Dear friends and family of Ella and Lucy,
Over the last week, our lives have completely been turned upside down. The very early arrival of Ella and Lucy at 25 weeks and 4 days has brought us new joy and new challenges. We have been overwhelmed by the support we have recieved from our communities and families and friends and are so thankful that our girls are loved already by so many. We appreciate every email and note - they have made a big difference to both Johnathon and I.
We want everyone to know what is happening with Ella and Lucy but at the moment are very busy and do not have the time to respond to your messages and calls. Know that we are getting them, but are not able to get back to you right now. We thought instead that we would start this blog to chronicle our time in the NICU (Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit) so that everyone is up to date. We will do our best to post updates regularly - but there will be days when this is difficult. No news does not necessarily mean bad news, it just means we are tired or busy or there is nothing new to report.
We will try to post pictures when we figure out how to do that. But I can tell you that Ella and Lucy are beautiful. They are tiny but perfect in every way. They have the smallest toes you have every seen, long little fingers and lots of hair (especially Lucy). Ella is very calm and is always tucked in peacefully when she sleeps. Her hands are often up by her face and she occasionally sucks on her fingers. Lucy is much more active, always moving around and kicking her legs and arms. When she is sleeping she likes to find something to hold on to - which is usually her breathing tube.
At the moment, Ella is fairly stable health-wise. She has a murmur in her heart from a duct opening that is normally only open in the uterus. The nurses tell us that babies of this gestational age almost always have this problem. They have given her medication in the hopes that this will close the duct, but it has not worked so far. The cardiologist comes on Wednesday and they will make a decision about whether she needs a small surgery to correct this open duct. This is considered very routine.
Lucy has a few more challenges at the moment. She has a lung infection which they are treating with antibiotics. She needed a blood transfusion yesterday as babies this little cannot regenerate their blood the way an adult would. They do regular bloodwork and with the small amount of blood in her tiny body, she was having low levels of hemoglobin. The amount they gave was less than a tablespoon. They have also put Lucy on a new ventilator, called an ossilator, which gently shakes her. The nurses believe that this will really help her. She also has a small bleed in her brain. There is nothing that can be done about this until they do a repeat ultrasound on the weekend to see if it is being resolved or if it has increased. There is no physical indication that it has grown and we pray that this continues to be the case.
Thank you again for all your support, love, and prayers. They matter a great deal to all four of us.
Over the last week, our lives have completely been turned upside down. The very early arrival of Ella and Lucy at 25 weeks and 4 days has brought us new joy and new challenges. We have been overwhelmed by the support we have recieved from our communities and families and friends and are so thankful that our girls are loved already by so many. We appreciate every email and note - they have made a big difference to both Johnathon and I.
We want everyone to know what is happening with Ella and Lucy but at the moment are very busy and do not have the time to respond to your messages and calls. Know that we are getting them, but are not able to get back to you right now. We thought instead that we would start this blog to chronicle our time in the NICU (Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit) so that everyone is up to date. We will do our best to post updates regularly - but there will be days when this is difficult. No news does not necessarily mean bad news, it just means we are tired or busy or there is nothing new to report.
We will try to post pictures when we figure out how to do that. But I can tell you that Ella and Lucy are beautiful. They are tiny but perfect in every way. They have the smallest toes you have every seen, long little fingers and lots of hair (especially Lucy). Ella is very calm and is always tucked in peacefully when she sleeps. Her hands are often up by her face and she occasionally sucks on her fingers. Lucy is much more active, always moving around and kicking her legs and arms. When she is sleeping she likes to find something to hold on to - which is usually her breathing tube.
At the moment, Ella is fairly stable health-wise. She has a murmur in her heart from a duct opening that is normally only open in the uterus. The nurses tell us that babies of this gestational age almost always have this problem. They have given her medication in the hopes that this will close the duct, but it has not worked so far. The cardiologist comes on Wednesday and they will make a decision about whether she needs a small surgery to correct this open duct. This is considered very routine.
Lucy has a few more challenges at the moment. She has a lung infection which they are treating with antibiotics. She needed a blood transfusion yesterday as babies this little cannot regenerate their blood the way an adult would. They do regular bloodwork and with the small amount of blood in her tiny body, she was having low levels of hemoglobin. The amount they gave was less than a tablespoon. They have also put Lucy on a new ventilator, called an ossilator, which gently shakes her. The nurses believe that this will really help her. She also has a small bleed in her brain. There is nothing that can be done about this until they do a repeat ultrasound on the weekend to see if it is being resolved or if it has increased. There is no physical indication that it has grown and we pray that this continues to be the case.
Thank you again for all your support, love, and prayers. They matter a great deal to all four of us.
posted by Theresa | 7:43 am
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