Wow, what a day!

Wow, what a day this has been to say the least. I went to see the twins today and both were doing pretty good. The twins doctor came in to give me an update to the progress.

Madaline is doing really well. She still has the tube in her chest from her collapsed lung but things are looking pretty good. They are considering taking the tube out (extubating) within the next couple of days. I am in no rush though considering the last time they took it out, her lung collapsed right after. Other than that, he said that we will just continue to keep her on the CPAP machine until she hits about 32-33 weeks gestation (4-5 weeks old). Also, they will continue to feed her and we just watch her grow (pending any issues that may come up). Brady was able to hold her for the first time today and he was loving every second of it. It's really cute when she makes little sucking noises, they are even giving her a pacifier when she'll take it and man will she go to town.

Ethan had a little more of an eventful day to say the least. The doctor said that he has what is called a PDA (which every baby has when they are in the womb.) It is an extra blood vessel in the heart that filters oxygen to the body when in the womb since the lungs are not producing it at the time. This blood vessel closes in babies within 72 hours of birth. Because Ethan was born early, his isn't closing. With that being said, the doctors were recommending surgery to close the blood vessel and hopefully get him moving in the right path. They gave me the pros and cons of the procedure and it is a surgery on the heart, so it was extremely scary to have to make a decision on my sons well being. In a sense, this was the first MAJOR decision, (besides getting them out when they were born), that Brady and I had to make. We decided that the surgery would be better done than not, so they contacted the surgeon to try to set something up for tomorrow or Friday. I left to grab a bite to eat and when I came back, the doctor had talked to the surgeon and there just so happened to be an opening in his schedule this evening, so all this was going to happen within the next couple of hours. They were getting him prepped and ready for surgery and it was extremely nerve racking. The surgeon came out before starting to explain the procedure one more time and to have us sign the consent. When he was explaining it to us, he told us that there was another issue that could happen when he got in there but wouldn't know until he started the procedure. If the narrowing of one of his chambers by the blood vessel was too narrow it could pose as a problem and they probably would not be able to close the blood vessel. If that were the case there would be a BIG DECISION we would have to make. But of course, he would know what was there until he started the surgery. This put more stress on an already stressful issue. We signed the consent and put our baby in the hands on the medical team and prayed that there wasn't going to be an issue and that everything was going to be okay. The procedure only took 20-30 minutes, but of course it felt like forever. Especially with this new issue that might be there. After the procedure the medical team came out and said everything went well. Thank God! They they were able to clamp the blood vessel shut (with what looks like 1/3 size of a staple) and didn't see any issues at this time with the narrowing of one of the heart chambers. What a relief. He is now resting comfortably for the night. The doctors warned us that the next couple days for Ethan may be a little hard. The up side to it all is that he will have a scar on his back he can brag about to all the ladies. My little man is truly a fighter and I can't express how thankful I am to have such a wonderful little boy.

Hopefully we can rest a little easier tonight.

Pictures: Brady holding Madaline for the first time

It has been hard to get good pictures on Ethan since he's got more stuff going on. I had every intention of going in today and having a little photo shoot with him, but it didn't pan out that way. Hopefully tomorrow. Will keep you posted.