To Will and Tenley Joy:

You entered life far earlier than one would've guessed
For as small as you both were, we all felt more than blessed.
Ten fingers and toes, long legs and arms
We all only wished to keep you far from harm.
The overwhelming amount of love sent your way each and every day
Left your Mommy and Daddy, literally, with nothing to say.
Flowers, cards, and gifts filled their vacant home
They were at the hospital so you wouldn't be fighting alone.
One small milestone reached sends the phone calls a-blazing
Everyone wanting to know the progress you two were making, it's just so amazing.
Your Mom does her best to keep your bellies nice and full
While your Dad goes to work and tries his best to keep his cool.
We all want to do more...just to help
For some reason though, these were just the cards which were dealt.
Our only wish is to see you two home, no matter the wait
Fast asleep in your cribs as if it were fate.

Love, Aunt Rachel

Tenley Joy

♥

Will

♥

http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3539895009/a=16759548_72699886/

February 28, 2010

Yesterday was a very exciting day for the new Kinloch family. Will must have been a bit hungry during his kangaroo hold with Mommy because before Becky knew what was going on, Will was taking some milk directly from the source! This is a huge milestone and a very elated Mom and Dad couldn't have been more proud. Next step, Miss Tenley...she's a bit more fussy so we'll see what happens there.

Weights for the week: Tenley is 2lbs 14ozs and Will is 3lbs 3ozs.

February 27, 2010

Today was Mommy's first day back at work since the twins were born. Although I'm sure it was hard to spend an afternoon apart from the cuties, I'm also sure it felt good to get back to some sort of normalcy.

The twins are still doing well...doing what preemie's do best... sleeping. Will is now taking the extra supplements and additives in his milk like his sister, in hopes of speeding up the weight gaining process.

I will update again tonight with their weekly weigh-ins.

♥

Professional Photos

Click here to see really cool pics of the twins! Clicking on the link will take you to Crossroad Photography, where you should click on "Kinloch" then enter the password: twinsTW

Tenley is being held by Daddy on the nasal oxygen and William is being held by Mommy on the CPAP.

Little William:


Tenley Joy:

♥

February 25, 2010

Becky, Bill and the Twins became famous today! Pictures of the twins having their kangaroo holds will be placed on one of the hospital walls designed to encourage Kangaroo Holding while babies stay in the NICU. Bill was holding Tenley and Becky was holding Will. Both the twins will be shown on the wall to showcase two of the different stages of kangaroo holding...one on CPAP and the other on Nasal Oxygen. Another baby will be shown being held while on the ventilator.

Both Tenley and Will are doing well today. They had a nice, long visit with both Mom and Dad since Dad was off from work. Something new today...they both got put on a food pump which will evenly distribute their feeds throughout a 30 minute time frame instead of it all going down at once. We also found out today that Will is actually still on two anti-biotics, not just the one, for the next week or so. Will is also down to the lower level CPAP machine (good job little guy!) so he is definitely showing some improvement this week as far as his breathing is concerned.

February 24, 2010

Tenley is still on the nasal oxygen but did get switched to the CPAP for a few hours on Monday evening. She's still trying to build up her strength so it's likely she will be alternating between the CPAP and the nasal a few more times. Today was the first time someone other than Mommy or Daddy got to hold her...Grandma Lewis was at the right place at the right time and got to hold her grand daughter for roughly 40 minutes until Becky could finish "making food" for the little ones. Mommy also got to learn and practice some massage techniques on Tenley today during her Physical Therapy session. Massage is essential for getting them familiar and comfortable with moving their limbs around. When you turn the lights down, Tenley will open her eyes nice and wide and stare right at you with her big, pretty eyes. She is up to 23CCs of milk every three hours.

