Gestational age: 29 weeks, 6 days 

Day of life: 35 

Beckett: 2lb 5oz 

Juliette: 2lb 13oz 

 

Beckett joined the kilo club (1 kilo = 2lb, 4oz)! Beckett has both nephrology and endocrinology working together to identify his sodium issue. He had a kidney ultrasound and some tests run to see if it’s related to his brain bleed, hormones, kidneys, or a complicated mix since any of those can impact each other. The tests can take a while to get back and they might have to repeat some, so we’re being patient and his sodium levels have stayed in a good range with his IV supplements. His head ultrasounds have remained stable, so they have switched him to Monday ultrasounds instead of twice a week. Both twins have switched to twice-weekly chest x-rays instead of daily! 

 

Sometime over the last week, they noticed Beckett’s stool from his ostomy was light colored and a little milky-looking. This meant he wasn’t fully digesting his milk, so they momentarily stopped upping his feeds and went to a 24-hour continuous feed rather than every 3 hours to give him a chance to digest and absorb the nutrients from his food. He’s been handling it really well and the stool in his ostomy looks a lot better! 

 

Both of the twins switched to isolettes instead of the open-top beds they were originally in. This might seem like a step backwards, but it means that they no longer require super quick nurse access and the isolettes will help them stay warmer and provide a quieter environment for them to rest and grow. 

 

Juliette moved from NAVA to CPAP on Saturday, which is a big step because there are no support breaths with CPAP and instead it’s just a steady stream of oxygen to help her little breaths and inflate her lungs. Juliette showed off how strong she’s gotten this past week by pushing herself up during tummy time, turning her head herself, and launching herself around her bed. Shortly after that, she lost tummy time privileges for that day and behaved much better the next. 

 

Dan’s first Father’s Day included donuts from the Ronald McDonald house in the morning and a hold with Beckett in the afternoon. We got the call tonight during dinner that Juliette is moving to Bay 2 because she’s doing so well. Bay 1 is for  babies who need the most care, Bays 2&3 are where babies go when they outgrow Bay 1, and Bay 4 is for “growers and feeders” who mostly just need to get bigger before they go home. This is great news and a big step, but we also have a lot of mixed emotions because it’s a big change and the twins will now be in two different wings of the NICU. We hope Beckett won’t be too far behind!