18 days

Our little princess was the star of the day. The medical team is starting to get more aggressive about weaning the twins off ventilator support, since long-term reliance on the vent can stunt lung growth and cause permanent lung damage. As a consequence, Chloe and Bryce have started receiving steroids to help further the development of their lungs. Chloe has responded very well to the steroids: they've significantly reduced her ventilator support, and she needs very little oxygen supplementation. They even talked about extubating (removing the breathing tube from her throat) her during rounds today, which means she might be breathing on her own soon! Chloe has also joined her big brother on the bi-hourly milk feedings, and she even opened her right eye yesterday!

Bryce, unfortunately, is living up to the "wimpy white boys" cliche. Apparently, premature Caucasian boys are known for having lung problems, and Bryce is stubbornly refusing to demonstrate that he can live without his fancy ventilator. He is, however, doing extremely well with his feedings, so they've doubled his daily milk allocation. They also performed another echocardiogram to check his heart, and his PDA is still closed, so it's very unlikely that he'll need the surgery that Chloe had.

It seems that someone heard yesterday's plea, because the nurses have suddenly allowed us to be a lot more involved in Bryce's care. I took his temperature, changed his diaper and gave him small drops of milk on his tongue as a "treat"; Christie and I even got to "hold" him by cupping his head and legs in our hands for nearly 45 minutes! It was an amazing experience: his vitals improved significantly while we were holding him, and he seemed a lot calmer.

All in all, it was another good day! It feels like we've had a lot more than we were promised, but I'm not going to complain. :)

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