No more feeding tubes!

The feeding tubes are out, and both boys are doing excellent!  The nurses were a little doubtful of William being able to handle a full day without it, as he is more easily tired out from the bottles, but he's actually done better than Aaron tonight.  Hopefully they will keep it up!  It's so nice to be able to see more of their faces, and I'm sure they feel better without a tube stuck up their noses and down their throats...I wouldn't like it :)

There is talk of Aaron being ready to go home in about a week and a half.  This is great, but Stephen has drill next weekend, so I'm actually kind of hoping he'll wait until the 12th to come home, so that Stephen is here too.  I'd manage if he wasn't home, I always do as it's a normal part of the life of a military/firefighter wife, but still prefer that he be here for Aaron's homecoming! William could follow quickly behind him, it just depends on when he can get over the apnea.  He did have a little spell this morning, but they are slowly decreasing in frequency and severity.  Thank goodness :)

Aaron & William

Getting there

Short update today - Aaron is starting to finish more feeds through the bottle instead of his tube, including one from me :)  William has had another good day, with just little dips in his sats.  The doctor said that the CMV virus test will show false positives more than it will false negatives, so there's a chance that Aaron doesn't actually have the virus.  They aren't going to recheck as it doesn't matter at this point if he does or doesn't have it, and he's not showing any symptoms.  The day was good!

Snuggle Buddies
Aaron (left) & William (right)

9 Weeks

The boys are 9 weeks old today!

Cross your fingers and toes...no apnea spells for William since Saturday night.  Please pray for this to continue!  When he goes down, he goes down hard...and it needs to stop.  This will be his biggest obstacle to get home.  He will need to go a solid week without a spell in order to come home - the week should prove that he's over it, as we definitely don't want it to happen outside of the NICU.  Aaron, on the other hand, is almost ready to come home - perhaps as early as next week.  He's really doing well right now, breathing on his own, and taking good amounts from the bottle. 

They should both have a few changes within the next week.  Once they reach 4lbs, they can move from the little covered isolettes to open cribs.  We'll be able to hang mobiles and plastic crib toys.  William has reached this point, and Aaron should be there either at the weight check on Wednesday or Sunday.  Also, their feeding tubes should be removed by the end of the week.  This means that they may eat a little less because they have more control over the amount they actually take, and it takes a lot of energy to suck and swallow and breathe at the same time.

We're getting closer :)