Friday, December 25

Our babies are a week old, and what a week it has been. We left the hospital today after spending the morning with the babies. We learned that Adelaide's murmur has become more pronounced, so they started her on the medication to close the valve. She will be taking one dose every 24 hours for the next three days. Her lungs also looked murky in her x-rays, which could relate to the murmur. She was put back on photo therapy because the jaundice has crept back in. Mattie seems to be doing pretty well. She's gaining weight, and so far, her valve is still closed. Both Adelaide and Mattie had blood transfusions to replenish the blood they've lost with all the tests. The doctor told us that he could still hear the murmur in Andrew's heart, so there may be the need for another round of medication. Andrew will have an echo tomorrow to see how the medicine did so far.

Tara did reasonably well leaving the hospital. The hardest part was getting home and going in the nursery. We dumped all of our bags on the floor, grabbed a quick lunch, and went to Kevin's parents house for Christmas dinner. We had a great time visiting with Aunt Kate and Dale, who flew in from Delaware. A majority of the family played Texas Hold 'Em poker after dinner. Nothing says Christmas like a game of cards :)

We returned to the NICU to say good night to the babies. It was a little tense in there tonight. There were some new babies that were having serious procedures done on them, and the alarms on our babies' machines kept going off. At one point, Kevin was watching over Andrew when his heart rate dropped and alarms went off. It was the first time that Kevin had seen a nurse rushing to help one of the babies. The rushing part is troublesome. By the time we left, Andrew's numbers were back to normal, and he was resting. We feel numb to what's going on now. We don't know if it's that we're getting used to the ups and downs or that we're so tired.

Praise
Mattie's legs looked good today.
More weight gain for all three babies.
Andrew being taken off the Jet for a part of the day.
The nurses and doctors working on Christmas.
Time with family at Christmas.
Our neighbors who blessed us with a Better Than "Santa" Cake and breakfast for tomorrow.
Our friends who came to see us at the hospital after we had left, but delivered a cake to the nursing staff on our behalf. What a thoughtful thing to do.
Sleeping in our own bed tonight.

Prayer
Andrew's echo tomorrow. That it would show the valve is closed or closed enough that he wouldn't require more medication or surgery.
That Adelaide's medication would close her valve.
That Adelaide's additional photo therapy would help.
That Adelaide's lungs would clear.
Mattie's CO2 would lower.
Rest for Kevin and Tara.