Quick update -- Babies are 6 days old today (title amended from 5 days to 6- guess I'm not good at counting days when I'm sleep deprived)

Hi again. I've been wanting to post another update for a few days but it's amazing how time passes so quickly between pumping every 2-3 hours, trying to get to the NICU to feed babies every 2-3 hours and doing just basic things like taking a shower, getting a bite to eat and trying to rest (again, trying being the operative word).

The babies are all doing well, but we had a rough 48 hours. On Monday evening we were informed that the doctors were moving our babies from the NICU to the CCN (continuing care nursery) because they were doing so well. We were excited that they were doing that well, but were uninformed about the CCN and how it differed from the NICU. To make a long story short, the CCN is a 10 bed nursery where babies who just need some extra monitoring but often times are stable enough to visit the parents' room frequently are kept. It's only been open in St. Vincent Women's hospital since May 2008. It's small, bright, and the babies are pretty much lined up right next to each other. This meant a lot of chaos the night that our babies were admitted there since the CCN also had 4 other babies admitted at the same time as ours. I was overwhelmed by the noise and commotion that went on there during my first visit and that wasn't made any better by having a nurse who did not understand my requests regarding splitting my milk between the babies for their feedings. That was my first clue that the nurses in the CCN were not always NICU-trained nurses -- they are mostly nurses from family care (or post-partum). The following day during our visit was a little less hectic but I still did not find myself comfortable visiting our babies since the other babies in the CCN are so much older they have much louder cries and I couldn't relax at all. To top it off, later on Tuesday evening, the babies' NG tubes had to be replaced. Mason and Mayleah both did well during their procedure, but Grant got very angry and upset during his NG tube replacement and had a hard time calming down and getting his oxygen saturation back up afterwards. We finally got him calmed, I fed him his bottle and he went to sleep so Aaron, Christi (who was there for a visit) and I left for the night. Aaron and I went home since I had been discharged that day. Leaving my babies at the hospital was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. When I woke up to pump at about 4:30am the next morning, I called the CCN to check on Grant since he had a rough time while we were there. I was surprised that the doctor wanted to talk to me. Turns out that Grant's NG tube was not inserted correctly -- instead of it being in his esophagus and down to his tummy where it should be, it was down his trachea and in his lungs. So, when they fed him at 3am and he didn't take his bottle, they needed to put the rest of his feeding down the tube and he went into distress. Thankfully he recovered quickly with some oxygen and they removed his tube, but this was definitely a set back for him. He was put back on IV fluids and in a warmer so to try and remove the stress of keeping his own body temp and taking food by mouth and allow his little body to recover. So far, his follow up chest xrays and blood checks have shown that he's recovering well. They'll repeat chest xrays again this morning followed by more blood work. If those come back good he'll likely be able to start taking bottles again today.

Before the incident with Grant happened, my husband and I had decided that we wanted the babies moved back to the NICU. We couldn't relax in the CCN during our visits and we truly felt that the babies still needed some specialized care. The incident with Grant confirmed our feelings and yesterday around noon, the babies were moved back to NICU. I visited them all yesterday and last night and everyone is doing well. I took a video of all of them that I'll try to post later today or tomorrow.

Here's some good news -- as of last night Mason and Mayleah had both maintained their weight from the previous day. Yay!!! Both of them are doing well with their bottles, but they are still not consistently taking the entire minimum amount they need to eat through the bottle, so their NG tubes are frequently used. Mayleah and Mason are both in their clothes and in open-air cribs and maintaining their body temps wonderfully. Grant had gained an ounce from Tuesday evening to Wednesday evening but that was likely due to him being back on IV fluids.

Even better news -- Monday I was able to start trying to nurse my babies. This was the greatest gift that the doctors could give me. Mayleah is a champ -- she's able to latch on fairly well and even get a good couple of gulps in (it's common for girls to get nursing much earlier and better than boys -- but then again, girls rule, right? haha). Mason is slightly interested but has a long way to go to keep up with his sister. Before Grant's NG tube incident, he was doing great as well. I'm going to spend more time snuggling him today since I haven't really gotten to hold him since Tuesday.

Here are some pictures of the babies from Tuesday and a picture of Owen enjoying some balloons that Janelle sent us (thanks, Janelle!).

The babies back together again -- this was the first time since they were in the womb

Mason, without tubes! (they were put back after the pictures were taken)

Grant -- we have a picture of Owen doing this exact same thing. :o)

Miss Mayleah -- the babies's skin really doesn't like that tape they use!

Mason taking his bottle

Mayleah snoozing

Daddy feeding Mason

Again, thank you all for your emails, phone calls, meals, well wishes and prayers. I wish I had time to thank everyone in person and return phone calls. Please know that I love you all and can't wait to get these babies healthy and home so that we can share them with you.

Much love,

Carrie