Day 9: All dressed up

Emma in her cute outfit her nurse from last night found for her

Adalyn in her cute outfit

Adalyn (left) & Emma (right) in their first picture together since birth

Emma & mommy doing kangaroo care

Adalyn & daddy doing kangaroo care

Ladies & gentlemen...I am back :) Everyone keeps telling me what an awesome job Dave is doing, and might I add I agree, but I thought maybe a few of you would like to hear from me again now that I am off mag & making sense. Well sort of, I am still having some trouble locating some of the brain cells I lost between pregnancy & the mag, but I am trying :)

Well yesterday was the girl's 1 week birthday so we decided to spoil them with some girly blankets to decorate their cribs. So if you notice the cute blankets in the pictures...that was their birthday present from mommmy & daddy.

Emma had her repeat heart echo on Thursday and it showed that her PDA went from moderate to small. So they are continuing the ibuprofen for another round (3 days) and will do another heart echo on Sunday. Just like in adults, ibuprofen in neonates can affect the kidneys. Emma kidneys have been showing some effects, but not enough that they need to stop the medicine. So please pray that her kidneys do not show any more effects from the medicine so that they can complete this round. And pray that her echo on Sunday shows that the PDA is closed or is continuing to shrink.

As Dave mentioned on Day 7, the girls have been showing some signs that they are working a little harder to breathe. Adalyn has been having more bradys (when her heart rate drops). Most of the time it comes back up on its own, but occasionally they have to stimulate her to get it to come back up. Yesterday the turned her high flow oxygen up to give her a little more time off CPAP. Today Dr. S decided that Adalyn was ready to go back on CPAP. He said that preemies do not have the muscle strength needed to keep their lung fully inflated at all times and that is frequently when they have bradys. He said when they begin to have multiple episodes on this like Adalyn has they put them back on CPAP to allow them a break & fully inflate their lungs again. He said that he is hoping she just needs a short time back on to "reset" things to how they were before when she came off CPAP, and then she should be able to come off again. But he said it is also possible she may need to be on it for a while, it is up to Adalyn. Mommy & daddy think Adalyn was ready to go back on because she did not even put up a fuss when they put it on. Give her some time, she will be feisty again :) Please pray that the CPAP does what it is supposed to, that Adalyn stays comfortable and that she only has to be on it for a short period of time. Emma actually has had less bradys today so for now she gets to stay on the high flow oxygen through the nasal cannula, but she may also eventually have to go back on.

Our lovely ladies have been gaining some weight back for the past couple days. Adalyn's lowest weight was 1 lb 10 oz and Emma's was 1 lb 8 oz. Their weight's as of last night were Adalyn at 1 lb 12 oz and Emma at 1 lb 13 oz.

A big thank you to my friends on 7 center at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital for the flowers, so sweet, thanks guys!