Momma I'm coming home!!!

Ozzy Osborne said it best, "Well, Mama, Mama, I'm coming home." Yes, that is right. After 11 weeks and 3 days, we are getting to take Will and Kate home on December 30th, which is ironically 3 years to the day since we took Ben home after his 3 day stay in the NICU.

It has been a long, hard road, but we all made it to the other side with just a few scars to show for it (only Kate and MH's incisions). Now, that we have learned the routine of the NICU, it is going to be a little adjustment when we get home. A lot of the things are normal newborn things: waking up during the night, changing dirty diapers and clothes all of the time, etc. However, they, being the adorable preemie babies that they are, have decided to add on some more fun and anxiety for mom and dad. Will and Kate are both going home on oxygen and apnea monitors. Sure will make travelling fun. Some of you would say travelling, where are you going? Well, although we are told not to get the kids out very much so they are not exposed to sickness, we have an endless number of visits to germ-invested doctors' offices in the near future. This all begins not even 24 hours after going home, with a trip to the pediatrician's office in Flagstaff. Then, 2 days later on Friday, we have to go down to Phoenix for an eye doctor appointment for Kate. We'll round out what we know of for the month of January with a number of additional pediatrician visits and a second trip back to Phoenix for an appointment for both Will and Kate with a Pulmonologist on the 19th.

So, it seems that the craziness has just begun in the Lovekamp household. Thankfully we've still got help for a while longer from MH's parents and my parents will arrive just a few days after hers leave.

The other, more entertaining part of our lives, Ben, has had a great week with both Christmas and his birthday. As he says, "my birthday is stuck to Christmas, and Christmas is stuck to my birthday." He has opened a year's worth of presents and has had a good time sledding and playing in all the snow that we've had over the last few weeks. Probably a little over 3 feet all together. Daddy sure has had a good time shovelling it all off the driveway, the porches, the sidewalk, and especially the roof too!! Good Times!!

Sorry for the lack of pictures. We'll get some posted in the next few days. All three of the kids are just as cute as they were the last time we posted...

Merry Christmas!!

The nurses at the NICU in Flagstaff surprised us with a few photos of Will and Kate wearing nothing but a Santa hat. I'm sure you'll agree they are very cute!
Speaking of Will and Kate, they both have been doing very well and seem to be in the final stages of being "prepared" for a homecoming. They have been weaning them down on their oxygen requirements and they are both doing very well eating. So far today, they have both eaten all but one of their feedings from a bottle and have a few to go through the night. All indications are that they'll be heading home this week sometime. We are VERY excited to get them home, although I think Mary Hampton and I are beginning to realize the extent of the work that they will both require for the next year or so. A labor of love...

As for the rest of the family, we all had a wonderful Christmas and spent the day with family (MH's mom - Kay, MH, myself, and Ben) and friends. MH's dad, Phil, arrived late tonight after having a few travel issues making it from South Carolina to Flagstaff. I guess it still beats driving...
Ben had a great time and really enjoyed learning about and experiencing Santa this year. He was also very happy to receive all of his presents and had a great time playing with them all. Below is a bird's eye view of some of the present opening festivities.
We hope that you all had just as Merry of a Christmas as we did! We'll try to update with more pictures and news soon.
Josh, MH, Ben, Will, and Kate

Mommy's doing great

Just wanted to send out a picture of the best experience I have had in a couple of months. On Wednesday, I was able to hold both of my babies at the same time. Wow!! What a feeling. Looking forward to many more of these experiences.

Home Sweet Home!

So, the whole family is in Flagstaff...FINALLY!

Will, Kate, and I flew on a small plane (see photo) up to Flagstaff from Phoenix on Friday afternoon while Mary Hampton was in hot pursuit in our car loaded full of 3 months' worth of stuff (she opted out of the flight). MH's mom and Ben drove up Thursday with another car full of stuff in anticipation of our move home. Needless to say, Ben was very excited to get reacquainted with his toys.
As for our other two kids' accommodations, they received a rather warm reception at the Flagstaff Special Care Nursery, which had a crib decorated with their names ready and waiting.

