2 days

Bryce and Chloe had another good day. Both babies are maintaining a healthy blood pressure without medication, and neither has had any serious problems. During morning rounds (big group meetings of the medical staff that we're allowed to sit in on), our neonatologist said that they were "textbook" 24-week preemies, and that in this case, "normal is good, because we know how to deal with normal."

Bryce was off the "vent" (ventilator) for close to 4 hours yesterday. I stood by his bedside for close to an hour and watched him breathe all by himself! Amazing to think that something the rest of us take for granted is a major accomplishment for my son. He started to get a little tired later in the day, so they put him back on the ventilator, and the doctor said that we'll try again when his lungs are a little more mature. However, the fact that a micro-preemie could breathe on his own showed that he had a lot of "spunk". :)

At this stage, the two biggest dangers facing the twins are infection and bleeding in the brain. Their 48-hour blood culture results came back today, and I'm happy to say that both Chloe and Bryce are infection free! Now we just have to work hard to keep it that way. As far as the bleeding is concerned, the babies are at highest risk during the first week, so they typically perform a brain scan after day 7. Intracranial bleeding is highly correlated with disability, so we'll be waiting with fingers crossed until next Tuesday.

And now, what you've all been waiting for: the first Sonnek Twin home movie! This is a one-minute clip of Chloe sleeping. It's hard to see her face because of the ventilator and the goggles over her eyes (to protect them from UV light they use to treat jaundice -- my daughter is 2 days old, and already tanning *sigh*), but she sure was active this morning. Enjoy! :)


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