7.17.08

Wow, it has been another busy day. We came in this morning and Allison had a surprise for us... nothing in her nose! She is off all oxygen support. Yippee! She also had her first real bath today in an actual tub. She didn't mind it much at all. You wouldn't normally think about these things, but she is one week old today and got her first clothes. What a pretty pink little girl she is. Of course, I'm a bit biased. Her goals for the next week are to transition out of the isolette into a regualr crib and to begin real breastfeeding. Those are wonderful goals indeed!

Ethan's goal is still to close the PDA in his heart. He is making progress and showing good signs, so the docotors and (and us!!) are still very hopeful that it will heal on it's own. Surgery is still not out of the question, but it is definitely not a certainty at this time. Ethan had lots of good news today too! As you can see, he is no longer on the vent. They took him off this morning and transitioned him to the CPAP. (Which he didn't hate quite as much as his sister did.) Then later in the afternoon they moved him to the nasal canula with a little bit of oxygen. It is so nice to see his face!

The other event that had significant meaning for us today was when we posed for our first family photos together! Allison is much more transportable, and the nurse today, Jenn, thought it would be a great idea if we put Allison alongside her brother in his isolette for a little while so that they could get reaquainted, so to speak. It was tremendous to see them together, at one week old, and see how alike and different they are. They are roughly the same length, but Allison's hand dwarfed Ethan's. This is a fact that I feel Allison will repeatedly remind Ethan of in the years to come.