Weekend Pictures

Not a lot of news to report on progress. After several weeks of good forward movement, we seem to be in a "steps back" cycle. The babies are still making good progress with weight gain -- in fact Milo is poised to go over 6 lbs tomorrow, and Maddy is right around 5 lbs 4 ozs currently. The problem is that M&M are having troubles with feeding. Previously they seemed to take to nippling (breast and bottle feeding) pretty well and it looked like they were going to be champion feeders. But the last few days have been pretty frustrating. Until they get the hang of eating on their own completely, without bradys, apneas, and significant desats, they will have to remain in the NICU. The last couple days they've been very finicky and have received the bulk of their feeds through their nasal gavage tubes -- even the ones that were supposed to be primarily bottle or breast. But as always, someone could flip the big feeding switch in the next couple days, or the problem could persist for several weeks to come. It's tough to know, but we're sure hoping for a quick fix.

Milo's hernia also presents another potential delay on discharge. He will need surgery and the question is whether he'll get that before or after discharge. The preference is to wait to perform the surgery until he weighs about 10 lbs and is stronger in general. The problem is that if the hernia becomes incarcerated, it could spell a very long hospital stay for the little guy. That's something we really want to avoid. We're unsure right now whether Milo will come home first and get surgery later or whether he'll make the trek over to Children's Hospital for the surgery prior to his final discharge. For now, it looks like he'll return after a month or two at home to correct the hernia.

Now for some positive -- a few nice pictures from yesterday.

Mom and Maddy.

Milo says, "don't shoot!"

Milo and Dad.

Yawning Maddy with a new friend.