Denied Parole

Poor Charlie. His chance at being sprung from isolation is gone. His first round of blood tests to re-check him for MRSA came back positive. All three of the planned tests had to come back negative in order to set him free, so now he's stuck in isolation for the duration. We really shouldn't be upset since we've been told all along that he would be there until he went home. Up until yesterday, we never even considered the possibility that he could go back out with the regular NICU babies. We still don't even really know what changed and why they were willing to give him a shot. We're just disappointed because we let it get into our heads that he could be outside his tiny room and near Lily, and the idea of being able to be with them both at once makes us both giddy with happiness. Oh well. If this is the last disappointment we have as NICU parents we'll consider ourselves lucky.

Talk now shifts from springing Charlie from isolation to freeing Charlie of any breathing help whatsoever. If things go as Dr. Hiatt plans, Charlie will be breathing nothing but room air like you and me by the end of this week! He's still not bottle feeding too well and his heart rates drop pretty regularly with it, but that shouldn't effect his oxygen intake. We're so proud of him; he's done so well with his breathing from the minute he begrudgingly came off the CPAP. Go chunks!

The big news of the day is in the weight department: Charlie hit 5 pounds!!! And Lily is now 2 kilos!!! Both are huge, huge steps. We've been thinking of the five-pound mark since they were born as the "almost home" point and it is so, so exciting that Charlie is there. Just a few more ounces and Lil will be there too!

Nothing really changed today for Lily. She's breathing great with the reduced settings on her High Humidity Nasal Cannula so we need her to keep that up for a few more days before switching her to the Low Flow Cannula becomes an option. Her bottle feedings continue as they have been. When she's in the mood for a bottle, she takes it like a champ and gulps it down as though she's been starved. But when The Bug doesn't want her bottle, she let's everyone know it and will have nothing to do with it. In a way, her moodiness is a good thing because we know pretty much right away if she'll take the bottle or not. There's a little more of a guessing game with Charlie.

The saddest part of today is that I'm not feeling too well. Sore throat, runny nose... a typical back-to-school gift from my students. So, despite all my constant hand-washing and sanitizing, I seem to have a cold. Thus, I did not go to the hospital at all today. I can't even put into words how sad this makes me. I've not missed a day since they were born and not seeing them today makes me feel so much worse. Hopefully, a good night's sleep will be enough to kick this so I can see them tomorrow.


Charlie seems quite happy in his new "Little Heartbreaker" outfit. How true it is! (Thanks for all the clothes, Cheryl!)


Charlie was more than happy to have his mommy be his exclusive visitor today. He's definitely going to be a mama's boy.


One of our favorite Lily traits is her belly pose. For some reason, she just loves to lay on her back and stick her belly out as far as can go. She even jams her chin down into her chest to give it an added visual effect. It's hilarious! (at least to us)