Getting Used to Life in the NICU

Nothing can really prepare you for having a baby in the NICU (although the tour before hand was helpful in seeing the size of the tiny babies). As Hope and Grace entered their third week of life this past Friday Mom and Dad are getting increasingly used to the realities of the up-and-down ride that is life in the NICU each day. When visiting the girls there are a host of beeps constantly going off, a revolving line-up of doctors, nurses, lab techs, parents and visitors in and out of the rooms, pushing buttons, writing on charts, and looking intently into the isolettes. Babies too come and go- getting transferred to different rooms as they get bigger and stronger. We have become accustomed to the NICU lingo, and the countless acronyms that get thrown around each day- blood gasses, green residuals, ET tubes, de-sats, PDAs, "tolerating cares," and my personal favorite term, "stooling" have become new vocabulary words added to our ever-growing repertoire of neo-natology knowledge that grows a little bit more with each trip to visit the girls and each conversation with our doctors and nurses. Each visit begins with us picking up the beige phone and asking for admittance. Each visit ends with Jeni and I holding hands walking back to the parking structure, thanking God that we have each other and asking for His grace in helping get our girls home safe.

In the NICU the status of things change quickly, so much so, that updating this blog would be a near full-time job if we were to post on every new development that takes place throughout the day. As we get ready for bed on Sunday evening, Grace has been on and off of feedings twice and has gone on more assisted breathing, but, despite of all this, gained two ounces (she's now 2 pounds 2 oz.), gotten off of her "billi blanket" (which made her look like a glow worm... too bad we didn't get a picture of that) and was the most snuggly person in the world Saturday when Jeni kangarooed her for the second time. The PDA continues to linger for Grace, and, after tomorrow's echocardiogram it looks like Grace may indeed need the surgery. In many ways, Jeni and I have come to peace with that decision and just want things to move forward for her.

Hope, on the other hand, has been the tortoise in this race- slow and steady. She is still on the ET tube, has been on and off of feedings once, has gained five ounces (she's up to 2 pounds 10 oz. now) and loves to be held by her Daddy. Kangarooing with her for the second time on Saturday was the highlight of my week and a truly remarkable experience. I hope Jeni and I never take the gift of being able to hold our daughters for granted, as it is such a special experience for us both.

This week, no doubt, will bring us new vocabulary words and hopefully new progress for the girls. As Jeni put it optimistically, if the girls have until July 7th to go, we are about 10 weeks or so away. While that may seem like an eternity for us, the good news is, at least we're 2 weeks closer to them coming home than we were when this stage of the adventure began just over 2 weeks ago.