news on paula and girls?

On Tue, 6 May 2003 20:38:35 -0500, "mike and dena"
wrote:

I have been checking, but haven't seen anything about Paula and the girls
lately. Anyone heard anything? Wishing them only the best....
dena

You're so sweet to ask :-)

We've all had some ups and downs, but this has been a good week so far
(knock on wood). Olivia is down to one chest tube, which they've tried
to remove a couple of times to no avail. We hope it will come out
tomorrow. She's still intubated and on a ventilator at about 25-40%
oxygen (varies according to her mood, activity level, etc.). Her lungs
are looking somewhat better on her chest x-rays, and she is now up to
2 lb 9 oz (after being considerably lower than her birthweight of 1 lb
15 oz). She is getting 8cc of EBM every 3 hours and taking it well.
Her most recent head ultrasound showed possible periventricular
leukomalacia, a type of brain damage common in preemies with grade IV
brain bleeds (which she had). It has a high correlation with cerebral
palsy, but we really won't know whether she has PVL or any problems
from it for a long time. Just trying to focus on the present for now.

Cassie is doing very well. She is also still intubated and on the vent
at 25-35% oxygen most of the time. She's taking 15cc of EBM every 3
hours and is up to 2 lb 5 oz (she was 1/12 at birth and about 1/3 at
her lowest). I've gotten to "kangaroo" her several times, which she
just loves. (And it goes without saying that I love holding her :-)

All in all, everything is well. They will be one month old tomorrow
and still seem on target to come home in July. For now, we are trying
to look at the positive side of things; for instance, how many parents
of month-old twins get 8 hours of sleep each night and have time to go
catch a movie and have lunch? ;-) In all seriousness, they are in very
good hands and I'm grateful to live close to a hospital with a
fabulous NICU!

--
Paula
Mom to Olivia and Cassie (b. 4/8/03 @ 26 weeks)
^Grace^ (b. 5/16/02 d. 5/17/02) and ^Adam^ (b/d. 5/17/02)
and a little surprise package due 7/4/05 :-)

Long story, but DH accidentally sent some old posts of mine from 2003,
and this one about my 26-weeker daughters happened to be one of them.
The girls are fine :-)

Sorry for any confusion!

--
Paula
Mom to Olivia and Cassie (b. 4/8/03 @ 26 weeks)
^Grace^ (b. 5/16/02 d. 5/17/02) and ^Adam^ (b/d. 5/17/02)
and a little surprise package due 7/4/05 :-)