The girls are on their way to MSA Hospital in Abbotsford by ambulance as I am typing this! We are very excited that they are coming home and that we can all now live in the same city! This is a huge blessing, and we are so grateful for all of your support and prayers over the past months! We will continue to keep you all updated on their progress...thank you for everything!
Blessings,
Graham
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Update on Faith and Makaila 17
Wow! I didn't realize it has been so long since I have updated our blog. I guess I was waiting for something different to post, because the girls were so stable and their conditions remained unchanged...which is good news. Now, there's been some changes that are definitely worth letting you know about!
The girls are still in BC Children's hospital, but they are getting very close to being transferred to the hospital in Abbotsford (provided there are two beds available, which might mean a transfer to a hospital closer to us, but not necessarily Abbotsford). Faith just came off of CPAP on Wednesday and is doing well. She is on the nasal prongs with minimal oxygen and is also eating well. She now ways 4.7 pounds.
Makaila has been off of nasal prongs for quite a while now and has been doing very well breathing on her own without any assistance. The only tube she still has in her is her feeding tube. She now ways 5.8 pounds. She had another MRI yesterday and the doctors told us that everything looks fantastic.
So the goal right now is to get the girls to learn how to breast feed and/or take a bottle. Now that they are both off of CPAP, getting Faith off of the nasal prongs and both of them on the bottle or breast are the last things that need to happen before they can come home. We were told last night (Thursday) that there is a good chance that the girls may get moved to the hospital in Abbotsford today, which is very exciting. This is also a bit of a reminder that very soon they will be coming home and that we are still a ways from being ready to have them come home. We have all been sick as of late, especially Isaiah, so we also have to get better in preparation for their coming home.
We will keep you updated on the events of the next few days. If you don't hear anything, it's because they haven't moved and not much has changed. As soon as the girls have moved to Abbotsford, I'll let you know. Thank you for your support and prayers.
Blessings,
Graham
The girls are still in BC Children's hospital, but they are getting very close to being transferred to the hospital in Abbotsford (provided there are two beds available, which might mean a transfer to a hospital closer to us, but not necessarily Abbotsford). Faith just came off of CPAP on Wednesday and is doing well. She is on the nasal prongs with minimal oxygen and is also eating well. She now ways 4.7 pounds.
Makaila has been off of nasal prongs for quite a while now and has been doing very well breathing on her own without any assistance. The only tube she still has in her is her feeding tube. She now ways 5.8 pounds. She had another MRI yesterday and the doctors told us that everything looks fantastic.
So the goal right now is to get the girls to learn how to breast feed and/or take a bottle. Now that they are both off of CPAP, getting Faith off of the nasal prongs and both of them on the bottle or breast are the last things that need to happen before they can come home. We were told last night (Thursday) that there is a good chance that the girls may get moved to the hospital in Abbotsford today, which is very exciting. This is also a bit of a reminder that very soon they will be coming home and that we are still a ways from being ready to have them come home. We have all been sick as of late, especially Isaiah, so we also have to get better in preparation for their coming home.
We will keep you updated on the events of the next few days. If you don't hear anything, it's because they haven't moved and not much has changed. As soon as the girls have moved to Abbotsford, I'll let you know. Thank you for your support and prayers.
Blessings,
Graham
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Update on Faith and Makaila 16
We have good news to report! Faith is doing well on CPAP and has even had two cuddles with Mom! She has also moved out of her incubator and into a crib! This has helped because she likes being wrapped up and she was too hot being wrapped up in the incubator. So now she can be wrapped up and not get too hot (try saying those last two sentences fast). She still needs to get stronger and she still hasn't been on CPAP that long, so keep praying for her...it's working!
Makaila is continuing to do well. Today she tried breast feeding for the first time which is a big deal! This is a big step towards being transferred to Abbotsford, however, this is usually a very difficult process because premature infants don't have the same sucking reflex full term babies have and they tend to not eat and breathe well together. They can forget to breathe when they are swallowing so you have to give them a little shake or smack to get them breathing again (we've heard of babies going blue, yikes!)...or they forget to stop swallowing when they breathe and they choke. So, we don't expect this to be a smooth or easy process, but so far so good. Makaila took to sucking right away and took breaks in between to breathe (or so we think) but she only latched on for a minute or two.
While we are still a ways from being transferred to Abbotsford, some of the babies that have been around Faith and Makaila in the NICU are being transferred to other hospitals. This has got us thinking that one day they will be coming home and that day is at least 2 months closer then when they were born. They could be transferred to Abbotsford within a month and then home a few weeks after that (these are generous guesses). We are both excited and overwhelmed: excited to have our girls home, but overwhelmed by what we need to do, buy, and get to be ready for them and do all this while Karyn lives most of the week in Vancouver and while I work in Abbotsford and travel to and from Vancouver (oh ya, and then we'll have two infants and an almost 2 year old in our house to care for...yikes!). We would appreciate your prayers as we attempt to prepare for Faith and Makaila's homecoming.
