We learned tonight that CJ may be coming home sooner than expected. He is doing so well that they can't justify keeping him in the hospital too much longer. It looks like he may be coming home Monday. We are extremely excited, but a little nervous that we both can't be at the hospital for Savannah's surgery on Thursday.

CJ is scheduled to be discharged next Friday (August 8). We are thrilled to finally be able to bring him home, but at the same time we are very nervous.

Savannah has made an amazing turn with her breathing and is doing very well. She is still on the nasal canula, however, they are slowly decreasing her settings. We are praying that her surgery goes as well as CJ's. Hopefully she will have a speedy recovery so she can join CJ at home.

She weighed in tonight at 6lbs. 13.4 ounces.

CJ is recovering nicely from Surgery. We just got word today that they are thinking about discharging him next week. We are hoping we can push it to Friday since we would like to both be at the hospital for Savannah's surgery on Thursday.

Savannah is also doing very well and is up to 2 bottles a day. Chuck was actually brave enough to feed her a bottle today and it went very well.

Both babies had a great day. CJ had a bowel movement last night and they started feeding him again today. He is only getting 10 ml's per feed, he used to get 60 ml's so he's a bit cranky. Savannah is doing well with one bottle feedings per day and they are going to try her on two bottles a day tomorrow.

CJ and Savannah both had a very good day.

CJ is recovering nicely from surgery. They are still letting his intestines heal before trying to feed him As a result CJ is becoming a little irritable from not being able to eat. We are hoping that they will start feeding him tomorrow.

Savannah is doing well on her 2 liter Nasal Canula with a few desaturations, but much better than she had in the past. They are going to slowly wean her off.

Everything else is status quo.

Grandma Krause and I had a nice visit today with the babies. Grandma held Savannah while I held CJ. The doctors have been so impressed by Savannah's breathing over the last few days they decided to take her off the Nasal Canula. Although she was doing quite well her Primary nurse thought it was a little too aggressive and didn't want Savannah to crash as a result. They decided to put her back on the Nasal Canula, this time they turned her settings down so they could slowly wean her off.

Savannah weighs 6 lbs. 7.6 ounces

CJ is doing very well with his breathing and is not on any supplemental support. The surgeon is pleased so far on his recovery and we are all waiting for him to move his bowels so he can start eating again. He will be finished with his antibiotics tomorrow and he is not on any pain medicine and does not appear to be uncomfortable. He can even manage to smile through all of this.

CJ weighs 5 lbs. 11.4 ounces

Charlton did very well overnight and they extubated him this morning at 11:30. He is doing very well on only room air! They are going to hold off feeding him until he shows signs of his intestines healing.
Savannah is still hanging in there on nasal cannula at 3 liters. She still is having desats but not as frequent or as bad. Jen and I were able to see her get a tub bath last night and she looked like she loved it. Her eyes couldn't have been wider and her facial expression looked like she was smiling.

Charltons surgery went well!
It took a little more than 2 hours.
The anesthesiologist said it would take a couple hours for the drugs to wear off and him to wake up but he woke up 15 minutes after he said that. Charlton definitely wants to yank the vent out of his nose so hopefully he wont be on it too long.
The next few days will be critical to his recovery but so far so good.
Jen and I would like to thank everyone for their continued prayers and support.

I'm not sure I can top Chuck's description from his visit today, but he forgot to mention that CJ had a hearing test today and it was good. He will need to have a follow up, but everything seemed ok. We are very happy to have Grandma Krause here to help us with Ashley so we can be at the hospital as much as possible for CJ's surgery and recovery period.

It was nice to hear from Grandma Krause how much she enjoyed her time with the babies today. She was "Shocked and Shaken" to see how much they have grown and how well they are doing compared to her last visit.

Savannah weighed in at 6 lbs. 7 ounces.

Charlton weighed in at 5 lbs. 12.1 ounces.

Grandma, Ashley and I went to visit the babies today. Charlton was fine and he took a bottle while Grandma held him. Savannah on the other hand totally went blue and vomited all over the place during her feeding with me needing tons of suctioning and stimulation. I never seen her get that bad before and I was shocked and shaken. Once she was intervened with she bounced back quickly and all was well. Charlton's surgery is tomorrow at 10 am it should last 3 hours. Savannah's surgery will be August 7th.
Jen and I will be spending the day at the hospital and we will update when we can. I will be taking my laptop with me so it should be early afternoon.

Savannah had some major Apnea episodes after we left last night until early this morning. I think the doctor mentioned that 7 of them were severe. They are not sure what has caused the onset of episodes, but think it may have to do with the bottle feedings. They having been giving her a bottle the last few days, but gave her a second one last night at midnight. Needless to say, they did not give her any bottles today. They will be watching her closely to see if she needs to be put back on C.P.A.P.

CJ is still doing very well and is still on for surgery Thursday. We are very nervous about the upcoming surgery due to all the risks involved with it. We are most concerned about him going back on the ventilator and also the high risk of infection.

Everything else is status quo.

