Today the girls were at 32 weeks gestational age and six weeks three days actual age. It feels like we have been here for a long time. We have stayed in the same spot since the girls were born. They are in the "back room" of the NICU, where the smallest and sickest babies are monitered. There is room for about twelve babies in the back room and more staff including nurses, respiratory therapists, and doctors. It is a very busy and often noisy place. Sometimes the girls share a nurse, sometimes they have their own individual nurses. They are constantly watching the girls and their monitors which you can see above the isolettes. The monitors display respiration rates, heart rates, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure. Johnathon is looking into Lucy's isolette and behind him you can see the oscillator that helps her to breathe. The isolettes are covered all of the time so that it is dark inside to help them to sleep.
This is the inside of Lucy's isolette. Her tube is attached to the oscillator to the right. She is moved and rotated twice a day so she is on a different side. There are openings with doors on the sides where the nurses put their hands through to do any work that needs to be done such as changing a diaper or giving a feed. Lucy is tucked inside a little "nest" that helps to keep her contained. Premature babies like to have boundaries, just like they would inside the uterus. Lucy often has a leg hanging over the edge but she is all inside in this photo from this afternoon. Lucy is still slowly recovering - very slowly. She is still on the oscillator with high pressure but lower oxygen levels than before. She is not ready to be on the conventional ventilator yet. The doctor assures us that her blood work is coming back better and all her energy is being used to fight the infection and when that is better she will need less ventilation.
Ella on her aladdin cap this afternoon. The girls are often swaddled up to help them sleep. You can see that she is not thrilled with being bundled up and is trying to get out. Ella is up to 17mL of milk every two hours and is now 2pounds 14ounces. Not very long before she will be three pounds! The nurses have not been able to weigh Lucy while she is sick but she has remained about 3 ounces smaller than Ella.

A question we have been asked quite a bit is when it is likely we will be home. It is really hard to know at this point. The girls' duedate was December 15 and that is a benchmark. Babies often go home from two weeks before to four weeks after their due date. It would be great to be home by Christmas but we are prepared to be at St. Joe's until January.