One year ago today, we finally got to bring Olivia HOME! I'm sure this time of year will always remind me of the time that I spent in the hospital with the twins, but this year the memories are so fresh and I often flashback to life in the NICU. I was just too overwhelmed with having 2 babies in the hospital and Abby at home to do any blogging then so I thought I would take a glance back to Olivia's NICU stay.
We always knew that Olivia would be the oldest twin. From the day we found out we were having twins, she was Baby A because she was the closest to the cervix, which meant she would come out first. Scott was always convinced that it was Olivia's idea to enter the world 2 months early. As far as NICU stays go, Olivia really breezed through her stay. We were told that girls do better than boys, but she still amazed us with how well she progressed!
Olivia was born weighing 3 pounds 6 ounces, was 40.5 cm long, and had a head circumference of 27.5 cm. Most people would say, TINY! But for a 30 weeker, she was a nice size. Olivia was intubated a few hours after birth because she was struggling to keep her oxygen levels up and appeared to be working too hard to breath. While intubated, she received a treatment of surfactant. Babies make their own surfactant while in the womb, but because Olivia was early she didn't have enough made, yet. Surfactant is a substance that keeps the lungs from collapsing when a baby exhales. (There's a more in depth medical description!) One doctor explained it to me that it helps keep the lungs from sticking together when the baby is breathing. But by day 2 of life, she was extubated and put on a nasal CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure). CPAP is simply two prongs placed by the nostrils that has constant air flow going through it. The amount of pressure can be adjusted based on the infants need. As Olivia kept her stats up, they would decrease the amount of support she was receiving. By day 4 of life, this little rockstar was breathing on her own with no support at all!
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| This is Olivia on CPAP. The cords on her chest were simply for monitoring her heart rate and respirations. The thing around her foot monitored her oxygen saturation. She also has an IV in her right arm. They automatically gave her antibiotics in case she was born with an infection (being proactive) and in the first days of life she received TPN through the IV as well. At this point, she still had a tube in her mouth to receive breast milk. |
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| This is day 4 of life. No more breathing support! The tube coming from her nose is a feeding tube. |
During the first week, Olivia had an ultrasound done on her head. Of course, everything was stressful at the time, but this was VERY stressful. The ultrasound is done to look for brain bleeds, which can give some insight on if there would be long term effects, developmental delays, etc. Olivia did have a Grade 1 hemorrhage. Besides having no hemorrhage, this is the lowest grade. Research shows that babies with a Grade 1 hemorrhage usually have no complications and often develop just like babies that had no hemorrhage. This hasn't been an issue at all for Olivia.
I'm going to post this in 2 parts so it doesn't get too long (and because I keep forgetting to grab my journals from the twins room before they go to bed! I need them to help refresh my memory!).
I put this slideshow together about Olivia's first year. She's gotten SO BIG! She's gone from 3 pounds to 20+ pounds! (Just click on the link below!)
