YouTube Videos Of The Boys

Before I get to the videos I'll give a report on today's visit. The boys have been off their CPAPs and on "room air" since yesterday, they just have a little supplemental oxygen, and they lowered their oxygen this morning from 2.0L down to 1.5L and the boys respiratory functions and oxygen saturation levels have been very good since. So their little lungs are doing very well.

Brandon has had a few spells over the past day where his heart rate will drop for just a few seconds, and then as quickly as it dropped it bounces back up to normal. And unlike the other day when he had those bradycardia/apnea spells, his breathing and oxygen saturation levels are fine during these spells. Today's nurse said he actually had one of these short spells this morning while she was listening to his heart with a stethoscope and that everything sounded great with his heart then. The neonatologist also came by to check out Brandon and she doesn't think it is anything to worry about right now, but just something to continue monitoring. Hopefully these spells will just go away on their own.

As I mentioned before I didn't get to "kangaroo" with Brandon for the past couple of days because his temperature was a little low, but today I got to kangaroo with both Colin and Brandon for about 40 minutes each. Yay! First I held Colin and he was just as quiet and content as could be once we got him settled and snuggled up with me. Then I held Brandon and no wonder his temps have been on the low side - there is a vent above his bed that blew cold air on me the entire time, but I had him covered up with a blanket and snuggled up so he stayed warm. But I guarantee that vent is why he was usually on the cold side and Colin was not. But the good news is that now that they have their CPAP tubing removed and they aren't as tangled up they moved both boys into their own "isolette" after kangaroo time. The isolette looks like a clear plastic box with little hand holes on each side and the benefit of it is that it heats from all sides whereas previously the boys were just being heated from above with the phototherapy lamp, plus it will be much more quiet and cozy in there, so they won't hear alarms going off around the clock (from their monitors as well as other babies). The whole side of the isolette box easily lowers though so we don't have to stick our hands through the small holes.

Lastly, today they ordered physical therapy for the boys which will start tomorrow. This is so that the PT can look at their muscle tissue and determine if they need to be positioned in certain ways that are more comfortable for them and better for certain joints. I'm glad they will be seen by a PT because I have wondered how comfortable they are sometimes given the limited positions they been in.

Oh, and when Bill called their NICU nurse last night for an update before we went to bed he was told their weight has dropped a little since their birth, which was expected and most babies do that. Brandon was 2lb 8oz and Colin was 2lb 9.2oz. But that's okay, we fully expect them to start just getting bigger from this point on.

Bill and I got a new Flip UltraHD mini camcorder the other day and that's our favorite new toy. It's the size of my iPhone and holds 2 hours worth of video. Here is a short YouTube video of Colin and Brandon. You may find it helpful to pause the video while it loads/buffers so that it doesn't "hiccup" while playing. Enjoy!