Bath Time

The batteries died before we got good pics of Sophie in her bath, so we only got these first two.
Don't worry. The wires come off before the water comes.
Mattie went first, so she got some glamour shots.
One of the nurses wanted to teach us how to "swaddle bathe" the girls. Here's Mattie enjoying hers. They stay a little warmer this way.

We finally got the results from the 30-day head ultra sound for both girls. Sophie's was absolutely normal. Mattie still had her one spot that had changed like they expected it to, but had not grown any! The Doctor explained a little better what it means exactly and let us know that if this insult causes permanent set backs, it will more than likely be basically a motor problem with her right leg based on where the issue is in her brain. That was a huge relief because we were under the impression that the problems could be that and have impacts on cognitive skills, breathing, swallowing, and a host of other things. We are very excited about the results today. They will continue to monitor Mattie's PVL and she will probably have an MRI before we leave the hospital to get a clearer picture of it. Both girls will start some sort of physical therapy probably next week to help their development. We are excited to get that started and see where they are right now.

One day Mattie will be furious with me for sharing this story...but she's not big enough to put up a fight right now, so...

Amber and I were looking in the glass of the NICU talking to Jennifer Giesseman when Jeff, Sophie's nurse started walking around the room trying to figure something out. Finally, he stuck his head out the door long enough to ask the receptionist to call maintenance because he thought the sewage had backed up in the pipes. Apparently there was a foul smell that filled the entire NICU. I asked where it was coming from and he said he was afraid it was the sink between our girls. I told him to check another sink that I noticed the other day had been clogged a little. He went back in and proceeded to walk all the way around the room sniffing all of the sinks.

We kept talking with Jennifer and noticed the maintenance man go in, talk to Jeff for about 2 minutes and then leave. We said good bye to Jennifer and went in and were immediately aware of the smell. Amber cracked a joke to Jeff asking, "are you sure it's not one of our girls?" to which Jeff replied rather embarrassedly, "well... we weren't sure we should tell you."

Mattie had apparently caused enough of a smell in her enclosed isollette that it never occurred to Jeff to check a baby. It must be backed up sewage. Of course I was impressed with my daughter's ability to clear a room and half-jokingly said I wanted to see the diaper that did that kind of damage. I was quickly told that I couldn't, though, because her nurse felt it was necessary to double bag and get rid of that particular diaper.

It's nice to be famous amongst the nurses...I think.

We continue to get closer to our friends across the room. I wanted to wait to give details about them until I had asked permission and I let them know today that all of you wanted to pray for them by name. Alex and Stacey are our age and their son Crimson was admitted to the NICU about 2 1/2 weeks ago at 28 weeks gestational age. We noticed Alex come in a few weeks ago looking like what I thought I looked like when the girls were first born. I met him briefly but we didn't get to really talk to him until Stacey was in a few days later. By that point she was doing great, so it blew us away when they told us that she had had some pretty serious complication in birth and had almost died. When Alex was in the NICU for the first couple of days, he was worrying about his son and Stacey. I still can't believe how calm he seemed. He's a lot stronger than I am.

Stacey is still doing very well. Crimson is a few days into some steroid treatments to help his lungs and they are already kicking into effect. He is starting to wean down on his O2. Today they saw some cysts on his right lung, though. That is the main thing to pray about for them right now.

They mentioned early on about Crimson having two girlfriends on the other side of the room. God is a big God and Amber and I can't wait to see all three of our children playing together some day in Kentucky and in Shelbyville.