Waiting

I think the toughest thing about this journey is that it's basically a waiting game. Everytime we ask the doctors or nurses when we can expect to see improvements in lung function, feeding, etc., the answer is, "when they get closer to full-term". We have to focus on one day at a time, because the thought of enduring this for another 10 weeks sounds like more than we can handle.

Jude had the secretions from his trachea sent in for a culture on Friday. The results were back today and his infection is clearing up a lot. Praise God! He will be on antibiotics for another 8 days to make sure it's completely gone. They are going to start CPT (Chest Pulminary Therapy - pounding on his chest and back before suctioning) again since they are still getting a lot of secretions. He is still not breathing much on his own and his vent settings remain about the same as a week ago. The doctor said his lungs just need time to heal before we'll see much improvement. He is still tolerating his feeds pretty well and had them increased to 3 milliliters/hour today.

Hazel's billirubin level is down today, but they are keeping her under the lights for another day to try and make sure it doesn't go up right away again. She had the settings on her CPAP increased today since she had a lot of apnea episodes last night. The doctor said that their brains are just too immature to remember to breathe all the time. We have to wait until they mature more before seeing major improvements. She started feeding again yesterday but is still not tolerating it so the doctor started her on a new medication this afternoon to make her intestines contract. Also, instead of feeding her 1 milliliter/hour continuously, they are going to try giving her 1 milliliter at a time every 4 hours. We're praying this helps!

They are both still gaining weight, which is great! They are both around 3 lbs, 3 or 4 oz.