Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy 4th and Happy 1 Week!

What does a kangaroo say?

I don't know either, but if I did, that would be the title of the post.  Today was a big day for the boys, and for me - I did get to hold Aaron :)  Stephen stayed home with Anna for the afternoon visit, as one visit a day is more than enough for her.  With Kangaroo Care, we'll get to hold them each for 1 hour a day.  When they are on less machines, their incubators will be moved closer so that we can hold both of them at once for an hour.  This will be nice, as I'm sure they miss being in the same space.  It was awesome to hold him, but he is SO TINY, it's crazy.  He looks bigger when he's laying in the bed.  I also heard him cry, which sounds more like a kitten meowing than the powerful wails that used to (who am I kidding, still do) come from Anna.  I'm sure he and William will both get there one day.  I never thought I'd look forward to screaming!

As of this morning, the nurses thought that Aaron's duct was closed and that William's might still be open.  Aaron's heart murmur is gone, and overall he is doing the best health wise.  In an interesting twist for the day, William's is actually almost closed and Aaron's is smaller but still moderately open.  The doctor who read the ECHO (not ECG, as I had said in yesterday's post...ECG = electrocardiogram, which is not the same as echocardiogram), came to me prepared to discuss surgery for Aaron.  When faced with the disbelief of the NICU doctor, nurses, and myself, she decided to hold off further treatment of his PDA for now and treat the child, not the diagnosis.  He is doing so well that they believe it may close on its own and don't want to put him through unnecessary surgery.  They will redo the ECHO in a week. 

Based on William's ECHO, he gets to start feeding tonight!  Aaron will also start feeds, but in smaller doses until the PDA is resolved.  By feeding, I mean they get to start on my milk and not just the TPN.  In more William news, he is now also on the CPAP again.  As of this evening, he still did not have the PICC line, but hopefully it'll be in tomorrow.  Both boys had their umbilical artery catheters (UACs) removed, so blood will be drawn via heel pricks instead.

Overall, it was a really good day for the boys.  I give a lot of credit to all of the prayers for their progress so far...please keep them coming!

Aaron's first Kangaroo hold




July 4th Pictures

The nurses did these for us last night, aren't they great?

Aaron - his nose is squished from his CPAP :)



William - eyes open!

1 comment:

  1. We are praying for you guys! They are precious! I was on a mission trip last week when I heard the news, so I shared it with my team...so you have some extra prayers coming!

    Love,
    The Beach Family
    Jeff, Carol, Joshua, and Ashley

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