The boys are doing well - Day 10 NICU

Well, I haven't had much time to do real updates in between hospital trips, errands, doc appts etc. over the last few days. Mom is healing up well - I'm feeling good physically, just get tired easily. Most of that is from the long term bedrest. There isn't a single muscle in my body any more so it's going to take some more time to get my strength back. It's getting better, slowly but surely.

We just feel so lucky that the boys are doing so well - they have the normal preemie issues going on but nothing too serious right now. Both have sporadic issues with apnea and the bradacardia (forget to breath and drop in heart rates) but that is to be expected with such young babies with immature nervous systems. They are both eating pretty well and taking only breast milk through their feeding tubes which is wonderful. I held Cole for a while yesterday morning and then held JD for a while last night. It feels so good to have them in my arms. The day before when we all were together (holding both boys) I read them a little book. They didn't seem too interested since they were so snuggly but I'm sure they were listening; Cole was awake staring at his brother the entire time when they were both in my arms; JD was not nearly as social and chose to sleep the whole time.

I got a little scared yesterday when one of the nurse practitioners came over and pulled up a chair while I was sitting there. That usually means serious business. She told me that they were doing a procedure on Cole yesterday afternoon to check his spinal fluid to be sure that there is no infection there. He's fighting some sort of infection in his body somewhere and they are trying to locate it. Babies don't localize infection like adults do so sometimes it's hard to find. Well, thinking of a 2lb baby having a spinal just scared the &^%#$% out of me, as you can imagine. She assured me that he would be fine etc. Needless to say, I couldn't be there for it, it would be too hard so his brave Daddy was with him and he did great. Not even a wimper. The preliminary tests came back all negative which is wonderful - now we wait for the culture to come back in 2-3 days. We're keeping our fingers crossed. It's a curable situation and not life threatening or anything so if they find something, he will be on a round of antibiotics for a longer period of time.

The boys should start putting on some weight again soon - as long as they continue to tolerate their feedings, which seem to increase every day, they should start to grow. They lost some of their birth weight so they are down about 4 oz each. JD is up to 15 cc's (30 cc's in an ounce)of milk and Cole is at 9 cc's every 3 hours. Their digestive systems seem to get a little better as we go. Both C & I got dirty diapers from them the other night, which is a good sign! It's amazing trying to change a diaper on a two pound little guy - their little legs flail, just like any other regular size baby. They are just miniature size.

So far we love every nurse that we have had over there - they all are just amazing. They treat these babies like their own and keep them so comfy. What amazing people they are to dedicate themselves so graciously to these little babies trying to make their way in the world.

Thank you for your continued prayers and warm messages. We look forward to getting back in touch with friends and family in the coming weeks as we work out a routine here. C. has gone back to work and I'm still getting carted around by the Grandma's for now. Hoping to start driving this weekend. That's my last little piece of independence that I can get back. I usually go to the hospital in the morning'ish to see the babies, drop their food and help with the 11am cares. Then we go back again in the evening for their 8pm cares. Two visits a day is working well for now - although it's always hard to leave, we all need to keep up on our rest. For once they come home, rest will be an unknown entity, I'm sure! I can't wait for that day!