Life sure has been crazy in the Dickson household for the past week. We are being pulled in a million different directions and its hard having to be in two places at the same time.
Tyler still is in the NICU at McKay Dee Hospital. He is doing well, however, he is just exhausted and does not have very much energy. He currently only has a feeding tube running into his body, which is a step up from the oxygen and IVs he had earlier.
He does improve each day, albeit very small steps, but he is progressing and getting better. Sometimes its a big step forward, then half a step back, other times its a tiny step forward, but key is, he is progressing. He has been upgraded to a crib type thing, which has to be nicer than the "box" he was in before. They even gave him his own little outfit to be in, which has to be nicer than just hanging out in a diaper.
In order for Tyler to come home he has to complete a four step Oral Feeding Transition program. He has to pass a few "Feed Me" Cues, which include; Being awake and alert, rooting and sucking on a pacifier, and waking himself up before feeding time. As soon as he shows the "Feed Me" Cues, the doctors will determine a minimum feeding volume, which he has to meet at each 3 hour feeding for a 24 hour period. Once that occurs and he meets his required minimum volume for that 24 hour period, the
feeding tube can be removed. The last step then is to gain weight, he has to be gaining around 10-15 grams per day and once he has accomplished all of the above and is gaining weight, we can bring him home. We are hoping and praying that we can get him home by Christmas, but we also understand that we don't want him to come home to early.
Julie is doing great, although she sleeps for about 20 of the 24 hours in the day. She is so tiny and precious, even the preemie diapers drown her, a newborn doesn't even come close to fitting and makes her look even tinier. We cannot get over how tiny she is, yet everything is just perfect. When Colby saw her for the first time, he said, "Wow! She has tiny hands, and a tiny nose, and tiny fingernails." He couldn't get over how small she was.... Yet she is perfect. She is such a great little baby, never cries, never fusses, we simply wake her up to eat, she eats very well, smiles at us a little, then its back to sleep. Julie looks a lot like Colby, she has the same nose and facial features as he does.
Each day she seems to be waking up more and being more and more active. Colby and Abby just love her, Abby especially. Abby follows us around and is a big help. We let Abby hold the clean diapers and give them to us when were ready. Abby also loves it when we put Julie in her swing, she will sit by the side of the swing and watch Julie rock back and forth.
I think Julie misses her brother, in the bassinet that we have, Julie has to snuggle up to the side in order to sleep well. I know that she misses her brother snuggling next to her. We are so excited to get both of the twins together, they are now over a week old and we still don't have a picture of them together, we can't wait for the day when our double sized family will be together at home!!