If that wasn't enough, MH and I came home later that night to a welcome home banner and a Christmas tree that was delivered by some very thoughtful friends. (We were also greeted by Ben, who was more than eager to get the Christmas decorating underway...)

Being back home has been nice, although we apparently got here just in time. We got a few inches of snow on Saturday night and are expecting between 2 and 3 feet of snow this week! What happened to the warm Arizona weather??? Also, being at a different hospital with different doctors and nurses has and will continue to take some getting use to. The nursery here is very quiet with only about 8 babies, including our two. That said, Will and Kate seem to enjoy it and have done well with the transition thus far. Both of them have been eating the majority of their requisite formula by bottle, although they have required a little more oxygen now that they are at 7000 feet elevation. The doctors here insist that the extra oxygen is not a concern and that all that they need to do to get home is to eat all of their food from the bottle and gain weight consistently. They will almost definitely be bringing their oxygen home with them anyways (as long as they don't have to carry it with them to school I'm happy...).

So, other than trying to move back into our house and, with Ben's help, get the house decorated for Christmas, things are pretty quiet around here. Enjoy the pictures and we'll try to get another update out sometime this week. If we are snowed in we should have lots of time to write...

We are moving back!!!

So, it has been a long haul, but we are heading to Flagstaff tomorrow. Will and Kate's eyes look great and they have been approved for transport. They will fly by fixed-wing plane with their daddy in tow, while mommy drives up the mountain. Thanks for all of your prayers!!

Oh, and by the way, Will had his first bottle today and has not stopped since. He has eaten every feeding from a bottle. Pray that they will both continue to eat so well and then they will be going home soon. We still have hopes have having two bundles under the tree at Christmas.

Out of isolation?

Ben, Mimi, and I went to the Phoenix Zoo yesterday, which was fantastic. Ben is finally at an age where he enjoyed actually watching the animals instead of just running around on the pathways thinking we were hiking (which, we could have done outside of our backyard for free). It was a little depressing, because Ben has seen Madagascar and wondered why the giraffes and zebras were not together and why monkeys looked through glass. He did think he would show them a thing or two about the outside world though.

And, speaking of isolation, Kate is now out of her isolette and in the bed with Will. How cute are they!!!! Ben, nor I, could get enough of it!! Josh made the comment that it really made it feel like we have twins now (then he left the room screaming...just kidding). Mimi even took advantage of their accessibility today and held both of them. What a treat!

They are doing great and we are anxiously awaiting the results of the eye exam tomorrow. If and when the doctors give them the go ahead for a return trip to the NyICU in Flagstaff, we will decide when we are ready to backtransport them to Flagstaff. Keep us all in your prayers during this time.

What a difference a week makes

We now have 2 babies that have grown up so fast this week. They have both started wearing clothes, being held by Mimi, regulating their body temperature, and remained on nasal cannula. Kate has continued to eat from a bottle for 4 of her 8 feedings a day. Will needs to get to 2 liters/min on nasal cannula to try to eat. He is currently at 3 and Kate is only at 3/4 liters/min, which one doctor said that was "like blowing in her nose." Will has finally moved out of his isolette and into a crib, where he is patiently awaiting his sister's arrival, because they will co-bed them now that they are both more stable. Will is currently 4 lbs. 4 1/2 oz. (1950 grams) and Kate is 3 lbs. 13 oz.(1730 grams). She needs to gain about 70 grams (= 2.3 oz.) and she can join her brother. Will also decided to join in being clean this week. He had his first bath on Friday and he loved it! We have truly had a wonderful week!!!!!

How fast they change

Yesterday, I went in to visit the babies and was surprised to find Kate in a shirt. It was just a white hospital t-shirt, but it was still adorable; however, I quickly changed her into a pink shirt that we had gotten as a gift. Matching hat to boot. We also put some socks on Will so he would not be so jealous of his clothed sister. And today, when I went in, I was able to put a shirt on Will, because he was IV free (no more antibiotics, which hopefully means no more infection).

