Minute by Minute

We last posted on Sunday after Reilly's eventful night of being extubated. We headed back into the hospital Sunday morning and were so thrilled to see that she was maintaining her breathing on the biphasic (the mask). We had hoped she'd still be on it, but were prepared otherwise. She was showing off! We knew that they may have to give her the tube back at any moment, as soon as she showed signs of it being too much work for her, but were keeping our fingers crossed. When we visited Sunday night, her primary nurse was on and led us to another milestone- our first time holding Reilly! Because she is on the biphasic it is easier to remove her from the isolete. The tubes arent as sensitive and positional, so after a quick diaper change, she asked if we were ready for "cuddle time"! We couldnt believe it. Dad's turn. Check out these pics. Dad was so excited, can you tell?  Look at her tiny fingers compared to his- so teeny and cute.

He was so excited. She fit so perfectly in his hand! We didnt think we would be able to hold her for weeks, but Dad got 25 amazing minutes with his little girl. He sang, rocked, talked and hummed to her. It was one of the best moments in there. We were so happy.

Everytime we talked to someone, they warned us she could be reintubated at any moment, which we knew. We were just happy her lungs were having a bit of a rest. As prepared as we thought we were, it was impossible not to be disappointed. Some complications with her picc line (used to give her medications without having to poke her so many times) led to a lot of handling, which eventually led to her being reintubated on Tuesday afternoon. Reilly hates being handled. So much as open the incubator and she gives you attitude, so all the commotion of trying to put in an IV in an emergency situation was too much for her. They reintubated her, which means that now the machine is doing most of the breathing for her. On the biphasic, she wasn't getting as much help, which was allowing her lungs to strengthen. She took quite some time to settle, until late Tuesday night. It is hard not to worry after she goes through something like that. Becuase it was an emergency, they didn't have time to give her pain meds or anything, so our hearts just break thinking of all that she had to go through. They gave her morphine afterwards, hoping that it would help her settle and it seemed to work. She lost 50 grams Wednesday, putting her back to 600g, but we are happy to report she is back up to 650g tonight. Hopefully that'll be the last time she loses. Docs think the steroids are helping, but the goal of the steroids is to extubate, and they dont think they will try that again too soon until they know for sure she is strong enough to handle it. She gave it a good try though. Way to go, Reilly!

Chase had a big week too. He joined the Kilo Club and is currently weighing in at 1050g! The bigger he gets- the cuter he gets. His nurse, Anna, thinks he is the next Justin Bieber because he is so handsome. She said they all have Chase-Fever, and can't pass by his incubator without taking a peak, so cute. We find out tomorrow if he needs the surgery to close the duct between his heart and lungs. They've done scans this week that show that it is open, and increasing in size so we are thinking it is more than likely going to happen. We are learning it is quite a common surgery though and that it works wonders for these little premies. Hopefully he is strong enough to handle the procedure and will recovery quickly, if that's what happens. We'll let Chase decide :)

We're having our first date night on Friday- dinner or a movie, no time for both. And then celebrating moms first bday as a mom on Saturday! Hoping to spend the day with the babies, who will of course be on their best behaviour, and then have a much-missed Kirk family dinner (and maybe even a drink!!) at Ronald Mcdonald. Trying to get ourselves out of the unit at least once a day to do something to keep our minds clear. Dad is back at work and enjoying it, other than being exhausted all the time. Mom ventured out for groceries and was happy as could be to do her own shopping for the first time since September!

Will post again soon. xo.

Sidenote: You may start to receive thank you notes in your mailboxes soon. We apologize they are so late, and they may say things that are now irrelevant, like "can you believe we're having triplets". We wrote many of them while sio was on bed rest but are just now getting around to mailing them out. Our apologies. Simiarly, thank you for all the phone calls and emails. Sorry if we haven't responded. Your thoughts and words are heard and appreciated. We are so overwhelmed by all the love we've received. We're forever grateful.