Progress

Both our boys have been doing really well since I last posted. It's amazing how busy I've felt over the past few days just trying to visit them each once a day mixed in with all the pumping I've been doing. I have been getting WAY too much milk which is definitely a good problem to have. At the same time, it's been pretty difficult to be able to pump often enough that I don't hurt. I'm working on decreasing my supply so let's hope it works soon!

Carter's feedings started up again a few days ago. He has been tolerating them well so they've increased them from 3 mL every three hours to 8 mL. As long as his body digests what they give him, they'll increase that amount each day. He is completely off all assistance for breathing so he no longer has an oxygen tube up his nose. That's better for pictures :) Even in the first few days when both boys were at IMC, Carter would flail and stretch around a lot. He did that in my belly too!

Weston is doing so well, especially considering he had such major surgery five days ago and only weighs four pounds! The only blood products he's received in several days is a dose of platelets after he got his PICC line. So that means no blood and no plasma. They have been able to wean him off the ventilator enough that with another baby they could take him off. Because Weston is so sedated for the pain he is in, they worry if he were to be taken off, he wouldn't breath on his own. They're working to lower his sedatives so they can take him off the ventilator and just give him a flow of oxygen. His cultures came back negative several days ago for the infection. His head ultrasound remained about the same with the hemorrhage in his brain so we hope that's better when they check again in about a week. They've also taken him off the bilirubin lights for jaundice. Because they are lowering the sedatives, he has been more responsive the last few times we've seen him. He tries really hard to open his eyes but it's extra hard because his eyes are still swollen from the surgery.

The two of them definitely look alike. It was harder to see the first few days but I was holding Carter last night and his face was squished some. It made him look like he had chubbier cheeks and look much more like Weston. Both boys have very long fingers, toes, and arms and Carter's hands look especially huge compared to his skinny arms. My dad joked with Ryan last night that they already had him palming a basketball.