Around the NICU in 80 days...

Yup, they're 80 days old. And that means we've been in and out of the hospital NICU for 80 days!

Another surprise welcomed us yesterday when we came in. Joshua has no Nasal Prongs anymore. He's breathing on his own now. That tube in his nose is his feeding tube which hopefully will come out too when he knows how to bottle feed/breast feed.  He's such a handsome little man...like Daddy..

The other night, when they suctioned his nose (for him to breath easier), the nurse got a lot of mucusy stuff. His tummy was also a little but hard which was supposed to be nice and soft. Mommy also noticed that whenever she tried to put him on her chest, he would scream out loud, that's why we thought there was something wrong again.

The next day, they took him to the Children's Hospital to get a Lower GI test, which involved a dyed-anema, so that they can picture and check his intestines. Here's the picture of his transport incubator.

He came back with a result of no OBSTRUCTION in his tummy. It was good news, but they still need to do an Upper GI, when there's availability, just to make sure that there's nothing wrong in his bowels.  Although he hasn't been eating now for a couple of days (just milk drips), to prevent his stomach from growing anymore, he is still quite fuzzy.  Whenever you touch him, or adjust him when cuddling, he would whine and cry.  I think he gets it from the set of twins across him that constantly cry throughout the day.  It's alright though, crying is good for lung development, that's why I pinch Joscel once in a while when no-one is looking...jk

Now, Miss Joscel, what can I say?  She's definitely a handful.  Whenever we lift up the cover to take a look at her, it's always a surprise.  With Joshua, and all the other babies, they're right in the middle where they had left them.  Joscel, she can be in a corner, upside down, flip over, beside one of the port holes, and everywhere else but where they left her.  So let's play "Find Josceldo"...she's in there somewhere....here's a clue, she's NOT in the middle.

They keep the nurses on their toes, and make their shift a little bit more interesting.  That's why we always find their previous nurses, especially their Primaries, sneaking over during their breaks to see what they're up to.  

Here she is again trying to make an escape with her bum up.  I swear one day we'll come in the NICU, and we'll see all the nurses scrambling to find her in the unit... "Oh hi, Mr. and Mrs Inch.  I just want you to know that everything is under control.  This morning we found a Rope made of IVs, Nasal prongs, feeding tubes, and monitor leads coming from one of Joscel's port holes, the funny thing is, we can't seam to find her."

Now with her eye surgery nicely healing, she is quite a bit more interactive than she already was.  She loves it when you talk to her close up, as she can recognize our facial features.  She looks around for the voices she hears, and loves her soother.  She still does her little trick, when she'll Desaturate her oxygen, and gives you a mischievous smile afterwards.

Whatever they're both up to, we can't get enough of them.  We love them both so much, and can't wait to share them with you all.

Double Trouble!?!

Here they are, together again. I had the chance to hold them both in a different way. One was just sleeping and the other one was squirming.
You would think that it was Joshua behaving but it was the other way. We noticed they traded personalities. Joscel is still a little fiesty, but we find her more quiet and content lately. And Joshua on the other hand is cranky. He cries when his diaper is wet or if there's treasure in it. He'll also cry when you touch him or even just make a little noise while he sleeps.Check this video of them together. Joshua was grumpy because of his poopy diaper (well, who would be happy if there's poo in your pants?). And Joscel, our naughty little munchkin, was just smiling away.


I also gave Joscel her first bath last night. It was a little scary for me thinking I might drown her or she might get cold. She cried a little bit but she was fine after.
She lost quite a bit of weight last night and they were thinking it was because of her being transferred to the open waterbed. Her body can maintain temperature but that requires her to burn more calories. That means she's not gonna grow fast the way they want her to grow so they put her back in her isolette (much better for me!).

