A Happy Father's Day - Kangaroo Style

Today was another great day for our Twinkers!! Both of them have been completely removed from all forms of assistance for their breathing. That means our sweet boys don't have CPAP's, cannulas or anything else that is helping them breathe, with the exception of sleepy Matthew and his caffeine. They are breathing completely on their own just like you and I do.

We were able to feed the boys through bottles today and because of their success will be able to continue at least once per shift (every 12 hours) and they may increase that depending on how they do. When they are real sleepy they are only taking about 10% of their "feeds" through the bottle and the rest is pumped into their stomachs. Other times we've been able to feed them almost 80% of their feeds. The nurses are very excited about their ability to suck as this is a big challenge for preemie babies.

The neonatalogist spoke with us about Caleb's irregular heart beat today. He told us that he is having "contractions" in his heart every so often. He went on to describe these contractions using words like "ventricles" and "heart beat cancellation". Needless to say, we felt a little overmatched in this conversation, but the moral of the story, like virtually every conversation we have with our doctor, is that "he's not concerned". I can't tell if our babies are doing really well, he is extremely laid back, or he blatantly neglects major issues that are going on and chooses to live in a fantasy world that everything is going to be fine. I think it is the first of the three options.

They both have head sonograms tomorrow where the doctor will be checking on bleeding in their brains as well as white matter. He expects to see minor bleeding but no hemorrhaging. I can't remember what the white matter was all about, but I know it's not good and I'll let you know what we find out. Please pray for negative (which is good) test results, because poor results back from these tests would be a major indicator for long term issues for these boys.

All of the nurses who were watching over our boys told us that they don't expect them to be in the NICU for too much longer. I know when people say the same thing over and over again it can get annoying...but the phrase "Your boys are doing so great" will never get annoying and it's a good thing because we have been hearing a lot of that lately. They seem to be turning the corner and we seem to be turning the corner as well. It is starting to seem that there is no reason to think that we won't be bringing them home in the next few weeks.

The icing on the cake for our first Father's Day was getting involved in a little Kangaroo Care. For those not up to speed with this type of nomenclature, this is laying your baby directly on your skin (skin to skin touching). After a full week of mostly touching through the arm holes in the isolettes at the NICU, it was beyond words to describe the feeling of my son Caleb laying on my chest. Emily and I sat in a secluded area and both got to take part in the festivities.



It was fitting that on this Father's day God gave me a glimpse into his love for me. On the way home, Emily and I were discussing how excited we were to experience Kangaroo care for the first time. We were dreaming about the time we were going to spend with the boys on a lazy Saturday morning, the four of us lying in bed together as a family. The longing we have to bring them home and the gratification we'll one day feel, is somewhat similar to the love Christ has for his people in the process of drawing them to himself and then one day bringing them home. And to think that the feelings I have about bringing my sons home doesn't even come close to the feelings God has for his people!!