Also, when the doctor did her rounds yesterday, she decided it was time for Kate to try a bottle. I asked the nurse how ugly this would be. She said that she probably would choke, spit, and not be able to finish her bottle. I will have you know that she sucked that bottle down in 10 minutes. She would even regulate her breathing, sucking, and swallowing, taking breaks to catch her breath. The nurse said she was very impressed. When they start bottlefeeding, they only do one bottle a day and the rest are tube-fed. Well, Kate had a different plan. She decided that she would pull her tube out last night, so the nurse chose to bottlefeed her last night for a feeding and she drained it. I got to give her a bottle today. It is definitely going to take some practice to get bottlefeeding down with a premature baby. Guess that is why they have to take all feedings from a bottle before they are allowed to go home. I was so ecstatic to give her a bottle today- actual mommy work instead of just changing her diaper. I am sure when Will is ready to start eating from a bottle that he will do just as well as Kate has.

Another fabulous thing happened today - Mimi (MH's mom) was able to hold Kate for the first time. Quite an exciting moment, since it means that she is more stable now and able to tolerate other people holding her. I know there will be many more of these similar pictures.

And one more bit of good news and a plea for prayers - Their doctor said if they continue to improve and they pass their eye exam for ROP on December 10th, then they will be able to be transferred to Flagstaff on the 11th via fixed-wing aircraft (of course, depending on the weather and with daddy tagging along). Pray for good eye exams, for more stability, no setbacks, and great weather. Thanks!

So, now that they are bottlefeeding and wearing clothes, I had a slight glimpse into my future of laundry and feeding and realized it has been kind of nice with them being tubefed and only wearing a diaper. However, these activites will certainly be welcomed when they are finally home.

Making Big Strides

After 15 long days since Will was placed on the ventilator with his second bout of sepsis he is finally free of it and breathing on his own. He was placed back on the high flow nasal cannula (skipping the CPAP machine) tonight after being weaned from the ventilator over the course of the last several days. He has so far been very happy with his new arrangments, breathing very well for the last 5 hours or so since being extubated. We are praying he will keep it up and not get too tired over the next few days so that this will continue to be the case. Thankfully, if he does get a little worn out, the CPAP machine will serve as a back-up instead of returning to the ventilator.

In addition to Will's breathing improvements, he also looks a lot better having lost a lot of his water weight with the help of his new friend, oral diuretics. Tonight he weighed in at 1741 grams (3 pounds, 13 ounces), which looks to be a lot closer to his "dry weight". He has just one more day of antibiotics and the accompanying IV, hopefully marking the end of all things entering his blood stream and hopefully keeping out all infection.

Kate is also doing very well. She remains on nasal cannula and has been weaned to 2 liters, which is the amount of pressure assisting her to keep her lungs open and breaths full. Will is at the top of this system at 6 liters. Next step for Kate will be low flow nasal cannula. Also, now that she is down to 2 liters she can begin to try bottlefeeding once she is feeling up to it. We are hoping to start her sometime this week. Yet another thing for her to learn! No rest for the weary. Once she learns this, she will be classifed as a "feeder-grower." This means she is just there to get fat and happy. And as far as her fat status goes, she is now 1687 grams (3 lbs. 11.5 oz.).

Another interesting thing that happens with these babies at about 1700 grams is they begin to regulate their own body temperature. So far, their temperature is monitored by a sensor that is placed on their skin. As the isolette sees fit (according to their temperature reading), it will heat or cool the bed. Kate has been trying to maintain her own temperature and has been switched to another setting that keeps the air at a constant and she does the rest. When she is able to sustain at room temperature, she can be moved out of the isolette and into an open crib where she can finally wear all of her adorable pink preemie clothes that she has, even though I think they will still be too big for her! Once Will gets more stable respiratory-wise and is not being asked to work so hard to breath, he too will be able to focus on regulating his body temperature. Once they can both be moved to an open crib, they will be allowed to share the same crib. How cute the pictures will be then!!! Speaking of pictures, below are a selection of recent photos that I thought you'd all enjoy...