We just left the hospital an hour and a half ago, they both were doing great. I held and fed Charlton a bottle and Jen held Savannah for about an hour. Charlton eats and burps very well with no reflux at all! Praise God! The Dr said he wished he could have already had his surgery because he would be home sooner. Dr Shen also said that Savannah could be home in a month but she will probably be on a apnea monitor.

Savannah is now 6 lbs. 1.2 ounces as of last night. She had a few Apnea/Brady episodes today so they are keeping a closer eye on her. Hopefully she will be able to continue with the Nasal Canula. She also took a full bottle tonight.

CJ is now 5 lbs 6.2 ounces as of last night.

Everything else is status quo.

MORE GREAT NEWS...The MRI results for Savannah showed that her brain looked normal. She does have a little fluid, but nothing they are concerned with. They will just need to keep an eye on it going forward.

Savannah is still doing well on the Nasal Canula with less and less Apnea/Desaturations. Now that she is on the Nasal Canula the nurse decided to try her with a bottle feeding. She really took to it and instead of the nurse giving her 10 mls as planned she gave her 22 mls. Not bad for her first feeding. The nurse will continue to try her on bottle feedings every day as long as she is still on canula.

We are still waiting on the neurologist to read the MRI. Hopefully we will get the results tomorrow.

CJ is scheduled to have his surgery on Thursday. Please pray for a speedy recovery for our little CJ. The recovery time is about 10 days.

Savannah is still on the Nasal Canula and seems to be tolerating it. She did have some major episodes, but the doctors would like to keep her on Canula for as long as possible.

Since she was doing well on the Canula yesterday the doctors decided to do the MRI test. She had the test late last night and did fairly well. She wasn't completely still so they were not able to get as many pictures as they would have liked. We are currently waiting on the results.

Savannah weighed in last night at 5 lbs 14.4 ounces. (almost 6 lbs)

CJ is doing very well with his bottle feedings and actually took 9 bottles in a row. The nurse saw him waving his feeding tube in his hand so he must of thought he didn't need it anymore. His nurse figured at that point he no longer needed his feeding tube. We are still waiting on the date for his surgery.

CJ weighed in last night at 5 lbs. 5.4 ounces.

Today Chuck and I found out some great news in regards to CJ. Little CJ tested positive when he was born for Cystic Fibrosis, which is a life limiting disease. We didn't realize this until about a month or so after he was born since there seemed to be a lot of inaccurate information surrounding his results. He then had some additional gene testing which was done about 2 mths. ago. The test is very comprehensive, hence why it took so long for the results. We are happy to report that today we had a huge weight lifted off our shoulders when we learned that he tested negative for this awful disease.

We are also hoping to find out tomorrow the date for CJ's surgery. It will either be next week or the following week.

Savannah also had a very exciting day. The doctor told me last week that they did not want to try her on the Nasal Canula for another few weeks or so, however, they thought today was the day. So this morning while I was at the hospital they switched her over to the Nasal Canula. She really fought the nurse when she tried to put in the new nose prongs, but after a few minutes she gave in. Hopefully, she will be able to handle it this time.

______________________

I just checked on the kids and the nurse said they are both doing well. They asked me early today if I wanted to move CJ back on the intensive side since a lot of babies were discharged. Well it didn't take me long to answer that question. So Savannah and CJ are back together again.

Savannah seems to be doing well on the Nasal Canula. She is still having her desaturations, however, they don't seem to be as frequent.

Both Savannah and CJ had another good day.

Savannah weighed in at 5 lbs 11 ounces. She is 17.9 inches long.

CJ weighed in at 5 lbs 3.4 ounces. He is 18.5 inches long.

CJ hasn't been weighed yet tonight so I will update the site tomorrow with his information.

Everything else is status quo

Both CJ and Savannah had a very good day.

Savannah did not have too many disaturations today. It seems that the caffeine is working.

CJ is doing very well with his bottle feedings and is taking 4/5 bottles a day.

Everything else is status quo.

The babies had a very good day yesterday. I have been going to the hospital early in the morning before the AM feeding when they seem to be the most alert and awake. It's really nice to see them when there awake and looking all around bright eyed. They put Savannah back on her caffeine, which really has seemed to make a positive difference in her saturations. I also had the chance to see her get a sponge bath in her little bucket last night, which she really seemed to enjoy. She weighed in a 5 lbs 5.2 ounces.

CJ is doing well. I am hoping he hit his 5 lbs. last night, but unfortunately he was not weighed before we left last night so I will find out this morning.

Everything else is status quo.

CJ had a very good day. I visited with him in the morning and then Chuck and Ashley visited with him in the afternoon. He weighed in tonight at 4 lbs. 15.2 ounces, just shy of his 5 lb. milestone. I am confident that he will hit that mark tomorrow night.

Savannah gave me a little scare in the morning. The nurse decided to give her a quick break from her C.P.A.P and she seemed to be doing well with breathing on her own since she was awake. I held her for a little bit and she was so happy not to have her C.P.A.P. and then she started to drift off as I watch her change from her nice little pale skin to blue with in seconds. Thankfully the nurses are only a few steps away. Once they put the C.P.A.P back on she did fine and had a fairly decent day.

