Update on Faith and Makaila 4

Well, it has been a few days since our last blog entry, and mostly encouraging things have been happening in the little lives of Faith and Makaila. In our last update, I mentioned that Makaila needed a blood transfusion, and she did get one, and since then, so has Faith. Now, as I also said in my last update, this is normal because they aren't "plugged" into Mommy anymore; they simply can't produce enough red blood cells (or other important ingredients contained in their blood) on their own. So they've been getting help, and it's going well.

I also mentioned a short while ago that both Faith and Makaila looked like they were coming down with something. To play it safe, the medical staff started them both on antibiotics, but were able to take them off of them because their blood cultures came back negative! Yay! They should be in the next Bond film, because they dodged that bullet! Payer works! Maybe we could make a movie based on premature twin girls powered by God through prayer that dodge bullets! Maybe not...Anyways, we are encouraged!

Both girls are eating well. Faith is up to 8 ml every 2 hours! Makaila is up to 3 ml every 2 hours! We thought we weren't going to need all the milk Karyn has been pumping, but it turns out these little girls' big appetites will not let any of that milk go to waste. And apparently their plumbing is working great, because they're pooping and peeing up a storm (which is great!...but not a storm I would want to get caught in without an umbrella!).

They took Faith off of the respirator and tried her on the CPAP but she only lasted 20 to 30 minutes. She had several apneas and her oxygen saturation levels are just simply not where they need to be yet so they have put her back on the respirator. We are just fine with that. She gave it her best, but her lungs are just not there yet. Soon enough they will be, so we are good with waiting. Makaila is almost ready to go back onto CPAP as her breathing rates and oxygen saturation have been good. That should probably happen sometime tonight or tomorrow during the day.

Faith had her arterial line taken out of her umbilical cord today, which reduces the risk of infection....and most importantly, it means both she and her sister (Makaila had her arterial line out last week some time) are ready for CUDDLES!!! Yes, that's right, the doctors and nurses encourage skin to skin contact with Mommy (and Daddy too, I think) as soon as the babies are stable enough. This apparently is very soothing for the girls, nurtures their brain development, and even boosts their immune systems!!! The boosting of their immune systems happens in a pretty crazy way! Apparently (now, I'm not the doc, so I hope I get this right), when the girls are in their Mommy's arms, if there are bugs in the air, the mother's body picks up on those and her body starts to automatically produce the antibodies needed to fight those bugs and those antibodies go into the milk she produces and that milk goes into the twins' tummies and it keeps them from getting sick! Wow! God knew what he was doing when he designed the amazing and beautiful bodies of women and the miraculous process of bringing little new lives into the world! Sorry guys, our function in the matter is purely utilitarian.

So needles to say, we are very much looking forward to bringing little Faith and Makaila out of their plastic homes to cuddle skin to skin with Mommy (and hopefully Daddy) tomorrow evening! And I will have my video camera and SLR rolling and clicking away! I will write abut the experience and post the pics as soon as I can! Thank you for continuing to pray for our little ones. They are truly blessed by your love and compassion! They are alive and doing as well as they are because of your faithfulness! We can't thank you enough!

Blessings,

Graham