Will finally got to be held by his Daddy again...it had been awhile! ... and it went really well. Yesterday, however, when Mommy held him he flat-lined (which was very scary) and the nurse rushed in to snap him out of it. We aren't sure what caused it...maybe he was just laying on the wires the wrong way or something because he calmed down and has been fine ever since. Needless to say though, Mom was hesitant to hold him again after that for the day. He is now up to 24CCs of milk (his full feed) so he is off the TPN. They switched his Phenobar to a liquid as well so now he's only on one IV for the anti-biotic. Next week will be busy again for him, another ultrasound, EEG, and spinal tap are planned so he is taking full advantage of his sleeping opportunities for now.

Tenley Joy - The Movie and More Pics

More pictures can be found at:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3507313009/a=2117318021_72699886/

February 22, 2010 - Part II

Bad news is that Tenley didn't get to have a kangaroo hold from Mommy today. The good news is that she didn't get one because she was taken off the CPAP at 11am and is now solely on the nasal oxygen. The nurse just wanted to be extra cautious of her excitement level for today. I'm sure Tenley didn't mind since she was just enjoying not having that itchy thing wrapped around her head today. Now she can spend her down time trying to rip the nasal thingy out of her nose.

Will did not get to have kangaroo time either. Since they have been increasing his food so quickly (he's up to 18CC of milk) they just want to make sure that he keeps it down. Being picked up would cause his stats to raise and may cause him to purge the food up so they just left him be for the day. As long as he keeps holding his food down, they will be increasing his food to 21CC by tomorrow morning. He is now off the steroid (which he was on to help his lungs strengthen while being put on the CPAP at first), one of the anti-biotics, and will be off the second anti-biotic after his dose tonight. That will just leave him with the one anti-biotic for the Meningitis, the Phenobar for the seizures and the TPN for nourishment until he can get on the full feeds for his weight.

February 22, 2010

Here are few cute pics of Tenley. There is also a video of her from last night which I will be posting sometime this evening...so stay tuned for that!

My only other update is that Will is on 15CCs of milk and Tenley is up to 22CCs. Will is doing pretty well on the CPAP (only a few Brady's here and there) and Tenley is still on the CPAP but does well on the nasal oxygen during her kanagroo holds.

February 21, 2010

First and foremost...Becky and Bill would like to thank EVERYONE for such a successful and heart-warming baby shower yesterday. From the moment of silence for little Will and Tenley to Bill wearing a "Chick Magnet" bib, it was just good times all around.

Will - over the last week, Will has been tested for everything under the sun. Every day he was so worn-out from all the tests that he couldn't even have kangaroo holds from him parents. Well, the test results are in:
stomach x-ray - negative; chest x-ray - negative; CT scan - negative; MRI - negative; blood work - showed low blood counts so he got a blood transfusion (no biggie); spinal tap #3 - still shows red and white blood cells however the counts have gone down so the anti-biotics are doing their job...nothing but good news! In addition, he weighed in tonight at 3lbs 1oz. He's been on 12CCs of milk since Saturday at 9am (Friday he was taken off milk entirely) and was doing well until his 9pm feed...he regurgitated 3CCs of it but the Dr did not seemed concerned.
Saturday morning Will also decided it was time to take the breathing tube out himself...so...he did...he extubated himself and he's been doing well on the CPAP ever since. In fact, he was doing so well, that finally after a week, Mom was able to kangaroo hold her son last night for over an hour and a half. I have never seen him so still and relaxed. It was just a good end to an already great day.

Tenley - As always is the case thus far, Tenley is just holding steady. She weighed in at 2lbs 10ozs last night. While Mommy was holding Will, Daddy got to hold Tenley. Tenley LOVES kangaroo time because that means she goes off the CPAP and just goes on the nasal oxygen. The Dr order is for only one hour of nasal oxygen then she is to go right back on the CPAP. However, last night, after over an hour and a half, she was still doing fantastic on just the nasal oxygen. When we left, she was still just on the nasal oxygen...so, we'll see what happened during the night with that later.

