Cuddle Time!

Well, the girls are not quite three weeks old yet (2 1/2 weeks) but this week has already been filled with some great big steps and one setback. The big steps forward are that Madison and Carly have moved from their ventilators onto CPAPs (oxygen tube on the nose) and because they are handling breathing on their own (with a little assistance from the oxygen tube) we get to hold them! So today I held Carly and Kyle held Madison. I can't think of anything much better than that! I had a perma grin the whole time I was able to hold Carly. They call it Kangeroo care and you have skin to skin contact to help bond with them. It also really helps them to feel and smell their parents. Carly was very happy and just slept deeply during the time I held her. Madison wasn't super excited and a little upset when they first took her out of her incubater, but as soon as she was up against Kyle's chest, she calmed right down and also slept deeply. We knew they were going to feel small and light as a feather but I didn't realize how much until we really held them. Hopefully from now on we should be able to hold them everyday or at least every other day. I does take at least a minimum of 1 hour because of how long it takes to move all their millions of cords and oxygen machine, etc. around to the recliner you sit in. Unfortunately, we aren't able to hold Mckenna yet since she is still on the ventilator but we are hoping in the next couple days she will move to the CPAP and then we can hold her as well.

The other piece of news for the week is that Mckenna's blood pressure started going up a couple of days ago and they didn't know what was causing it so they did a bunch of tests and blood draws and found that her liquid in her brain was starting to fill up and put pressure on her brain. The only option was for her to undergo surgery where they put a small tube into her ventricles where the liquid sits to help drain out and take pressure off the brain so there won't be more serious trauma to the brain. The neuro-surgeon that performed the surgery has had a lot of success with the procedure so we trusted it was the best thing for her. The surgery went well and they will continue over the months to drain the liquid until the blood clots are absorbed by the body. Chances are very high that she will always have to have a drain in her brain that will run down to her stomach and drain there when she gets a little bit older and can handle a larger drain (or shunt). We just hope that this continues to help her. Her blood pressure did go back down after the operation and she is still moving forward to come off the ventilator which is still very amazing. I think she is a pretty strong little girl with everything she has gone through and we just keeping on hoping for the best for her.

Just wanted to share the news since a lot has happened in the last couple days!

Carly and Sunny cuddling!

Madison and Kyle cuddling!

Sweet little Mckenna expressing her frustration about not being held yet