Tyler lookin' cute

Notice that we did not roll up the arms to expose his hands.......it's to keep the lil' fella from grabbing at his nasal canula :)

Tyler's new room

The first pic was taken with my back against the wall/window in the Lion room. Parker's incubator is directly in front of me. You can see another baby's bed on the right and then again on the left. The glass door/way across the room is adjoining the Lion room and the Koala room. Tyler is just on the other side of the door. The next two pics are of the etched glass on the doors to the respective rooms.

Parker and Daddy

From the African Safari to the Australian Outback

August 5 8:45 pm

For the past six weeks and two days the Thompson twins have resided in the UCD Med Center NICU......more specifically they have taken up residence in the Lion room. I don't recall if I've ever mentioned this before so here goes.....the new UCD Med Center's NICU has only been open for about three years. It's actually really kinda cool. Each room has huge double glass doors that are etched in glass with a specific animal. There are no room numbers......they are officially called by the name of the animal etched on the doors. Well the boys have been in the room with a Lion on the doors, thus they have been living in the lion room.......until today......for Tyler at least, a big change has occurred tonight. We have always been told that they will try to keep the boys together as much as possible and try to leave them in the Lion room as long as possible. However, given that it seems that the most sick preemies wind up in the Lion room, if they have been somewhat stabilized, and a sicker baby needs the bed, then they will have to move the boys. Well tonight that exact situation presented itself. All the beds in the Lion room are full and a new sick baby needs to come in. Who's the most stable micro-preemie in the room???? That would be Tyler Johnathon Thompson. He has been moved to the Koala room. So the good news is that they consider him stable enough to move him. He is still very much in the NICU......in fact the Koala room and the Lyon room share a glass door. Although he will be a further distance away ( he's actually about thirty feet from Parker) there is actually a direct line of sight now from Parker's incubator to Tyler's. The other good news is that is seems that the Koala room may be somewhat quieter than the Lion room and thus a little easier for the big guy to get some rest. The bummer is that they are somewhat separated now. We will actually have to walk more than ten feet and through the glass doors to get from one boy to the other......I'm not liking that, but at least the move is due to positive reasons. Both boys had pretty quiet days. Although I had to put Tyler back in his incubator pretty quickly after starting to hold him as he just wasn't handling it very well. Heather on the other hand got to hold Parker for an hour and a half!!!! The room was very active and busy with a lot of people today for quite a while, but eventually settled down for some quality time with the boys. Both boys had some ups and downs while we were there, but overall not a bad day. Sorry no new pics.....in all the commotion none were taken.....I'll post some tomorrow of Tyler's new "crib".....man is that a play on words!!!

What's good for the Goose

August 5 11:30 pm

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. If it wasn't so late and I didn't have to work in the morning I'm sure I could come up with some annoying tangent to introduce this topic......but alas......tonight it's "Just the facts mam..." (Okay Gary and Tony, the first one to call me and identify that movie quote gets Chipotle.....). Anyway, it's true, what's good for one boy is clearly good for the other. First the medical copying.......Even though two other blood tests showed indicators that Parker had an infection, today the docs discontinued his anti-biotics due to the fact that his culture has still yet to produce any infection. Prognosis: he's a preemie (this seems to be a good catch all explanation whenever something is unexplained). Tyler had blood work taken last night to check for an infection as well.....what's good for Parker.....well Tyler's tests came back negative as well. Prognosis of why he was so lethargic yesterday??? He was probably just pooped out......Either way we are happy that neither boy has any infection.....so they are back to the day to day routine of repairing lung tissue while try to grow more. This has been the battle since the beginning. Not only are they trying to finish growing their lung tissue to full maturity, but they are also constantly having to repair damaged tissue as well. Keep battling boys. Now the non-medical copying: Since Tyler got a bath two nights ago Parker demanded fair and equal treatment!!! Okay, by Parker, I really mean Mom and Dad :):) Tonight we got to give Parker a bath.....well, a good wiping down or sponge bath anyways.....being intubated pretty much precludes the dunking of his little body in a tub of water. Either way it produced some pretty cute pics....see below.

Tyler's woes

It's as if he's saying "ohhhhhh i've had a rough day!"