February 18, 2010

It's been approximately three weeks since I last saw the twins and I can honestly say that they look soooo good...definitely worth the 300+ mile drive (not that seeing my sis and bro-in-law aren't reason enough) :)

Tenley - Weighing in at 2lbs 7ozs she definitely lives up to her princess nickname. If she's uncomfortable or not happy with being messed with, she will definitely let you know. There's no wonder the girl needs added supplements and fortifiers in her food - she constantly moves around - quickly burning off all her 20CCs of food. I got to witness a 45 minute kangaroo hold with her Mommy today. They put her on the nasal oxygen for it and she did really well until she started getting fussy, messed with the wires, and pulled the nasal tubes out of her nose. So, back in the incubator she went.

Will - Weighing in at 2lbs 12ozs this little guy is just looking for some peace and quiet. Throughout the day, he was either bothered with getting yet another EEG test (results tomorrow) or getting a pic line (which also includes an x-ray afterward) in his arm to prevent him from getting poked so many times in one day. We were hoping he would have tomorrow off to just relax, however the Dr came in and said that not only would he be getting another spinal tap tomorrow (to make sure the anti-biotics are actually helping to heal the Meningitis), but he will also be having a CT Scan. Due to the low glucose levels and the white/red blood cells in his last spinal tap, they want to rule out the possibility that he may have a brain abscess which would not appear on the other catscans he has been getting. Both those test results will probably be given on Monday. His breathing levels are still really good, so to prepare him for coming off the ventilator and on the CPAP on Monday, they will start him on a round of steroids this weekend to help strengthen his lungs.

February 17, 2010

Will has gone two days without having a kangaroo hold...hopefully he can have one tomorrow (especially since I'll be there tomorrow - I know - I'm totally biased). His spinal tap test results: still showed red blood cells, white blood cells and low glucose levels which indicates Meningitis. Since he's on anti-biotics, it's likely being controlled enough to not show on the culture but can still be present in the spinal fluid...and Meningitis in a preemie is nothing to take lightly. So, he's on another anti-biotic now which is more specific to killing bacteria in the spinal fluid. He'll be on this for two weeks and will then have another spinal tap to make sure the signs of the infection are gone. Mom noticed his arm was really swollen today so they are keeping an eye on that to make sure he doesn't have another possible infection growing there. Will is scheduled for another EEG this week to once again test for seizure activity. On a more positive note, he is doing quite well on his breathing. They will keep lowering his levels until they can't safely get any lower and will then transfer him back to the CPAP machine. His food was increased to 10CCs today...just a few more days and he'll be back where he should be with 20CCs. His eye exam results were good but both he and Tenley still have to be tested once a week per standard process.

Tenley is up to 20CCs of food. She got to have a 30 minute kangaroo hold with Mom today. During the session, she was put on the nasal oxygen again and it went very well...she was a lot more content than she was with it yesterday. She also had good eye exam results.

February 16, 2010

I leave for MD after work tomorrow so there probably won't be a post. Therefore, I would like to use today's post to wish the twins A HAPPY ONE MONTH BIRTHDAY!!!

Tenley and Will both had eye exams today. They will periodically have these to ensure they don't have an eye defect which is common for preemies...results tomorrow.

Tenley - She had her kangaroo care with Mommy today and was allowed to be on the nasal oxygen during the session. It went pretty well until the end when the nasal piece kept slipping out of her nose. They put her back in her incubator on her CPAP and she rested peacefully for the remainder of their visit.

Will - They attempted to put a new central line in him today - it just prevents the little guy from being poked all the time - since he's still on TPN due to his low food dosage (still 8CCs). The attempt was unsuccessful so they will try again later. Mom didn't get to have kangaroo time with him but she did get to swaddle-hold him for roughly ten minutes and he was staring in her eyes the majority the time..this made a Mom very happy. Little Will also had to have another spinal tap done today. They just want to make sure the results from the first one weren't altered from the anti-biotics he was already on. The pre-lim results should show whether or not there is low sugar counts in the blood. Low sugar counts would indicate that he still has Meningitis and they would rather test again to be on the safe side. Good news for the day....HE HAD A POO!!! ;)

