New photos today

As promised (to many of you), here are some new photos of the kiddos. We lost many, many cute ones when John’s computer died. So I’m wasting no time in getting these posted, just in case.

Screeching Pterodactyl

Veronica used to be our quiet baby. She didn’t talk much, and when she did it would have qualified her as a “soft talker.” But, alas, those days are behind us. (Okay, “alas” isn’t really how we feel; we’re happy she is starting to chat more.)

Every day, it seems, she has been adding more sounds. Earlier this week she started snorting like she was trying to blow her nose. She loved it, and made it over and over for several days. It creeped John out. 

She also likes to make this noise that sounds like she might be working on filling her diaper, only she isn’t. She just thinks it’s a funny noise. (That one confuses me, because I’m always checking her diaper now.)

Tonight’s noise, however, took the cake for funny. At dinner tonight, Veronica started making a noise that can best be described as a screeching pterodactyl, at a volume most opera singers would be jealous of. This, of course, ensured she could be heard over the din that comes from having guests for dinner that include a four year old. 

Of course, the screeching bird/dinosaur effect was heightened by the fact that whenever she made the noise, she also put her hands out to the side and waved them a little (like wings). As I said, it was very cute. 

If she decides to do her new trick at 2:00 this morning, however, I fear I will find it much less endearing. It’s bad enough that she continues to wake up multiple times each night. If she suddenly decides that it’s necessary to propel me out of bed by scaring the living daylights out of me, we may have words — my words. And they probably won’t be nice words.

Following up with Colin

Colin had his follow-up appointment at the NICU clinic last week, back at the hospital. He is becoming a much better traveler, so by the time we got to the hospital (a whopping 10 minutes from home) he was pretty zoned out. But within a minute of walking through the hospital doors, he perked up, looked around and started smiling. He was back “home.”

He must recognize the change in lighting, or maybe he can smell something. However he does it, he seems to know right away when he’s back at the hospital. And our little hospital junkie likes being back. 

I have to say, going to the follow-up clinic is always a bit of a surreal experience. They see lots of babies besides the preemies there — babies with other conditions that require ongoing monitoring. And typically there are four or five other families waiting. But our babies have rock star status because everyone knows them (and us). Plus, with two on different schedules, we’re back pretty frequently.

So when we walked in, rather than asking who we were, I just got “You haven’t moved or anything, have you?” 

And then while we were waiting, every time someone (staff) came through the waiting room, I heard a loud, “Colin!” and someone else was stopping by to say hi to him. Of course, the fact that his occupation therapist also works at the hospital only adds to the number of people we know. 

So Colin weighed in at a whopping 12 pounds. He is officially on the growth chart (adjusted) now. He’s only at 3%, but considering it’s the first time he’s even made the chart, that is pretty exciting. His lungs still are a little wheezy, and the neo doc suggested that we talk to his doctor about putting Colin on an inhaled steroid (Pulmacort) to help strengthen his lungs. (I still haven’t called his pediatrician about it yet.)

The occupational therapist is a little concerned about his strong (overriding) preference to roll only to the left, but since he is using both hands equally she is pretty sure it’s more habit than a sign of some neurological problems. So she has been working on getting Colin to roll to the right for a couple of weeks. 

Otherwise, he is doing very well. He is still behind in his gross motor skills and strength. But his muscle tone has softened (which is good, because he had high tone — or too much muscle tone) and he will stretch out and bend forward much easier now. And he is holding his head and shoulders up much better when he is on his stomach now too. 

So we will continue to work with the occupational and physical therapists with him, and gradually I expect he will catch up to where he needs to be.

We will have a speech re-evaluation coming up soon, but I am not really worried about speech with Colin. He is a little chatterbox, and makes quite a range of noises. He hasn’t really started to imitate us yet, though. In fact, one nearly sure-fire way to make Colin crack up is to say to him, “Colin, can you say mama mama mama? (or baba baba baba)”

He also hadn’t really be making strong vowel-consonant combos, as I told the doctor at the clinic. However, on the way home, suddenly out of nowhere, Colin shouted out a good “ba ba” from the back seat.

Road warrior princess

My mom was in the hospital over the weekend because her blood pressure medicine apparently did its job too well. Her heart wasn’t beating fast enough and she was extremely dizzy. (She’s home now and feeling much better.) So I drove to Wisconsin to spend some time with her on Sunday morning. 

Rather than leave John home with all three kids, I decided I’d take Veronica with me. This would be the longest she had ever been in the car (by a long shot — she’s never been farther than Target, which is just two miles away), so it was a good test to see how well she travels.

I wanted to get there early in the morning, so I could get to the hospital before my dad had to leave for church. So I was aiming to leave our house by 5:30. Veronica woke up to eat at 4:30, as she usually does. So I fed her and then went downstairs to get coffee and load up the van. She had fallen back asleep while I was doing this, so I woke her up enough to change her diaper, put on her coat and then loaded her into the car seat. She was asleep again before I even made it to the gas station down the road. 

