Happy 1 Week Birthday!

Blake and Bennett are 1 week old today!  I can't believe how much they have overcome in 7 days!  They change every time we see them and are growing right before our eyes!






Bennett the day he was born



Bennett 1 Week Old!  He had just gotten a bath and a clean bed...He looked like one comfy boy!



Blake on the day he was born.





Blake 1 week old!  He had just eaten a bottle that he did not want to wake up for.  This is just one of his many faces that I love to sit and watch him make!

It has been a rough but rewarding week.  It was so hard to leave the boys at the hospital Monday and I felt horribly guilty leaving them there yesterday, but today was a little easier since they both had great nurses that looked after them the way I would if they were at home. 

We talked with the doctor this afternoon when we arrived in Bennett's room.  He had wonderful news about Bennett.  He said they did another sonogram of his heart yesterday and the report came back today and said his PDA (hole in his heart that normally closes at birth) went from moderate/large to "trivial" and that he did not see him having any problems with this any longer.  He also said that the report stated that he no longer has really high pressures in his lungs and is considering him more at the stage of a premature baby than a baby with pulmonary hypoplasia...that was great news to my ears.  Basically we just have to wait for his lungs to grow and for him to be strong enough to get off the ventilator.  Of course we are not out of the woods yet, but the doctor said he sees more things going right at this point than going wrong.   They took both of the lines out of his umbilical cord and increased his feeds to 10ml (2 teaspoons) today.  He said they may increase his feeds to 20 ml by tomorrow if he tolerates his feeds well.  He is still getting irritated fairly easily, but they are giving him Morphine and Versed to help keep him calm and before they do physical therapy or anything to him in his bed.  He seems to do well when Jason and I talk to him and touch his head and hold his hand.  It may still be a few weeks to a month before they get him off the ventilator, but he is on a low oxygen (26-35%) and pressure setting (24%) which is good news.  I am ready for him to be off the high frequency ventilator so I can hold him.  I think that will be one of the top days of my life.  It has been so hard to get to hold and feed Blake and not be able to do much for Bennett.  I know the day will come, but I can't wait!  The doctor keeps telling us how lucky we are that I was able to stay pregnant so long with his fluid being ruptured and that he did not get infected.  He said had he been born at 24 weeks that he wouldn't have had much of a chance to survive.  I just feel like Bennett is supposed to be here and that he is a miracle that we get to witness first hand every day.  We are so lucky!

Video of Bennett sucking on his intubation tube...I think he is having sweet dreams!

Blake is still doing great.  We have gone to the NICU and fed him his 2pm and 5pm bottles.  The nurses always tell us that he does such a great job at taking his bottles and has no issues...then Jason and I try to feed him and he just wants to sleep.  I think some of my favorite time spent with Blake, other than getting to cuddle with him, is watching him wake up.  I think he stretches and yawns for 5 minutes...it's a very long process.  We tried to get a video of him doing it today and wouldn't you know that he just woke right up for the first time.  He is a character and makes some of the best faces.  I never get tired of staring at him and can't wait for the day that he is home and I can watch him anytime I want.

In the time span on 7 days I have fallen so madly in love with these 2 boys and I am so thankful for them both.  They had to overcome some great odds to be here and to be doing so well.  I can't help but think that God has a special mission for them in life...I can't wait to find out what it is!