February 15, 2010

Will got all his test results back today...really not much new information than we already had. His catscan returned unchanged results (yay!) and the Dr believes the bleed is now closed and that draining will just occur naturally now. The EEG results showed positive for seizure activity which is likely due to the brain bleed. The Dr just said he should eventually grow out of them (could be a month or could be years) but until then he just needs to get tested regularly for Phenobar adjustments. They will slowly increase his food now...he's currently on 8CCs and will not get increased again until tomorrow morning. The culture for the spinal tap still showed negative results so they are hoping to take him off at least one of the anti-biotics tomorrow. He's also having some issues with pushing his poo out, so they will be giving Mr. Will a suppository to help aid in the process.

Tenley is still doing her Tenley thing...being status quo. They did not attempt to put her on the nasal today but they will definitely be trying again at some time.

February 14, 2010 - Part II

After Grandpa Kinloch, Uncle Curtis and Bill fixed the garage door, they headed out to the hospital in the late afternoon (Happy Birthday Aunt Jen!!)

Tenley was Bill's valentine and Will was Becky's...awwwwwwww.

(Tenley and Dad snuggling on Valentine's Day)

Tenley did well on the nasal oxygen in the beginning but got switched back to the CPAP later this afternoon. They are thinking they will just do periods of time with her on the nasal oxygen then switch back to the CPAP...they basically want to try slowly weening her off the CPAP. She also got to spend an hour of her first Valentine's Day doing kangaroo care with Daddy.

(Tenley with her pink hat on so the CPAP is less bothersome)


Will is doing well just being on 5CC doses of food for today but the Dr. will re-evaluate tomorrow. Becky and Bill are aiming to be at the hospital early tomorrow morning in hopes of talking to the Dr. during rounds about all his test results.

(Will looking like a cutie with that spikey hair)

(Will having Kangaroo time with Mommy)

more pictures can be found at:
http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3458361009/a=16759548_72699886/

February 14, 2010

Will & Tenley's First Valentine's Day!!!

Becky and Bill didn't leave to go to the hospital last night until around 6:30pm. The garage door (after only being 2 years old) decided it was going to stop working. They didn't want to leave to go to the hospital until they could at least get the car out and then close the door. So, a few hours later than they expected, they were off to the hospital.

Tenley was on the nasal oxygen yesterday at 11am and is still on it! She gained an ounce...2lbs 2ozs..yay! Due to going on the nasal oxygen, kangaroo care was not an option yesterday but hopefully today Daddy can hold his baby girl. She's doing really well on the 18CCs of food and all the fortifiers for extra calories.

Will's breathing is going pretty well. They have lowered his levels several times and he's still showing strong results. Mom got to have an hour and a half of kangaroo care time with him yesterday and he did really well. They actually increased his milk to 15CCs already but it might have been too much too fast because he did start throwing some up at this volume. They skipped his morning feeding and are waiting to see what the Dr. thinks about dosage for today. He did have a few consecutive Brady's at one point...but no worries...he was just trying extra hard to push out his bigger than normal poo (a trait from Daddy). As soon as the poo passed, he was back on track.

February 13, 2010

Not much to report today. Talked to my sis this morning but haven't heard anything since. As of the update this morning, everything was pretty much going status quo. They probably won't get Will's test results for the EEG and spinal tap back until Monday. The catscan results from yesterday will mostly come back on Monday as well, but if there was any huge change, they probably would have known by now.

I hope to post some new pics here soon because I hear they are both looking good. Tenley now has a pink hat on which prevents her from playing with the CPAP head-gear as much because it sort of lifts it off from her face.

I would again like to thank EVERYONE for following these posts on a daily basis (540+ hits on the website since last Friday!) and posting comments to Becky and Bill. The support for the twins and for my sis and bro-in-law has been overwhelming.

