Update From Emily

Last week was a good week with the girls, can you believe it has already been a month? It seemed like a lot of the commotion of the first two weeks had died down a little and we seemed to fall into more of a routine. For now we’ve decided that I stay home on Mondays to spend time with Evelyn and then Tom goes to the hospital after work (which makes about three hours on the road for him that day). Tuesday through Thursday I go the hospital alone all day, Friday I spend the day with Evelyn again and wait for Tom to go together in the evening. On Saturdays we both go all day and take Evelyn with us and we take turns watching her at the Ronald McDonald House. Then on Sunday I usually go alone for the whole day again while Tom takes care of thing for our "normal" lives.

I am able to sponge bathe the girls myself now, so one day I give Kathryn a bath and hold Sophia skin to skin and then the next day we switch. They don’t like us to bathe and hold the same baby on the same day because it’s too tiring for them, that’s why we switch every other day. I love to bathe them – they both behave so well and they hardly fuss at all. Usually, as soon as I give them a bath, they fall right to sleep afterwards from all the activity.

As far as progress goes, as of today, both girls weighed 2 lbs. 12 ozs. Sophia is taking breast milk regularly and she is up to 22 ml every three hours. Unfortunately, Kathryn is still on the special formula, but the amount went up to 7 ml per hour, which means that if she tolerates that well, then they soon will start to wean her off of the formula and onto the breast milk.

Both girls still have occasional episodes of apnea so their oxygen levels get adjusted daily based on how well they are doing each day. Some days are better than others for each of the girls, but we’re assured by the nurses that this is all typical preemie behavior. It is scary when the monitor alarms because they are having an episode. A few times I’ve even seen their skin color change to a bluish hue, but as soon as you rouse them they come out of it and turn pink again. Other than a few minor things that are expected for preemies, the girls are doing very well.

Again, by this news you can tell that everyone’s prayers are being heard and helping the girls to thrive slowly but surely. My personal prayer is that they can both come home by Christmas!

Thank you and enjoy some more pics.

Mommy getting Kathryn ready for her "bath".

No one is taking that pacifier from Sophia.

Same day, same time. No one is taking Kathryn's pacifier either. Notice the fuzzy hair, she just had her bath.

Kathryn fast asleep.

Hmmm.

Dad, please stop taking my picture and let me sleep.