New Swing!

We got a new super advanced swing and both kids tried it out (although the swing really is Sofia's and is now with her at the hospital).

Sofia actually smiled she liked it so much!

Thursday Update

Sofia is doing well this week and the doctors were able to wean her pressure a couple days ago. After getting used to it, she is now eating better and they may try to wean the pressure again tomorrow.

Daniel seems to be going through a growth spurt - sleeping and waking up to eat, then going back to sleep again.

Hey there!

Another kind of rainy and not so nice day. Mommy was still feeling sick and Daddy was resting up so Sofia was on her own today. She's now drinking pure breast milk and so is doing 95ccs at each feed. She's almost 10 pounds and is, at least in my view, a little bigger than her brother! Sofia is slowly weaning again which is a good sign and hopefully she'll soon be at a point where they will order her home vent (about a month before she comes home).

Mommy Has a Cold

She is hoping not to have passed it on to Sofia or Daniel. Daddy visited Sofia today and Grandma has been taking care of Daniel.

The doctors are trying Sofia on all breastmilk to see if she can gain weight without the fortifier. She does not seem to like the newest formula additive. Both she and Daniel are close to 10 pounds now. Mommy took Daniel to the pediatrician this week. His reflux and also thrush on his tongue are contributing to fussy eating and spitting up. He has been better the last two days but needs to eat a bit more to keep pace with his sister!

Grandaddy and Grandmommy Visit

Grandaddy and Grandmommy visited this weekend. They helped take care of Daniel and Sofia while Grandma was away. Daniel gave them some great smiles and Sofia focused intently on what they told her. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Unable to Wean

The doctors were unable to wean the pressure on Sofia's ventilator
this week. The change resulted in rapid breathing and decreased
oxygen saturation. To counteract these, they increased her pressure
and oxygen to higher settings than before. She is also getting
albuterol.

When the Neosure fortifier was added back to Sofia's milk, we
discovered that she disliked it and would not drink her bottles well.
The doctors are trying a different formula now and so far, she seems
to be fine.

Better

Sofia is mostly recovered from the virus and is no longer under quarantine. No more gowns and gloves to visit her. She is now almost a pound smaller than Daniel, however, since she did not gain weight during the illness. She is back up to full fortified milk again and if she continues to do well, the doctors may try to wean the vent tomorrow.

Daniel had his eyes checked today and all is healed from his laser surgery. We will not have to go for a follow up visit for 3 more months.

Here are some recent pictures of our two. Daniel taking a nap with Daddy Sunday morning, and Sofia during tummy time.

In the News

Looks like our little babies are famous! They were in an article in today's Global and Mail (in Canada) which pretty much sums it up, except for a slight misquote about not knowing how dangerous it could be at the end:

Meanwhile, in the blogosphere, heart-wrenching tales of life with sick multiples are rampant.

Connecticut couple Christine and Ted Yang began blogging last year when, after their first cycle of taking low-level fertility drugs, Christine, in her early 30s, became pregnant with triplets.

"We were completely in shock. Never was there a discussion of anything higher than twins," recalled Ms. Yang, a technology consultant. "Right away, the doctors started talking to us about our options, the statistics and dangers." The risks scared the Yangs. They mulled over reducing the pregnancy, but ultimately decided not to.

"It was sort of a magical thing. We didn't plan on it, but all of a sudden we had three potential children and it was sort of exciting," Ms. Yang said. "We knew it might be tough, but we just decided to do it."

Things got tough fast when Ms. Yang was admitted to hospital around the fifth month of her pregnancy. She was able to stave off labour until her 24th week, when her 1.5-pound babies, Sofia, Daniel and Raymond, arrived.

Each of them needed help breathing. Within a week, tiny Raymond suffered an infection and massive brain bleed, common in extremely premature babies. On Sept. 11, 2008, he died.

In the months since, the Yangs have had ups, but also downs. While Daniel came home from the hospital before Christmas, Sofia remains there indefinitely with a trachea implanted to help her breathe.

"I'm sort of on autopilot survival mode," Ms. Yang said. "I don't think the statistics truly prepared us for the emotional reality. ... I think until it happened to us, we didn't know that it could be this dangerous," she said.

"The first time I held any of my babies was to say goodbye to my son Raymond as he passed away. It is something that no mother should have to go through."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090206.cover07/BNStory/Front/?pageRequested=all

5 Months Old

Sofia and Daniel are five months old. I remember when we were
counting in weeks and now it is months. They are judged by their
gestational age which is about 1.5 months old.

Sofia (and also Grandma) is still battling the stomach bug. She is
getting continual pedialite to help restore fluids. Her weight had
gone down but now it is back up to almost 8.5 pounds. Daniel is
almost 9 pounds and rolled over twice during tummy time yesterday.

Daddy is sick

with the same thing Sofia has so he is staying and working from home to not infect his coworkers. Mommy and Grandma seem ok so Daddy can avoid touching Daniel and getting him sick too.

Stomach Bug

Sofia has come down with a stomach bug and is now in isolation. She
mainly has a low fever and diahrea. The doctors increased her vent
pressure back to where it was a few days ago so that she won't have to
work too hard to breathe while sick. They also suspended the
diuertics for now so that she won't get dehydrated. They are giving
her pure breastmilk only. Mommy visited yesterday and had to wear a
gown and gloves while in her room. Sofia seemed ok otherwise and was
very hungry/thirsty - she ate her noon bottle so quickly that the
doctors approved giving her more. We hope she is over this in a few
days and in the mean time we are trying not to expose Daniel to the
same germs.

Sofia's Stomach Bug

It looks like Sofia has something. I'll spare you the graphic details but not everything was going right downstairs. She also had a little fever today. Talking to the Drs it seemed pretty minor but and the same thing her former roomate had and they are expecting her to get better soon.

They are giving her some tylenol and they raised her vent support a little just to make her more comfortable. She's drinking down all her milk from the bottle no problem which is a good sign.

We're trying to basically quarantine ourselves w/ gowns masks et al when we visit Sofia to make sure Daniel doesn't get the same thing.