February 12, 2010

Will should hopefully get his EEG results back tomorrow, but for now he is officially free of the EEG and all its wires. Mom reports that Will looked exceptionally cute today. He's weighing in at 2 lbs 9 oz and started back up with 4CCs of milk today. They will increase his milk every 12 hours by 4CCs until he's back up to 18CCs. Mom was about to do kangaroo care today but then a new baby "checked-in" to his room in the spot next to him so it was just bad timing. He had his first physical therapy session today...we believe all the preemies get this...but it basically consists of moving the limbs around and getting things moving. They took his catscan today (early...usually on Mondays) due to all the seizure activity he's been having, just to be on the safe side. His spinal fluid pre-lim tests are still negative and his random twitching has definitely decreased.

Tenley is having a little bit of trouble gaining weight - still roughly 2 lbs 1 oz. Even after being on the full dose of milk for four days or so, she just moves around so much that she burns off all the food. They increased her milk to 18CCs so hopefully this will help. Mom got to have kangaroo care with her today, during which she would randomly grunt at her Mom, most likely showing her dislike for having the CPAP head-gear-apparatus.

February 11, 2010

Will - They increased his Phenobar again today due to the seizure activity and the intermittant twitching he still has. Another 12 hours of observation on the EEG was added on as well to ensure they have enough data to make a good analysis tomorrow evening. Most of the seizure activity is on the left side of the brain, which was the same side which had the heaviest brain bleed, so they are thinking at this point the seizures are due to the brain bleed. They will keep increasing the Phenobar doses until the seizures cease. As far as the spinal tap results, no bacteria has yet to grow (but we still have another day or so to go for the final results) but it's looking less like Meningitis and more like just the fluid from his brain properly draining. He has been off milk for the past day or so but they are going to try and give him 4CCs tonight just to see what happens. On a more positive note, he opened his eyes nice and wide today for about 15 minutes to get a good look at Mommy.

Tenley - She had a two hour kangaroo hold from Mommy today. They actually tried to switch her from the CPAP to just the nasal oxygen but apparently "Princess" didn't like that too much - it only lasted 20 minutes! So, she's back on the CPAP but thats not bad news at all. She still spends most of her awake time trying to pull the CPAP headgear-like-aparatus off her face...I can't really blame the girl. She has maxed out at 16CCs of milk until she can pack on some more pounds.

February 10, 2010 - Part II

The EEG has only been running for a few hours now but so far it does show some seizure activity on one side of the brain. This is most likely a side effect from the level IV brain bleed and he will remain on the Phenobar until further notice.

The pre-lim test results for the spinal tap does show some blood and some fluid. This most likely could mean two things: 1) Meningitis - he's already on the antibiotic which would treat this - but it takes a few days for the bacteria to grow on the culture to know for sure or 2) It's the blood/fluid draining from his brain - which is a good thing because remember, as long as his head doesn't swell, no further procedures would be necessary.

February 10, 2010

Mom and Dad were literally snowed out of Baltimore City today - only emergency vehicles were allowed to go within the city limit - so no baby visits.

Ms Tenley is status quo today...not much different going on with her.

Mr Will, on the other hand, is definitely having a rough day. His breathing is not going well (even though he's on the assisted ventilator) and he started having frequent convulsions. Due to this, they increased his Phenobar (seizure medicine) and are in the process of doing a 24 hour EEG test for tracking any potential seizures. Since increasing the Phenobar, the convulsions have reduced but have not completely subsided. When they took his central line out, they found traces of the Staph Infection still so he will continue on with the antibiotic he was originally on and then they added another. Lastly, they completed a spinal tap on the little guy this afternoon (the procedure went well) for the purpose of collecting a spinal fluid sample to check for traces of infection. The test results will take approximately two days.

