How much longer in the NICU
Pop quiz, who is who?
The answer will be at the very end.
The top question on our minds (and a question we've been getting a lot) is "How long do they have to spend in the NICU?" The short answer is that there is no fixed date; rather, they have to pass a series of milestones before they can come home. Babies can be in the NICU for a variety of reasons depending on their situation. Thankfully both Sam 'n Max were able to breath without intervention and their hearts are healthy. The two issues they do have are that they aren't yet able to regulate their own temperature (their bodies can't produce enough heat to stay warm), and their digestive systems are underdeveloped. These issues are related; as their digestive systems develop they will have more calories/energy to produce heat and stay warm.
Shortly after they arrived at the NICU they were each given an intravenous feeding line, which has been continually delivering nutrition directly into their blood streams. This allows them to get "food" and start growing, but does little to develop their digestive systems. A few days later (Friday or Saturday? Time is blurry) they were each given a feeding tube which enters the nose and goes to their stomachs, more formally known as nasogastric intubation. Food delivered this way starts expanding the capacity of what they can consume and exercises their digestive systems. This is required because they're still developing their coordination for sucking and swallowing (although they have already spent some time breastfeeding!), and allows the medical staff to carefully control how much they consume.
Sam and Max are each on their own feeding protocol because they are slightly different weights. As they work through their protocols, the amount of food delivered to their stomachs is increased over the course of about a week, and the amount of nutrition delivered through the IV line is reduced.
Once these week long protocols are complete, they start a "phased" program where they will receive gradually increasing amounts of milk or formula, moving towards them consuming entirely orally from bottles. If their intake is increased and they are unable to consume the increased amount, then they will spend more time on that phase. This phased program will take at least another week, and may last several weeks, depending on how they progress. To summarize, they will be on these programs in the NICU for at least two more weeks, and it may last until somewhere around their 40-week due date (June 4th), so 2~5 weeks from now. Obviously we're hoping to have them home sooner rather than later, but their health is the most important thing.
Also, Max is in the green swaddle and Sam is in the white blanket. :)
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| Who am I, in the green swaddle? |
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| Who am I, in the white blanket? |
The answer will be at the very end.
The top question on our minds (and a question we've been getting a lot) is "How long do they have to spend in the NICU?" The short answer is that there is no fixed date; rather, they have to pass a series of milestones before they can come home. Babies can be in the NICU for a variety of reasons depending on their situation. Thankfully both Sam 'n Max were able to breath without intervention and their hearts are healthy. The two issues they do have are that they aren't yet able to regulate their own temperature (their bodies can't produce enough heat to stay warm), and their digestive systems are underdeveloped. These issues are related; as their digestive systems develop they will have more calories/energy to produce heat and stay warm.
Shortly after they arrived at the NICU they were each given an intravenous feeding line, which has been continually delivering nutrition directly into their blood streams. This allows them to get "food" and start growing, but does little to develop their digestive systems. A few days later (Friday or Saturday? Time is blurry) they were each given a feeding tube which enters the nose and goes to their stomachs, more formally known as nasogastric intubation. Food delivered this way starts expanding the capacity of what they can consume and exercises their digestive systems. This is required because they're still developing their coordination for sucking and swallowing (although they have already spent some time breastfeeding!), and allows the medical staff to carefully control how much they consume.
Sam and Max are each on their own feeding protocol because they are slightly different weights. As they work through their protocols, the amount of food delivered to their stomachs is increased over the course of about a week, and the amount of nutrition delivered through the IV line is reduced.
 |
| Sam's feeding protocol |
 |
| Max's feeding protocol |
Once these week long protocols are complete, they start a "phased" program where they will receive gradually increasing amounts of milk or formula, moving towards them consuming entirely orally from bottles. If their intake is increased and they are unable to consume the increased amount, then they will spend more time on that phase. This phased program will take at least another week, and may last several weeks, depending on how they progress. To summarize, they will be on these programs in the NICU for at least two more weeks, and it may last until somewhere around their 40-week due date (June 4th), so 2~5 weeks from now. Obviously we're hoping to have them home sooner rather than later, but their health is the most important thing.
Also, Max is in the green swaddle and Sam is in the white blanket. :)
I know my grand babies!! Thanks for the wonderful blog and photos.
ReplyDeleteI admit; I didn't get it!! Though their hands gave it away a little. Don't ask me why. Former NICU Nurse here... some instincts remain. <3
ReplyDeleteI could see which was which; it was a pleasant surprise to know that I could tell my grandnephews apart, since I think about them so often. Thanks so much for doing this blog and keeping it updated!
ReplyDelete