Both babies continue to do well. Olivia is a little stalled because she's still working hard to close her PDA valve. She seems to be making progress, but the docs (and now us, becuase we know what to look for on her monitor) can tell that it's still open. Until that closes, she will remain on the ventilator and low feeds. Nonetheless, she's somehow managed to put on about 100 grams since birth, and she definitely looks a bit more filled out now. Lucas got moved down on his cpap oxygen support to a level 5 - if he can tolerate this and do well, the next step would be a high-flow nasal canula, which would mean less equipment smushing his little cheeks and more adorable face exposed for Mom & Dad. He also continues to tolerate his feeds really well, and is now getting breast milk every 3 hours. He's about a third of the way to full feeds, which means getting all his nutrients from Mom's milk rather than IV fluids. We're really happy with how both babies are doing after one week out in the world, and so appreciative of the opportunity to talk with the doctors nearly every morning as they do their assessments and update care for the day.
By far the most incredible thing that happened today was watching Dad hold his son for the first time. We had a wonderful nurse, Nina, who helped Lucas get settled against his Dad's chest, where he stayed very happily for a half-hour. Watching the two of them together, the amazing smile on Jonathan's face, the cooing from Lucas, was one of the most incredibly wonderful feelings I've ever experienced, probably trumped only by how I felt the first time I saw my beautiful babies - and the amazement of how much I love them every time I peek into their incubators.
Sometimes we should probably just quit while we're ahead...our return visit in the afternoon was not nearly as exciting. In the NICU, Olivia and Lucas's one-week birthday was celebrated by running a bunch of tests and procedures - routine follow-up head scans for both of them and inserting a pick line for Lucas (which he'll use to get fluids until he's on full feeds from Mom). This meant a lot of jostling about for the little ones, so we didn't want to disturb them further by holding them, or really even much by touching them. For Mom especially, this was extraordinarily difficult, though totally reasonable. I am finding that snuggling with the babies, whether on my chest or just holding their hands and talking to them, is just as calming and beneficial to me as it is to the little ones, so visiting and having that limited was really hard.
And we are now watching the snow fall in a big blizzard. Normally I love a big snowfall, but since DC is not so great at getting the roads quickly plowed, tomorrow it will be hard to get to the hospital. An important lesson in patience, and maybe if we have to skip a visit or two the babies will be that much bigger and healthier looking the next time we go. As with so much else in this experience, there's no point in being upset or frustrated, we just need to accept the situation as it presents itself and try to find the positives - in this case, some much needed sleep and down time for both Mom & Dad. It will make the next visit and snuggling that much sweeter.
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