February 9, 2010

Will got to have an hour and a half of Mom kangaroo care time. However, it quickly came to an end when the Dr came in and Will started having Brady's (lapse in breathing and heart beats)...approximately 5 or 6 in a short time frame. The nurse immediately ended the kangaroo session and laid him on his belly so he could calm down. He was doing better until he ate and then he started having Brady episodes again. The nurse called the Dr and it was determined he needed to go back on the ventilator. He obviously wasn't feeling well because he only digested half of his feeding and earlier that morning he had a lot of mucus buildup. Due to all this, they have cut his feedings in half for the time being, put him back on TPN (vitamin drip), and they are testing to see if he has another infection due to taking the central line out - sometimes the bacteria can float off while its coming out and go back into the blood stream.

Tenley had a better day than her brother, although she didn't get to have kangaroo care time due to Will getting intubated and no one wanting to hang around to see that...understandably so. They are going to increase her caloric intake by adding a fortifier and a vitamin supplement to her milk...she is already on a full dose of milk for her size so this is just the easiest way to pump more calories into her for healthy growing. She's on a the lowest CPAP machine and is doing great on it. Yesterday afternoon was her last dose of pain meds..they decided to cut her back to an "as needed" dosage and that was the last time she's been fussy.

February 8, 2010 - Part II

Will - since he pulled out his ventilator his breathing has been ok...not great, but ok. It's likely, if tomorrow he doesn't improve, he'll be put back on the assisted breathing ventilator (re-intubated). Due to his breathing difficulties, there was no Kangaroo hold for him today, which made for a sad Mom. Mom and Dad are going to the hospital early in the morning tomorrow to beat the new snowfall (expecting another 5 inches) so hopefully one of them can hold Will then. Will's pic line and central line are both out but he's still getting some TPN via IV (not just relying solely on the milk). He's up to 16CCs of food and the weekly catscan results came back as unchanged (fantastic news!).


Tenley - This little princess got to have an hour and a half of Kangaroo care with her Daddy today. Both her central line and pic line are out and she is relying only on the nutrition from her Mom at this point (so she better be eating well!). She is also on 16CCs of food. She's still doing well on the CPAP oxygen machine and has gotten use to the lower dose of morphine so she's not as fussy.


And on an unrelated note:

(more pics can be found at http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3422793009/a=16759548_72699886/)

February 8, 2010

Apparently being in the same room with each other is not the best idea in the world. Tenley must have told Will somehow that if he doesn't want that thing in his throat anymore to just pull it out because, well... that's just what he did. Like his sis, Will decided late last night he was done with his ventilator and extubated himself. He has since been on the CPAP and is doing well. These two are definitely going to be a handful ;)

Mom and Dad fought the snowy conditions yesterday and went to the hospital (despite a nervous Aunt's guidance) to have kangaroo care time with their twins. Dad held Will and Mom held Tenley...and all was well. Not even a blizzard can keep these parents away for more than 24 hours!

I will post more a little later...after my nightly call with my sis...but I just wanted to post this for now.

February 6, 2010

Yay! "Will" is still winning in the polls!

Not much to report on today being that the updates were given to Becky from the nurses via phone calls. They are both up to 14CCs of milk every three hours.

Will - he's actually off the TPN (vitamin drip) and is only running on the nutrients provided from Mom's milk. The culture for his staph infection came back negative again today so they are preparing to take his central line out; therefore won't be getting TPN anymore since the central line is where its fed from. He's up to 2 lbs 4oz...another pound and he can start sporting some cute preemie clothing.

Tenley - still hanging around 2 lbs but is doing great on the milk. She is off the morphine and is now back on Fentanyl at a much lower dose than what she was on before. Hopefully they can ween her off this pain med because studies have found it can make it harder for them to breathe on their own if on it for prolonged periods of time.

Let's hear it for Cal!

Very snowy in Maryland, so probably not too many updates today. I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that "Cal" is getting killed in the polls. The reason for this is obviously that you haven't been told all the wonderful reasons to call William "Cal". Here are a few:

1. It's the boy's middle name (well...sort of). I mean...it kind of sounds like the first syllable.
2. It's the name of the greatest baseball player in B'more history.
3. It sounds cool.

