Nicholas made it out of surgery! It took about 2 hours, but he did well, and he's in recovery. As soon as I hear more, I'll let you all know.
Love,
Gretch
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Nicholas Surgery
Sarah just left me a message with a brief update:
Nicholas is having his hernia surgery this morning. Please send lots of positive thoughts and prayers! We know how tough that little guy is, and I'm sure he'll do fine!
Anna and Katie still aren't eating enough on their own to be released from the hospital, but the doctors say that it could happen quickly, and they could all of a sudden start eating a lot on their own.
I think they're just holding out until they know Nicholas is ready. :-) He's going to lead the pack home!
Love to you all!
Gretch
Nicholas is having his hernia surgery this morning. Please send lots of positive thoughts and prayers! We know how tough that little guy is, and I'm sure he'll do fine!
Anna and Katie still aren't eating enough on their own to be released from the hospital, but the doctors say that it could happen quickly, and they could all of a sudden start eating a lot on their own.
I think they're just holding out until they know Nicholas is ready. :-) He's going to lead the pack home!
Love to you all!
Gretch
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Pics!!!
Katie smiling after her bath
Katie relaxing after her bath
Anna making a goofy face
Anna content during bath time
Nicholas - "Where's my food??"
Nicholas
Sleepy Anna
Katie growing out of her incubator
"Here's lookin' at you everybody!" - Anna
Katie relaxing after her bath
Anna making a goofy face
Anna content during bath time
Nicholas - "Where's my food??"
Nicholas
Sleepy Anna
Katie growing out of her incubator
"Here's lookin' at you everybody!" - Anna
Thursday, January 21, 2010
An Update for Mr. or Ms. Anonymous! :-)
This is Cousin Gretchin! Hello to the anonymous poster who reminded me that it's been 10 whole days since we've updated!! I must have sensed it too, because I couldn't help but check out the comments today!
I sincerely apologize - it's time for an update! :-)
I don't have a lot of information. Sarah has been busy, busy, busy, because... the babies are due to come home in about 2 WEEKS! (possibly 3 weeks, but let's say 2!!!)
I think Sarah mentioned before that the babies were having some eye problems, that Nicholas may have to have surgery. The doctor did an exam this week, and all of the babies' retinas are in tact! No eye surgery for Nicholas or the girls! They'll do follow up exams at their 6-month checkup, and possibly in the future, they may need glasses for near-sightedness.
Nicholas does have to have his hernia surgery before he leaves, so please pray for him!
They're all eating on their own (with some help from feeding tubes). Nicholas can eat entirely on his own now, and the girls are still working on it. As soon as they're able to eat enough on their own with no help from the tubes, they *should* be able to go home.
The nurses have told Sarah & Louie what amazing parents they are (we knew that!) :-) They've been with those babies every step of the way, and I know that's why they made such great progress.
The nurses also reminded them how well these kids have done. Some babies go home still needing oxygen or other support.
All 3 babies will go home, as newborns, in their carseats!
Much love to all of you! Sarah, Louie, and I will be getting together again soon, and we'll update further! And as soon as I get a chance, I'm going to hold those babies, and take lots and lots of more pics to post!
Have a great week/weekend!
Love,
Gretch
I sincerely apologize - it's time for an update! :-)
I don't have a lot of information. Sarah has been busy, busy, busy, because... the babies are due to come home in about 2 WEEKS! (possibly 3 weeks, but let's say 2!!!)
I think Sarah mentioned before that the babies were having some eye problems, that Nicholas may have to have surgery. The doctor did an exam this week, and all of the babies' retinas are in tact! No eye surgery for Nicholas or the girls! They'll do follow up exams at their 6-month checkup, and possibly in the future, they may need glasses for near-sightedness.
Nicholas does have to have his hernia surgery before he leaves, so please pray for him!
