A Sunday afternoon with the boys

Both boys are doing well. Owen is now 4lbs 8oz and Nathan is 3lbs 7oz. We love seeing their personalities, holding and talking to them every day. They are incredible blessings. Here are a few pictures from our day.

Nathan has been a little on the cool side the past couple of days. It has made him stay wide awake. This is just after eating. He has his paci in his mouth and the blub is holding it in for him.
Just seconds after his nurse wrapped him in warm blankets, this is how Nathan looked.
Once Nathan's temperature returned to normal, he was able to just hang out in his clothes.
Owen is not so patiently waiting for his bottle. When he is hungry, it is time to EAT!!!While waiting he decided on getting a new cannula. He made it out of his fingers.This is the way to tame Owen's hunger. After nursing and two 20-mL bottles later he was okay.Today Owen was very busy digesting his bottle. He had several good burps and pooped five times while being fed.This is a content child.Now he is clean, happy and back in his bed. He only needs one more thing....His brother, Nathan, at his side.Nathan's brain scan is tomorrow morning. Please remember to ask God to completely remove his PVL.

Good Progress

Nathan and Owen are doing well and making good progress. As of this morning, Owen weighed 4 lbs 4 oz and Nathan weighed 3lb 6oz. Nathan is still doing well off his cafcid and only has three more days to go of his countdown. Owen is still hanging on to his nasal cannula. We are praying he will breath well enough to get rid of it quickly. I would love for it to be gone on Monday to celebrate along with Nathan's countdown completion and good head ultrasound we are praying for. Nathan and Owen receive OT everyday and the therapist says that both have great muscle tone. Nathan had a check up with his eye doctor today. There is a very small spot in his eye that is not looking great. It is a very small spot and the doctor is hoping it will turn around and start going away. No need for injections or laser at this time, and probably no need for it ever. Please just continue to pray for this too. Nathan moved up to 29ml every three hours. Soon he will go to "adlib" feedings which is as much as he wants every 4 hours. His nurses think he will really begin to pack on the pounds then since he will be getting a lot more. The boys still really enjoy bunking together.


Tonight we celebrated Kristen's birthday. We had a great time eating together and playing nertz.

The boys are doing well. Owen was visited by the ENT yesterday and everything looked good with him. He snorts while eating, but he has so physical reason to cause his snorting. We were very thankful. Both boys are doing well on their feedings. They are both doing very well with their weight gain. Nathan weighs 3lb 6oz and Owen weighs 4lbs 2oz (he officially tripled his birth weight). Nathan will have another brain scan on Monday, March 1st. Please continue to pray God will remove his PVL and we will be able to visibly see his work on this next scan.

Half Update

When up at the hospital last night we received a good progress report on the boys. I thought I would pass it on.

Nathan is now all bottle feeds, no more og tube down to his stomach!!! He was also taken off his caffeine, which is given to remind him to breath. He is now on the "caffeine countdown" and if he goes until March 1st without any big breathing or heart rate dips he will no longer need to be hooked up to his monitor every minute of the day. If he has just one dip, his caffeine countdown will start all over again. Nathan is now 3lbs 5 oz. His average weight gain is 18 grams per day, which is great.

Owen is doing very well with his feeds. He is now able to take almost as much as he would want. I say that because he would eat until the food was gone, even if it meant him getting way over stuffed. Two days ago he was at 30 cc every three hours. Now he is at whatever he wants ever four hours. Yesterday his nurse started offering him 50 cc and he ate it all. When we were there last night Owen had not get gotten his bath or been weighed, but with the amount he eats I am assuming he will have more weight gain. His average daily weight gain is 30 grams per day. Owen is still holding on to his cannula and started making a snorting sound about a week ago. The nurse had Dr. Strange come look at him and he will be visited by an ENT this morning. He may have some irritation in his nose, which upon being fixed could easily help him get off his oxygen. Just in my "non-medical" evaluation last night, I noticed his nostrils were irritated and smaller than Nathans.

The boys seem to enjoy each other more and more every day. They always seem to be a bit fussy when the other one is out of the bed.

Good Monday

I thought you might enjoy looking at some pictures of our day. Both boys are doing well today. Owen is now 3lb 15oz and Nathan is 3lb 3oz. They seem to enjoy bunking together.
Owen and MommyOwen and Daddy
Owen
Owen and Nathan
Nathan

Getting bigger and bigger

Nathan and Owen are continuing to grow well. Today Owen weighed 3lbs 13 oz and Nathan is now 3lbs 2ozs. Owen has also moved up on his feedings to 40ml every 4 hours. Nathan is at 26ml every 3 hours. Nathan now gets a bottle every other feed, so only 4 feeds a day are through his og tube. Both are doing very well eating. The boys are getting used to sleeping next to each other. They just lay there very peacefully with each other.

Sarah and I paint

Last Thursday my friend Sarah and I went to Art from the Heart at Dawson, taught by my friend Amy Brown, and painted these pictures. We had the best time and I must say for two beginners our paintings look pretty good.

Already sharing a room

Nathan and Owen have already begun sharing a bed together. The two look so great and happy together. I talked to their nurse tonight and she said when she went to get Owen out for his bath he was hitting Nathan in the face. Owen seems to be the little instigator, so we will have to keep our eyes on him. Both boys are doing well. Owen is up to 3 1/2 pounds and Nathan is right at 3 pounds. Both boys enjoy getting out for their feedings and holding time. Both boys started receiving OT today and we will learn certain massages we will be able to continue with them after they come home.

