All is Well Right Now

All is well with the babes right now. Zoe is completely off her nitric oxide and yesterday's echocardiogram came back showing minimal to no signs of pulmonary hypertension. This is a great news b/c nitric oxide is one of the main PHT meds--and yesterday's results mean she really is doing great--all on her own. Her lung x-rays look fantastic too, in fact, her right lung, which was only 1/3 of it's proper size at birth, has filled almost all of the right side of her chest cavity! Like one of the docs told us the other day, she really is a little miracle baby.

We know she's not out of the woods yet. The next big steps involve closing her abdomen and getting her off the ventilator. Mom is much more anxious about this than dad, who is perfectly, and probably more appropriately, happy to be patient. It would be great if the docs could extibate her (take her off the ventilator) before the grandmothers get here (very soon!) but we'll take whatever we can get. If not before their first visit, then certainly for their second.

In the meantime, Zoe seems very happy. She especially loves it when her mom and dad come into the room and sit by her bedside. Even though she's on some pain meds and pretty well sedated, she always does her absolute best to open up her eyes and look at us whenever she hears our voices. Yesterday I think she was trying to say thank you to her daddy for always coming to see her, reading her bedtime stories, and kissing her goodnight every single night--no matter how late it is, how may hours he has already been at the hospital, or whether this requires him to take one more late night trip to the hospital in order to be at his daughters' bedsides.

Sadie is doing really well too, in fact, she gained two whole ounces yesterday! We are so happy about that. While I've mentioned that we get to do skin to skin with her every day, a lot of people have asked me what that means. The technical name for skin to skin is "kangaroo care," :) and it actually involves laying the baby right up against mom or dad's skin. Not only does skin to skin keep the babies really warm, but it helps them developmentally as well. It's not just good for babies though. As you can see from the photo, parents love it just as much . . . if not more, than their children.