Week Six

The Week Six Kodak Gallery is finally up! David figured out that our browser was struggling with the site. But the crisis has been averted, and all our photos from Week Six are waiting for you now! Here is the link to paste into your browser. Enjoy!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=445024027905%3A1964578548&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee


As we finish Week Six, we are celebrating a few new milestones!

Both of the kids have done a lot of growing this last week. Katharine is now five pounds and two ounces pounds, and Christopher is five pounds and twelve ounces already! And Mom and Dad are now having lots of fun giving baths in an actual little tub. We are amazed by how much bigger, stronger, and heavier they seem from even this time last week!

And both are taking 5-10 ml of milk in a bottle prior to their regular feeding tube meals, and are doing a great job, working on coordinating their "suck, swallow, breathe" reflexes. Katharine so far is a very eager eater, who needs some help with pacing from Mom and Dad so that she doesn't end up with a mouthful of milk all over her. And while Christopher sometimes needs some time to think about it, he is doing a fabulous job of eating once he decides that it is something he wants to do.

Katharine and Christopher are both now breathing without the nasal cannula! Their doctor decided to do a trial run without it on Friday and Saturday afternoons, and so far they are going strong, and doing a fabulous job. We look forward to sharing photos with you of our little darlings without this extra decoration on their faces! :)

The question of the week - when will they be ready to come home? This is a very good question, for which we have not gotten a real answer. They are already doing a lot of what they need to by controlling their own body temperature and breathing pretty well on their own. The last set of hurdles will involve their feedings. They are eating about 350 milliliters a day, with about 20 ml being from a bottle. Before they go home, they have to be able to take ALL of their feedings from a bottle. And as they work toward this goal, it is possible that they may have trouble regulating the other systems they are seeming to manage well now. So, in short, they will not be ready next week. It could easily be 2-3 weeks longer, depending on how things progress.

As always, we are so thankful for your prayers and love!



With Love,

Andrea, David, Christopher, and Katharine