Another Snow Day

Amazingly, DC got more snow today.  And we finally gave in and stayed home.  I think it was the warnings about 50mph gusts of wind, snow drifts, and reduced visibility that convinced us.  And a desire to get rid of the lingering colds we both have, which would not have been improved by trekking about in the snow.  Tomorrow, we will get a ride from a very generous friend with a four-wheel drive Jeep and hopefully by Friday the roads will be passable again. 

It was good to have a full day to be at home and try to get caught back up on chores, emails, and a little bit of work, although I still can't figure out where the day went.  And luckily, the nurses at Georgetown are very accessible to talk with us about our childrens' progress, since as Jonathan wisely said, the only thing harder than being at the hospital is not being there.  We missed our little ones tremendously and are hoping that we both wake up tomorrow not sick so that we can spend some real quality time with them. 

Lucas continues to make excellent progress.  His feedings got increased to 18 mL of breastmilk every 3 hours, with the goal being full feeds and discontinuation of his IV tomorrow.  This makes me feel very helpful and mom-like, and will also mean the removal of one of his lines, an exciting accomplishment.  The doctors also took a step towards weaning him off the cpap, reducing the pressure to 4.  He had one episode where he forgot to breathe, called a brady, where the nurse had to give him extra support.  It may have been triggered by some reflux after eating.  It's happened before when we've been there and it's scary, so we are ok with missing that event and very happy that he's being so well-cared for.  Aside from that one occurence, he seems to be doing well  on the lower cpap setting, so the doctors will consider moving him to a high-flow nasal canula on Friday.  That would be another big step forward, and would mean that his cpap hat would stop covering his very cute face.

Olivia is still struggling with her PDA.  Her oxygen requirements are still in a good range, although some periods where she required more saturation than room air suggested that the valve is still open.  The docs are still talking about extubating her (taking her off the ventilator and onto cpap) on Friday, and depending on what her echo shows she may get another two doses of ibuprofen.  We're still worried for her and really wanting to see her make forward progress, but we understand this is what the doctors have told us about ups and downs in the NICU.  The way I figure it, with all her sideways, no progress days, she has banked for lots of good days coming up :)

Tonight we also realized that part of our tiredness is due to stressful conditions outside the NICU - our continued lack of a bathroom and constant fighting with the weather to figure out transportation to the hospital.  Both of these issues should get resolved in the next few days, which should relieve more stress than I think we realize.  Until then, we will keep hanging on, appreciating all the good news that we are getting and all the love and support being sent our way.