Update on all the babies

I apologize I haven't updated sooner...thank you Mary for asking.

Natali's little boy was discharged last Thursday with the viral form of meningitis. There is no treatment for the viral form but it is not nearly as concerning as the bacterial form. I haven't spoken with Natali in detail but the snippets I've gotten indicate he's doing just fine, no more fever, eating, and sleeping just like he should be. Phew!

The 26 weeker twins are also doing a bit better but still need many, many prayers so please don't stop praying for them just because they've begun to improve. The little girl is on the conventional ventilator now. They've been able to regulate her blood pressure but her heart rate is still a bit erratic, though not nearly as high as it was. My friend went to visit the babies and she said the little girl was awake and alert and looking around. This was the first time she had seen her baby's eyes open in well over a week! She still has a way to go and will be in the NICU for some time, but any baby step forward is wonderful! The little boy is on si-pap, a form of cpap I am not familiar with. He is doing well with his breathing however reflux is giving him a lot of problems and causing him to brady often, sometimes several times each hour. I know they are trying different combinations of medications to get it under control. Reflux is such a monster! And such a common issue for preemies to deal with. Our girls were well over a year old before we were able to wean them completely off prevacid and zantac. We practically had to stand Avery up as a tiny baby after each feeding to try to keep it from coming back up!

The 32 weeker twin has cystic fibrosis, which I failed to mention in the last post. I'm supposed to speak with his mom tomorrow. Last week the doctors were saying he would be coming home two days ago...that didn't happen. One common issue for CF kids is the inability to gain weight. He was gaining really well, but then didn't gain at all for the last week. So he has now been moved up to the pediatric floor. While this may seem like a good thing to not be in the NICU it raises many other issues for the parents from a logistical standpoint. The nurses have more babies to take care of and aren't as available as when your baby is in the NICU. When Zoe was on the peds floor a week before she died we didn't leave her side for even a minute because the nurse would only have time to come in, change the IV fluids, do a quick assessment and then leave. I couldn't bear the thought of her being in that room all by herself. With Zoe she had a scarred vocal chord which made her cry almost inaudible...and because she was getting stronger she wouldn't desat when she cried to alert the nurse that something was wrong. So I wasn't taking any chances! In our situation I was lucky enough to have my mom and my dad at home with Lily and Avery while Richard worked so all of the babies were covered. This mom has the other twin infant at home and a 6 year old and they live an hour from the hospital. I'm not sure what she's worked out in terms of being with the one little boy in the hospital, caring for his twin, and getting the 6 year old to school and activities. I'll find out more tomorrow.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. Please continue to lift these families up!