Home

On January 26, Garrett was discharged from the NICU after 57 days. It was one day after his due date.

It was very surreal. On one hand it feels like ages that we've been doing the whole NICU routine. On the other hand, it went by very quickly. I can't believe they are almost two months old!

We were, of course, very happy for Garrett. But also sad to be leaving Rhys all alone. It was also strange to think that after all this time, Mark and I are now fully responsible for all his care. You get very used to the routine and parenting an NICU baby is really just a series of limited interactions. You really only see your baby during the day (hence why I had no clue Garrett was such a night owl) and can really only do the very basics for them: feeds, diapers changes and cuddles. The nurses do their best to get you as involved as possible, but really, it's not a normal environment or situation. We couldn't believe that we were finally taking him home and could do whatever we wanted with him whenever we wanted to!

Rylen was so pumped. He was excitedly waiting at the window when we drove up. The first thing he did is run down to the basement to "get Garrett a present" and returned with a pile of toys that he kept putting in Garrett's car seat. Then, of course, he wanted to hold him. He was very gentle and loving. So cute. This is by far the best thing ever: to see Rylen's interactions with Garrett. So far, only love, kisses and "sharing" toys. No jealousy, although I'm sure it will come.

All dressed up and ready to go!

Garrett's first time outside the NICU doors!

Rylen gave Garrett a bunch of his train pieces to play with :-)

Proud big brother

Sharing with Garrett

Due Date

January 25 was our official due date for this pregnancy. It was also our five year anniversary!

Haha, I was thinking back to when we first found out we were pregnant, and were thrilled to find out the baby would be due on our anniversary. Rylen was born exactly on his due date, so we thought it would be a great anniversary present if this new baby was too. Little did we expect all the events that would turn out to transpire in the coming months. Never thought, that instead, I would give birth in November to three babies.

Anyways, we did end up getting a special anniversary present after all....... I got to "room in" with Garrett the night of the 25th, because the plan was to discharge him the next day!

Rooming in was fun, it was like a slumber party with my baby! Of course, I was nervous. When your baby spends alot of time in the NICU, you get addicted to the heart rate monitors and all the stuff that assures everyone that your baby is stable and breathing etc. Garrett was disconnected from all those things earlier that day so for the first time, he was 100% my responsibility to take care of! AAAA! I can't imagine what this would be like for a first time mom, because it was certainly hard for me.

But then, the need for sleep kicks in and the nervousness went out the window. The new focus was trying to get Garrett to settle so we could both get some sleep!

Around 3am I was very tempted to wheel him back out to the nurses and go home where I could sleep in peace. The kid Would. Not. Sleep. At all. Is this a genetic thing? It was all very reminiscent of Rylen's first few weeks at home (well, who are we kidding? Rylen never slept well).

Anyways, I mentioned the sleep issue to the nurses and they informed me that indeed, Garrett is a night owl requiring all kinds of cuddles during the night. And here I was thinking he was the world's most perfect sleeper, because during the daytime hours when I would be in the NICU with him, he would settle so easily between feeds. Reality check!

But despite the sleeplessness (and I'm not exaggerating...he finally fell asleep around 6:45am and my alarm went off at 8am) it was awesome. I was so excited to be a "real mom" to him.

 It was also bittersweet, as I felt so sad for Rhys who seems so far behind. His infection is slowly getting better, but he will be on IV antibiotics for 10 more days, and he is ever so slowly working on increasing his feeds. It will for sure be several weeks before he gets to go home (maybe by then he will be sleeping through the night? hahaha! Wishful thinking!)

Rooming in with Garrett. They set up a cot  for me in the isolation room right in the NICU.

Our five year annivesary picture!

Update January 23

Another day. Another infection. Another central line (in his neck). Boo. This is starting to really suck.

I thought because the infection was caught early that Rhys wouldn't get as sick. But he has. His symptoms are exactly the same (down to the minute details) as what they were at Christmas time. Not surprising because the bacteria that is growing is the same one. Which in a way is good, because we know which antibiotic finally worked last time so he is on the same one again this time.

