hospital life

Sisterly love


Starting to be a tight fit!



Phew...what a week it has been. Life is really like a rollercoaster these days. Thankfully the week has ended on a good note. :)

Earlier this week, after having been diagnosed with a post-pregnancy infection, I was told to go to the emergency room because of my symptoms. The doctors discovered that part of the placenta was still inside, which was causing all sorts of problems. I checked into the hospital on Wednesday for a D&C, and the procedure turned out to be a bit more complicated than expected. The piece of placenta they found was much bigger than they thought, and it was really stuck. It took a long time and I lost a lot of blood...and unfortunately the doctors are still not sure that they got everything. I have to go back in a few weeks to check, and possibly have the same procedure done again. Ugghhh. Not fun. Hospital life is really getting old and I am hoping that I don't have to wear a hospital gown again this year....or ever! Thankfully this is nothing dangerous, but just an inconvenience that we really didn't need right now. We don't need more than half of our family in the hospital at the same time!

The girls have been ok this week and growing a lot, but I was a bit discouraged after a discussion with the eye doctor. She said it is 95% sure that both of the girls will have ROP eye disease, and she didn't say much more than that. It sounded scary (she was so direct!) and freaked me out. I researched the disease when I came home, and just the like brain bleeding there are different levels. Level one and two probably don't have any long-term consequences, but higher than that can lead to major vision problems or blindness. They can treat the disease with laser therapy, which has been quite successful. So basically we just have to hope that the girls will have a mild case, and that it can be treated without any lasting consequences. It's so hard to relax when there are so many unknowns still, but we have to hope that the girls will have continued good luck and strength.

The breathing has so far been the major problem. Caffeine has been helping (the dose they get is equivalent to 7 cups of coffee for us...amazing they can sleep!), as well as small doses of cortisone. The carbon dioxide levels have been fluctuating a lot, but overall have been low enough that they don't need extra breathing help. They still have oxygen masks on most of the time, but the oxygen is the same as room level. They've also had small periods where they wear just the nasal canula, which is wonderful...then I can see their whole head and face and they look so cute! The girls look quite similar with all the hats, masks, tubes, etc., but when all of those come off they look really different. I don't think we'll have any trouble telling them apart. :)

After looking at the pictures we've taken and hearing comments from people who have seen the girls, we've realized that the pictures really don't do justice. It's impossible to understand how very tiny the girls are until you see them in real life. In spite of that, I will put a few comparison pictures (even though these won't do justice either):

The girls' first diaper size compared to Matias's current size:


Matias's hat and Sofia's hat:


...and keep in mind that Matias is only 1 year old!

We got the best news yesterday. The nurse taking care of the girls told us that next week they will probably move the girls to Jorvi, the hospital where they will continue growing until they come home. At this moment Sofia and Olivia are in the best condition of all the babies in the NICU, so they are next in line to go. When it's sure that the breathing is under control and that there are no major problems, then they will be taken by ambulance to their next 'home'. I started crying when the nurse told me this because it just means that they are one step closer to coming home. I cannot wait!! :)