We believe the light bulb has gone on!!

As of about 48 hours ago, all 3 girls are eating their feeds via bottles!! Hollister is the only one with a feeding tube left and if she continues to show her mad skills at eating, the tube will come out Monday or Tuesday. Keller and her are also now off oxygen, Holli-mouse still needs just a little at feeding times to help her breathe but that's it. Oh, and Holli-mouse isn't the mouse at the moment, she is the biggest weighing 5 pounds 14 ouces. Keller is 5 pounds 10, and Quinn has lost a little, which I'll explain next, is weighing in at 5 pounds 13.

(Holli-Mouse)



(Keller Bear)


Quinner
Quinn, in my opinion is fine, but she had a couple very small streaks of blood in her diaper twice on Thursday afternoon and evening. If she were at home, I wouldn't have even thought twice about it, probably figuring she irritated something (it was a miniscule amount). Being in the hospital they tend to go to extremes with everything. The night doctors, being a bit more quick to jump on things (we think they are bored most of the time) ran a panel of tests and did 3 x-ray/ultrasounds. The only discovery being a pocket of gas which they then suctioned out thru a tube. For the next 12 hours she was put on an IV and not allowed to eat. By the next morning, the day team agreed suffcient probing had been done and she could go back to eating. They feel, as we do, that the fortification to the breast milk irritated her bowel. She was finally allowed to eat again and promptly sucked down 20ml and wanted more. The rest of the day she had normal feeds and was gassy but otherwise fine.

I guess all it took was a meeting to get the girls in shape! They apparently don't like to be talked about behind closed doors. They are proving those doctors wrong and will hopefully beat the goal of another month in the NICU and come home early!!

A new week and some progress

Each of our girls is showing their individuality this week.

Keller is doing great feeding from a bottle and latching on to the breast. She still needs just a little bit of oxygen to help her. The doctors are trying an inhaled steroid to help her lungs establish themselves a bit better. She is also dictating when she wants to eat which the NICU refers to as eating ad-lib. Her meals are supposed to be near 60ml every 4 hours and she is waking about every 4 and taking anywhere between 30 and 50ml. Everyone is pleased with this so far.

Quinn is still doing great off her oxygen. She is not taking a steroid but her red blood cell count continues to be low so she got and increase in Iron. She is also going ad lib on her feeds. She seems to be uninterested in eating consistently tho. We see her suck down about 10ml and then lose intrest, she does something similar at the breast too. The good thing about going ad-lib tho, is that is all she gets until she fusses again so, maybe she will learn how to take a full meal when she asks for it. I am so glad this is not something I will have to do when she gets home as she can feed every 2 hours if she wants...I'm pretty sure I'd go crazy having to feed her that often. She is very close to 6 pounds so she can afford to work on this for a bit and if she loses a little weight it won't be too big a deal.

Hollister is slowly learning the bottle thing. She is not ad-lib but will occasionally drink a whole bottle and is always willing to try eating at least a little bit with most feeds. Yesterday the docs weaned her a bit on the oxygen and she is handling it great. She is also on an inhaled steroid. Feeding is a bit more difficult on oxygen and with feeding tubes. The oxygen makes the suck, breathe, swallow steps more difficult and feeding tubes increase reflux. The fact that the girls are able to work past this shows how strong they are.

We started off the week a bit more optimistic seeing how well the girls all did over the weekend. Their doctors are also pleased and are really working to try and figure out what the girls obstacles are and cater to each of them.

NOT the greatest day so far

Before you go on, realize that when we post bad news it is because we want to share/document some of the challenges of this journey. We're not crushed right now, but today was definitely one of the two-steps back kind of days.

We had a care-conference with the NICU staff at 1130 today. The most prominent reason for this meeting was because while a "normal" premie would be capable of eating mostly on their own by 37 weeks gestational age, our girls are now past the 38 week mark and their still only taking about 1/4 of their food on their own. Most of their food is feed to them thru the their feeding tubes. There are more than a few possible reasons for this delay, but today we confronted the issue together with the care team to come up with a plan. It was hard because, as well as our girls have been doing so far, they are now having a pretty considerable setback. They will not be coming home quite as soon as we had expected.

Hollister and Quinn are (surprisingly) having the hardest time. They both just seem to tire out immediately during their feeds. Keller is doing much better, but she still needs a little O2. The details are too numerous, and too mundane, to repeat here. The bottom line is that today was a reminder that our girls are fragile. Not the most fun facts to confront.

Then again...they're Renken girls. I'm sure they're just conspiring for the right moment to dazzle everyone with their progress.

Another week in the NICU

The girls seem to be making progress in learning how to suck, breathe, swallow while eating. Both Keller and Quinn did well enough with the Habermann bottles that they were able to go back to a normal slow flow nipple. Hollister is still using the Habermann with some success depending on the feeding. All 3 girls haven't been very consistent eaters, they obviously still have their feeding tubes so they aren't going hungry. There are a lot of differing opinions from the nurses and doctors as to where they should be. It is confusing and frustrating at times. As parents it is hard to listen to all of it and have faith that it will all work out. The girls are constantly surprising us tho, Keller took her whole feed by bottle at 230pm and Quinn has been known to do the same. Hollister will also take some of her feed from time to time. This shows us that they know how to do it and just need time to "get it."


