Saturday

Saturday afternoon here and we are recovering from more activity than we have seen in a month. We had dinner with Linda and David last night and enjoyed a lovely home cooked meal. It was a real treat. Sonny and Kal flew in from Vancouver, and we had brunch today, then a visit with the babies. You know you have been tucked away in a hospital for a while when dinner and brunch back to back exhausts you! Anyway.. enough about our social lives.. on to what you really want to read about. BABIES!

Madeleine came off her respirator Friday evening, and is doing fine. She had a bit of a struggle when she took her first ever breaths by herself, and that was quite distressing to watch. She had a few cardiac arrests, and her heart rate was well over 300 (yes 300) for periods of time. Abby was holding her the entire time while they pulled they tubes out, and was in the middle of the ruckus as nurses got everything back under control. They were all great, never nervous or panicking. I wish I could say the same of Abby and I. Anyway.. she is doing well today. A bit grumpy. She did not want anyone touching her today, but all her levels on the Si-Pap are OK. This is the new machine that she is on now. It pushes puffs of air into her lungs to assist her breathing, kind of like training wheels, while she learns how to breathe on her own. Nurses are really happy with her development to date.

Dillon... what can I say... slept the entire day and gained more weight. He is going to have to have some kind of medical development soon, or I am going to have to start making something up to make this more interesting to read. (penicus giganticus?) Could be hereditary. I should warn the doctors..... They do have him on a caffeine drip to try and get him ready to extubate (off the respirator) on Sunday. Even with the caffeine.. still snoozing. He did some "kangaroo care" with Abby today, where he spent about an hour outside his incubator snuggled on Abby's chest. He was very settled and happy the entire time. He's a very calm baby, our Dillon.

Abby is doing well. We bought a breast pump rather than keep going to the hospital to use theirs. This way not so much stress to get there to get it done. We are going to start contacting people in Vancouver next week to see about coming home but I think it's going to be a while. In the meantime, the care here is fantastic.

A few pics. Here is Madeleine with Abby getting ready to come off the respirator.

To put Madeleine's size in perspective, here she is next to my cell.

Madeleine has had enough of the paparazzi..

Dillon is now noticeably bigger than his sister. Here he is having some kangaroo care with his mom.