He got his central line yesterday which was scary. It's a bit more barbaric having it in his jugular vein but that's okay. It's in and it's working and he did very well for the procedure. They gave him a lot of sedation. I asked if I could have some too. :-) And then I found myself in the "Quiet Room" with the NICU social worker.  Hahahaha! I had a good laugh about it afterwards. You know you are having a meltdown when you are sitting with the social worker in this special "Quiet Room" apparently reseved for such occasions. Really, I was just tired, and nervous about the procedure and they didn't want me to sit and wait alone with my mind wandering. The social worker was a great distraction.

Anyways, I think the antibiotics are starting to work (seems to be ever so slowly) and Rhys is becoming a bit more active and less like a wet noodle. I know he can get better because he's done it before so I keep focusing on that.  I just can't believe we are back here again. The poor kid has gone through so much. But he's a fighter!

I ask again, please keep Rhys in your thoughts and prayers during his millionth bout of illness. Thank you!

P.S. Garrett is just being Garrett thank goodness for that!!!! He is fine and slowly getting closer to coming home.

Milk

As part of this whole NICU experience, I have been having a lot of dates with my breast pump.

I feel as though I have spent a ridiculous portion of the last 7 weeks with machinery attached to my breasts, pumping milk for my boys. I don`t mind, because I know it is one of the best things I can do for them, and really, it`s one of the ONLY things I can do for them while they are in the hospital.

Proof that I have been spending alot of time doing this, is Rylen`s knowledge of pumping. He could be a lactation consultant by now.

The other day, I stepped out of the room to grab some milk containers and came back to see this:

The pump was turned on and everything. I asked him what he was doing, and he very seriously replied ``pumping milk for my brothers!``

If only this was possible! :-)

Truthfully, I am getting a bit tired of the pumping, and look forward to the day that I can just breastfeed the boys. My mom is also looking forward to the day that she can resume putting food in her deep freeze (which is currently jam packed with milk).

P.S. Thank you to everyone who have made milk runs back to Brandon and are storing milk for me!

Date Night

Hot date in the NICU!

It is a treat when Mark and I get to be at the hospital at the same time. We see so little of each other lately. Garrett and Rhys' beds are pretty close together, and if we stretch their monitor wires to the max, we can just manage to sit next to each other and have a chat while feeding or cuddling the boys.

I have a feeling this is as exciting as our date nights are going to get for quite some time. But that's okay. I will be so happy to be home with everyone together that it really won't matter.

Update January 20

Another update:

Rhys has unfortunately caught another infection. I knew I shouldn't have advertised how great he was doing. Seems every time we celebrate good news, something else happens to set him back. Next time he does well I'm keeping it to myself! He'll be discharged home and you will all still think he's in the hospital because I'll be afraid to jinx it all by sharing!

The infection is another UTI and was caught early, which means he isn't nearly as sick as he was last time. It started off that he was having some feeding intolerance, throwing up, etc. There was some concern that his tummy troubles were acting up again, but the discovery of the UTI may explain why he was throwing up his feeds. When a baby gets sick, feeding intolerance is often the first clue, and especially for Rhys, because his tummy is a weak spot for him anyways.  We are hoping that once the UTI clears up, he will be back to tolerating his feeds again (this is what happened last time he had the UTI, and once it cleared he was able to eat again).

The big concern is how long we will need IV antibiotics for. We are hoping not long and that maybe he can take the medications orally. On Sunday he got his central line out, so we are back to peripheral IV access for him which isn't easy for Rhys. His veins are small, weak and have been poked so many times already. Needing another central line would likely mean surgery and we do not want to go that route! So keep your fingers crossed that he can cruise through this without needing another line.

Garrett is doing well. His only issue is that he can't stay awake long enough to eat a full feed by bottle or breast. So, he needs to be topped up by a tube into his tummy. Obviously he can't go home with a feeding tube, so he needs to get some more energy and finish his feeds on his own. He is improving though and is gaining weight like crazy. Last time I checked he was 6 lbs 6 oz and that was a few days ago, so he is likely more. He has come a long way from his tiny 3 lb 13 oz birth weight!

