A trip to the PICU...and six weeks old

The twins are six weeks old today...and it's been a whirlwind of a few days, that's for sure. 

The babies have both been stuffy since they were born, lots of adorable little baby sneeze attacks from the get-go.  Well, adorable turned into terrifying when Caleb started having trouble breathing around Thanksgiving.  I didn't think too much of it because they've just been so stuffy the whole time.  But it got progressively worse until he started showing signs of actually being sick a few days ago. 

I decided that I wasn't going to be worried about looking paranoid and I called the pediatrician's office.  When I said he was having labored breathing, they told us to come right in.  Two hours later, I took both of the kids to the doctors office and actually had to sit in the "sick kid" waiting room :(.

As soon as the doctor came in and saw him, she looked me in the eye and said "I want to mentally prepare you for this right now, you may be going to the hospital today".  I, somehow, kept my cool, thanked her for preparing me, and listened intently to everything she had to say.  I was taking mental notes of everything she was looking for...ready to have to look for the same for our little Gracie too. 

When I heard her tell the nurse to go get the RSV screen, I started to panic a bit.  His left eye was covered in yellow gunk, his nose was almost completely plugged up (I had taken him into a steam room, tried multiple times at the syringe, used all kinds of saline drops...nothing was working anymore), and the way he was breathing by that point was just so terribly sad and scary.

When she checked out his chest, she pretty much decided then and there we were going to the PICU no matter what.  He was retracting his chest, struggling really hard to get air.  She wanted him monitored and didn't want to send him home with me.

We waited for the RSV screen to come back, which took about 15 minutes. I called B to come straight over from work, which he did...and poor guy was in full on panic all the way over.  All I could tell him was that Caleb was struggling breathing, we were being admitted to the hospital, and they were testing him for RSV.  He freaked. Understandably.

Luckily, little dude doesn't have RSV. So so soooo luckily.  Oh my gosh I don't know how I could handle it.  He has bronchialitis, a virus that we just have to wait it out through, and this is hard enough. I can't imagine having to stay in the hospital as long as we would have to with RSV...and watch it get progressively worse.  Caleb is already doing better, and our strong little man didn't even need to be on oxygen!  They did a ton of deep suction on his nose, which he HATES by the way.  They screened him for flu viruses, all negative.  They montiored his breathing, his O2 saturation, all was looking stable.  They kept him overnight, so I stayed with him in the hospital and B stayed home with Grace- which was torture for both of us.  I had a hard time being away from my baby girl and B really wanted to be with Caleb to make sure he was ok. 

I pumped the whole time I was at the hospital (ugh) so I could feed Caleb, and we had plenty of milk at home for Grace.  I'm a pumping machine- I get almost 400mL per pump (every 3 or so hours), so the kids are well fed with plenty to spare.  I'm really lucky that I've been able to get such a good supply. 

They sent us home yesterday afternoon after a little coaxing from me.  They were going to just keep him there another day or so just to watch him, but they weren't doing anything for him other than piss him off every few hours when they'd check his stats.  He was sleeping in a tiny little isolette and he'd wake himself up when he'd flail his arms and hit the sides (they wouldn't let me swaddle him arms in...although Caleb hates that anyway).  If they were giving him oxygen or if he was wheezing, I'd make sure he stayed there- but honestly, every time they came in they would say how strong his lungs were but that it was just his head that was congested.  They couldn't do anything about it, and the deep suction had now caused his sinuses to inflame and swell up...making it harder for him to breathe. Poor little guy.

So they discharged us with lots of instructions on what to watch for.  I was sent home with a lifetime supply of saline, a stethoscope to listen for wheezing, and instructions on keeping him upright at all times (other than diaper changes of course). He's sleeping in his bouncy and we are feeding him in a vertical position (we have to stand up to feed him...awkward).

I'm so so glad that he's doing better. I had to take him back to the doctor's office today and he looked pretty good.  He still has some bad flare ups where he can't breathe and he can't eat cuz his nose is too plugged up...but for the most part I can get him pretty cleared up with the saline (and lots of tears on his part, he hates it).

So now we wait for him to get better, and we watch for Grace to get worse. Doc thinks she may already be starting...she's got a tiny bit of a cough.  Hopefully she doesn't get it like Caleb did...his lungs seem to be more immature than Grace's.

B has been awesome this whole time- he hardly slept while we were in the hospital, and he took such good care of Gracie, watching for any increase in coughing or trouble breathing.  Oh, and of course, he cleaned the entire house (which he does on a regular basis now, how lucky am I???)

I so hope that they are both ok by Christmas so we can hang out with the family.  My doctor lectured me about making sure NO ONE comes around the kids if they are even remotely not feeling well. No one comes around anyway, we're so paranoid all the time.  Ugh.

Other than this horrible little bug, they are doing really well.  Grace is up to 8lbs 3oz as of Thursday.  And Caleb is already 9lbs 3oz!! He grew an entire pound in 8 days! Wow.

Here they are right now, snoozing away in their bouncies.

Poor stuffy Caleb

Grace Face

And here are some pics from this past week...

Thanksgiving outfits! Mommy's little turkey and Thankful for daddy!  These were a bit too big...3 month size :)

Tummy time for Caleb!

No more paparazzi...

Is it my turn with the camera?

Grace- Not digging tummy time right now.

Yes, we've made them Colts fans even if they would choose not to be after this season...

Baby butts

Grace feet!

And look, I even somehow had some time to bake Daddy a birthday cake!! Happy 30th, Daddy!!!  (this is right before the cake actually broke in half and imploded...awesome- I didn't say I was GOOD at baking...)