Another check up today, this time for Stanley only. He was booked in to see the cardiologist at Poole Hospital. Back in about November, during a routine heart scan, the docs found that Stanley had something called 'left ventricular hypertrophy'. This basically means that the muscle of the left ventricle is thicker than that on the right. It could be a hereditary problem, or just due to the heart working too hard.
Anyway, the good news is, there was definitely no sign of any hypertrophic left ventricles today. So another item to tick off the list.
The slightly less good news is that he still has a PDA. Not a personal digital assistant, nor indeed a public display of affection, but rather a patent ductus arteriosus. This is the open duct between the two main arteries; the same issue for which Willow needed scary surgery back in October. However, Stanley's is not causing him any problems, so at this point he doesn't need any treatment. It will hopefully disappear on its own, but if it doesn't, there is a keyhole procedure that can be done to close the duct. We'll find out about that in another nine months.
Back at home, the sat monitors are driving us around the bend. Willow's tends to go off when she rips the nasal prongs off her face, and Stanley's goes off because he wriggles around like crazy. We can't not have any monitors on when they're sleeping, because if Willow does pull out her prongs, we need to stick them back in her nose pretty quickly. If it wasn't for the beeps, we'd both easily have six hours sleep a night. It's particularly infuriating for Leela as she's had to hear them 24 hours a day for six weeks. Anyway, it won't be for too long hopefully....
In other news, our caffeine addiction has hit a new level. We both need at least twelve cups of coffee to get through the day, and there must always be a pot of coffee ready to brew for the 6am feed. It's one of my jobs, after the midnight sterilisation session, to prepare the morning hit.
The babies are getting on amazingly. Every time we wake up in the morning, they both smile and giggle at us for a few minutes before we feed them. I've never known anyone to be that happy in the morning, especially when starving hungry. But then I've never known any babies like Willow and Stanley before. No matter how little sleep we might have had, it's instantly forgotten when we see these two little faces beaming at us.
Anyway, the good news is, there was definitely no sign of any hypertrophic left ventricles today. So another item to tick off the list.
The slightly less good news is that he still has a PDA. Not a personal digital assistant, nor indeed a public display of affection, but rather a patent ductus arteriosus. This is the open duct between the two main arteries; the same issue for which Willow needed scary surgery back in October. However, Stanley's is not causing him any problems, so at this point he doesn't need any treatment. It will hopefully disappear on its own, but if it doesn't, there is a keyhole procedure that can be done to close the duct. We'll find out about that in another nine months.
Back at home, the sat monitors are driving us around the bend. Willow's tends to go off when she rips the nasal prongs off her face, and Stanley's goes off because he wriggles around like crazy. We can't not have any monitors on when they're sleeping, because if Willow does pull out her prongs, we need to stick them back in her nose pretty quickly. If it wasn't for the beeps, we'd both easily have six hours sleep a night. It's particularly infuriating for Leela as she's had to hear them 24 hours a day for six weeks. Anyway, it won't be for too long hopefully....
In other news, our caffeine addiction has hit a new level. We both need at least twelve cups of coffee to get through the day, and there must always be a pot of coffee ready to brew for the 6am feed. It's one of my jobs, after the midnight sterilisation session, to prepare the morning hit.
The babies are getting on amazingly. Every time we wake up in the morning, they both smile and giggle at us for a few minutes before we feed them. I've never known anyone to be that happy in the morning, especially when starving hungry. But then I've never known any babies like Willow and Stanley before. No matter how little sleep we might have had, it's instantly forgotten when we see these two little faces beaming at us.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure you remember us but we were at NICU at the same time with our daughter Maya. We were transferred back to Poole around the twins 100 day birthday and Maya's cot was next Willow and Stanley for a little while.
I just wanted to say how happy I am to see that they are home and doing so well. It's amazing and I can't imagine what you have gone through. Our hospital stay was only 5 weeks but felt like a lifetime!
I wish the four of you all the best in the world. The pictures are amazing and the smiles...gorgeous!
Regards, Laura, Farid and Maya