Friday March 14, 2008

The kids are doing so good that it is getting tougher to come up with information.

Ayden is eating, a lot, and gaining on Breagan as far as over all amount. He has been digesting his milk and is getting a larger dose every 12 hours. Ayden is showing more and more emotion and does not like his diaper being changed. He sure gave me a run today as he first decided that his bowel movement was not quite over with. After I cleaned up that mess he decided to wet things down a bit. I had heard rumors about keeping a little boy covered but I learned first hand today as to why. Luckily I had actually listened and it only caused his blanket to get changed and not the over all cleaning of the inside of the Isolet.

Breagan is still moving up on his feeds. After midnight tonight the nurses will be hooking his milk syringe to a pump to control the flow of his milk though his feeding tube. Up until now we have been able to hold the syringe, minus the plunger, and allow gravity to do the job. The pump will allow for a controlled flow of milk. Melissa changed Breagan's diaper and proved that she also needs practice.

Carmen was an absolute joy today. I know that you are going to roll your eyes at me and tell me what a proud daddy I am but I was even able to prove this to Melissa. I was able to hold Carmen skin-to-skin again today. Because her body fat is so low she cannot allow extra calories to be burned to maintain her body temp. The boys are fine and we can hold them anytime for no set amount of time. Carmen has to be held against our bare skin so that we can assist her in maintaining her body temperature for the minimum of an hour. While I was holding Carmen I bent over and gave her a small kiss on her head. She looked up at me and did the smacking sound. (This is where you roll your eyes.)

I would not have believed it and would have thought this to be complete coincidence, however, we were able to reproduce it several more times before calling Melissa over. Carmen then did it several more times for Melissa. All in all, it was about 7-9 times that she would produce the smacking sound after I. I tell you, this little girl will melt your heart...

I asked the forbidden question today... The kids appear to be doing so good, and not that I am trying to rush anything, but I asked, "So, when do you think...." The nurse practitioner and the other nurse rolled their eyes which made me roar with laughter. Knowing that I was doing something that I should not be even bringing up I had to keep pushing. They received it quite well and asked me what Melissa's original due date was. After telling them March 31st they rolled their eyes once again and told me to try again. They wanted the original 40 week due date of May 3rd and laughed. It was then their turn to have fun with me. We left it there and decided that we would not go back... At least for another couple of weeks. You know me, I cannot leave well enough alone especially now knowing that they hate that question.

Melissa continues to improve. We left the NICU today for a little while to visit another land outside of our little island. It was good to leave and enjoy some normality for a little while. We were able to find a nice little Easter dress for Taylor. We were gone for about an hour but it made quite a bit of difference. I was able to get Melissa to walk around the mall for a little bit which was nice as it has been raining off and on for the past couple of days.

We thank our Father in Heaven for the many family and friends that we have. We have been blessed beyond or wildest dreams with the support group that we have. It is true that we must experience the bad to know the good. We continue to see other families go in and out of the NICU. After seeing the same faces day in and day out we have started to talk with one another and sharing our stories with each other. Some stories are great and others are tragic. We are not exactly sure on a particular situation but were seeing a familiar face around the house and the NICU. Today as we were going into the NICU the mother and father were with family that we had not seen before. Shortly after the family left the mother and father sat in the NICU waiting room holding each other and crying. Later, at dinner, we noticed that the mother was packing up and checking out of the house. You hate to ask but you get the feeling, some things are just better left unsaid. However, Melissa and I looked at each other and thanked each other knowing that we must not be as strong as the other couple. Tonight our prayers are being said for each of you, our friend Will, and the many families that we see go in and out of the NICU each and every day. There are truly special people out there, each with their own cross to bare living and believing in a Power greater than each of us. To HIM we owe all.