Blessings,
Graham
Makaila is continuing to do well. Today she tried breast feeding for the first time which is a big deal! This is a big step towards being transferred to Abbotsford, however, this is usually a very difficult process because premature infants don't have the same sucking reflex full term babies have and they tend to not eat and breathe well together. They can forget to breathe when they are swallowing so you have to give them a little shake or smack to get them breathing again (we've heard of babies going blue, yikes!)...or they forget to stop swallowing when they breathe and they choke. So, we don't expect this to be a smooth or easy process, but so far so good. Makaila took to sucking right away and took breaks in between to breathe (or so we think) but she only latched on for a minute or two.
While we are still a ways from being transferred to Abbotsford, some of the babies that have been around Faith and Makaila in the NICU are being transferred to other hospitals. This has got us thinking that one day they will be coming home and that day is at least 2 months closer then when they were born. They could be transferred to Abbotsford within a month and then home a few weeks after that (these are generous guesses). We are both excited and overwhelmed: excited to have our girls home, but overwhelmed by what we need to do, buy, and get to be ready for them and do all this while Karyn lives most of the week in Vancouver and while I work in Abbotsford and travel to and from Vancouver (oh ya, and then we'll have two infants and an almost 2 year old in our house to care for...yikes!). We would appreciate your prayers as we attempt to prepare for Faith and Makaila's homecoming.
Blessings,
Graham
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Update on Faith and Makaila 15
My apologies for the long gap between this post and the last. We have been in Vancouver for most of the holidays and between being busy with the family and the sporadic internet access, we have found it difficult to get updates up. So, if in the future there is another long gap, just assume that no news is good news! So, here's what's been happening in the worlds of Faith and Makaila...
Makaila has been doing very well on the nasal prongs, only needing just the slightest bit of oxygen to help her with her breathing. She was able to come out of her incubator about a week ago because her body temperature reached 28 degrees Celsius so she is now in a small NICU crib. This is great because we have easier access to her and it's just one more step in her journey towards coming home. Her weight is now 1790 grams (almost 4 pounds) and she is looking more like a little baby girl rather than a premature baby.
Faith needs a lot of prayer right now. She went in last Friday to have her bronchial tube examined because there was a chance that she might have scar tissue forming as a result of the reflux she had been experiencing. They were able to conclude that her bronchial tube was fine and that her airway was simply small because of her premature age. They put her on CPAP the next day and she has been on it since, but has really struggled at times. The medical staff (and Karyn and I) really don't want to see her go back on the ventilator because this will set her back another two weeks. She's had several dips where her heart rate and oxygen levels have dropped, and at one point needed chest compressions to get her heart rate back up, which it quickly did. They have given Faith a dose of caffeine and plan to do give her more tomorrow, so we hope this will help her to remember to breathe. So, if you could pray that Faith would be able to stay on CPAP and catch up to her little sister, we would really appreciate that! Faith currently weighs 1465 grams (almost 3 and a quarter pounds). She was much closer to Makaila a short while ago, but has slowed down in her weight gain.
So, that's it for now. We will be posting updated photos of Faith and Makaila soon, so check out mcmahon-family-photos.blogspot.com
Blessings,
Graham
Makaila has been doing very well on the nasal prongs, only needing just the slightest bit of oxygen to help her with her breathing. She was able to come out of her incubator about a week ago because her body temperature reached 28 degrees Celsius so she is now in a small NICU crib. This is great because we have easier access to her and it's just one more step in her journey towards coming home. Her weight is now 1790 grams (almost 4 pounds) and she is looking more like a little baby girl rather than a premature baby.
Faith needs a lot of prayer right now. She went in last Friday to have her bronchial tube examined because there was a chance that she might have scar tissue forming as a result of the reflux she had been experiencing. They were able to conclude that her bronchial tube was fine and that her airway was simply small because of her premature age. They put her on CPAP the next day and she has been on it since, but has really struggled at times. The medical staff (and Karyn and I) really don't want to see her go back on the ventilator because this will set her back another two weeks. She's had several dips where her heart rate and oxygen levels have dropped, and at one point needed chest compressions to get her heart rate back up, which it quickly did. They have given Faith a dose of caffeine and plan to do give her more tomorrow, so we hope this will help her to remember to breathe. So, if you could pray that Faith would be able to stay on CPAP and catch up to her little sister, we would really appreciate that! Faith currently weighs 1465 grams (almost 3 and a quarter pounds). She was much closer to Makaila a short while ago, but has slowed down in her weight gain.
So, that's it for now. We will be posting updated photos of Faith and Makaila soon, so check out mcmahon-family-photos.blogspot.com
Blessings,
Graham
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