Saturday, March 7, 2009

NICU we hardly knew ya

Great news from baby land, all three have been moved out of the NICU and into the Special Care nursery. Special Care is where all NICU babies land before they go home, it means they are digesting their meals fine and off IV. We still have a long road ahead before they come home, but at least we are past the more critical stages. From here we are all about learning to eat from a bottle (they need to suck, swallow, and breathe) and growing along with maintaining their own body temp and going five days without a Brady (a brady is when they "forget" to breathe and their heart rate drops). But it is reasonable to believe they could be home in 3 to 4 weeks.

The Special Care nursery is a very cool place, it probably has the nicest rooms in the entire hospital. We have a double room with two pull out couch beds that look to be 10 times more comfortable than the one I slept on for 3 months. We can stay the night whenever we want and basically this is where we prepare to take the babies home. We have not slept over yet, basically because there really isn't anything we can do at this point since they are still getting all their feeds by gavage.

Amy-Jo is slowly regaining her strength. This was a tough week though as for most of it Lizy and Logan were in special care with Madi left behind in the NICU. She was a few days behind on her feeds so it took her a little longer to move in with us. And since the NICU and Special Care are not only on different floors but in different buildings Amy-Jo has been wearing herself out! I mean I pick her up after work and she looks like a zombie. We get home and she pretty much crashes for the night, long days for sure.

Great news (at least for me) CHICKEN is back on the menu! During her pregnancy we found that chicken was one of the "trigger" foods and was banned from all meals. She had been avoiding it thus far just in case there was an episode she didn't want to hurt her healing tummy. But last night I made her order boneless buffalo wings and she was able to eat, and more importantly enjoy, them. Big score for my waistline. Amy-Jo doesn't need to worry about hers as she is back to her pre pregnancy weight and still losing.


Pictures, okay I know I owe everyone some pics so hopefully I was able to get some up after posting this. If not I will try to soon. A good friend of ours here locally turns out to be a wiz with the camera and she is coming by this weekend to get some really good pictures of everyone so I will get those up ASAP as well.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wohoo! Our babies are out of the NICU! Man that was quick! I am glad to hear they are doing so well! That cracks me up about the chicken! Didn't AJ make you eat a chicken meal in the hallway so she wouldn't smell it!? We miss you guys!

Amber

Misty said...

THat is sooooooo awesome!!!!! Watch out they may be home in less than 3 weeks! Mine did that to me!
I'm so glad to hear ALL of the good news!
Let meknow if I can hlep with anything,
HUGS<
MIsty

The Cochran Crew said...

WOO HOO! Go Sather Babies GO!!!! Congrats! Get some rest mommy!!! Prayers and Love!

Anonymous said...

I have been following your blog for awhile and am amazed at your families strength.
Congratulations on the progress. Your family is in our prayers.
Angela

Anonymous said...

Yay!! I'm so happy for you and all your babes :) Keep taking care of yourself AJ, hug and love those kiddos as much as you can - they will be home before you know it.
Love you! Barb

Anonymous said...

Congrats on special care!!! It is so awesome there. The nurses are amazing ... Wendy was our favorite, but they are all so cool. My cousin Kristen works nights, maybe ya'll have got to have her. If not I am sure you will eventually. She is awesome. I am so happy for ya'll. Special care is such a huge step.

Me The Q said...

Great news! I will continue to raise your family up in prayer.
Melissa