Frick Twins: Day 3

We’ve been told that there will be ups and downs as Henry and Jameson grow and mature.  Today was a little more of a challenge, but given that’s average for this point post-delivery, we’re largely on plan.  They described it that usually there is a honeymoon period right after birth where the babies respond to the challenge, but over time exhaustion can make things a little bit tougher for their little bodies to compensate.  Last night they put Jameson back on the CPAP machine to help normalize his breathing.  It feeds through his nose, and he was still trying to breathe through his mouth, which negated the effect of the machine for a period of time.  But by this morning, the machine was doing its thing and his breathing was much more stabilized (in the 40-80 breaths per min vs last night it was spiking over 100).  Jameson also has some jaundice, very common for preemies and especially the smaller of twins.  The smaller twin usually compensates in utero by creating more red blood cells to absorb oxygen.  Now that he’s born, he needs to dispose of those.  They provide phototherapy light that he’ll be under for 2-3 days as that helps breakdown the red blood cells and makes it easier to excrete the broken down cells.  It basically looks like he’s in a mini-tanning bed.  They are monitoring it, but not out of the ordinary and not at a dangerous level.  Henry’s doing better, but also has some occasional moments where his breathing will pause.  It’s usually short and he solves it on his own, but a little stimulation helps also.  Raechel and I both got a chance to touch them through the hand holes of the incubator machine that they use to keep their temperature stable.  Raechel keeps getting more mobile, keeps on her 2-3 hour pumping schedule, and we’ve even managed to both take a shower today.  All in all, not a bad day

 

One comment on my medical notes: they’re an interpretation of a tired, non-medical brain of what I think I hear.  But I think I usually have the jist right.

 

Hard to believe Raechel’s first contraction was only 48 hours ago!  One of the other nurses made that comment, to which I replied, “For these guys, that was a lifetime ago”

Baby Henry