A taste of what's to come!!!

Joscel and Joshua we're being changed by the nurse and mommy, when Joshua decided to let his big voice out, and Joscel decided to sing her own tune. It's amazing how big they're getting. By the way, the nurse had to quickly run and mix up some milk to satisfy their hunger.

They are so ADORABLE, are they? Ask me that at 3am in the morning after they come home and see if I'll still agree with you then. It's a good thing I'm a heavy sleeper. I guess mommy and them will have some great bonding time..hehehe.

Happy Due Date Mommy?!?!

Yup! Today is supposed to be my due date (MARCH 27). The doctors and nurses were greeting me "Happy Due Date Mom", or should it be "Happy 107th day at the hospital"? Either way, we're glad that everything is going smoothly.

4 days ago, they put them together in 1 big crib. They are full term now so they treat them as full term babies. Pastor Darcy also visited them on that day. Thank you again for the visit! By the way, NICU is getting a little bit loose for visitors.

Joshua's infection is gone. His last blood culture came back negative and he is also alert now. Actually, he became too hyper! He screams all the time and his voice fills the whole Level 2 when he cries. You can't stop him unless you feed him right away. He can finish 50 mils every feed and will want more. But we're making sure that his tummy tolerates it well so we try not to overfeed him. Sometimes, we give him more just to make him feel better.

The doctor today told me that Joshua is almost ready to go home. He feeds on demand, knows how to breastfeed, awake when he's hungry, finishes the whole bottle of milk, etc.. He just needs to gain more weight. He is also off the prongs now. They said that if things go well for the next few days, we can take him home sometime next week. But that means Joscel will stay at the hospital for a couple more days 'til she meets the other requirements. When that day comes, we'll figure out how to take care of Josh and visit Joscel at the same time. Any suggestions????

Another "thank you" to those who want to help us finish the house. Right now, we are trying to make the first 2 levels/bedrooms, kitchen and living room of our house clean and ready enough for the babies. We're not sure if Jo can finish the last 2 levels/basement. For now, that seems impossible. Hopefully, the help offer is still available when time comes....

103 days old

Joscel Faith (A.K.A. Lashes)

Whenever somebody comes and visits our babies, the first thing they would notice about Joscel is her long and curling eyelashes. They are super long and they make her look more adorable. She still has some attitudes but she just melts your heart away when you see her smile and stares at you when you talk to her.

Joshua Caleb (A.K.A. Cute Lips)

Yup, he likes to show-off his cute lips. Here are some of the moments we captured when he was doing it. Jo thinks he's practicing the Zoolander "Magnum" look.

Cute as a button...... Their hair is growing back... Still looks funny though....

Just for fun, daddy took a picture of Joshua's feet. We'll try taking Joscel's tonight.

Joshua got us worried again 4 days ago. He was lithurgic and was holding his breath for almost 10 seconds. They did some tests on him and his blood culture came back positive.. He has an infection/bacteria growing. They couldn't figure out what caused it though. Good thing is, they started him on antibiotics right away before they got the result and will continue taking it for 3 more days. They also put him back on nasal prongs to help him breath. Two steps forward, one step back eh? He's getting better now and he seems more alert. At least they didn't stop feeding him. He's on full feeds too.

And it's so nice to see that their nurses are trying to look for linens and sleepers that match for them..

Lately, I've been spending 12 hours or more everyday at the hospital and it's not even enough.I'm there to constantly change their diapers, clean their face, take their temperature, feed them, put them to sleep, etc.

I could imagine how my life would be when I take them home. There'll be no resting! When I feed one of them, the other would be crying. Hence, my adrenaline level goes up! Specially when Josh is hungry, he would scream his lungs out! He wouldn't stop until the bottle touches his lips...

It's also a good thing that I spend most of my time with them because I'm learning my babies' attitudes, cues and needs.