It's perfectly understandable if you want to change your vote having now heard all the facts. In fact, I think I'll just assume you changed your vote.

Yay! Will Cal is ahead in the polls!

-Uncle J

PS - Probably best if you don't mention this post to Aunt Rachel...

February 5, 2010 - Part II

Will and Tenley are finally in the same room!!!!!

They transferred Will to Tenley's room today...they aren't next to each other, there's one baby in between them, but they are at least in the same room now!!!!

Both had kangaroo care with Mom today and both are up to 12CCs of food every 3 hours. Mom and Dad will be snowed in at home tomorrow so they are glad they got to have kangaroo time with both of them today.

Will - When he's in a deep, deep sleep he pretty much utilizes the ventilator for all his breathing. When awake, he still relies on it heavily but does do his own breathing every now and again. The little guy is just worn out from the infection and from showing off on the CPAP and nasal oxygen. He got a culture today to check on the status of his infection and the preliminary reports showed no more sign of infection. Sounds like hopefully they caught it early enough.

Tenley - This fussy little girl is only calm during her kangaroo care. They took her off the pain med today and she was NOT a happy camper. She wiggled and complained long enough that the nurses decided she needed to go on a low dose of morphine. This finally calmed her down.

February 5, 2010

Thursday was a big day for Becky and Bill...it was their first sit-down meeting with the Doctor and the medical team. The majority of the time was spent talking about Will's grade IV brain bleed and the next steps...I will try and do a synopsis as best as I can.

Half of the babies who have Will's severity of brain bleed get some blood clotting in the brain which requires draining. Of that half, half won't be able to drain and will cause brain swelling. If that occurs, they will do a spinal tap for three days in a row and do a catscan each day to see if draining is occurring. If draining still does not occur, he will be transferred to John Hopkins for nuero surgery. It's still possible that even if he beats all these odds, he could still have cognitive or motor skill impairments...or he could have some impairment which never surfaces. His severity of brain bleed is critical, so the Dr. just wanted to make sure Mom and Dad were aware of the possible next steps ahead so nothing comes as too much of a surprise.

Will is also back on the ventilator (intubated)...he just started having too many Brady's and he was tiring himself out trying to breathe on the CPAP. When Mom saw him on Thursday, he was sleeping comfortably and soundly. It was also found yesterday that Will has an infection in his blood (staph infection). The infection usually grows on the central line he has. To treat this, he is going on a course of antibiotics. After the course of antibiotics, he will be tested to ensure the infection is gone. If it's gone, they will take his central line out and hopefully will be able to keep it out due to being on such large doses of milk and not needing the line anymore for his VPN (vitamin drip). He's off the billi light for now but had no kangaroo time yesterday due to going back on the ventilator and needing some rest.

Tenley doesn't have much change. There will hopefully be a spot available in her room in the next week or so...maybe they will both be in the same room by the end of the month! Last night, she got to have some kangaroo time with her Daddy. She spends a lot of her free time trying to pull off the CPAP from her face. She still gets very fussy when she's moved around too much and her stats go down until they finally leave her be. She will soon be on a full feeding and will not need the VPN drip anymore at that point.

February 3, 2010

Tenley - she got a bit adventurous last night and decided that she was done with her assisted breathing machine (ventilator), so she just pulled it out herself...aka, she un-intubated herself. The nurses actually left it out because she was breathing just fine simply being on the CPAP (oxygen) like her brother. Her afternoon kangaroo hold went really well with Mom. She's up to 10CCs of food every 3 hours. On Tuesday, she started being able to sleep on her belly although none of us saw her in this position until Mom saw her today. She, like her bro, prefers the belly laying position. Twice today she was on her belly and actually used the CPAP contraption to flip over onto her back. I think she's a gymnast in the making! On Sunday, I forgot to mention that Dad and Aunt Jen saw her one eye opened slightly for the first time! The same one eye was slightly opened on Monday but yesterday Mom saw both her eyes slightly opened.