Kate snoozing in peace

Will taking a lesson from his sister (notice the nasal cannula!)

Ben and Will checking each other out...I hope they always get along this well!

Kay (MH's mom) sizing up Kate

Are you my Mommy?? (Will)

Although they sure look a lot bigger they are still pretty tiny!! (Josh's hand on Will)

Say Cheese, Will!!

Mommy loving on Kate

Alright already...

OK people, we get the point - 8 days is too long between posts, but remember, no news is good news.

Kate - sugar, spice, and everything nice...

Will - snips, snails, and puppy dog tails...

Will and Kate are now both doing as well as can be expected. Will remains on the ventilator, but he is being weaned slowly. Between the "chronic lung disease" and the infection he seems to have gotten a serious case of bloating (edema) all over his body, including his lungs. This obviously makes it more and more difficult to breathe, makes him continue to gain too much weight, and has earned him a prescription for an oral diurectic. What is it they say - you leave the world the same way you came in - incontinence, diapers and diurectics. Oh, the joys he has to look forward to when he is 101 years old.

As I mentioned, he seems to have put on too much weight due to his water retention and swelling, and we are therefore, somewhat ironically, hoping for weight loss each night. This is kind of hard to wrap our minds around since, as of tonight, he is only 1776 grams (3lb 14oz). We are currently hoping that the diurectics he is on will help our "monsterous" baby lose some weight and get to what they call his "dry weight."

Mommy getting her "fix" from Will

Back to the point, the fluid he is retaining all over his body and in his lungs is now slowly disappearing, which should help him to breathe better and will hopefully mean that he'll get off the vent in the next few days. All his blood cultures and spinal taps have continued to be negative for infection and he will remain on his antibiotics for another 5 days to be sure that it is cleared from his system.

In other news, so far Will has had a busy week with various appointments. On Monday, he had his first PT/OT session, which was somewhat of a surprise so we have yet to talk to the therapists to see exactly how he tolerated it. Also on Monday, he had an eye exam that he passed (he's so smart!), meaning so far he's clear of ROP (retinopathy of prematurity). Finally, on Tuesday, he had a head ultrasound, which thankfully was still normal.

Kate is still on the nasal cannula, but has been weaned down to 2.5 liters/min flow. She has to get to 2.0 liters in order to try bottle feeding, so she is getting close. As long as she tolerates this change they will probably try 2 liters/min in the next day or two and hopefully try a bottle sometime this weekend or next week. While we are looking forward to bottle feeding, we are somewhat concerned that we may never want to go home since we'll want to feed her every chance we get.

Ben's already helping out so much!

On the subject of eating, Kate remains on full feedings (no IV) and has now successfully transitioned to formula in order to save the remainder of the breastmilk for her brother. She is also gaining weight like crazy, which we'll have to watch I guess (since Will seems to pack it on and Ben, who was also formula-fed, weighed 20 lbs. at 6 months). She has put on approximately 170 grams in the last 2 days and is now 1587 grams (3 lb. 8 oz.). She has also had a busy week, beginning with her first bath submerged in water. She loved it!! Her big brother even helped to wash her foot and her belly button. Like her brother, she too passed her eye exam with flying colors. They will both continue to have their eyes monitored every 2 weeks until they have matured (which I hear is anybody's guess on when that might be).

The doctors and nurses have used the word "stable," when it comes to Kate and have threatened to move her to Intermediate Care, which under normal circumstances would be a good thing, but since mama won't have her babies separated, she remains with her brother in the Nursery ICU. We will work to keep it this way as long as we can.

Better late than never...MH's baby shower was a hit!

So, for now, everyone is holding steady!! We are thankful for this reprive. Here at Thanksgiving it seems we have many things to be thankful for: our 3 beautiful children, the nurses and doctors who are diligently working to take care of Will and Kate, and our family and friends and for their relentless support. Speaking of which, MH had her shower on Sunday and was not only showered with some great gifts for the babies, but more importantly she enjoyed, at long last, being back in the company of so many of her friends again.

THANKS TO ALL!!

Josh, MH, Ben, Kate, and Will