Week 13

Howdy All,

Well our two little angels have continued to progress really well.  The doctors have recommended that Ella stay in hospital a little longer to make sure she is putting on enough weight, so it could be another week or so before she comes home.  She is up to 2.15 kg so she has put on 110 grams this week.  Jack is now up to 2.895 kg so has put on 265 grams this week, another good one for him. 

Both babies are stable enough that they have removed all monitoring.  Ella is feeding really well and hasn't had a tube feed for over a week now, Jack has about 2/3 of his feeds on breastfeeding or bottle so hopefully he'll be off the tube soon. 

Not many photos again - hopefully next week we'll have some shots at home!

Mummy cuddles

Week 12

I'm getting later every week posting these!  I guess that means there's less out of the ordinary things happening. 

We can really see the finish line, Ella is now 2.04kg and feeding really well via breastfeeding and bottle.  They have even removed her feeding tube and pretty much all monitoring - best of all she may be able to come home within the next week!  This is fantastic and unexpected - they were both expected to stay until their due date around 23rd March to to have her come home early would be great!!!

Jack is still chubbing on but his weight see-saws a bit, he is now 2.63kg - he will unfotunately have to stay in a bit longer than Ella but we suspected this right from the beginning as he was always a step or two behind,particularly with his breathing.  If they read this blog in years to come, I'm sorry Jack, you'll probably get teased by your little sister!!  Jack is however still on track to come home on or around their due date; he's breastfeeding well, Anthea is spending as much time as possible in the hospital now that they're close to home so that she can get them feeding regularly.  Jack if it makes you feel better, it's not so much that you're behind in development, you're doing well, it's just that Ella jumped a few steps!!

Jack had an ultrasound to check for a hernia during the week - I'm not sure what the reason for this was but the outcome was no hernia so I guess thats positive!

Only a couple of photos this week...

Jessie with her little bro

Ella with no tubes of any kind!!!

Week 11

Well obviously the twins read last weeks blog about it having been a steady week and decided to up the ante this week.

Jack put on 454 grams and now weighs 2.57kg  In addition, he is breathing unassisted and was moved down to Bay 1 next to Ella.

Ella was moved to an open crib and is breastfeeding really well - she put on 153 grams to finish the week at 1.97kg.

The biggest news is that after their great progress, both babies have been transferred to the special care nursery at our local hospital!!  This means they no longer require the level of care they were getting at Monash Medical Centre so fantastic news for us.  They were transferred on Saturday morning via ambulance and have settled into their new home well.  Best of all, this hospital is only about 5mins from our house - which means we can visit more often and for longer!

We have brought in their own clothes to wear, they are in size 00000 - Jack fills the clothes out well and will probably move into a larger size in the coming weeks!  Ella is very petite, the difference in them is obvious when you see them together.

They had their picture taken with ex-AFL footballer and now media personality Luke Darcy during the week - he was taking part in a charity bike-ride to raise funds for an MRI incubator for the hospital - it appeared online and in the Melbourne Herald Sun Newspaper - photo in the pics below.

We realised during the week that we better finish off getting all the stuff we need pretty quickly.  They are likely to coming home at roughly 40 weeks which is in about 3 1/2 weeks from now!!  Their room is mostly done now, we've got both cots up and it's looking prettygood.  Just a few finishing touches and we'll be set.

Together at last!

Mums first double cuddle

Their new home at Frankston Hospital

Our little Girl(s)

Ella likes her new bed!

First full family snap

Our little Guy

Jack in his comfy new bed

Jessie has double cuddles with her brother and sister

She's so cute! - Ella that is :)

He's very sleepy!

Former AFL player Luke Darcy meets premature babies Jack and Ella Maitland at the Monash Medical Centre. Picture: Craig Borrow Source: Herald Sun

Week 10

Happy end of week everyone.  Jack and Ella have had one of their 'steady' weeks where nothing spectacular has occurred but they have continued on a positive course.  Jack put on 141 grams this week, now weighing in at 2.116kg, Ella put on a respectable 99 grams, and now weighs 1.817kg.  This is the most exciting thing that happened this week - over 1.8kg means she will be moved in the next few days to an open crib - another woohoo moment for us!

They have both become far more alert over the past week, watching everything that goes on around them when they're awake with their big blue eyes - we can really only see the colour for the first time now...  They also reach out with their hands to try and find things they can see near them and drive the nurses mad trying to pull their tubes out. 

*side note - hilarious moment was Jack catching a glimpse of his feeding tube that was being held up during a feed and going cross-eyed trying to look at it.

A few nice photo's of all of our children!

Jessie and Ella

Ella closeup

Jessie and Jack

Jack closeup

Jack in his Big Pants.  OK so putting him in a size 0000 was a little bit ambitious!

