Two days later and...

Addison is still "sick"... she is now back on the Oscillator Ventilator because her CO2 levels are elevated and her lungs look worse on her chest xray. In addition to the change, the doctor also added her to yet another antibiotic. This however is a good thing because it means that now she is receiving antibiotics for just about every possible bacteria and now this should set her in the right direction. They are thinking that part of this set back could be because she is or was borderline sepsis. It is so hard to she her back on the Oscillator. It takes me right back to those first few days when she was sooo critical and its worse when she looks up at me with sad eyes as if she is asking me to help her and I can't. The nurses said Ms. Addison was none to happy with this change and has been her feisty self (which is defiantly a very good thing). So for now the plan is to have her back on the regular vent within 48-72 hours... I am hoping for 48 hours (or sooner).

In Blake news...yesterday the doctor was concerned that maybe he had an infection because he wasn't the wiggle worm he can be, and he was having a lot of destats (oxygen level drops below 85 for more then a few seconds). We did dodge that bullet...he is back to his old self, (must have been the rain). He did however decide that he would show himself just before I left to come home for a bit, and had an apnea episode...his heart rate dropped extremely low and he destated. It took what seemed like forever to get him to get with it. What was worse was when it all started his chest wasn't moving and neither was he. Talk about scary for a Mommy. Finally the nurse practitioner fused at Blake and told him, one showoff a day and today was Addison's turn. Then suddenly he decided to behave himself, quite the rascal.

Emotionally as strong as I might seem on the outside, today was hard. And I can't even begin to act like I didn't have a breakdown or two. All I know right now is I just want our babies home with us.

Baby Weights - Addison 1 lb 15 ozs (down 3 ozs from yesterday but this is a good thing because she is on Lasix to rid some of the fluid in her lungs, so it's a sign that it's working). Blake 2 lbs 5ozs (getting closer and closer...almost to the half way point of the 5ish pound weight requirement, among other things, to come home.)

No big surprise...

So this morning while visiting the babies, the doctor said that he feels confident that Addison is on the mend. They caught both the pneumonia and the staph infection in time and she is showing improvement. They increased her feeding to 10 cc every three hours and he still plans to try to ween her off the vent by the early part of next week.

Blake decided that he has had enough of Addison stealing all the attention and is trying to tell us he is a big boy. And how exactly did he do this you may ask...he decided to pull out his feeding tube today. His feedings were increased to 14 cc every three hours (so almost halfway to an ounce), and they had to insert a new feeding tube in order to give him his feedings. Silly boy, up to mischief already. (Just the other day he decided to disconnect his ventilator...)

There is also talk that Blake's PICC line may be coming out overnight (bye bye IV's!!!! for the most part). And they will try this will Addison early next week as well once she is done her 7 day course of antibiotics.

For those who are curious, the babies must be able to tolerate an ounce of breast milk at a time, no longer be on the ventilator and be able to "suck, swallow and breath" at the same time in order to be bottle or breast fed. The SSB reflect is said to kick in somewhere around the 32 to 34 week gestational age (for those keeping track the twins adjusted age is 29 weeks gestation.) So who knows that may be happening in the very near future...Needless to say I am beyond excited about that!

Infections suck!

Addison now has an infection, the doctor *thinks* it's pneumonia and some of her cultures are showing staph (they aren't sure what kind yet, until they get the final report). Either of these alone can cause HUGE issues, combined it's worse. That being said, Addison is a fighter and loves to prove the doctors and nurses wrong just about every single day. We refuse to count her out...she will deal with this in her own time. In the meantime we will sit back and watch, comfort and pray. She continutes to progress otherwise and they are increasing her feedings. Her brain bleed remains unchanged at this point too. They will follow up on that on Monday.

Blake is...Blake. He is soooo close to "full feeds" of 1 oz at a time. He is also gaining weight and has officially hit the 2 lb mark! The doctor wants to ween his ventilator down and hopefully get him back on CPAP by next week at the lastest. His brain bleed has not gotten any worse at this point, and he has another follow up ultrasound this coming Monday.

As Jake said today for every "set back" or negative thing that happens, there are more positives to find hope and promise in.