Parker and Daddy's thumb

A couple of cute pics and some more perspective on size

Baths and Intubation Tubes

Parker's big day to get clean!!!! No tubs yet, but he did get a thorough scrub down:)

Interuptus

August 4 9:21 pm

You've really been looking forward to it. You get your snacks ready, your soda, beer, wine or beverage of choice all set up on the coffee table. You've called "dibs" on the best couch pillow and you've got yourself perfectly situated. You turn on the TV and flip on that program you've been thinking about all day. You've worked your butt off all day, done all the things you were supposed to do once you got home.....now it's time to enjoy a little mind candy. The show starts and the "previously on..." stuff comes on.....it just gets you more excited about what's coming up. Your right where you want to be.....and the phone rings.....forget it, any idiot that isn't enjoying the best show on TV right now and is calling me deserves to be screened out so you hit pause on your DVR ( isn't this just about the best invention ever created!!!!) and let the answering machine pick it up....it's not an emergency so you decide to call them back.....you can't talk with them now your drink will get warm......then your cell phone rings......okay this person is annoying me more......you wait for it to stop......hit play and start watching.....all is good.....until the network station breaks in with a "special report"......it's some stupid actor who has crashed their car while driving intoxicated ( which brings up a pet peeve tangent of mine......these people have more money than they will ever need...why the hell don't they hire someone to drive them around if they are going out drinking.....COME ON!!!! I save up forever to, once in while, get a limo to go out, why the hell are these people driving themselves anywhere!!!) or if it's not some stupid celebrity it's a report on how the Vice President just shot someone.....neither situation interests me at all, let alone enough to interrupt my mind candy!!! Well today we had a NICU interuptus (yes I know Mark, "interuptus" isn't a word, but come on, would it be me if I wasn't making up words to fit my needs??). We get there and check in with all the normal things and get Heather settled in right away cuddling Tyler. Thirty minutes later we get the boot. Some other baby had to get surgery bedside and they needed a sterile environment!!! Like we aren't clean enough for their little surgery!!! COME ON!!! Okay, enough with the funny analogy. It was actually pretty sad and reminded us of some of our past good fortunes. This baby was having the heart surgery to close the PDA......the same surgery that both boys were on the brink of having a few weeks ago, but luckily avoided as their PDA's closed with the medication. We gladly left for a couple of hours and came back. Unfortunately, by then, Tyler wasn't really up for being held. That's pretty much the story of the day. The roller coaster continues. It isn't much yet and hopefully won't be, but Ty just wasn't himself today. He got a blood transfusion to help him out and hopefully it will, but he was just really lethargic today. The past few days he has been really aware and engaging with us.....not so much today. He barely opened his eyes and just really wasn't aware of much around him. He needed much more oxygen than he has been needing lately. We'll see how the midnight call goes tonight. Parker seems to have leveled off. The anti-biotics are still flowing. He must be making some improvements as the docs have increased his feedings some today. A pretty low key day for Park as he just works on feeling better. My big interuptus begins tomorrow. With the exception of a few days a week ago when I took my stud gov kids on their retreat, I have pretty much been able to focus all of my attention on the family. That luxury ends tomorrow when I start back to work full time. Students don't come back for a couple more weeks, but I have a ton of work that I need to do starting tomorrow. It will be a little frustrating to be focused on something other than my family, but I feel very fortunate to have been able to be this focused for so long. Life goes on and adjustments made. Blogs may be a bit shorter from now on......I know some of you are cheering right now.....but I'll be sure to keep up on the important info......even if the tangents dissipate.

