Thursday, February 17, 2011

THE NICU ROLLER COASTER

Happy 1 month to our beautiful baby boys! What a month it has been!! The first day in the NICU, the case manager came to talk to us about what an emotional roller coaster the NICU can be. She wasn't kidding! We have had our fair share of trials in the NICU but are extremely grateful for modern day medicine and the amazing people taking care of our babies.
Because the boys were born at 32 weeks, we knew we'd have some issues to deal with - the first came with the head ultrasounds. The nurse began by saying how great Beckham's looked & the whole time Tyler & I were thinking, ok, so what's wrong with Turner's... They went on to inform us that Turner has a cyst on his brain, but it is nothing to worry about. In fact, many adults have cysts on the brain, and they would never know it unless they had a head scan.
The boys initally lost some weight, which is completely normal, but was a little worrisome to us when Beckham dropped down to 3 lbs. 7 oz., and Turner got down to a whopping 2 lbs. 15 oz. Thankfully, at 4 weeks, our boys are up to a healthy 4 lbs. 14 oz. (Turner) and 4 lbs. 15 oz. (Beckham). We're pushing 5 lbs. folks!
Another challenge our boys have gone through is NEC/Pneumatosis which is an infection in the intestine wall. It can be a really scary thing if the wall gets punctured, but luckily, our boys both pulled through like champs. The treatment involves 7+ days with no food and iv fluids through PICC lines. Beckham got to experience NEC first, and Turner was just cruising along. We were even told to plan on his homecoming that weekend. As we're driving to our discharge class, we got a call that blood was found in Turner's stool... and cue Turner's turn with NEC. Thankfully he pulled through his round of NEC quickly.
As of today, our boys are both back to eating and hopefully on the up & up. We are so blessed to have such amazing, supportive family and friends to help us get through this challenging time. Those boys are the world to us!

Ty preparing to change a blow-out... the gloves are coming out!

Me & itty-bitty Turner

Twins reunited for the first time since birth (3 weeks old)

T.K. & Beckham

Turner with Grandma Linda

Grandma Terri Jo Berri

The Beck-ster!

T.K. (or TKent as Grandpa Kent likes to call him)