Funny Logan story: on our way home tonight we were counting and he was having trouble with 30. He wants to call it twenty-ten. So to help him count I asked him if he knew how old Preston is and our conversation went something like this:
Logan: oh, is he 4
Me: no, he is old
Logan: oh, he must be 5
Me: no, he is REALLY old
Logan: oh, then he is 9.

Valentine Weekend

We had a great Valentine Weekend. Preston treated me to a message, manicure and pedicure. On Sunday Logan, Preston and I went to our favorite restaurant, Pettrucceli's. The three of us had a great time. Logan spent a lot of his time up at the NICU this weekend. He did a wonderful job. He is very well behaved and all the nurses just love him. The boys nurse, Tanna, made some great Valentine's from the boys (their hand and foot prints)

Preston gave Nathan a bottle for the first time on Sunday. Both of them really enjoyed it. The boys are getting so big now. Owen is 1525 grams and is getting all bottle feeds. Nathan is 1310 grams and gets two bottle feeds a day. Nathan is still doing very well off all his additional oxygen. Both boys are also nursing now. Owen started on 2/6 and Nathan on 2/9.

Nathan's new talent

Nathan has started sucking his thumb. Both Nathan and Owen love their paci, so I am not surprised Nathan has found his thumb. Both boys are doing well this morning and have gained a little weight.

Snow in Birmingham

We got several inches of snow in Birmingham yesterday. Everything looked so beautiful covered in snow. We all enjoyed playing out in it.

Hot off the NICU Wire

Nathan is cannula free!! He has been doing very well with his oxygen settings and this morning they decided to take him off the cannula. Huge praise. When we first found out Nathan had PVL I told Preston I would pray that God removes his PVL and would ask him to confirm that He is working in Nathan through ending his really bad breathing spells. While, I don't know with medical confirmation that Nathan's PVL is gone, I do know that since I have prayed this prayer that Nathan has not had any bad breathing spells AND is now no longer requiring oxygen assistance at all. It is so awesome to see how God takes the things we ask for and meets those needs but also takes it a step further. Thank you for praying with us!
Owen is doing well. He lost a few grams last night, but he still has overall great weight gain. His goal was 100 grams for the week and he made 130 grams. Nathan's goal was 100 grams too and he made it to 70 grams. We are really amazed at how God works so amazingly in our boys. More later...

Owen is turning into a big baby. He is now 1525 grams. We are very excited with his weight gain. He is also getting all of his feedings through the bottle, no more og tube!! Nathan lost a little weight and is down to 1220. He needs to start fattening up because that will really help him develop in every other area. When they first started pushing Owen to gain weight he was slow and would lose some here and there. We think Nathan is just in the same pattern and hope he will take off and gain lots of weight soon. Nathan's og feedings have changed. Normally they just let gravity put the feedings in and the entire feeding will go in and be done in about 2 minutes. Nathan was having a hard time getting all of his food so quickly. They are now putting his food in a pump and putting it in the og over 30 minutes. This time is more realistic like a bottle or nursing where it normally takes around 30 minutes for the entire feed.
Prayer Request:
Owen - to progress with his breathing and get off all assistance, to gain weight
Nathan - the complete removal of the PVL from his brain, good consistent weight gain, complete restoration on his hand, healing of his eyes, progress with his breathing

pictures of Nathan

Pictures of Owen

Doing well

Nathan

The boys are both doing well. Owen is now up to 1505 grams / 3 lbs 5 oz. He looks so big now. Owen really enjoys Mommy and Daddy holding him every day. Tomorrow he may start getting every feeding via his bottle and have his OG tube removed. He will be very excited. He loves being fed by the bottle and gets upset when he is fed through his OG. Owen still has quite a little temper on him. Thankfully it has been good for him to be so feisty. His canula oxygen requirements are becoming less and less, a little at a time. Nathan is doing well. He is now up to 1570 grams or 2 lbs 12 oz. He is having a hard time maintaining his body temperature so they put him back on temperature control in his bed. Nathan is not able to wear clothes right now, but we are very glad they are able to regulate his temperature for him. He is doing very well on his oxygen needs, actually surpassing his brother. Nathan is on room air in his low-flow 1 liter canula most of the time.

On Sunday during the Super Bowl my Mom and I spent some time making very cute burp clothes for the boys. We got some cloth diapers and decided to sew some ribbon I had purchased on each one. One of my Mom's friend's daughter is going to monogram them for us. When they are finished and I have them back I will be sure to put up pictures!!

The three old family members (Preston, Logan and I) are having some fun afternoons together. Yesterday we met our friends, the Eakers, and had a great time playing at the Dawson FRC. Logan was able to play basketball, arcade driving and motorcycle games and air hocky (which I may add he is pretty good at). We all had a great time together. This afternoon he was able to go to the McWane center with his CiCi and Paw Paw Bill.

Prayer Request:
Nathan: Removal of PVL in his brain - complete restoration of hand - eyes would not continue to progress in the wrong direction - gain weight - able to not need oxygen requirements
Owen: gain weight - able to not need oxygen requirements