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The Answer Is B, Jaxon then Jordan

I admit, it really wasn't a fair question, but it was fun. Jaxon now weighs 6 pounds and 1 ounce and Jordan weighs 4 pounds 13 ounces. Jaxon tends to be a little "lazy" and so I think that is helping him pack on the ounces. Jordan on the other hand is always awake as is evidenced by the pictures that show him with his eyes open all of the time. I called to check on them the other night at 1 AM and the nurse said, "Jaxon is sleeping, he's doing fine. Jordan is just laying in the bed with his eyes open looking at the ceiling." I guess we know who the night owl is. I am working on uploading new pictures as we speak.

Can You Tell Who Is Who

Please comment on who you think is who. Here are your choices:

A) Jordan on the left, Jaxon on the right
B) Jaxon on the left, Jordan on the right
C) Both pictures are of Jordan
D) Both pictures are of Jaxon

Good luck, I will post the answer by Saturday.

"I Want A Giant Leap Headline Too Daddy!!!"

During the course of my last posting, doctors came around and bumped Jordan up from five bottle feeds to six. Those six feeds along with the two he can receive from mom each day means that he can now receive all of his feeds by mouth. As mentioned earlier, that is one of the hurdles the boys have to clear in order to make it home.

I also failed to mention earlier, that as of last Sunday Jordan was 17.5 inches long. His little brother, Jaxon, was 18 inches long. So much for the little brother comments. Jaxon is a half inch taller and 1 pound heavier than older brother. I still believe had they stayed in until July 22nd, their original due date, they both would have cleared the two foot mark. What are you guys laughing about? You already thought I was crazy, why would I try to change your opinion on a blog.

One Giant Leap

Well, this has been quite an interesting week. It started on Sunday when the Nurse Practitioner called and told us they were going to hold Jaxon's feed as a precautionary measure. It turns out that Jaxon did have a urinary tract infection and staph infection. The good thing is that since they were so proactive and started treating this with antibiotics on Sunday it really didn't hit him too hard. He is scheduled to go off of antibiotics and back on his feeds on Monday. I know he will be glad about that. It is too funny watching him suck his pacifier so anxiously and never get anything out.

In the midst of all of the infection talk, Jaxon decided it was time to take a giant step forward today. We got to the hospital to visit him at 3 PM and were excited when we saw that he was on room air. Yeah!!! That's right, no more nasal cannula for Jaxon. He has been on room air since about 11 AM this morning and his oxygen saturation level, the ET thing they put on your finger, is still registering in the range they want it to. Jaxon now weighs 5 pounds 6 ounces.

Jordan weighs 4 pounds 7 ounces and has moved into his crib. He is getting closer to going on room air, but he is still not quite ready for it. He has managed to bump the number of feeds by mouth up over the course of this week. He currently can receive two feeds from mom and five feeds by bottle. As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the hurdles they have to clear is being able to take all of their feeds by mouth before they can go home.

I can't really think of much else to share. Please continue to keep Baby Noah and Baby Samantha in your prayers. Baby Samantha got to go home on Thursday. I know her parents are excited. Please continue to pray that the transition goes smoothly and that both Baby Noah and Baby Samantha continue to recover.

UPDATES UPDATES UPDATES

The boys are doing pretty well. Jordan is pictured top left and Jaxon is pictured bottom right. Jaxon is now 5 pounds and Jordan is 4 pounds 6 ounces. They are both taking 2 of their 8 feeds by bottle. Jaxon has temporarily been taken off of his feeds just to make sure that he does not have an infection. If things turn out like that suspect they will he will be placed back on his feeds today.

A question that we have been asked quite a bit is “Have the doctor’s said when they can come home?” Well, one of the indicators is that they have to take all 8 of their feeds by mouth. As mentioned earlier, they are currently taking 2 of their 8 feeds so in that sense things are going pretty well.

Also, Jordan and Jaxon have been doing a great job being weaned down on their oxygen. Yesterday, Jaxon was on 25 ccs of oxygen and doing fine and Jordan was on 50 ccs. They started off on 200 ccs when they moved to nasal canula.

We’d like to thank everyone for their continued prayers again. It’s amazing the power that prayer has. Please continue to pray for the boys. Also, if you could, please pray for baby Samantha as well.

Since we have moved to Level II, we have met another family who is in the same situation we are. Their children were born at 23 weeks. Baby Noah is at home, but has some vision problems. Baby Samantha will has vision problems as well and is still in the hospital. They were born in January and Noah just got to go home two weeks ago. This has been really hard on the family I’m sure. They have been unable to hold Samantha because she had to have a procedure done to deal with her IVH. Evidently, the outlook for her IVH was not as optimistic as Jaxon’s. Please pray for Baby Samantha and Baby Noah during this difficult time.

