Celia & Isabel: Roller Coasters

I'm sitting here in the NICU today and I just now started to reflect on everything that's happened. It's hard to believe it, but yesterday we celebrated Celia and Isabel's 4 week birthday. It's very weird because time feel like it's flown by, but at the same time it seems like forever ago that they were born.

During our time at the NICU, there has been one phrase that is used over and over: "There will be a lot of ups and downs. You just have to take it one day at a time". I feel like this week has been a prime example of that very phrase.

Last Saturday, we did our usual routine of going to the hospital and hanging out with the girls. They were fine and doing their usual dips in oxygen and heart rate (they were both scheduled for their PDA surgery at the time). We went home thinking everything was going to be the same as it had been for the past week. I even decided to go to a friend's 30th birthday to have a drink for a little bit. At about 12:30, I got a call from Rachel saying that Isabel was having some issues. Her electrolytes were all out of whack and they were concerned it could have an effect on her heart. We really didn't understand what was going on and I was near the hospital so I decided to head over there and see what was up. I walked in to see two doctors sitting by Isa's bedside. They must have seen the freaked out look on my face and our awesome nurse Meghan reassured me that everything was going to be ok. I stayed the night at the hospital giving Rachel updates as the doctors and nurses gave Isa medicines so she stabilized. After getting home in the morning and sleeping a few hours, we got another call from the NICU telling us that Celia decided to copy her sister and have some major changes in her electrolytes as well. We rushed over to the hospital and spent the day worrying as they tried to get her stable as well. Both girls recovered in about 12 hours and have been doing amazing since.

In addition to Rachel's previous post, things have continued to go our way the past week.

Celia was doing so well with her breathing tube that she had it taken out and replaced with a CPAP breathing tube. Rachel and I both have been able to hold her and she even peed on me. Our nurses (Jessica, Kirsten, and Erin) I'm sure had a good laugh as i slowly freaked out when I realized she was peeing on me.

Isabel has been doing great in her recovery from surgery as well. Her ventilator settings are so low that Dr. Kahn (our current attending doctor) is just waiting for her to recover a bit before she switches Isa over to the CPAP as well. I'm also proud to report that Rachel is currently holding Isa for the first time as we speak.

So those are the roller coasters. We're currently riding the high points and hope it continues this way. You're never quite prepared for all the ups and downs, but these ups have made us forget all the scary/uncertain times...and I'll take that.