2.25.2009

Five at a Time...Priceless!!!!


We got a very cool surprise today in the NICU today as Casey was holding Britton and I was holding Jack. I'm not even sure what started it, but one minute we're just sitting there chatting with the nurses and the next thing you know, we've got nurses bringing us the other three babies for a quick photo op!! It was really cool to have them all side by side and the pictures we got are absolutely PRICELESS!!!! The babies are in birth order in the picture from left to right - Brooklyn, Britton, Jack, Lila, and Ryan.
To be honest, I got a little nervous doing this because it meant that Brooklyn, Lila, and Ryan were disconnected from all of their monitors to make this happen, but we were surrounded by nurses and we only got to do this for a few quick minutes. Don't let my nerves fool you however, the babies all continue to do very, very well. They each still have their own little issues that they need to overcome before they are allowed to come home. Brooklyn needs to get better at eating, Britton needs to grow, Jack needs to stop having heart rate drops, Lila had a pretty big setback today, and Ryan just needs to eat, eat, eat!
Lila's setback was a really scary episode that quickly reminds us how important it is for the babies to be so closely monitored. For some reason she had a major heart rate drop coupled with a prolonged episode of very low oxygen saturation that required her nurse to artificially breathe for her for about four minutes. She never completely stopped breathing, but her oxygen saturation was too low to allow her to work through the problem on her own. This was out of character for her, but apparently isn't an uncommon event for preemies to experience. She's ok, but this little episode means that she will be in the NICU for a minimum of seven more days, probably longer.
One other quick note - Jack had his circumcision performed this evening. Casey's ob/gyn, Dr. Stephanie Reich performed the operation and reported that all went well and Jack did not make a peep. Atta boy, Jack!
It is possible that one or two of the babies will be coming home in the next 7-10 days, but it's really unclear at the moment. They are all doing very well, but these lingering issues with eating and breathing have to go away entirely and stay away for a good seven days or so before they can think about sending them home with us. Please continue to pray for their growth and maturity with eating and breathing!!!
God Bless,
Ethan
P.S. Eliot is really into calendars and loves keeping track of the passing days on the calendar in her room. She gives us daily updates of lunar events ("Daddy, it's a full moon tonight!"), holidays, and other notes listed on the calendar. I only mention this because she just ran out of her room to inform us some important news - tomorrow is Flag Day in Mexico...very exciting stuff!!

3 comments:

Tori :) said...

I LOVE the pic!! That's so neat you were able to hold all 5 at once. I will pray that each one is able to achieve what they need to in order to come home to y'all.

YAY for Mexican Flag Day! ;)

ellegirl said...

Praying for Lila to outgrow her breathing issues and still praying for Britton to gain weight! You both look glowing with all those beautiful babies in your laps! So excited to meet you!

allibaba7 said...

You said it...PRICELESS!

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