Shots!

I can't believe that our boys are already two months old! They had their two month shots yesterday and they did pretty well. They only cried for a few minutes, but that first initial scream was awful. Jaxon did the hold your breath while you cry and Jordan opened his eyes really wide and screamed and screamed and screamed! It broke my heart! Luckily they ate right after so the calmed down pretty quickly and went to sleep. Yesterday was pretty big day for Jaxon, he nursed for the first time. I have to say that he shocked me because he did very well. The lactation consultant was pretty shocked too. He only did it for a few minutes then fell asleep. It was pretty funny actually. Jordan will probably have to wait a few more days because right now he's breathing too fast. Hopefully by the end of the week he will be able to do it. That's pretty much all the updates we have. Please keep us in your prayers.

Moving on up!

It's been a while since we last updated and we apologize for that. There has been a lot of things going on the last couple of days. I receive a call Friday around 2:00 from the hospital from the boys nurse. Let me remind you that everytime I see TCH on the caller id my heart junps into my throat. The nurses are really good about starting off by saying "your boys are fine" and then they go on with the reason for the call. Well once my heart was back in my chest where it belongs, the nurse proceeded to tell my that my boys were being transferred to Level 2!!! For those who don't know what this means let me explain. In each hospital there is a newborn nursery and a Level 2 NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). In select hospitals that are more equipped to handle critical babies there is a Level 3 NICU. Most older preemies (34 to 38 weekers) are sent to Level 2 even if it's only for a few days. The boys have been in Level 3 from the jump. The have finally graduated (and pretty early I'll say). Jordan is the only baby I've seen that is not in an open crib as of yet. He just needs to gain a few more ounces and he will be good to go. Level 2 is a lot more hands on for the parents and the ratio for baby to nurse is now 4:1 (level 3 was 2:1). The boys are doing very well with this transition. Last night Jyusef commented on how much more calm Mr Jordan seems to be when he's getting his diaper changed. That I credit to the nasal cannula.....SOOO much better than the CPAP. The boys are definately growing like weeds. Jordan gain 80 grams over night and Jaxon gained 60 grams. We are weighing in at 3 lbs 15 oz for Jordan and 4 lbs 13 ounces for Jaxon. If they have another big gain today like they did last night, I will and 4 pounder and a 5 pounder. Can you believe it?

I want to take a minute to thank everyone who came to my shower yesterday. It was absolutley wonderful and I'm so blessed to have such a supportive family. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers and please continue to pray for the boys, after level 2 they get to come home!

Boys Are A Growing

Well, the boys have both been taken off of their CPaps and placed on nasal cannula. They will be monitoring their progress on the nasal cannula over the next 48 hours to ensure that they are ready for this step. It is amazing how calm the boys are now that they don't have those humongous tubes around their face.

In regards to weight, Jaxon, pictured top now weighs 4 pounds and 9 ounces and Jordan weighs 3 pounds and 13 ounces. Jordan, pictured bottom is really enjoying not having to try to free himself from the CPap.

Leaps and Bounds

Yesterday was a big day for our boys. Jordan's CPAP was turned down to 6 and he is doing pretty well with that. They decided to wait to turn Jaxon down until Wednesday because they moved him to OPEN CRIB!!! That's right my boy is no longer in an isolette. They didn't want to do too much at one time so Wednesday is turn down day for him. Jordan still has to gain a little more weight before he can go to open crib. They want the babies to be 2000 grams before they transition them. Jaxon weight's 2010 (4 lbs 7 oz) and Jordan is 1635 (3 lbs 10 oz). Over all they are doing pretty well. Please continue to keep them in your prayers.

Update

Here is a quick run down on what's going on with the boys:

* Jordan*
- CPAP pressure of 7, will be turned down to 5 tomorrow
- Weighs 3 lbs 8 or 9 oz
- O2 saturation of 21% (room air!)

*Jaxon*
- CPAP pressure of 7, will be turned down to 5 tomorrow
- Weighs 4 lbs 6 oz
- O2 saturation of 23%

The CPAP lowest setting is 5 so if they do will with that then they will go to nasal cannula in a week. YAY! They boys really hate their CPAPs and I am told that the nasal cannula is MUCH more comfortable. The best thing about them being on the cannula is that they finally get to nurse (sorry if that it T.M.I. for some of you reading). This is a really big step and a moment I've waited my whole life for (you have to be a woman to understand).

We did try to upload a video from Friday but we are experiencing technical difficulties so please standby. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers, we love you guys!