Wednesday, December 30

Well, we didn't get the miracle that we had been praying for, but that is OK. We still believe that God has Andrew's best interest in mind and loves him more than we do. We were really hoping that Andrew's valve would close and that he wouldn't need surgery. When we stepped into NICU today, the doctor told us that Andrew's murmur is still pretty significant, and that they would like to do the surgery tomorrow. We met with the surgeon. He's really cool and confident. He performs 40 -50 of these procedures in a year and does the most in the area. He told us that he knows we're scared because of it being a heart surgery, but he told us not to worry. The death rate is very very small. There are some complications that could happen, but again, those chances are very small. They will make a small incision in Andrew's left side under his ribs. They will attach a titanium clip to the blood vessel that leads to the valve and the valve will close. The whole procedure takes about 15 minutes. He will live with the clip for the rest of his life. The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at 7:15am CST.

Adelaide and Mattie are back on photo therapy. The doctors have told us that this would be a back and forth thing. They both seemed to be really calm yesterday. Adelaide continues to be doing the best, and she had her first poop yesterday. Yahoo! She weighed in at 2lbs. 2oz. before the poop, so we should have a more accurate weight tonight. How much can their poop really weigh? Mattie is yet to have one. Kevin suggested the nurse get her a tiny book or magazine to read while she's in the incubator. Mattie was really feisty again today. She gets upset when the nurses are performing their duties. We're seeing a pattern here. Mattie and Andrew have Kevin's temper, and sweet little Adelaide is just like Tara.

The doctor, who is director over all the Baylor NICUs, told us that Adelaide and Mattie are on "cruise control" and seem to be on "auto-pilot.", and that Andrew is bouncing around from good to bad. The doctor has twin boys, who are now 24, and were born at 30 weeks. He told us that he's treating our babies like they're his own. He also told us that he's concerned for them, but not worried. That was really encouraging.

Praise
12 days of life
Weight gain on all three.
All three doing very well with Tara's milk.
Adelaide's and Mattie's murmurs are small or not present.
Adelaide's first BM.
The girls doing so well.
A long nap yesterday afternoon for Kevin and Tara.

Prayer
Protection over Andrew during surgery.
A successful surgery with no complications.
Skilled hands for Dr. Roughneen (prounounced Rockneen).
Mattie would poop.
Continued weight gain and strength for the babies.
No long term effects from the ventilators. We learned recently that the ventilators, while keeping them alive, also cause scar tissue in their lungs and chronic lung disease in the future.