I’m happy to report that, unlike her older brother, Veronica is a champion traveller. She slept for the bulk of the trip (until Rockford), then played with her toys quietly after that. She was so quiet, in fact, that at one point I looked back to make sure she was still there. (Where I thought she might have gone, I have no idea — I was sleep deprived, not rational.)

We spent the bulk of the morning in the hospital, where Veronica played on a blanket with her toys in between her naps. She did very well keeping herself entertained, and only got fussy when she was getting tired. I was very proud of my little girl. 

Now, if only Colin would follow in her suit. He’s been getting better in the car, but I’m afraid he is still far more likely to be like Ethan was — a screamer in the back seat. It should make our spring break trip rather interesting.

Sit. Roll over.

Okay, I know it sounds like I’m talking about a dog, but these are Veronica and Colin’s new tricks. 

Veronica has really mastered the art of sitting mostly unsupported. And now she wants nothing to do with lying down. She can sit for as much as 15 minutes unsupported, and for as long as she feels like it with the Boppy behind her for a little extra support. 

Unfortunately, she still has not figured out the whole rolling over thing. Other than the one time on Christmas Day that she rolled from her stomach to her back, she has not rolled at all. She just gets frustrated during tummy time and lays face down until you come “rescue” her. We’ve been trying to “show” her how to roll, but for whatever reason, it just doesn’t register.

Colin, on the other hand, is our master roller. Getting him to stay in tummy time (which he really needs to develop some upper body strength) is a full-time job because if you don’t hold him in place, he’ll be on his back in seconds. He also can roll from his back to his stomach from time to time. I suspect it won’t be too long before he discovers he can cover ground this way, and we’ll be in trouble. 

Veronica also is the standing queen. She loves to hold on to your fingers and stand up to look around. As a result, her legs have gotten quite strong. We’re both excited because Colin has finally started to support his weight on his legs for a few seconds. John figured out the key with Colin — if you turn it into a game, he’ll do it. So we now play “show me how big you are,” and Colin does.

On the health notes, Colin has completely recovered from his bronchiolitis and doesn’t seem any worse for the wear. He also had his follow-up appointment with the urologist from the hernia surgery and all has healed well. Veronica had her six-month follow-up with the ophthalmologist yesterday, and has no lingering eye problems from prematurity. She won’t need another eye exam until she is five, unless we suspect a problem. 

Now we’re just anxiously awaiting the arrival of spring so we can start getting out of the house more with the babies and catch up with all of the other hibernating neighbors we don’t get to see in the winter months.

Happy boy, again

Nearly as quickly as he fell ill, Colin has staged a recovery. We went from worrying that we would run out of Albuteral before the weekend was over, to no longer needing to give him any treatments. And if I had any doubt about his recovery, yesterday morning laid my fears to rest.

Before leaving for work yesterday, I went upstairs to say a quick goodbye. (Colin is often asleep before I get home from work, so if I don’t do this, I don’t get to see him on days I go into the office.) He was crying in his crib, but as soon as he saw me his face lit up in a grin. Since he was awake, I picked him up for a quick snuggle and some kisses. This made him laugh and laugh. And at that point, I knew our baby boy was back on track. 

He’ll go back to the doctor this morning for a follow-up to make sure we’re not missing anything that indicates we should continue the treatments. If he gets the all clear, we’ll send the nebulizer back and hope to bid it a permanent goodbye. 

Veronica so far remains healthy, but Ethan is now sick so I’m half expecting that she’ll be next. This is one of those occasions, however, where I would be delighted to be wrong.

Past bottom (I hope)

Last night, when I got home from work, Colin was at what I hope was the bottom with his bronchiolitis. His breathing was so labored that his whole body was moving with every breath, and I seriously asked John whether we should think about taking him to the hospital. 

He also hasn’t been wanting to eat (and who can blame him, since I’m sure he feels pretty crappy), which has me worried about dehydration. (And about falling even farther behind on the growth, since he’s losing weight right now.)

We decided to wait and see how Colin did during the night, hoping that he would get some sleep (which he desperately needed) and start having longer relief with the nebulizer treatments. So I went to feed Veronica at 9:15, when she woke up, and told John to come get me when he needed a break, and prayed that Colin would start to improve.

And he seemed to — I only heard him crying during the night when it was time for his treatments, and then only for a short time (as opposed to the night before, when he only stopped crying for a short time after his treatments). John reported that he did sleep much more last night, and really only had a one-hour stretch that he was awake during.

John also was finally able to get him to eat a little — mostly apple juice, but also this morning 60 ml of formula again. Colin has been shying away from milk and formula, almost as if he realizes they’re making him more congested. It took several tries, but he will now take a apple juice/Pedialyte mixture, so he is at least getting liquids into his system. 

This morning Colin is still very fussy, but he tried to laugh when John was nibbling on his cheeks (one of Colin’s favorite games) and seems to be breathing a little easier. So I hope we have reached the bottom and are making our way back up toward a healthy baby.

Fortunately, so far Veronica seems to be staying healthy and has regained her sense of humor that had gone dormant with her tummy troubles of last week.