June 6, 2006

Good Morning,

Great news! There's not much to report! It's been a long time since I could say that and I'm very happy to say that things are pretty boring around the Pruetz household.

Along with Faith's Godmother, Linda Hopper, I spent a couple of hours with the girls yesterday. Both are doing great! Gracie has hit the four pound mark at 4 lbs, 2.2 oz while Faitharoo continues to slowly creep into the three pound range at 3 lbs, 5.4 oz. The staph infection held her back a little bit in the weight-gain department.

Grace is her usual, fiesty self, pulling her feeding tube out a few times a day and making sure that everyone is aware of her presence. She's also become very adept at giving us smiles and I can't help but laugh when I see her little face -- I can just tell she's going to be the one who gives me trouble.

Faith is also doing well. She's still pretty pale, but pinking up significantly. She's moving around a lot, too, and makes her presence known as well. She's still got the IV in her hand for the antibiotics, but otherwise, she's only connected to a feeding tube. We are very proud of her recovery and are pleased with the proactiveness of the doctors and nurses in the NICU. Faith continues to have sporadic Brady epdisodes, but always recovers by herself without stimulus or oxygen. I'd like for them to stop all together and I plan to ask today why they are still going on. I imagine that it's just a part of the lingering infection. It takes so long for preemies to get over illnesses -- much longer than it would take one of us.

So that's the scoop -- not much to report ... just the way I like it. If anything comes up, though, know you can find it here!

Erin

Many hours later...

Well, it's been a day of great progress for the Pruetz twins. I am so excited to share our news with everyone...

I got to the hospital today for my daily visit and got to hold each of the girls for about 30 minutes apiece. While I was holding Grace, Dr. Paul (one of the many NICU doctors) came in to check on the girls. He listened to their hearts, checked their vitals, etc and deemed them both to be doing well. I asked about Faith's Bradys and he said that it's just a function of her getting over the infection. The fact that she is recovering without any outside stimuli is a sign that she's on the mend.

Dr. Paul went to chart on the girls and returned a few minutes later to tell me that he'd written for Grace to either start breast or bottle feeding today. Hooray! One more step towards home! He said that Faith will probably be ready later this week, but he wants to hold off as she's had enough stress in the past few days.

I asked the nurse about her feeding schedule and I learned that Grace would eat at noon, 3:00, 6:00 and 9:00 today. Since I have Devin at home now, I wouldn't have the chance to get back to the hospital for her afternoon feedings, but I said I would be back tonight at 9:00 to try breastfeeding. I'm so excited -- this is such a big step.

I talked to the physical therapist (who makes recommendations as to when babies are ready to bottle/breastfeed) and she gave me some good pointers. She reminded me that this would not be like breastfeeding a full-term baby. Grace is still coordinating the suck-swallow-breathe mechanism and may suck and swallow but forget to breathe. It's a good idea to watch her oxygen saturation and make sure it doesn't drop because she forgot to breathe.

As I was leaving the hospital, I noticed that the nurse was wrapping Grace in a blanket before putting her back in the isolette. Normally, she's just in a diaper or in a onesie or something. But she was all swaddled up. I asked why and she told me that they are starting to wean Gracie off of the isolette, preparing her for an open crib because she seems to be regulating her body temperature well. Another step closer to home!

Todd returned from the NICU this evening with even better news: Our little overachiever has already made her way into the open crib! She's there, out in the open and maintaining a healthy 98.2 degrees.

While I'd love for both girls to be progressing at the same rate, I am thrilled that Grace is doing so well. I know Faith isn't far behind her sister and will be moving toward these milestones very soon. I'm just so proud of my little girls. A couple of real fighters...

E