I could sleep in the chair…

We’re extremely sad to be at home now – the babies are getting more and more responsive and we don’t get to be in a room around the corner any more.  I’d be content sleeping in my pink hospital chair for the next 6 weeks if it meant I got to be outside their room.  I am convinced that with the babies sleeping on my shoulder, I could stay in the char in the NICU for days on end.

 

Today, we arrived at the hospital just before 1:00pm.  When we got up to the NICU, we met the new nurse who will be with them for a couple days.  She let Bethany change Josiah’s diaper and take his temperature.  Then I helped her get him out of his isolette and she held him against her chest:

  

The nurse then let me hold Lilly.  They encourage holding the baby against your chest so they can feel your heartbeat and breathing.  The nurse helped me tuck her under my t-shirt – she was fussing from being handled by the nurse, but once she got settled, she just slept for maybe 45 minutes.  At a couple points, she opened her eyes and looked up at me – as if getting to hold her and seeing her open her eyes weren’t enough, she was giving me the most adorable sleepy look.

[excuse the x-rated picture!]

After we held them, they went back into their isolettes to sleep.  We felt so sad leaving them, but we were excited at their progress and know they need their rest more than they need us poking at them.  We’re anxious to go back later in the week when they can sleep with us for more time!

As far as an update from the doctors:

Josiah’s breathing was much better when we got there today.  His respiratory rate had slowed (which is good – his breathing had been very fast) and his breaths were deeper (again, good – his breaths had been shallow).  All along, his CO2 and O2 blood levels were normal – he’s getting what he needs, he’s just working much harder than necessary to get it.

They both appear to have Patent ductus arteriosus (See Wikipedia) – a heart valve that needs to close after being born that has not yet done so.  A cardiologist is scheduled to see them tomorrow and do an echocardiogram to make a determination – from there, they may just be monitored over the next few weeks, given some medicinal treatment, or in the worst case, surgery.  We figure there’s no sense in giving any of this much thought until we talk to the cardiologist.

Lilly has her business under control.  She’s eating more, gaining weight, and doing well.

Here are a few pictures of them once they got settled in:

Josiah must have been exhausted – the different positions he finds to sleep in are funny!

Little Lilly in her isolette – maybe this picture helps grasp their size.

You can see her tiny little eyelashes (you might need to click on the picture to open it up bigger).

Josiah when he was being moved over to sit with Beth – they had to take his hat and mustache tubing (though the fashionable velcro mustache had to stay… ) off to reroute it.

 

We are extremely excited to go back to see them – the nursing staff have made it clear how important it is for us to get to feed and change them as many times each day as we can manage.  Sometimes we forget that these first few days/weeks when the hospital nursing staff are caring for them are times that we would normally be looking after them at home.

We have some video that we’re still intending to put on the blog for you to see.  Look for that later in the week.

Thanks again for the calls, emails, gifts, flowers, cards, texts, blog comments, thoughts, prayers, visits, et cetera.  We are very thankful and very fortunate.