Straight Gangsta

So check out Ty's hat. I asked him what he was doing and he said "Dad....that's how I roll!!" Parker just rolled his eyes at his brother

Signs of Aging

August 3 midnight

Life if full of revelations.....some little, some big. I vividly remember one of the small ones I had a few years back. It was one of those days at work where I was just getting killed. Every time I thought I had a second to stop and catch my breath I'd get hit with something else.....some other fire to put out.....some other thing that was demanding my attention and could not possibly wait. At one point I did finally get a second to breath. I sat down at my desk and realized there was an unfinished e-mail reply still on my screen from four and half hours ago. I laughed a little and sat down to finish it when the bell rang. I looked up at the clock and turned to my colleague June and said "There's no way it's 2:35!!!! Was that the bell for school to end??" I could see the clock, I knew it was the last bell and indeed it was 2:35.....but my brain locked in disbelief.....there's no way it could already be 2:35. I'd been here since 6:30 and hadn't stopped. I hadn't completed anything on my to do list.....I hadn't even finished this stupid e-mail reply. It was at that moment that I realized I was a grown up ( okay it wasn't the FIRST time I realized I was a grown up.....it was just one of those moments that you realized you weren't a kid anymore) You see, I can remember working at Burger King, putting myself through college. See in those days, you'd look up at the clock and say "it's only 2:35!?!?!?!?......come on!!!!! I still have three hours left before I'm off!!!" Now it's "holy crap, it's 2:35 and I still have a ton of stuff I have to do today!!!" Ahhhh, being a grown up. Another example is the shower. When was the last time you took a bath instead of a shower. You see.....now.....as a grown up.....the only time you take a bath is when you've got some time to relax.....you've got time to soak and listen to music......taking a bath now has nothing really to do with personal hygiene.....it's something you treat yourself with when you've had a really rough day and can find the time. Now I realize this isn't the most masculine thing to admit, but in my defense I have a TV right next to my big soaker tub in the master bathroom, so I can watch some great TV while I soak......and by the way....who says baths are only for women.......you guys out there.....you know you take 'em once in a while!!!! So today, Tyler showed a sign of aging......yup.....he had a bath!!!!!! That's right Tyler got a bath today....Heather and the nurse gave my baby boy a bath (which he really seemed to enjoy at times). They put him in a little basin with warm water cleaned his little body from head to toe!!! Now, of course, two women bathing a guy means something all together different later on in life.......for now we're sticking with it being the cutest damn thing I've ever seen!!! Yup, Tyler continues to do well. He was needing a little more oxygen tonight than previously, but we're hoping it was just him being tired out from all the excitement of the bath. Parker is actually doing pretty well as well. He had a pretty good day on the vent. He was much more lively than his portrayal of a limp doll that he was doing yesterday. He seems to have recovered from the drama of being re-intubated and was much more like himself today. They tweaked his vent settings down a little, but for the most part today was a relaxing day. They started his feeds back up today. Only 12 ml which is half of where he was at, but at least he's eating again. The culture is still not back, so we don't know for sure if he has an infection, but other tests came back with evidence that he does, so they are continuing with his anti-biotics. He'll hopefully continue to relax, get his feeds back up, and fight the infection. Cute pics of naked little Tyler are below......we screened out the pornographic ones:):)

My new duds

Luv ya all.....here's some more kisses....right at ya:):)

Where's the Rubber Ducky

Tyler getting a bath. Believe it or not he enjoyed a lot of it :)

One Step Back

August 2 11:30 pm

It was a rough day for Parker. So rough in fact that he was just exhausted. They warned us. We were told.......when they were both extabated within four hours of each other we were told that sometimes they have to be reintibated.......logically we knew it could happen......but emotionally it took a little bit of a toll. Parker just wasn't ready......he was just too tuckered out to stay off of the vent.....at least that is the best guess at this point and frankly the hypothesis that is easiest to accept. Once off of the vent Parker was doing much more of the breathing on his own. The CPAP was assisting, but the majority of the responsibility fell on his little shoulders. Late last night it just became too much too soon. He had the bad desatting episodes, his heart rate plummeted, he threw up while being bagged and possibly took some of it into his lungs. He just was running out of steam. They upped his peep and he got through the rest of the night, but the morning brought more of the same. Extreme desats as well as the return of the bradycardia (low heart rate). They didn't want to, but the docs eventually decided that it was better for him to be reintibated. The cost of being on CPAP instead of being intibated was now more problematic for him than just putting him back on the breathing tube. The decision was made and deed was done. In addition to the breathing tube they took him out of the isolet (the upgraded incubator that is more enclosed) and put him back in his original incubator. The need for immediate access to him in case of emergency prompted the bed change. In the isolate access is more limited and given the past twelve hours harrowing episodes, they need immediate access. There is still a lot of mucous in his lungs. The cultures haven't come back yet to show another infection, but the "better safe than sorry" and the "nip it in the bud" philosophies prompted the initiation of anti-biotics......once again. In order to administer the anti-biotics an IV had to be put back in......make that two IV's. In order to intibate morphine had to be given. So he went from no tubes whatsoever invading his body (except the feeding tube) to a total of four. Because of how traumatic the day was they kept him off of any feedings as well. As you can see in the pics below, he's just whooped......relatively lifeless.......a limp doll. They gave him another transfusion to up his red blood cell count (they transport oxygen in the bloodstream). It was probably the transfusion, but at least his color looked good. He was limp and mostly non-responsive, but looked good. The good news: Tomorrow they will restart his feeds....his x-ray this morning actually showed improvement in the amount of liquid in his lungs.......and our overall consensus is that he simply wasn't ready......he needs some more time to develop his lungs before they try to solo. So that leaves our little hero back on the vent, getting respiratory help and getting stronger for awhile. Parker had a rough day.

