Day 20

Sister Sarah and Brother-in-law Bruce had their babies on Monday, October 26th (for those who don't know). They had twin girls and Sarah carried them almost to 40 weeks. She had a c-section on Monday. The girls are doing well. Here are the stats:

Avery Marguerite & Juliana Rose Halliday

Avery @ 5lbs 11oz (2570 grams) & 47cm

Juliana @ 5lbs 8oz (2504 grams) & 48cm

Avery is hanging out with Sarah and Bruce while Juliana is hanging in the NICU at Lion's Gate to get her blood sugar levels on the rise. They should all be heading home sometime this weekend.

Our wee Alice is getting intubated today (that's a good thing). We finally had a repeat nurse (Dolly, who is amazing) and she fought for getting Alice intubated as Dolly felt she was looking tired. To give some background, so far everyday we've gone to the hospital, Alice has had a different nurse on the day shift. There's been the odd time where the same nurse has stayed for two days, but that's only happened in 2 cases. The drag about a new nurse everyday is they don't get to know Alice (or any baby), so when a doctor asks what are they normally like, the nurse can't give an accurate answer.

So thanks to Tara Loutit (who worked in the NICU for years and years and is now working on her masters while at home with a 2 1/2 year old and a 4 month old - go Tara!) told us that we have to be our own advocate and look out for Alice. Well, it's taken almost 3 weeks for us to feel confident in doing this. Some of the nurses will be "primary care givers" for the babies if you ask them - which means they will get assigned to your baby on their shift. So I talked to Dolly today to see if she would be interested - and she said YES! And she's going to help find some other nurses who would also be interested in working with Alice as well.

So with Dolly pushing for the intubation and me agreeing to it, the doctor signed off on it. The intubation isn't always a good thing as it can lead to infection, possible lung problems and possible brain problems as well. But our wee Alice was getting so tired that she needs help breathing so she can get stronger. And since she was the one who pulled out her tubes a few days ago, she would have remained intubated had this not happened. So now she can work on her growing bigger and stronger and then the breathing.

Speaking of growing big and strong - she gained 51 grams last night - so her weight is now 1010 grams. She is now 1 kilo. For today that is. She may go down tonight because of the intubation, but she's growing and enjoying her food.

No cuddles today because she was so tired, but tomorrow we will have some good cuddles!