The Good, The Bad, and The Daunting

Jana and I and one of our girls, Abigail had a stress filled day yesterday. Our eye specialist wanted to see both of the girls in the NICU (to make it easier on him and us) in the morning. We also had our first pediatrician visit that morning. Jana, being the multitasking mom, got up early and took Abigail up to the NICU to wait for the eye doc and be with Emma. Due to his schedule we ended up dilating Abigail's eyes right before the pediatrician visit and then had to go back to the NICU quickly to make the eye doctor visit. We tried to do all of this traveling while shielding Abby's eyes from the bright sun outside as we walked from the hospital across the street to the doctors office.

I really like our pediatrician. I would say that she is a "veteran" doctor and is very nurturing and soothing to talk to and watch as she examined Abby. She asked us about all of our follow up visits that we would have since leaving the NICU and when we told her it was just the eye doc and the neuronatalogist, she was very surprised. She even mentioned to us that Abby is truly a miracle to have been born when she was and now to look at her like she is a normal baby is remarkable. She weighed in at 6 pounds and was 18 inches long. She has come such a long way from the 1 lb 1 oz. birthweight on March 27th.

The eye doc visit was very short. That's because the Avastin is working! Their abnormal blood vessels are actually receding in their retina and the doc was very happy with the results. We will follow up with him in two weeks with both girls. Both Jana and I let out a huge sigh of relief, as this was really our first big decision as parents trying to choose a treatment for our little angels. It seems in the short term anyway that we made the right one.

Now for the bad news. They found the fungus, Canada Ablicans in the peripheral IV blood culture that they drew on Emma 5 days ago. It was very slow growing, which is good, but it is in her blood stream which is bad. They are going to continue her antifungal treatment along with her antibiotic treatment for her enterococcus problem as well as her fungus. Unbelievable. We have to wait for a negative blood culture before we can start the clock on her treatment regime, which will probably be 3 weeks. The Neo docs think that the gut doc won't operate until after that regime is over with. Jana and I are beginning to think that by the time we get Emma out of the NICU she is going to be able to walk home with us. Of course, I think Emma is just trying to get her parents used to being parents with Abby first so we can be broken in slowly instead of all at once. Emma's really just trying to look out for her mom and dad. It is daunting to know that everything is extended out, but we continue to pray and wait with cautious optimism that our little Emma will be able to play with her twin sister at home soon.

I can't express the awesome feeling I get watching Jana hold Abby at home. Watching a woman you love look down at a little angel that you adore makes my heart happy. It's obvious that she is going to be a wonderful mother to our girls. She thanked me the other night for giving her Abby and putting us in a position where she could stay at home with the girls. Can you believe that? She thanked me. After all that she has gone through and endured to get to this point, she thanked me.

I know she understands that I love her, but she'll never comprehend how deeply I do.