They're all eating on their own (with some help from feeding tubes). Nicholas can eat entirely on his own now, and the girls are still working on it. As soon as they're able to eat enough on their own with no help from the tubes, they *should* be able to go home.
The nurses have told Sarah & Louie what amazing parents they are (we knew that!) :-) They've been with those babies every step of the way, and I know that's why they made such great progress.
The nurses also reminded them how well these kids have done. Some babies go home still needing oxygen or other support.
All 3 babies will go home, as newborns, in their carseats!
Much love to all of you! Sarah, Louie, and I will be getting together again soon, and we'll update further! And as soon as I get a chance, I'm going to hold those babies, and take lots and lots of more pics to post!
Have a great week/weekend!
Love,
Gretch
Sunday, January 10, 2010
New Years Update...
Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!
First we need to thank so many people for all the gifts we have been given throughout the holiday, we are so blessed and so very thankful!!! We appreciate everything so much and please know that nothing goes unnoticed. So please let me say it over and over THANK YOU ALL!!!
So let me start off by letting everybody know that the we have left the NICU since the kids no longer require intensive care. Katie was the first to leave the NICU on 12/31/09 and Anna and Nicholas followed on 1/3/10. We are now on the 5th floor located inside the Pediatric wing in a large unit called the Neonatal Transition Suite (NTS). At NTS the focus is feeding and growing so eventually we can go home. We found out today that hopefully the kids can start getting discharged towards the end of January and into February.
Anna is doing so well, growing nicely and requires no nasal oxygen support. Anna takes about 1-2 bottles a day but as expected still needs to be fed through a feeding tube for all the other feedings. Every day she gets stronger and can stay awake for longer periods of time to try to take bottles. Anna now weighs as of today (1/10/10) 4lbs, 15oz. She smiles all the time and loves to cuddle.
Katie is also doing okay, she requires additional oxygen support from time to time throughout the day but mostly does well. Katie at this point doesn't make any real noise like crying due to a voice box condition that they haven't fully diagnosed yet, but they have informed us that whatever it is will heal over time. This week Katie will have a series of airway tests to see what is limiting Katie's "voice". Overall though Katie is just precious and happy all the time. Her weight today was 5lbs, 3oz.
Nicholas, A.K.A "Mad Dog" is just fine. He has been given this nickname by the NTS nursing staff because of his angry eating style-he gets hilariously aggressive when eating from a bottle and if the bottle isn't just perfect in his mouth he will cry and loudly grunt until it is. He has no patience when it comes to eating. He will need plastic surgery within the next year or two on his nose due to a damaged septum from the CPAP equipment against it for so many weeks. Before he is discharged from the hospital he will undergo surgery on his very large hernia and hopefully make it out without requiring retinal laser surgery. Nicholas is full of personality and also just like his siblings is happy and loves to smile. Todays weight is 4lbs, 8oz.
Life is great and we are so blessed-even though this is the hardest situation we have been up against we are all just hanging on and each day is a new day. The kids are growing and considering they were 16 weeks early are surprisingly pretty healthy, they will be closely followed for many months after discharge. We can't wait to get home and we miss you all so much. Louie goes home Tuesday through Friday to work and I haven't been home since Sunday October 18th so let me just say, I MISS HOME!
We hope you are all doing good and again we must yell out a huge Thank You for all you have done for us. God Bless and Be Well.
Love,
Sarah, Louie, Anna, Katie and Nicholas
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Good News!
Lots of good news this evening!
I just talked to Sarah, and she told me that all 3 babies have moved out of the NICU and into regular neonatal care!
Anna is doing fantastic. Katie is still receiving a little oxygen so that she won't get tired of breathing. Nicholas is still having eye problems, but they're waiting to see if he'll need the laser eye surgery.
They're eating from bottles, wearing clothes, and growing like champs!
I finally have all their weights:
Katie - 4lb 12oz
Nicholas - 4lb 2oz
Anna - 4lb 8oz
Way to go you guys!! Love to you all!!
Gretchin
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