZERO intolerance to the Enfacare #1 for their little tummies...no momma wants their baby to be hurting and #2 to continue progress with weight gain and get them to come HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7:00 pm
Trip #2 up to the hospital. Olivia came up again...WITH her handy dandy portable DVD player. She is such a good girl!!!

We got to give both boys a bath tonight! Daddy gave Alec his bath and Mommy gave Evan a bath for the first time! It went well!!! We didn't get any photos of Mommy giving Evan his bath though, because Daddy was already feeding Alec!!!

The good news is that both boys gained today! I will write down their weights tomorrow when we go in, but I know they each gained ALMOST 1 oz. I THINK Alec gained .8 and Evan .8 or .9....so yay! Mommy was happy!

We start fortifying Alec tomorrow. I'm SCARED about that!!!! Hope it goes well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DAddy gave Alec a pep talk about doing well tomorrow, so we'll seeeeeee.