Long summer days...

Greetings on a beautiful summer Saturday... and by 'beautiful', I mean dreadfully hot. :)

The twins are doing great. Emery was called the "superstar of the NICU" by one nurse in their morning rounds, and she continues to thrive and hold steady as can be! The babies continually have their body temps monitored, and the isolette will automatically make temperature adjustments to warm them up a little if needed. Emery's temp has been holding steady to the point that now they are talking about getting her ready to come out of the isolette to be in a regular crib! As of today, she is even wearing a regular onesie/sleeper nightgown!

Collin is doing very well too. His breathing has been holding steady the last few days, thankfully, and he's begun eating a little more. His weight fluctuates a little bit more than Emery's, and at times he seems to retain a little water and his feet/face look a tad puffy. But we're told it's nothing to worry about too much, his body systems may just be adjusting and learning to work together.

Erin is able to make it over there to hold the babies each day, which is SO important. Time with mommy is, in my opinion, more important than anything else for their development. We're grateful to family and friends who help with Miles to make this possible.

Miles is home!

Big news of the day is actually separate from the twins... Miles came home from a wonderful week in Southern Utah with the Buntings. Zion, the cabin, and LOTS of fun. Erin and I have been able to spend good quality time at the hospital while he's been away, which has been nice, but it is SOOO fun to have him home. Huge props to Miles for handling everything so well - he loves seeing pictures of the twins, and when he was coming home with Erin this afternoon asked "will Collin be there?" Nope, unfortunately not yet. Soon though! Wait a second, did I just give props to a two year old? Yes sir.

Emery is still solid, feeding and growing. Collin has had some episodes lately where is sort of forgets to breathe. We're told it's not that uncommon, and even though he requires a little stimulation to pick up his normal breathing again (rubbing his back, tickling his feet, etc.) it doesn't seem to set off major panic among the nurses or medical staff. Certainly a little nerve wracking in my opinion, though! :) But he's done well the last 24 hours and has continued feeding, hopefully to catch up to Emery's "full feed" pattern in the next several days.

So all is well around here. We are grateful for that. Hard to believe they are almost two weeks old...

Thanks for continued faith and prayers on our behalf. Support of neighbors, ward members, family & friends has been humbling and very much appreciated.

Together in mommy's arms...

Ok, so the Indocin (sp?) Collin had received in six doses did not work in closing the PDA. So it remains. That's the bad news. The good news, though, is that one Dr had said it is "more of an annoyance than a problem" and Collin has not shown any negative signs - no distress, no struggling heart rates, etc. We're very grateful for that. So for now they'll check it every once in a while (including monitoring by the pediatrician when we get home), but probably it's something a cardiologist will check out when he's 3-4 months old and decide on a best course of action. So we continue to hope and pray that he will continue to remain positive and steady, free of any distress.

Emery is, as one Dr said, "on cruise control". Wow, what a blessing. We realize it could change at any moment, but for now she is feeding well, taking in more calories and slowly gaining weight. She LOVES to smile, and we think when she hears mommy's voice, she really does try to look at Erin and gives an occasional grin. So cute.

We are able to hold them now, and tonight the nurse even arranged things so Erin could hold them both at the same time. So fun. A little tricky with cords, lines and wires, but fun nonetheless. Emery slept and Collin was awake for a minute, but I like to think they were just a little bit more comfortable snuggled up close to their best friend once again. :)