Week 9

Another eventful week for the two little treasures.  If you remember earlier on I mentioned that the Bay were listed by assistance required, from Bays 7+8 which are the most assistance, down to Bays 1+2 which are for babies requiring the least assistance. 

Jack is in bay 5, his respiration needs to improve a bit more before he gets moved further down the numerical ladder.  We were hoping he would graduate to an open crib over the past week and he didn't disappoint.  He put on a massive 250 grams over the past week, now weighing in at 1.975kg.  He was moved to an open crib and even better he has been moved from CPAP breathing assistance down to a lesser form called High Flow (Ella was put on this about four weeks ago and is now breathing unassisted for the past two weeks).  You'll see in some of the below photos it's far less of an obstacle to see his little face!




Jack in his open crib - note still on CPAP at this point

 

Jack on High Flow



Jack wrapped up like a caterpillar





Jack dressed and looking like a regular newborn!

 

Loves his bath now

Ella gave us a massive surprise in a good way - Anthea came in on Friday and Ella has been moved to Bay 1!!!!  She's a clever little girl and requires little assistance so has been moved to the minimal care area.  She put on around 220 grams and is at 1.718kg, soon enough she'll also be in an open crib.  We are really starting to look forward to having them home now!  Anthea has tried both Ella and Jack with breastfeeding which is their next major development step - this is normal to start them trying at around 34-35 weeks.  Both of them had a go at it, they have the idea of what to do but not quite the stamina yet - pleasing signs though. Ella has had some problems with eczema but that is also under control at the moment.

The entrance to Ella's new home!

Jessie was singing to Ella and brushing her head

Top view - she's cute!



I really like this one, Jessie was seeing if Ella would suck on her knuckle



Jessie looking after her little sister

Just another example of the outstanding team in the NICU.  This nurse's name is Jess and she has a great connection with kids.  Here she's teaching Jessie and Dylan, the brother of another one of the premmie's how to make Pom-Poms.  Jessie even now has an 'official' nursing ID badge which she thinks is pretty cool! 

Week 8

Hi again,

Jack has decided to really chunk on the weight at the moment, they have changed his feeding pattern.  They were both on hourly feeds, Jack has now moved to 2-hourly, although they both are on 240ml per day.  As as Saturday, Jack now weighs 1.723kg - up 125 grams this week.  Once he gets to 1.8kg, he will be in an open crib as he'll be more able to control his body temperature - we're really looking forward to that milestone!

Ella is up to 1.495kg, up 67 grams this week so positive gain for her also.  It's fairly clear who is the boy and who is the girl - Ella is quite petite and Jack is very stocky.  Ella has been breathing really well without any form of assistance for well over a week now and doesn't look like taking a backward step.  We're just waiting now for Jack to catch up to her with his breathing.

By the next weigh in, Ella will hopefully be over 1.5kg so we can give her a proper bath.  We gave jack his second bath today and he really enjoyed it, he was really calm and when we dried him off and wrapped him back up for a cuddle, he went right to sleep.

Nanna was able to have her first cuddle with Ella today - just in time for Ella to fill her nappy something shocking!!  yes it was a bit stinky but she didn't mind.

The nurses are all amazed at Jessies behaviour with Jack and Ella.  Jessie goes every day with Mum and is (mostly) fantastic.  she has the odd bored moment but usually thats when she can't actually interact with them.  Jessies loves helping to wash or dry them, or hold nappies etc when we're changing them or her favourite thing is when she gets to give them a cuddle.  For a four 1/2 year old girl, we are very proud of her.

I only have a couple of pictures today, more next week.

Nanna's first cuddle

Ella sucking her thumb

Week 7

I'm a little late to post this week, a fair bit has been going on in the Jack and Ella show..

Jack decided this week he was going to starting piling on the pounds - last week he weighed in at 1.306kg, as at Sunday he is now 1.532 kg.  This is a pretty significant milestone, we can now even bath him in a normal baby bath.  First bath pics below;



OK not quite a normal bath what with the tubes and
 everything but hey we'll take it.







If Jack could talk, I'm pretty sure he'd say "What the...?!?"






















I managed to get a quick photo of Jack as they were weighing him without all the tube etc sticking out of his nose...

I'm told he looks like me - what a good looking boy! :)

Not to be outdone, Ella firstly practiced her whistling;

'phwee  phwee phweeee - we will we will ROCK YOU!'

and then proceeded to breath completely unassisted, so no tubes for her.  Ella has been at this point once before as a trial but this time it's been nearly 48 hours and still no issue so she's doing great.  Ella has also put on some weight - less than Jack as they continue their habit of first one, then the other putting on lots of weight - but still a good showing, she is now 1.428kg, just slightly under that 1.5kg milestone.

It's an amazing feeling being able to look at our little girl without (nearly) all the tubes.  The only one she hs now is the feeding tube. They are both having less of those events that make all the monitors go 'bing' and although the progress seems slow, it's amazing when we look back at how much they improve each week.