Tyler on the other hand is in complete cruise control. His respiratory assistance was lowered a tad bit today. We found ourselves able to hold him once again. Heather and I both took turns cuddling the baby boy. We are also finding him so much more alert and responsive. You'll see in the pics below he has his eyes open a lot more these days and actually seems to see you and focus on you......probably not....but it seems like it. He has been doing extremely well since the steroids and doesn't seem to be hitting any speed bumps. Living in the moment with his success as we know there could definitely be setbacks on the horizon.

Parker's had a rough day

That 1.19 you see is his weight in Kg which is 2 pounds 10 ounces. The other pics are of a very exhausted Parker. He had a rough day :(

Tyler's Dilemma...what should I do?

Should I eat my fingers? Should I pull on my face? How about I blow kisses? Okay, I'll just get my weight checked out. That 1.315 is in Kg which is 2 pounds 14.5 ounces by the way

Poor Little Guy

August 1 midnight

A couple of hours ago I finished my blog for the day. It was short and sweet.....probably the shortest so far. I should've known. Our phone call tonight just before midnight was not a good one. The set backs we were hoping to avoid have set themselves upon Parker. He is struggling....a lot. In the short span of under 45 minutes he had four major episodes. He was desatting very low as well as going bradycardic (low blood pressure). His last episode had his oxygen at 7.....yes 7 while his heart rate dipped all the way down to 50. The nurse said that as she was bagging him she could not see his chest rising and falling at all.......then he threw up while she was bagging him. The probability is high that he aspirated some of the throw up ( inhaled it into his lungs). They suctioned out his lungs as best they could and emptied his stomach.....they have DC'd (discontinued) all of his feedings and had to put in an IV to give him fluids with electrolytes. He is currently stable, but the docs are debating on whether or not to re-intibate him (put the breathing tube back down his throat. The thought is that he has contracted another infection. They took an x-ray and are running multiple labs to determine exactly why he is struggling so much. It was good while it lasted, but Parker's set backs are in full effect. Hopefully he'll remain stable over night. Day by day......

Double Double

August 1 10:45 pm

Today we got to hold both boys.....and by we and both I mean we both got to hold both boys!!!! Stats update is more of the same. Each boy had a minor adjustment to their "stuff" in the positive direction......minor being the key word. After several days of huge advancements we are back on planet earth and enjoying the small subtle things that we can see each day. Again, no setbacks, which is great. The advancements were coming so quickly that we really had the feeling that there may be some setbacks on the horizon. Nothing yet and holding strong. Parker's minor advancements coupled with his primary nurse Kathy being on duty meant that we got to hold him. I started with Tyler while Heather was cuddling Parker. Once I put Tyler back I held Parker while Heather went to pump. When she got back it was her turn with Tyler. We both got time with each boy......it was more than likely a foreshadowing of what was to come:):) A good day overall with lots of quality time.

Daddy scissors and a Binky

One of my many surgical adjustments to Parker's binky......it needed a little trim to make it smaller

Daddy and Mommy holding Tyler

The many faces of Tyler