Sleepy Holli-mouse

Katie's mastitus is a lot better. The antibiotics have kicked in and aside from needing some extra rest she feels great. We are both getting tired of making the 1 hour drive to the NICU and are ready to have the girls home. We continue to try and have a good attitude and support each other.

Quinn not interested in eating.

Daddy's girl Holli-mouse. They do know they are loved so much. In fact, Quinn has figured out how to get held and snuggled every time someone is near. She grunts, squeals, and squirms until someone picks her up...it works everytime, it's funny to watch.

Keller, wide awake after eating her whole bottle. :)

Hollister and Quinn are now cribmates. We thought it was high time Hollister have someone staying with her and, since all three can't be together, the nurses moved Quinn for us.

a bit of a rough week

The girls have had a bit of a rough week, Hollister especailly. Tuesday began with eye doctor appointments for all 3. Both Keller and Quinn put up a pretty big fight and were upset being poked and prodded by the doctors (who are all very nice unbeknownst to the girls). Hollister was calm much of the appointment. She has been seen once a week as the doctors were more concerned about her right eye. Thankfully the areas they were looking at have cleared up and she will only get seen once more in 2 weeks. Keller and Quinn are both clear until next year.

The girls also have been stuggling to eat from bottles and began on Tuesday working with a Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP) to try and improve things. Hollister continues to struggle the most, choking and holding her breath when presented with the bottle. Keller and Quinn just like to sleep thru feeds but seem to be getting the hang of it

Little Hollister also got her O2 changed around on Tuesday. Keller and Hollister have not been putting on weight like their sister and the doctors felt it was due to the flow and level of oxygen. Keller's oxygen was changed to 100% (versus 21%) and they took her flow down to almost nothing (.5 liter). She responded really well to this switch and has been putting on weight much better and has had very few desats and no Apena events. As soon as we got the all clear from the eye doctors the nurses changed Hollister over to the same senario as her sister. She didn't tollerate this as well as Keller and needed to have her flow set at 1 liter.

Wednesday was kicked off with the first of 3 immunizations. The girls got 3 big shots spaced out by 12 hours wrapping up with their last shot today.

When I called the NICU this morning we were told that Hollister continues to seem stressed. She had some apenas thru the night and was holding her breath again this morning when the SLP tried working with her and just a pacifier (which she's always liked). The doctors want to give her a day to rest a recover but if things don't improve they will recommend doing a brain scan to see if there is something that they missed previously. This of course worries us, my gut says she is just stressed out and has had a long couple of days but still. Once again, we know the NICU is 2 steps forward and 1 step back but the set backs are always scary. Please pray and send out positive vibes for little Holly-mouse.

Lastly, I have managed to develop mastitis in my left breast. Mastitis is an infection that occurs from plugged milk ducts. It makes you feel like you have the flu. I have a mild case and have just felt achy and really tired since Sunday. The lumps are really painful and have lingered longer than they should...most go away after 24 hours of massage, heat, and pumping. I just can't get them to break apart so the soreness it what's getting to me most. I have antibiotics and go back to the doctor tomorrow. Here's hoping I feel better soon. Jeremy is being so great thru all this, he really deserves an award for juggling all that he does.

What a lot of news

Keller looking unimpressed w/ mom...

Quinn being too cute



Holly mouse out like a light... Quinn getting a mani-pedi from dad

Keller smells something...poopy!


Our haul of gifts from the baby shower. Thank you soooooo much to everyone who was so generous with us. It was really touching.


Mini Panther reunion. Did we ever think we'd have kids then? (But here we all are...) Thank you to everyone, but especially Amy for setting so much of this up and volunteering to host.


Katie with Holly-mouse and Keller-bear

We had some special visits this month. Verne & Virginia Campbell came out for a holiday visit. They enjoyed holding the girls. I have always (jokingly) called the Campbell's my adopted parents, so these are like the girls adopted grandparents.

Me with Quinn & Keller... Our friend Tiffany. She was very camera shy due to her beliefs that cameras steal her soul. We managed to get one good picture.

Punk rock girls

First things first. Keller was off oxygen for a breif bit on Christmas. One of the night nurses took advantage and got these pictures with her iphone then emailed them to us. Technology is fantastic!! We love not missing any of the fun stuff the nurses do with our girls when they are bored, it's great! From left to right, Quinn, Keller, Hollister (in both pics).

The girls are doing really well and we hope to have all 3 in one crib soon. Keller or Hollister needs to come off the o2 before that can happen. All three are still working on taking a bottle or breast, it's still a slow process. Yesterday was a slow day in the NICU and we got on talking about how much hair the girls have which led to one of the nurses giving the girls mohawks. Of course we couldn't pass up taking some pictures.

Hollister

Quinn

Keller, "Rock On!!" :)