Two steps forward, one step back

A neonatologist described the progress of preemies as two steps forward, one step back, and that's exactly how it's been. The open air crib for two has been put aside for now and Braddock is back in an isolette. He had a small setback this Saturday because the nurses found blood in his stool. They immediately think infection, so they didn't want him right next to Julia. We were on our way in Saturday when the phone rang from the doctor explaining to us what was going on. Just to be cautious, they stopped feeding Braddock and gave him an IV, tested his blood, x-rayed his abdomen... things like that. The blood tests showed no sign of infection -- total relief -- and he isn't acting sick in any way. They think it could be an allergy to milk protein, so the doctor asked that I limit my dairy intake for the time being. The breast milk I give them is fortified with extra calories, and there is some traces of milk protein in there, so that could be it. They also said that because he had gone to an open air crib -- and to you and I that would be no big deal -- he had to work really hard just to regulate his body temperature and that stress may have been the culprit as well. It made us sad to see him with his IV and the little splint that holds the IV on his arm. The good thing was his color was fine and he was still smiling and stick his tongue out. They should resume his feeds very soon and we'll see how it goes.

Julia and Griffin are doing just fine. Julia was put into a smaller open air bassinet. She is still in the same room with the boys but I can't imagine it will be much longer. Yesterday there was a tiny little baby born that came into the spot right next to us. There is a lot of chaos as they bring in the new babies. we couldn't even get to Griff's isolette for a while because they were doing some kind of procedure. I know they were expecting twins later yesterday afternoon, so I'm sure they are considering moving Julia and perhaps Braddock to make room. We'll see what happens there.

So for now we had a little hiccup but everybody is fine. Braddock reached 4 pounds 1 oz on Saturday morning before they stopped the feeds. We can't believe how HUGE he looks to us. Hopefully he is eating again and keeps up the rapid growth! Griffin and Julia are 3 lbs 8 oz. Such big babies now -- well, relatively speaking. When the full termers come into the NICU, they look like giants to us.

I'll keep the updates coming and get some of the latest photos/videos up. I held both Julia and Braddock together for the first time on Friday. It was the first time I realized how badly I need one more hand!