Burning the Midnight Oil

Well, there is quite a bit to write about tonight (including a letter from the boys to their mom at the end of this post). First, both boys are stable and both have made some progress today in their quest to gain strength breathing and soon will also begin attempting to gain weight through regular feedings.

On another positive note, Kristi was released from Research late Sunday night and has joined me at CMH and is currently sitting with Isaac for the first time. She was immediately able to calm him down when he was fussy and has had the pleasure of helping change his diaper (I was lucky enough to have done that a few times for him already). The only bad part of this is that Elias is still back at Research. So now we will juggle who goes where over the course of the next few days.

As for the actual status of the boys. Isaac is now off his breathing tube! He has a cpap machine (breathing aid). For all you medical people out there, his oxygen setting is 21% (room air) and a PEEP (pressure) of 5. He seems to be doing well with that. They will let him soak all this in tonight and into tomorrow morning before deciding whether or not to try and ween him a little more. Isaac will have a whole host of doctors looking at him tomorrow to see what all needs to be done, provided his breathing holds steady.

Eli is also on a cpap machine at Research. He is on room air and a PEEP of 4. His main objective is to grow and learn to regulate his body temperature. He continues to breathe a little fast, but overall he seems to be stable. It is unfortunate he is at Research and his brother is here at CMH. We are continuing to advocate a transfer for Elias so that he may join his brother here at CMH and make us a family under one roof. Continued thanks to everyone for the kind words and prayers, it is hard to believe it has only been just over 60 hours since they were born. This will be a big week for them!

The boys drafted a letter for their mom (they texted it to me actually) and asked me to type it into the blog. So here goes:

Dear Mom,

Thanks for taking such good care of us. We liked when you were on bedrest, cause we could kick you more easily and make you notice us. If those kicks hurt, we are sorry. Elias knew not to kick you when I was kicking but sometimes got carried away, so you might have gotten two kicks at the same time. We totally didn't mean to do that.

Thanks mom for providing us with nutrition for the past nine months, though sometimes we wish you would have laid off the mac n cheese, you may like it, but why does that mean we have to? Maybe we could have shells n cheese sometime?

Thanks mom for worrying about us when we were tired and having smart people look at us when we just didn't feel right. We didn't know why we felt that way, just that we needed a little extra love, and you were always right there for us.

Thanks mom for not being too hard on us in those early months, you rock!

Thanks mom for making sure we were safe at all times, and gently nudging us periodically. We love you!

Thanks mom for providing us with a wonderful family. Our grandparents and aunts and uncles, are awesome. Dad is okay too, but why does he keep wearing that dang Mizzou hat? Didn't you already tell us we were little Wildcats?

Thanks mom. Why? Just for being a great mom.

Thanks mom for helping us through these first few days. We know we have scared you a bit, but we are working on correcting that, be patient.

And finally, thanks mom for giving us a chance at life. We LOVE YOU!

Your boys,

Isaac and Elias