Getting closer to coming home!

Apologies to all who are suffering from B.W.S. (Blog Withdrawal Symptoms). But some great news after a week of radio silence...

Madeleine has made it 24 hours on low-flow, without her Si-Pap machine! That means that both twins are now technically in level 2 ICU and could be transferred to a lower mainland hospital other than BC Children's. Starting Monday we will be working with BC and Edmonton hospital admin to try and get us moved asap. More on this as it unfolds.

Madeleine had an operation on both her eyes this week, to solve a problem that is fairly common in preemies. The blood vessels in the retina are not developed enough to handle the volume of blood that they are now getting, now that they are breathing oxygen air. As a result, if the operation is not performed, there is a strong possibility of the retina detaching, and permanent blindness. The good news is that this is fairly routine, and the operation only took about 45 minutes. They use a laser to "zap" the retina, and she was scheduled for 2000 zaps per eye, but they only had to do 600 per eye. She had eye drops for a few days, and still looks like she has a black eye, but has recovered fully. Dillon will likely have to have this same operation in the next week or so.

Madeleine is now in a crib, so both babies are out of the incubators and on room air temperature. She has a larger traditional looking crib, albeit made entirely out of metal (looks kind of like a baby Alcatraz). Now that she is off Si-Pap, they will probably move her to a little bassinet like Dillon is in.

Speaking of our perfect son.. he is now bottle feeding. Abby is jumping for joy, knowing that she can now get me to do the midnight feedings. He just started this today, after a few false starts. The nurses were very happy with how well he took to it, and how strong he can suck. For the next while, we will be working on both breast feeding and bottle feeding him, so he grows comfortable with both. We will start trying Madeleine on breast feeding this week, now that she is feeling better. Both twins still have the feeding tubes in (through their noses now), as this is still the primary means that they get their food.

They both had their first true baths in a bathtub as well. They both initially squawked at it, but once in the water and warm they each liked it, and did not fuss. Coming out in the cold.. that's another story. Lots of drama there. Each day we get to act more and more like regular parents, even if it is only for a few hours per day. We leave the hospital grinning like idiots most of the time these days. A long way away from where we felt 3 months ago. Yes.. as of this coming Friday, we have been here 3 months!

We've had quite a few visitors over the last week. My sister Heather was in town last weekend and spent some quality cuddle time with her niece and nephew. Abby's aunt Kim and her daughter Emily were in town this last week, and we had to beat them off the babies with a stick, as they spent more time with the twins than we did!

That's about all for now. We are having Internet issues here in the Hotel (its free, and you get what you pay for), so I am unable to post pics or vids right now. Trying to figure out a way to get them up for all to see.

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. Not how I planned to spend my 40th, but we will have a hell of a combo Abby Birthday/David Birthday/Thanksgiving/Halloween/Remembrance Day/Grey Cup/Babies coming home party!