A Week of Firsts

Today marks day 27 in the NICU.  We are down to 40 days until the boy's due dates.  While every day is starting feel a little bit like groundhog day to Alex and I, we love the little "firsts" that we get to experience with William and Winston and we have had a few great ones this week.  

First Urinary Tract Infection

This might not seem like something to celebrate, but we were thrilled to find out this was why William was sick.  Of all of the scary bacteria that he could have been infected with, we will happily deal with a UTI.  He has responded well to his antibiotics and was acting more like himself within a couple of days.  They are going to run a new urine culture today to make sure that the antibiotics he is on has wiped out the infection.  We will have to do a couple of small procedures to make sure it wasn't an anatomical problem with his urethra that caused the infection (since UTIs in boys are much more rare), but he should be fine.  

He is still on a higher level of oxygen than he was before getting sick and is struggling a little bit more to wean himself off of it.  Unfortunately the oxygen being pushed in his nose tends to dry things out.  He has been a little bit stuffy lately and so they have put him in a strange contraption that gives him more humidified oxygen to help him break up what ever is causing him the stuffiness.  It is a clear case they lay over his head.  So I guess for the next couple of days he will be the bubble boy :-).  

First Cribs

As you probably noticed in the photo above, William is in a crib rather than in an incubator.  Our great nurse Brooke surprised us one day this week by having them both setup in their first cribs before we arrived for our morning visit.  They both passed the 4 pound mark, which is when the NICU likes to wean them off of the incubators.  They still need to be bundled up in a couple of blankets and wear a hat to keep their temperatures up, but it makes such a difference in our visits to have such easy access to the little guys.  

 William

Winston

First Bath

Probably my favorite thing we have been able to do so far is to give Winston his first bath.  William can't participate yet, because he has been sick and still has an IV in, but he should be able to get one tomorrow when his IV is out.  Winston loved his bath.  Essentially we swaddled him in a fleece blanket and then placed him on a bath pillow in a warm tub of water.  We washed his body by pulling one limb out at a time from the swaddle blanket and washing him while doing some massages.  The boys have a physical therapist who comes to help us with this.  The massaging helps their joints with development.

First Bottle

Both William and Winston have been doing great with their breast feedings with Alex, so they were able to start taking a bottle once a day as well.  I had the honor of giving them their first bottle.  Never thought that would be such a thrill.  

 William

Winston

And Finally our First Family Photo!!

We had a great nurse one night this week, who was shocked to learn that we had not had the chance to hold the boys together yet.  She made it her mission to make that happen which was no easy task.  While they boys are in the same room, they are on complete opposite ends of the room and attached to multiple monitors, oxygen, etc.  She was able to move equipment around for us so that we could have them meet up in he middle of the room.  Probably my second favorite moment of this whole experience only after hearing their first little cries.