Today, when Landon and I were driving to the hospital, I told him that my prayer this week was for both Kaylan and Dylan to graduate from CPAP and on to the nasal canula. The nasal canula is the next step after CPAP and it is a much smaller tube that goes in the nose and is more comfortable for the babies. Plus, it gives us a chance to see their faces a lot better! Well, God must have been listening (not sure why I would be surprised by that), because when we got to the hospital, Dylan was off the CPAP! This was such a wonderful surprise to us. We had no idea that he would be taking this step today! I held him for a couple of hours today and it was so much easier to hold him without all the big blue and clear tubes being pulled in every direction.
Landon held Kaylan today. She did really well with her Kangaroo time. She is still on the CPAP and probably will be for awhile. I'm still praying God will work yet another miracle in her and that maybe this will be the week for her too! :) We shall see. She's still so tiny and it's hard not to want to compare the progress of Dylan to her. Overall, she's had her own set of successes and we are so thankful for them. Although her size is still under 2 lbs, the fact that she is now on full feeds (for her size), and was never intubated, speaks volumes. (Well, it speaks volumes in the NICU world). I realize that not everyone reading this blog speaks "NICU." We try not to speak "NICU" too much (when blogging), seeing how this has now become our second language. :)
On that note, several people have asked us what the criteria are for the babies getting to come home so I thought I'd give just a few pieces of information that might shed some light on that. Most people say, "when they get to XX pounds, they can go home, right?" Actually, it's less about weight in each baby, and more about several milestones that they need to achieve such as:
- Maintaining their own body weight
- Hold their own body temperatures
- Take a bottle
- No "bradys" for 5 days in a row
- Breathe on their own w/o assistance (CPAP, nasal canula, etc)
- Learn how to suck, swallow and breathe on their own
Here's our little man off the CPAP now! What a little cutie! Go Dylan! We love you so much!
Weights as of 7/4:
Dylan - 3 lbs 9.9 oz
Kaylan - 1 lb 9 oz
3 comments:
Your lives are so blessed and those sweet little babies are such fighters! What great news, and many more days of great news to come. Now that I can see Dylan's precious face, it looks like he looks like his Daddy. Can't wait to see Kaylan's precious face! Hope all is well with both you and Landon and that you are getting some rest in between NICU life. I think of you often and know what you are going through, one day at a time.....
Lifting your family up in prayers!
I love the new beginning picture! But I asked Landon, "That's Dylan's hand, right?" and he said, "No, Mom--that's Kaylan. And that cross is just a tiny one. It's just a real closeup picture." That's amazing. We will be praying for their good health. Love, Mom
Wow! Full feedings & maybe no PICC line!? That's great! My girls didn't reach those milestones until maybe 35 weeks. It's so hard not to compare one baby with the other. Our doctors continually reminded us that if we had just one baby, we would think her progress was great with either one. I'm so happy you got to hold both of them. It sure does lift a mom's spirits. Still praying for them both by name every day!
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