Wednesday, February 13, 2008

regress to progress

This past weekend was a Twilight Zone experience. The acid reflux was bad, and both Owen and Eliot were visibly hurting from it. The doctors started them on Zantac last Friday night, and we were waiting for it to take effect. In the meantime though, their breathing started to suffer, and both twins' A's and B's were dramatic and depressing. We had come so far to regress so much!

On Monday, however, I walked in to see two totally different babies. They were snuggling up to each other, smiling, and watching their mobile. You could tell instantly that they felt better. I bow to the gods - the makers of Zantac. They are good and wonderful people.

Owen is now up to three bottles a day and is gaining weight at a rapid-fire pace. This kid's cheeks are the size of grapefruits. He has been turned down to .5 litres on his nasal canula and is on room air. The doctor said she would probably consider taking him off oxygen support altogether in a few days. He is now 5 lbs., 12 oz. - a respectable "real baby" size, if I don't say so myself.

Eliot also continues to put on the ounces, but struggles a little more because she burns a lot of calories while working harder to breathe. She is still at 3.5 litres on the nasal canula, and does not appreciate being weaned from it. Because of her smaller weight (even one pound at this stage makes a huge difference), she has little reserve in her lungs. Any stretch, yawn, or hiccup, and her oxygen saturation levels go down. She is now 4 lbs., 10 oz. As her body gets bigger, so will her lungs, and this will undoubtedly help her breathing a great deal.

The twins have been together in the same crib for two weeks now. It will forever be an amazing sight, as I am still humbled by the days when they were tiny babies behind plastic walls - and in separate rooms, no less. Seeing them now makes my heart happy.

I know the sibling love may not last forever, but check out how much Owen enjoys snuggling with his sister. When I went to visit yesterday, he was sucking on her face. I don't think she's going to let you do that for long, little buddy.



Tap, tap, tap. Hey Eliot, you wanna snuggle?


You're kinda close, Owen.


Ewwwww! Did I just feel something wet? Were you sucking on my face?


I love to snuggle with you, Elie.


Alright, but just a few minutes longer . . .

4 comments:

Rachael M. said...

HOW do they look so different from last week?

Wasn't it just last week when I saw them?

Guess I'll just have to come back.

:-D

Anonymous said...

In these pictures Elie looks like Mike and Owen looks like you! Either which way, they are ADORABLE!!!

Rich Kresge said...

It looks like Elie is scowling at Owen. Like she is saying, " get off me"! I would like to comment that Elie's nose looks like she got it from Grama (Debbie).

Eunice & Rich

Anonymous said...

I love these pics of those babies! They are so cute. I'm glad to hear they are doing so much better. I'm thinking about you lots.