1 nurse and Kangaroo care

We will get the stats out of the way first. Emma is still going through platelets like a hot knife through butter. Although this last round she bumped up her count to 92,000 and they want her to be over 100,000 so they're going to give her some more and see if they can't reach that level for a while. I believe that this is all coming full circle. When I was getting my master's at CSU, I would donate plasma at the local blood donation place, simply because they paid $20 a session and I was a poor graduate student. I never realized that those donations may be helping my lil one now. Emma is up to 690 grams or 1.5 lbs. They are going to give her a diuretic after they give her more blood and platelets so she may drop some weight.

Abigail is doing great and has yo-yo'd a little in her weight. She is now at 480 grams.

The NICU believes that the girls are stable enough now to only need 1 nurse between the two of them. That is scary but great news. Our new nurse today said that she would look into the ability for kangaroo care. Kangaroo care is taking Emma and Abigail out of their little pseudo-uterus environment and placing them on Jana's or my chest for at least an hour. This helps the babies bond with their mom and dad and also helps them develop longer patterns of REM sleep which is needed for brain development. Kangaroo care has also been shown to increase a babie's weight gain in later development.

I'm sure that the first time we are able to hold them will be a scary process with all the wires and cords, etc. That will last for about a minute until we're able to hold our babies outside the incubator.

A lot of people ask me how is Jana doing? We'll for her stats, she is up to over 1,000 ml per day in milk production or 34 ounces a day or 1 quart! Emma and Abigail will not go hungry in the near future. Jana is getting around better, able to walk and stand for a period of time before she gets tired. It seems that each day her spirits rise a little more. I can't believe how quick a recovery she is making, and she was even feeling good enough to make me lasagna the other night. She is tied to the pump so to speak, so she hasn't had a full nights sleep in two weeks. She is a strong and determined woman. I just wish she wouldn't make so much noise washing the dishes while I'm trying to watch TV (just kidding).

As I was walking into the hospital this morning, another baby was being loaded into another van to take home. I felt this rush of happiness and a feeling that I will be able to enjoy that momentous occasion in the near future. I can't wait to put two car seats in the back of our car and drive Emma and Abigail home.

Jana and I are going to be walking in a March of Dimes event in Kansas City on May 3rd. A lot of people have been asking how they can help us out. On our blog is a banner with the March of Dimes on it. Jana and I are hoping to raise $500 to be used in research and development of new technologies and medicines for premature babies. The steriod shot, betamethasone, that was given twice to Jana on the 23rd week and the surfactants given to Emma and Abigail the minute they were born, were treatments developed through the use of dollars from the March of Dimes.
I've always heard of the March of Dimes, but never knew exactly what the charity actually did. $0.77 of every dollar donated goes to this type of research. Obviously, Jana and I are going to become very involved in this organization because of the great things they are doing. So if you want to, you can click on the March of Dimes banner and follow the instruction for a donation. Again, thank you all for your support.

Praying for another non-eventful day in the NICU.............................