Will - Dad did his kangaroo hold tonight. He was doing great until the very end when he started having 3 or 4 Brady's. These Brady's are quite scary for Mommy and Daddy because in that brief moment he stops breathing and has no heart rate. Again, the nurses promise it's common in preemies but he MAY end up back on the ventilator (re-intubated) if it keeps up. He's still on 8CC's of food every 3 hours and is now weighing in more than his original birth weight...2 lbs 3 oz.

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2. Under "Comment as: (Select Profile...)", select "Google Account"
3. Hit the "Post Comment" button. This will take you to a new screen which prompts you for your email and password.
4. Enter
email: kinlochfamilyguest
password: comments
5. Hit the "Sign In" button
6. This will bring you back to the original screen, where you will be prompted for a word verification (to make sure you're not a robot). Beside the little handicap symbol, just type in the letters you see written above it.
7. Hit the "Post Comment" button.

If you have any troubles, please get word to Rachel if possible (we'd put her email address up here, but nasty internet programs could then find it and send her all sorts of strange email advertisements).

February 2, 2010

"Fifteen days later, I finally get to hold both my babies in the same day" Rebecca Kinloch

Tenley - From 6p to 7p this evening, Mom was finally able to hold her baby girl. Weighing in at 2 lbs 1 oz and eating 9.5CCs of food, Tenley has made great progress. She's still on the assisted breathing machine but her levels (both oxygen and rate) are decreasing. The Dr. hopes that by the end of the weekend she will be off the assisted breathing machine and on CPAP like her brother. She is off her Lasix treatment and there was no evidence of any fluid in her lungs today. Her Arterial line is out (again, I have no idea what that is but it's something being subtracted from her many wires). Her little feet are getting bruised pretty badly from all the bloodwork tests, so they are decreasing her tests from every 4 hrs to every 12. She was also sporting a crochet bonnet today...


Will - He also got some Kangaroo holding from his Mom today. Also weighing in at 2 lbs 1 oz and eating 8CCs of food, he's quite content on his CPAP getting snuggled by Mom. He's on his second day of Lasix treatment..hopefully after tomorrow all the fluid in his lungs will be cleared. Will has episodes called "Brady's"...common in premies so not to worry. They get so relaxed that they forget to breathe and their heart rate drops. To fix this, a simple soft flick to the feet or the bottom snaps them right out of it and they start breathing on their own again. It's also common for them to continue this behavior even after they are discharged so he may go home with a little monitor indicating to Mom and Dad that it's time for him to get flicked again.


more photos can be viewed on snapfish at
http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3386847009/a=16759548_72699886/

February 1, 2010

The twins were 2 weeks old yesterday...

Will is back on the CPAP oxygen machine instead of the little nasal oxygen (not the oscillator or the assisted breathing machine). This isn't too much of a shock as he seemed a bit young to be simply on the nasal oxygen but we definitely weren't complaining. He's up to 6CC's of food every 3 hours now...he was only on 4CCs for 12 hours but digested it all so they decided to up his dose. Since he went to the CPAP machine Mommy wasn't able to hold him today...only because its a bit traumatic to be moved that much in one day. He should be ready for his Kangaroo holds tomorrow. They decided to do his EEG next week and keep him on the Phenobar until then. He did have a catscan done today and it showed no change...which is good! He also has a bit of fluid in his lungs so he will have Lasix treatments as well. (I would like to note that in one of my earlier posts I said Lasix was a powder treatment...It's really an injection that acts as a diarrhetic to rid the fluid out of their little bodies).

Tenley is more stable today and, last I heard, Mommy was hopefully going to be able to hold her today!! Keeping my fingers crossed!! She's up to 8CCs of food and is having no issues with this amount. She is off the NO2 (additional oxygen) and her assisted breathing machine settings were turned down. We originally thought she could perhaps be on the oscillator again today, so this was just glorious news! She is also having another Lasix treatment today.