Thursday May 8, 2008

The girls are one week old today. They are snuggled in their cozy incubators with “pea pods” around them instead of their cocoons. They seem to like it, and are quite cute. They got head ultrasounds this morning at 9am with great news – no bloodclots! So, one week with clear brain scans is a milestone achievement as the risk of clots forming decreases after one week. So that is a great relief – go girls! We talked to Dr. Hiller regarding their ductus. Evie’s is doing great, Maggie’s is still worrisome as the blood flow could be moving in the opposite direction. So, they will try one more round of medicine to see if that will work. However, the medicine may not react because the receptors are still immature as well. That would lead us to surgery, but not for another several days. They want to wait until Maggie is at least 10 days old as she will be able to handle it better then. Maggie did open her eyes and look at Mom, Dad, and Nurse Mary. She had her little hat off since she was soaking up the humidity and constant heat, but it was hard to see as it is so dark in her little room. We’ll try to get better pictures later. Mom changed her diaper – a little more difficult from the side instead of having all the space above her – but it was a full diaper! The girls were also weighed today (as best one can weigh with all the equipment). Evie weighed 835grams (29.5oz = 1 lb 13.5oz) – Dad called her beefcake. But that’s great. She even had a little food in the wee hours of the morning, but didn’t digest it. So, they sucked it out and gave her new. We’ll see how she does with that. Maggie weighted 824 grams (29oz = 1 lb 13oz), which is just about her birth weight. But one would expect them to lose a little weight at the beginning, so she should be on the upward climb. She is still struggling a bit with her breathing up to minimum 50 bpm – but the Dr. said that it is still fine.