28 weeks

Dear Avid followers,

Sorry for not posting yesterday. No need to worry, both babies are doing well. It was Mom and Dad who fell asleep before posting. There is no big news to report, which we are happy about! Yesterday Clara got another blood infusion and that really seemed to help her out today. By tomorrow, Clara and Wilson will each be up to 7cc of breast milk every 3 hours. We asked the doctor today how many cc's is the goal and, while there is some equation they use to figure it out, for Wilson it is 17. The feedings are a delicate balance of patience and persistence; they don't want to go too fast but, at the same time, it needs to be fast enough to help them gain weight.

Today they are 28 weeks old. It is interesting how the doctors talk about their age. They either say "day of life 13" or gestational age, 28 weeks. Once they are 40 weeks they are considered a "newborn". We think Wilson is starting to look more like a baby and less like a little hatchling. We will post a picture tomorrow along with the update on the heart and brain scans!

Stinky

This will be a short posting... Clara's and Wilson's feedings continue to increase. Clara is at 5cc and Wilson will be at 7cc by tomorrow morning. Friday will be another big day as both kids get another brain and heart scan. These are done just to make sure there are no changes. We do not anticipate a change but it is still nerve-wracking.

The big worry today was that Wilson might not get invited to anyone's birthday party - EVER. He  really smelled like dirty feet. His nurse (who is amazing) cleaned out his bed and gave him a bath (which means he was wiped down with a wet wipe of sorts). Turns out the oxygen monitor wrapped around his foot was causing the stench. Although Wilson did not like the bath and all the monitors being replaced, he does smell much better and has a chance of making some friends in the NICU

Chris's incision looks a lot better and we are hopeful it completely heals by July 6th. Morgan is learning to balance work, home and the hospital.

Thanks for the continued prayers, thoughts and positive vibes -we are confident they are working!!

Heavy Weights!

Deck of cards = size of preemie diaper!

The exciting news from today is Wilson now weighs a whopping 2 pounds and Clara is at 1 pound 11 ounces! Both are up from their birth weight! They have increased their feedings to 4 ccs of breast milk every 3 hours. If Wilson does well with this, they are going to up his to 5ccs! The doctors said feedings can be (usually are) up and down, they have to figure out just how much their little stomachs can tolerate without making them sick. While Dad had to go back to work today, Chris and Grandma got to Clara's and Wilson's diapers. They are so tiny!

A question we've asked over and over is what caused Chris's water to break? While doctors say nobody really knows what causes pre-term labor, they are fairly confident there was a low grade infection in Clara's amniotic sac. Our doctor believes this happens at the time of conception and when there is an infection it causes the sac to break. Chris was on antibiotics for a week after her water broke and her contractions resumed the day after the antibiotics ended. The doctors said an infection was the main thing that could cause Chris to go into labor. This theory continues to prove true as Clara was born with a very high white blood cell count (a sign of infection) and immediately placed on antibiotics. However, this is an infection that keeps on giving. Chris's incision from her c-section is infected which is typical in women whose water broke and did not go immediately into labor. The doctor drained her incision today and showed Judy how to care for it until her next appointment on July 6. Hopefully the combination of antibiotics and the drainage will allow her incision to heal quickly.

The Brady Bunch

This weekend both Clara and Wilson had several "Bradys." Bradycardia (referred to as a "Brady") is a somewhat common condition in preemies where their heartbeats and/or oxgen gets so low they have to be stimulated. It may be common to the nurses but it really freaks us out. In non-medical terms, they stop breathing, all of the alarms around their isolettes go off, and we lose control of our bowels.

Speaking of bowels, today's big news is that both the kids had good stool. Clara actually had a good enough bowel movement that it caused her to brady (yes, she literally pooped her heart out). As we move into increased feedings, the bowel movements are really important to monitor. Clara has bowel loops, so we were especially glad she was able to let some out. We can't believe we're even writing about this, much less proud about it, but such is life in the NICU.

