An Interesting Week

This week has flown by so far. For the most part it has been good. The biggest news is that Will has continued to do well with the CPAP. So well that on Monday they allowed him to do two, two-hour nasal cannula trials. This is where he wears the small nasal prongs that just provide him oxygen. Like the little old people that carry oxygen around all the time. He did really well with his trials so on Tuesday they allowed him to have a few three hour trials. Again he continued to do well. Finally on Wednesday they said he can stay on nasal cannula! It is so exciting because we can see his face and hair now! They can still put him on CPAP if he seems to be getting tired and needs a little bit of help.

Lindy has continued to move along as well. Her biggest news is that her feeds are condensed to 21 mL over 30 minutes. Then she doesn't eat for 2 1/2 hours. It's almost like getting a bottle (but through a tube into her stomach!) She is tolerating them so well. She continues to grow each day but she is still on the ventilator. Her settings are low but her oxygen requirements are all over the place.

The not so good news is that the babies may have to take a field trip next week. Both babies have been having their eyes checked for retinopathy of prematurity, something that can happen when babies are provided oxygen. They both have Stage II, out of five stages. At this point they just need to be checked weekly. They were checked yesterday and need to be checked next Wednesday. Unfortunately the pediatric opthamologist will not be here next week. He says they have to be checked because the disease can progress rapidly. There is only one pediatric opthamologist at Brenners. He wants Will and Lindy moved to another hospital next week so they can be checked and if necessary can receive treatment. They will only be gone for the most a week, they will come back to Brenners. They are also moving two other babies who are a little worse than Will and Lindy. That is the plan for now. We actually don't know where they will go. Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Charlotte would be the options. The worse case scenario is that the babies would end up in different hospitals. Apparently Duke and Chapel Hill are almost always full and hard to get into. The doctors will be figuring everything out today and hopefully will let us know when and where. We will do and go where we have to save their sight, but it is going to suck!

Anyway, here are some recent pictures of Lindy and Will.

Will sucked his thumb for the first time this week!
Will is enjoying the nasal cannula so much that he is smiling about it!
Here is Lindy, chilling on the vent. She got that crazy IV out of her head yesterday and it looks so much better!
Lindy taking an afternoon nap.