So, that's the latest on my boys.

Thanks so much for thinking of them and wishing them well. They are so lucky to have so many people that love them.

Update January 14

Well, in an interesting turn of events, it seems that our little fighter Rhys has decided to compete with his big brother in the "Who Goes Home First?" contest!!!

Yes, that's right, the little man has taken some huge leaps in the right direction!

He has slowly been working on his feeds. All the doctors and nurses have been very cautious, trying to avoid any further tummy troubles. After a bout of necrotizing enterocolitis, there are a variety of complications that can arise, and they were worried Rhys was suffering from one or more of them. So, his feeds were started at 1 millilitre an hour of breast milk pumped into his belly by a tube. Very slowly, they increased the amount. A few days ago, he finally reached his "full feed" which is the full amount that he needs to take to thrive! Once he got to that point, they started feeding him over a smaller length of time...so instead of the pump running continuously, they ran it for two hours on, one hour off. Then one hour on, two hours off. Finally last night, he was allowed to try "bolus" feeding. Which basically means, he would take his full amount (49 millilitres) in a short amount of time. The feeds would still be given by tube, but the full amount would be all at once, similar to what a baby would naturally do on their own. The doctor said he could try to breastfeed or bottle feed, but the prediction was that he would not have enough energy to do so (he has never taken a bottle or breastfed before)

Well, Mr. Rhys is full of surprises, and he did AWESOME! He took over half to three quarters of his feed by bottle and the rest by tube. Which everyone thought was pretty amazing.

And then this morning, he decided he had enough of the tube business, and decided to start taking his full amount strictly by bottle!!!! Everyone was very impressed!

And THEN, even better, when I got there in the morning today, he breastfed and took MORE than his full amount by breast (56 mls!), plus an additional amount by bottle. He's a genius!!!!

Just to put it in perspective, Garrett has never been able to accomplish this, and he hasn't had the health issues that Rhys has. So, despite all of his illness and complications that he endured, in the feeding department, Rhys is actually further ahead than Garrett!

He still has some issues that need to be addressed, but it is a HUGE step in the right direction! He has quite a bit of catching up to do as far as his weight gain and growth, and there is a concern that he may not be absorbing his nutrients as well as he should be, so that will have to be monitored for a bit. Also, he still has his central line in, but it isn't really being used anymore so they are going to likely remove it tomorrow!

Everyone kept telling us that babies can "turn a corner" really fast and all of a sudden just take off in the right direction! As far as Rhys was concerned, we didn't believe it.  It just seemed like it was one thing after another with him. But now we are starting to believe it! We are so proud of that little guy.

The nurses are now taking bets on which brother they think will go home first. Wouldn't that be something if it was Rhys after all he has been through?

Garrett is pretty close too. He is doing very well with his weight gain (he is over 6 lbs now!), but he is a bit pokey with his feeds. He can't seem to consistently take his full feeds without being topped up by the tube. I think he may have just been waiting for Rhys to get better so that he wouldn't have to leave him there alone. They say that multiples have a special connection with each other right?

Anyways, we couldn't be happier with this turn of events. We are still a bit apprehensive, hoping that this is for real and that Rhys if finally out of the woods. But this has given us so much hope that he is on the right track!

Here are some recent pictures of the boys....

Garrett

Rhys

Having a cuddle together!

Garrett in the world's cutest bear bum pants. Thanks Auntie Mandy and Uncle Robert! (Rhys has a matching pair but he can't wear them yet because of his central line)

Rylen holding Rhys for the first time

Another cuddle. Rhys on the left, Garrett on the right. Garrett used to be alot smaller, but Rhys has some catching up to do now!

Rhys and his BFF the soother. He was not allowed to eat for so long that he got addicted to this thing. I've never seen a kid suck so hard on a soother before.