She weighed in tonight at 5 lbs 4 ounces. Pretty soon she will be in regular newborn clothes.

CJ is doing very well. He is still trying to master his feedings. Currently he takes 3/4 bottles a day which really wipes him out. They are slowly trying to increase his bottle feedings to bring him closer to his 8 bottles a day. No word on his surgery date.

Savannah had a very rough time last night and had 3 major episodes on the nasal canula. After I held her for an hour or so this morning she had another major episode and needed to be put back on C.P.A.P. The doctors have decided not to do the MRI because she is still very unstable. They actually said that they are not going to push for it anytime soon since Savannah will be in the hospital for a lot longer.

She is doing great with her weight gain and she is now at 5 lbs 3.6 ounces.

I was shocked to see Savannah on the Nasal Canula when I arrived at the hospital today. The doctor informed me that they are getting her prepared for an MRI on Monday. They want to look at her brain a little closer to see what is going on. However, in order for her to have the MRI she must be off the C.P.A.P. They are going to see how she does on the Nasal Canula today and hope that she will be able to keep it long enough for the MRI tommorow.

Savannah weighed in tonight at 5 lbs.

CJ is doing very well and tolerating his feedings. He is still getting 3/4 bottles a day and is slowly working his way up to 8 bottles a day. The other 4 feedings are currently given through his feeding tube which goes through his nose into his little belly.

Chuck, Ashley and I celebrated the 4th of July with the babies. I will be posting new pictures Sunday night. CJ's nurse was kind enough to bring CJ to see his sister so that we could take a picture of them together. CJ really enjoyed his visit, but Savannah seemed a little annoyed. Then again, CJ was grabbing at her and kept hitting her so I really can't blame her for not enjoying the visit.

CJ is doing very well and is being scheduled for surgery soon to correct his previous intestine surgery. If all goes well he may be coming home at the end of July. The surgeon is on vacation this coming week so we do not know the exact date of the surgery, but we anticipate it to be the week of July 14th. After surgery it will take another 10 days or so for the recovery period.

CJ weighs 4lbs 8.8 ounces

Savannah is still having her desaturation episodes which really has everyone concerned. They stopped her caffeine on Wednesday to see what kind of effect this would have on her. They also performed an EEG (Elctroencephalogram; Brain wave test)to see if she could possibly be having seizures which is causing these episodes. We did get some preliminary results on Friday which indicated that her brain is premature, but no indication of seizures. Since this test does not show everything they need to know they will probably be doing an MMR on her in the next few weeks. It is very difficult to do an MMR on someone who is on C.P.A.P which is why they have not done it thus far. We are still praying that everything is fine and that it is just taking her longer to learn how to breathe on her own. They did see something on her last head ultrasound that they will need to keep on eye on, but is typical with premature babies who had a bleed in their brain. Hopefully this too will not turn out to be anything major.

They are also try to decide whether or not to do Savannah's intestine repair surgery at this point. The originally thought was to do it before she is ready to go home. However, they also think that she would benefit sooner since it will help her grow faster. We will probably know more when the surgeon returns from vacation.

Savannah weighs 4 lbs 13.8 ounces

Thank you for your continued prayers for both of our little miracles.

Not much to report today.

I held each baby for about an hour and both did very well.

CJ is continuing to do well with his bottle feedings and is up to 4 bottles a day.

CJ weighed in tonight at 4 lb. 3.9 ounces.

Savannah had a good day and did not have any major desaturations in a 24 hour period.

Savannah weighed in at 4 lbs 10.8 ounces.

I have been getting a lot of questions about some of the medical terms I have been using. I thought it may be helpful to give you the definitions of the ones that I most often use.

Bradycardia - Excessively slow heart rate. Usually transient and often associated with apnea and desaturation.

CBC (Complete Blood Count) - A blood test analyzing the number and type of white blood cells, the concentration of hemoglobin, the percentage of blood volume consisting of red blood cells (hematocrit), and the number of platelets

CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) - Used for the treatment of lung disease or breathing difficulty that is not severe enough to require an endotracheal tube and ventilator. CPAP is the application of continuously pressurized air and oxygen to the airways and lungs via small tubes placed in the nostrils or a soft mask placed over the nose. These tubes fit tighter to the nostrils than those of a nasal cannula. CPAP keeps lungs partially inflated between breaths, which makes breathing easier.

Desaturation - A drop in the blood oxygen level, generally detected by a pulse oximeter. Often associated with apnea and bradycardia.

Nasal Cannula - Short, thin tubes placed into the nostrils, through which oxygen is administered. Used in cases of mild or chronic lung disease which are not severe enough to require use of CPAP or a ventilator.

Apnea - Lack of air movement into the lungs. This can be due either to an infant not trying to take breaths (central apnea), or an obstruction of the airway causing air flow to cease despite the infant making attempts to breathe (obstructive apnea). Both the central and obstructive types of apnea are very common in premature infants. Central apnea in prematures is referred to as "apnea of prematurity", and is often treated with caffeine.