Johnson Jungle

Well, last night I got the chance to sleep in the NICU next to the babies so I could do their "cares" through the night. It took on average about one and a half hours to do all their stuff. We do all their "stuff" every 3 hours...hmm, that should be interesting when they come home. They tried to take Isabella off of her Zantac and leave her on just Prevacid, but that proved to be unsuccessful (she de-saturated all day) so she was back on it by the next day. Peyton started some fortifier (Alimentum) yesterday. They only gave him one dose and he was EXTREMELY upset about it. The pediatrician was there to witness Peyton's disgust. He said we will just try once a day for now. Both babies were approved to receive Synagis. That is a vaccine given once a month starting now and given through April. It has to be approved by the insurance because it is EXTREMELY expensive. The cost is nothing compared to the cost of the hospitalization and complications that can arise if they don't receive it. It is given to help reduce the poor outcomes caused by RSV. I guess it doesn't prevent RSV, only lessen the problems if they get it. The cost is $1,000 for EACH baby EVERY month!!! So basically it will be $2,000 every month from now until April. The cost goes up when their weight goes up because it is titrated to their size. It wouldn't be uncommon to go up to $4,000 per month when they reach that weight. It is given through April because that is about the time that RSV slows down. Crazy! Peyton passed his car seat test...that's when they test to see whether the child can stay oxygenated while being in their own car seat for 1 hour. Phoenix had to do the same test (it is done on low birth weight babies). Isabella will have hers done when social work gets a portable oxygen tank available for her to have at home. They are looking t sending the babies home in a couple of days...SCARY! Isabella will be on oxygen and monitors, just to be safe.