Alright already...

OK people, we get the point - 8 days is too long between posts, but remember, no news is good news.

Kate - sugar, spice, and everything nice...

Will - snips, snails, and puppy dog tails...

Will and Kate are now both doing as well as can be expected. Will remains on the ventilator, but he is being weaned slowly. Between the "chronic lung disease" and the infection he seems to have gotten a serious case of bloating (edema) all over his body, including his lungs. This obviously makes it more and more difficult to breathe, makes him continue to gain too much weight, and has earned him a prescription for an oral diurectic. What is it they say - you leave the world the same way you came in - incontinence, diapers and diurectics. Oh, the joys he has to look forward to when he is 101 years old.

As I mentioned, he seems to have put on too much weight due to his water retention and swelling, and we are therefore, somewhat ironically, hoping for weight loss each night. This is kind of hard to wrap our minds around since, as of tonight, he is only 1776 grams (3lb 14oz). We are currently hoping that the diurectics he is on will help our "monsterous" baby lose some weight and get to what they call his "dry weight."

Mommy getting her "fix" from Will

Back to the point, the fluid he is retaining all over his body and in his lungs is now slowly disappearing, which should help him to breathe better and will hopefully mean that he'll get off the vent in the next few days. All his blood cultures and spinal taps have continued to be negative for infection and he will remain on his antibiotics for another 5 days to be sure that it is cleared from his system.

In other news, so far Will has had a busy week with various appointments. On Monday, he had his first PT/OT session, which was somewhat of a surprise so we have yet to talk to the therapists to see exactly how he tolerated it. Also on Monday, he had an eye exam that he passed (he's so smart!), meaning so far he's clear of ROP (retinopathy of prematurity). Finally, on Tuesday, he had a head ultrasound, which thankfully was still normal.

Kate is still on the nasal cannula, but has been weaned down to 2.5 liters/min flow. She has to get to 2.0 liters in order to try bottle feeding, so she is getting close. As long as she tolerates this change they will probably try 2 liters/min in the next day or two and hopefully try a bottle sometime this weekend or next week. While we are looking forward to bottle feeding, we are somewhat concerned that we may never want to go home since we'll want to feed her every chance we get.

Ben's already helping out so much!

On the subject of eating, Kate remains on full feedings (no IV) and has now successfully transitioned to formula in order to save the remainder of the breastmilk for her brother. She is also gaining weight like crazy, which we'll have to watch I guess (since Will seems to pack it on and Ben, who was also formula-fed, weighed 20 lbs. at 6 months). She has put on approximately 170 grams in the last 2 days and is now 1587 grams (3 lb. 8 oz.). She has also had a busy week, beginning with her first bath submerged in water. She loved it!! Her big brother even helped to wash her foot and her belly button. Like her brother, she too passed her eye exam with flying colors. They will both continue to have their eyes monitored every 2 weeks until they have matured (which I hear is anybody's guess on when that might be).

The doctors and nurses have used the word "stable," when it comes to Kate and have threatened to move her to Intermediate Care, which under normal circumstances would be a good thing, but since mama won't have her babies separated, she remains with her brother in the Nursery ICU. We will work to keep it this way as long as we can.

Better late than never...MH's baby shower was a hit!

So, for now, everyone is holding steady!! We are thankful for this reprive. Here at Thanksgiving it seems we have many things to be thankful for: our 3 beautiful children, the nurses and doctors who are diligently working to take care of Will and Kate, and our family and friends and for their relentless support. Speaking of which, MH had her shower on Sunday and was not only showered with some great gifts for the babies, but more importantly she enjoyed, at long last, being back in the company of so many of her friends again.

THANKS TO ALL!!

Josh, MH, Ben, Kate, and Will