PDA at 21

Who knew these boys would have a PDA at 21? 21 days! We are not those kind of parents for those of you that were about to lecture us about spoiling our children. Our children have patent ductus arterioses, not personal digital assistants. This is a duct or blood vessel from the heart to the lungs usually only open in utero to provide the lungs with oxygen. Once the baby is born and breathing in oxygen, this duct closes. However, in premature babies sometimes it does not close on its own. The boys have been on medicine similar to ibuprofen for the past week to help the duct to close. Unfortunately, the ducts remained open.

The next step was surgery. On day of life 21 for both boys, they had surgeries to close their PDAs. It is a fairly routine surgery with minimal chance for complications, but any surgery on your own child, especially one so small, is a worrisome event. They both made it through the surgery fine and are recovering well.

Both boys are over their birth weights and doing well now. We hope they will continue to grow and develop quickly. Here are some pictures of our three week old boys:

M. Sheffield

K. Sheffield

Tummy Time

This post is a little late coming, but last week the boys had their umbilical IV lines removed. Because the boys cannot eat enough milk to gain all of their nutrition at the moment, they are receiving fluids through an IV every day. The umbilical cord is made up of three blood vessels: two arteries and one vein. An IV is placed in a vein. When babies are first born, the umbilical vein provides a perfect location to place an IV. However, this can only be used for a short amount of time as the IV could slip out or fall off if left in for too long. Thus, both boys had theirs removed in their third week of life. A different type of IV called a PICC line, more long term than the type adults receive, was placed. You may be wondering why I am telling you all this medical information. If you are not like me you may not care. Well, what does this mean for the boys? Because they no longer have IV's in their umbilical cords, they can now lie on their stomachs. Consequently, you all have the opportunity of viewing a shot of their previously unexposed backsides. Here are some pictures:

K. Sheffield

M. Sheffield

Both boys have loved the tummy time. The nurses have reported sounder sleep. Tummy time is supposed to aid in digestion. They should be eating steaks in no time.

As I am sure you can tell, the boys are growing. One ultrasound technician who saw them two weeks ago and again this week said, "They are huge." They have reached their birth weights again, both weighing over two pounds now. This brings me to a second and exciting change. You will undoubtedly notice the lack of saran wrap in future pictures of the boys. Once a child reaches one kilogram and their skin thickens with a couple of weeks of life, they are able to maintain their own temperature. This means no more plastic wrap obscuring pictures, warping features, and impeding our fingers from touching our children all we want. Although this is exciting, it has created a new dilemma. With nothing but open air between their adorable faces and Cylynn's lips, she is struggling with the urge to constantly shower them with machine-gun kisses. Incidentally, we did kiss them for the first time when the boys reached day of life twenty. They are so warm and cuddly, it was difficult to stop.

Hopefully their next "first kiss" comes at another "twenty" landmark and mom hopes that that is 20 years old!!!

Changes and progress are good. They are especially nice when you are a parent in the NICU.

Promised Pictures

I need to post the Father's Day pictures that were promised. Here they are:

Dad with Kekoa

Dad with Makaio

It was a great Father's Day. The boys had a great day and are both at or slightly above their birth weights now. Soon they'll be ten pounds and we'll wonder where the time went.

A Love Note

Dear Daddy,

It's Father's Day today and we just wanted to let you know how much we love you. You might not know this, but Mommy sits by our bedside and talks about you all the time. On your very first Father's Day we wanted to tell you some of the things that we love and admire about you.

• We love how much you love Mommy. We can hear it in her voice when she talks about you. She feels so blessed to be married to you! We can also hear it in your voice as you talk to her in our rooms.
• We love how much you love us! The time you spend at the hospital every day means the world to us. We may not be able to tell you how comforting it is to have you near us, but Mommy has noticed that our vitals improve and we are calm when you are near. Thank you for sacrificing your wants and needs so that ours can be met.
• We admire your gentle, kind and sensitive nature. We hope to learn and obtain these same attributes throughout our lives as we follow in your footsteps.
• Your passion for learning amazes us. We are excited to learn from you and along with you throughout our lives. We hope that you will help us to gain this same love of learning.
• We admire your determination to always do your best. Mommy tells us how excited you get when you succeed and how upset you get when you fall short of your goals. She says that it isn't often that you fail at something because your determination always prevails.
• We love you for being a loving and supportive daddy. We know that our arrival into this world was not what you expected, but you have been the rock that Mommy has needed to lean on when times get tough. Thanks for being strong for our family!

The greatest blessing that we can think of on this day is YOU!

Love,

Makaio and Kekoa

P.S. Tomorrow Mommy will post the pictures we took together on Father's Day.

A Fortnight

The boys were two weeks old Tuesday night. They are both doing well and are back up to two pounds now, after losing all of their fluid weight from birth. We are having a lot of fun doing cares with them, two to three times a day. We get to change their diapers, take their temperatures, and help weigh them. They are both starting to kick quite a bit. Both are off of the phototherapy most of the time now, so the masks are off. We get to see them open their eyes and take little looks around. In fact, we got the first picture of Makaio with his eyes open on his two week birthday. Here are their two week birthday pictures:

Makaio examining the bright world.

Kekoa, still keeping his eyes closed.

It is hard to see in the picture, but they had their first experiences with dentists in the past week. They had palate impressions taken and palate molds made. Their breathing tubes and feeding tubes sit in this mold in their mouths. This is for more long-term use, as the tubes would damage the tops of their mouths without it. They both did well with the dentists.

One reason we have not posted as much lately is we are busy looking for a new vehicle. Twins in a little Honda Civic is pretty tight. We are not sure what we should get: five or seven seats, SUV or minivan or even a station wagon. If anyone has any suggestions let us know. We have never shopped for a bigger vehicle.

Well, the time has gone slow and fast, as it often does. It seems to go slow in the moment, but when looking back we cannot believe it has already been two weeks. Our boys are two weeks old, and I will be a father on Father's Day for the first time this Sunday.