After a "big" afternoon, Clara let is us know everything was still OK

Tomorrow Clara is having an echocardiogram to examine the flow between the upper chambers of her heart. All in all, both kids continue to do well. Wilson had an increase in his oxygen percentage (still around 28-30%) but the doctors aren't worried yet. Clara's white blood cell count is still high but they are getting lower with the help of antibiotics.

This weekend was probably harder on us in some ways than it was on the kids. Chris developed an infection in the incision from her c-section but the swelling has gone down since she started antibiotics. Morgan has to go back to work tomorrow and brought work to the hospital all weekend to try and get caught up from an unexpected week away from the office. It will be a hard change for both of us, but we recognize how fortunate we are to have the help of so many friends and family here in town.

Thanks again for your continued prayers. Wilson and Clara are now 9 days old and doing as well as we could hope for at this point. None of us would be doing so well without the love, support and prayers.

Three generations of McGarvey women celebrated with
Clara as she was held by her mom today 



The Times They Are A Changin'

Chris has been pumping since giving birth last week and enough of her milk is stored at the NICU that they told us to start freezing it at home. This is what it looked like when I just opened our freezer. Yep, you now know what's in the two bottles with the yellow caps. It certainly makes the Jager bomb less appealing.

The Hangover

We got Wilson out last night to party with (be held by) Mom and he got a little tuckered out. When you combine that with his visit from Rajon Rondo, the single season record holder for steals at the University of Kentucky, Wilson had a pretty big Friday. Today his oxygen is back up around 28% (still good) as he is experiencing what we will call his first Saturday morning hangover. 

Don't worry pal, we've all been there before!

All in all, Clara and Wilson continue to do well. They had some minor setbacks today (Wilson's increased oxygen, Clara remaining on antibiotics because of a high white blood cell count) and we will have to watch a few things (make sure Wilson doesn't need a higher oxygen flow and that Clara's kidneys recover from some of the medicines), but the doctors are guardedly optimistic . . . so we will be too. The doctors and nurses have explained that we have a steep hill to climb and we won't make vertical progress every day. We just have to keep our faith that everything will work out and hope the kids continue their forward progress.

In a crazy story from today, a woman came up from the ER and rang the call button to our pod in the NICU. She said "my water broke and I'm going into labor." Judging by the explosion on her pants she was telling the truth. The secretary at the door needed to send her to a delivery room in the hospital and, since we had been there most recently, we gave "the Water Girl" directions on how to get to the labor and delivery triage. It was a little surreal. Honestly, we will at some point have to write about a few of the people we've met and stories we've accumulated while spending the last three weeks in the hospital.

"Its Been One Week Since You Looked At Me"

It has been one week since we delivered barenaked babies (anyone our age will now begin singing that in their heads while those younger will google it and ask someone what a "CD" is). So far Clara and Wilson have fought hard, are doing well, and have broadened our ability to love in ways we couldn't imagine. While totally cliche, watching these little babies fight for their lives every minute has allowed us to reflect on what is really important in this world and will hopefully make us better people and parents when they come home.

This morning Wilson continued his progress and is receiving less oxygen flow (a good thing) than he was yesterday. Clara is still on a larger breathing tube but we have no doubt she will be jealous of her "little" brother's progress and catch up in no time. Below are pictures of the differences in the tubing through which they are receiving support. Clara's is the bigger tube on the left.

 

After receiving the good news last night about the brain scans, one of our friends asked us what their next milestones will be. There is no short answer, but the docs will do another brain scan in a week and continue to monitor their hearts and lungs. It is also important for Wilson and Clara to begin feeding and putting on weight. Both kids are accepting tiny doses of breast milk every three hours and have added weight (measured in grams) each of the last two days. This is a great trend but one that will have definite ups and downs.

Today was a rough day holding the kids. Wilson and Clara got so comfortable lying on mom, they forgot to keep breathing. This freaked us out enough we might skip the kangarooing tomorrow. The nurses assured us it was harder on us than it was on the kids, but it was still frightening.

Thanks for continuing to take an interest in our kids and keeping all of us in your prayers. This first week was tough and we would not have made it without everyone's love and support.