Jo took some time off again from work to make our house ready before the babies come home. It's so nice of "SYC" to let him take the time we need to get ready for the babies. We are still not sure when we could take them home specially now that Josh is sick.

Do they look like us?

Everything's alright!

Joscel Faith

Weight - 1667 grams (3.68 lbs)

Joshua Caleb

Weight - 1683 gms (3.71 lbs)

We got a phone call from the hospital on Friday (really scares us when that happens). They asked us to come right away to sign a consent form (scarier!) It was for Joshua's PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catether) line. Since he's only getting a little bit of milk a day, they had to get a permanent line for his IV and some meds he's taking 'til he reach his full feeds. They had to poke him every single day just to get one but it looked like when he's mad, the lines blew up! We were warned before, that if it keeps happening, they had to do a surgical procedure called "BROVIAC" where they had to put 2 tubes below his neck (ouch!). But before they do that, they would try to get one in his arm. They also told us that last Thursday night, they had to poke him 9 times but none of them was successful. Not to mention they also poked him 3 times on the same day (WHYYYYYY!!!!!)

So we rushed to the Children's Hospital for the 4th time. We prayed that the arm one would be successful so they don't have to make holes in his neck and God heard us, as always. He came out of ACH with the tube in his right arm, not in the neck. And now, no more pokes for him. Whew!

Saturday night, their nurse told us that she would try to put them together in one bed, it was soooo tiny. And here I am again, worried that they wouldn't be comfortable in that crowded bed, knowing that Joscel would be kicking and smacking Joshua. Also, Joshua has that huge tube in his arm. We saw them wiggling and crying too much. So we ended up staying 'til 12 midnight just to make sure they were ok. We made sure they were comfortable enough before we left. The next day, Joscel was back in her isolette (a closed bed)! See! Mommy's instinct is always, or should I say most of the time right! The doctors noticed that they weren't gaining enough weight and putting them together in one bed wouldn't do them good either, FOR NOW. It's a great thing to put them together but not at this point of time where they still need to gain a lot of weight. They'll stay in 2 separate isolettes until March 22 and then they will re-evaluate, maybe put them together in 1 big crib.

Today, I got the most awaited letter in the mail. It's the letter of confirmation that I passed the Canadian Citizenship Exam! Yay! Oath taking will be on Jo's birthday, April 17. Hopefully my babies can be witnesses on that special day too.

91 days,,,,

Joscel Faith

Weight: 1630 gms (3.59 lbs)
Length: 16.5 inches

Joshua Caleb
Weight: 1526 gms (3.36 lbs)

Length: 15.5 inches

91 days old
37 5/7 weeks gestationally

Joshua started eating 3 days ago. He started with 3.9 mls/3 hours. And he finished it all within 2.5 seconds! He was so hungry. Yesterday, they increased it to 6 mils. Whenever they feed him, he would want more. They can't increase his feeds too quickly due to his tummy issues. They want to make sure that his belly is ok. I guess that's better than getting him to full feeds and then will get sick. We'll just let him suck on his soother coz it makes him feel better that way.We also noticed that he's been traumatized. Everytime they touch him he screams. Because of the fact that they either poke him, take some blood, x-ray him, etc. 2 nights ago, his nurse was just trying to bundle him up really well while I was cuddling him and we saw his eyes popped out like he's afraid to get hurt again. It just breaks our heart to see him getting scared of the nurses. At least mommy and daddy are always there to make sure everything will be ok and that nobody's gonna hurt him anymore. I also make sure that he get's all comfy in my arms and just watch him sleep.

Joscel got us worried too. 3 nights ago, she was bradying and was lithurgic. Her tummy went up to 28.5 cms from 26 cms. Of course, the nurses got some blood tests, x-rayed her tummy, etc. They found out that it's full of air pockets. But it didn't look like Josh's problem. They stopped feeding her though and just waited for her to poop. I guess pooping was the solution for her. The next day, she pooped 2 big ones. She felt better and her tummy went down to 24 cms. She started eating again. She's also in an open bed now and she's doing great in maintaining her temperature.

