Countdown: Day 6

Yes, 6 days until Ethan is 'eligible' to come home. Sydney is still in there and will be until at least Thursday now. It was a birthday present in many ways--she will be keeping Ethan company for another day and I won't have to be feeding two babies in two locations. Also, Sydney has another day to try to get off oxygen. We're praying that she will be able to do that.

I discovered yesterday that I haven't posted their middle names. We chose them the Monday after they were born. After a lot of thought, we chose to name them with our middle names. Ethan Scott (almost was Ethan Alexander) and Sydney Marie (almost was Sydney Kate). Thought it was pretty great that our first babies could have a part of each of us.

Ethan weighs 3138 grams or 6 lb 15 oz, Sydney weighs 2862 grams or 6 lb 5 oz.

I've had some questions about the bradys that Ethan has had. A brady (bradycardia) means that his heart rate drops (below 80 bpm) and his oxygen saturation level drops as well. One can trigger the other. To leave the intensive care, babies must be free of severe bradys for 7 days. A severe brady means that, in order to recover, the baby is given oxygen or stimulation (i.e., rubbing the back).

I really didn't take any photos or video of them today--I can hardly believe it. Ethan and Sydney moved downstairs to the special care last night (late) and then they had new babies born last night and they needed to bring them back upstairs (the overflow for the Special Care). We requested to go. They have a large window and it's must more quiet. There is one other set of twins in the room with them and that is it! The other twins (girls) were born a week ago at nearly 32 weeks.

We have their car seats in my car but left them there today. We didn't want to bring them in because we were hoping that Sydney stay there until at least Thursday--better for Doug's school schedule and we are still finishing preparing our house. It's been really fun finishing their nursery today. It's hard to believe that two babies will be home this weekend. Everywhere we go in the NICU or Special Care, we run into nurses saying, "I hear good things! They will be going home soon." We are getting more excited...

We met with Annie, the occupational therapist, today and got our discharge information. She explained how to best take care of premies at home. Even though they are now bigger, they still need to beat some statistics. Premies have a higher incidence of ADHD and learning disabilities. She showed us some things we could do to make sure they beat the odds. Doug and I are really committed to helping them continue to develop at home. A few things she told us to do are:

- Make sure they have undisturbed sleep between feedings. REM sleep is so important.

- Keep noise low so they can achieve REM sleep. Even though they will sleep through noise, they won't necessarily get into REM sleep...so important for their brain development.

- Daily exercises with them to stretch their low back (tight in premies) and between their shoulder blades.

- Don't pick them up from their bed until they are able to calm themselves. Give them a binki, put their hand to their mouth, etc.

- Avoid too must stimulation so they can also have property development. Premies get over-stimulated. (A precursor to ADHD)

Annie has been so great to work with. We've learned a lot from her and feel more confident in taking care of them and their unique circumstances.

I didn't go to work today because I needed to get our house ready (wash their clothes, pack our bags to sleep at the hospital, etc.) and now they aren't going to be home until Thursday or Friday. It's been a day-to-day thing.