AHHHHHHHH

June 25 9:40 am

It's amazing what 5 and a half solid hours of sleep, and the absence of magnesium will do for person:):) Heather is feeling much better this morning and much more energetic. The blood pressure medication has started to take effect. Latest reading 140/93 still not great but much better than yesterday. She is off the morphine and is now on Vicadin and Motrin which is really working well. She is up for taking phone calls from immediate family members at this point:) The number directly into the room is 703-8307. Again, thank you to everyone for being patient about being able to contact her directly. She just really hasn't been up to it at all. Hopefully this blog has helped:)

The boys: somewhat of rough night for both of them.

Tyler: to get meds and minimal nutrients to the babies they put an IV in through the umbilical cord. These last about a week at which point they put in what's called a PIC line which is a line that goes through a vein in their arm directly into the heart. This gives them a great line for all things they need to get into their bodies. Tyler's UV (the umbilical cord line) line was having trouble last night, so they came down to get consent from us to put in the PIC line. Well we went to visit them this morning and found out that the PIC line went in but not really far enough. It stopped at the shoulder instead of going all the way to the heart. It can still function, but not as well. So they reinserted the UV line which they had to take out again this morning because it was failing again. Bottom line is the PIC line will work for now. In two more days they will know if the medication to fix the heart problem will work. If it does they will start being able to feed them which will pre-empt the need for PIC line.

Parker: He has had to have increased oxygen and increased help from the respirator. He is up to about 35% oxygen, still not bad but not as good as yesterday. No PIC line needed yet as his UV line is still functioning well.

Both boys are currently sporting sunglasses as they are in the tanning bed:):) They actually really do have eye protection as they are getting artificial sunlight from a light source to help out with the jaundice they are both experiencing.

Mommy really became mommy this morning as she almost got peed on:):) While visiting the NICU they let Heather change Parker's diaper!!! We got to see "parker's parts" in person. The nurse said Heather did a great job, but said she may have to hurry at one point to avoid the possibility of "getting sprayed"!!! It was a great moment of normalcy in a crazy time right now:):) They are both responding to Heather and my voice which is very reassuring . They gave us Parker's little knit cap to take with us to have a little piece of them while we're away.

That's all for now:) more later:)

p.s. any and all replies are really appreciated....it really is great to be able to hear from the outside world:):)