Today didn't start well for me. I've been bugging Jo to take me out to get a hair cut. I had my last haircut in November so I needed it really bad. So this morning before heading to the hospital, we stopped by First Choice Haircutters to get my hair done. I guess it shouldn't have been our "first choice". The lady cut my hair really short! She suggested that she'll do short at the back and long at the front. I kinda liked her suggestion. At first I was liking it, but all of a sudden she was pulling some of my hair at the back and started cutting it really short, as in really SHORT! I was shocked.. I couldn't complain anymore and just let her do her stuff. She was asking me if I like it, I believe I only replied "It's different!". Was I too nice not to complain about it? Well, at least I've learned my lesson not to follow their suggestion anymore and just get them to do WHAT I WANT.

Things are getting better again....

Joshua's laser eye surgery on wednesday went well. He was transferred to Level 3 when he came back from the Childrens' Hospital where they did the surgery.

They had to intubate him because of the heavy sedation the doctors gave him. He was finally extubated yesterday and they put him back to nasal prongs. We were planning to come home early last night (we usually go home at around 10 pm) but when his nurse asked us if we want to cuddle him, we immediately said YES. We haven't cuddled him for almost a week and for sure, he missed it too. So we stayed late and just enjoyed the night with our babies (as always).He was also scheduled this morning for his upper GI to make sure his tummy is ok before they start feeding him again. As we remember, he had his upper GI a week ago and the result was "no obstruction". They told us that the test went well but they found out that he has reflux so they're starting him some meds to help him get rid of it. And it's nice to hear that they're going to start feeding him slowly as well. Poor boy, when we held him last night, he couldn't get enough of his soother. He was really hungry!

Everybody who knows Joshua were shocked when he was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism. At first, it was hard for us to accept that our baby boy will be on meds to regulate his thyroid for the rest of his life. But we felt better when the results on his tests, xrays, and ultrasounds were normal (his neck/thyroid, knee/bone age, liver etc.)

In level 2, our little princess Joscel is getting better and is bottle feeding.

Whenever we come to visit her, she desats and then smiles. That's how she says "Hi". We can tell that she misses her brother and hopefully they can be together again soon.

Back to the NICU Shuffle

One step forward, Two steps back, and around and around and around. Things have been progressing so fast that we forgot that anything could go wrong within the remaining 4 weeks at the hospital .

Yesterday, daddy was cuddling Joshua and we noticed that he was just sleeping and not active at all. He was also bradying (slowing of the heart rate) so Jo put him back in his isolette. But after a few minutes, his bradys continued.

The Doctors and RTs came to check on him. After a few medical procedures (nasal prongs for oxygen, some blood tests, spinal fluid tap, x-rays, blood transfusion, etc.) They found out his tummy is an issue again. They found that his intestines are lined with pockets of air that may perforate again. They also found that his thyroid reading is low, which may affect his stomach, heart-rate, and perhaps mental development. The Doctors are fortunate that they have detected it this early and have started treating the deficiency with a pill a day for the rest of his life, depending on his reaction. The Eye Doctor has also concluded after his frequent check ups, that his ROP has developed to Stage 3. Which means that he requires eye surgery within the next few days.

For both of us, Jo and I, it has been such a roller coaster ride. Going to and from the hospital everyday and night, has drained us both physically, emotionally and mentally. The only thing we can really count on is God's promise that He will never give us anything that we can't handle.

Joscel seems to be the one that brings a bit of homour in our daily visits. Although it makes our heart skip a beat when she Desats, her little smile afterwards always makes us laugh.

So until next time, to everyone who are continually praying for our family, and your support and understanding, Thank You. We know that our challlenges won't stop after the hospital. From weekly, monthly, yearly, and everything else in between checkups, we are grateful for all you help and encouragement.