Getting closer to taking them home,,,

We are just amazed how fast things are changing with our twins. They will be 36 weeks gestationally this coming friday. Last night, Joscel's nurse decided to take her out of her isolette and transfer her in a heated, open waterbed. "She's a big girl now and she can maintain her body temperature so it's time", they said. At first, Mommy was a little scared because we were used to seeing her in her safe, closed isolette. Taking her out seems to be quite worrysome because of the infection going around. It took a lot of convincing and encouragements from the nurses, especially from Jo, for me to feel fine about it. I felt guilty too of not trusting God about that issue, maybe I'm just being too protective.. Anyway, she was fine! And it seems like she's enjoying her new bed!Today, they transferred her to LEVEL 2, Bed 11 which is just beside her brother. We are really getting spoiled! That is a big step forward for them and for us coz that means it's almost time to taking them home.
It is also time for them to be trained for bottlefeeding/breastfeeding which is so important. Joscel is doing great in sucking her soother but she has to work on her breathing and swallowing. Joshua is getting there though.

Updates...

Today was a big day for our little Joshua because he's been transferred to NICU Level 2! It's a good news coz that means he's improving, but at the same time it's sad news for us because they are seperated again, and we lost his primary nurses. I guess we have to start looking again.

They've been saying that Josh is ready to be bottlefed as well. He's been showing cues that he's ready for it, like putting his hand in his mouth and licking it, he's more awake for a long periods of time, and when we give him his soother he'll start sucking. Last night, his nurse bottle fed him. He consumed 4 mils in 2 minutes. He was quiet funny because as soon as he was done, he was knocked out! I guess he really got tired and used up a lot of energy. At least he didn't complain that he has to start working for his food now!

And our little Joscel had her eye surgery 3 days ago. Her ROP went up to Stage 3 and it was critical for her to have that surgery, otherwise she may lose her sight. They gave her an extra dose of sedation so she won't feel any pain or move during the surgery, as she squirms quiet a bit. She's just starting to move around now and she is peeing out the medication, and is more active when she's awake. She's really puffed up, and retaining a lot of fluids. They also had to re-intubate her for the surgery and they're hoping that she'll be ex-tubated soon. They gave her some more "Smarties", or blood transfusion to get her blood oxygen up.
I (Cey) also took my Canadian Citizenship Exam this morning, no results yet but hopefully I passed it. It'll be great to be a Canadian citizen since the "Jos" (JOSeph, JOScel, JOShua) are all citizens of this country.

A Special Valentine's Day....

We don't know why a lot of premature babies were being born lately. Nurses said it must be the "full moon".

We went in to see our babies on valentine's day and we were surprised they were together in one room (in 2 separate isolettes). We were told that more babies were being admitted and that they didn't have any more rooms to accommodate them. So they decided to put our babies together in the same pod. It was for our advantage because we finally had the chance to cuddle them both at the same time! Mommy did it first and then it was dad's turn yesterday.

We're still stunned and amazed by the fact that we have 2 babies!!

They settled Joshua first on my chest and he slept right away. And when it was Joscel's turn, she put her arm around her brother's back and was just staring at him for almost 20 minutes! Maybe she knew right away that he is her brother. But we can totally see their different personalities. We even caught this picture of Joscel sticking her tongue out at Joshua.... Hmmm, will Joshua have to watch out when they grow up?

One happy family....

Here's daddy, super excited to hold them. We put their hands together and they didn't mind!

Say cheese!

Do they look alike?

The nurse also found these valentines' vests and she thought they would look cute on them... and of course they did!

And here's Joscel helping us pray.....

Daddy giving a heart to heart talk to his babies...

Oh what a wonderful feeling to finally hold them both.....

They've been dedicated to God!

Last night was a very special night for our family. We asked Pastor Andy and his wife, Charlotte, to bless and dedicate our babies to God and we're thankful that they granted our request (before Charlotte leaves for Nebraska). Andy read some verses for us and the babies. We prayed, then he dedicated them to God. We're also going to have a "public dedication" with our family and friends once we take our babies home.

PSALM 139:13-16

¹³ For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

 ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

 ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you 

when I was made in the secret place. 

       When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

 ¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body. 

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

PROVERBS 22:6

⁶ Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

The nurses made journals to keep track of what's happening since they were born for them to read when time comes. So here's Andy and Charlotte writing their love story for them.

They also stayed for a little while to witness what keeps our babies busy everyday. So part of it was watching Jo changing Josh's diaper and lifting him up to be weighed. This is also the 2nd time for Joshua to wear babies clothes. He doesn't have all the fat and muscles yet to fit into them but they still looked good on him. 

Joscel is back on CPAP and doing really well. She just likes to pull her feeding tube out though! And it's been 2 nights in a row when Jo tries to change her poopy diaper, as soon as Jo takes the dirty diaper out and lifts up her feet, she shoots her poop straight to the isolette, beddings and her new diaper! And she doesn't do that once, she does it twice and thrice in 2 minutes time! That's why daddy calls her "Pooper-Shooter!"

Also, Joshua was ex-tubated yesterday because he proved he could breath without tubes so here he is, back to prongs. What a super star!

Happy 2nd month birthday Joscel and Joshua!

We celebrated their 2nd month birthday on Sunday.. We brought some chocolates that we shared with all the nurses and doctors. We would say they enjoyed them so much because the containers were empty the next morning!  

On that day, they also got vaccinated. We watched them and they didn't seem to mind being poked. But yesterday when I came in the morning, I was told that our babies were having "apnea" episodes and looked so sleepy. We thought it was just due to the vaccination they got. 

Joshua gave us a big scare in the evening because he looked like he was having trouble breathing. They X-rayed him and found that his tummy was full of air and that air was squeezing his ribs and lungs. It made it hard for him to breath so they decided to re-intubate him. They did it to give him a break from breathing on his own and to get rid of that gas. They also stopped feeding him.

It was just 3 days ago when Joscel was doing better with her breathing that her nurses decided to cycle her on prongs and CPAP to catch up with Josh. And now, she's back on Sipap again....

We visited them today and since they were doing better from yesterday, they said they might ex-tubate Josh and start feeding him again tomorrow if he continues to do well overnight. And they will put Joscel back on CPAP.

Feb. 6, Mommy's B-day

28 years old! I'm feeling old already but a lot of people say I'm still young. Well, at least God had blessed me with my most wonderful gifts, my babies, as another year has been added to my life.

I wasn't really expecting any celebration for we were just planning to go and visit our babies that day. But I'm thankful for Jo's family, especially Aunt Lucy, who hosted a birthday dinner for me. Thanks again!

I also received cards from my babies, of course, they couldn't do them themselves without the help of their nurse. The cards were so special because their tiny hand prints and foot prints were there!

Considered as Level 2

We were told that our babies are considered to be Level 2 now but they thought of still keeping them in the same pod until they resolve the infection issue within the unit. Colored linens are back though so their nurses dressed them up with pink and blue linens to bring some excitement in their isolettes.

Joscel had her first cuddle again after those "apnea" episodes. Daddy is still watching from the sidelines because he's still sick. She's still on CPAP but we noticed that she does a lot better during her assessment when they remove it from her face. As you can tell from this video, she is quite content with no oxygen support at all. That tube is just a "feeding tube".

Joshua has now graduated from cycling of prongs and CPAP to only nasal prongs.

The eye doctor went there again yesterday to check on their eyes. She said that they have just a little bit of ROP (Retinopathy of Premature - eye disease) which is expected due to their prematurity. She said that they have a 40% chance they will heal themselves and a 60% chance that they will need a laser eye surgery in a couple of weeks.

Also, they are going to be vaccinated (which is a requirement for all babies after 2 months of being born) on sunday, their 60th day here on earth.

Updates...

Daddy finally had the chance to see his babies again yesterday. He was feeling better (not coughing and no runny nose) plus he wanted to see them soooooo bad. He didn't touch or hold them though.

Joscel is doing better with her breathing now. They put her back on Si-pap which is better than re-intubating her. For the last 2 days, her breathing was improving. They also started adding "milk fortifiers" to her feeds which gives her the boost to grow faster and bigger. 

Joshua started having his milk fortifiers 2 weeks ago 

but he just reached 1 KILO yesterday, he was a little behind than Joscel when it comes to weight but ahead in terms of breathing. 

That's it for now,,, we'll keep you posted!