Day 28

Our little ones are doing so well: we have been blessed that our children are so healthy... not troubled by many of the health concerns associated with premature birth. Each baby passed their hearing test this week. Despite my best guesses, I was wrong about the specifics of this test.

WRONG Guess #1--they put headphones on the baby, wake him / her up, and then sound a tone in one ear or the other. If the baby's eyes track in the correct direction, it demonstrates hearing in that ear.

WRONG Guess #2--they put headphones on the baby, wake him / her up, and then sound a tone in one ear or the other. The tone is rather loud. They look for a "grimace" reaction (cruel guess, I know!), which would demonstrate hearing in that ear.

CORRECT--they put headphones on the baby and then sound a tone in one ear or the other. A very sensitive device actually monitors for vibrations of the three small bones in the inner ear, which are indicative of hearing in that ear.

The babies will get their follow-up head ultrasounds tomorrow. We are hoping that this will show that Joel's grade #1 bleed has completely self-resolved. Also, they will be getting an eye exam in the next week to see if any of them have retinopathy of prematurity (an excess of blood vessel development in the retina associated with premature birth and the breathing assistance that many babies get). It is unlikely that our children will have that malady (which can be corrected using laser eye surgery) because they were born at 30 weeks of age and required only relatively minimal breathing assistance.

At almost 4 weeks of age, Joel now weighs 4 lbs 12.1 oz. He is a very long baby. Although his premie outfits still leave him swimming horizontally, he's pretty stretched vertically. In this photo, the Coca-Cola bottle is lined up with his feet.

Grace was getting her dinner during this photograph. She always seems so aware of the camera. Her current weight is 4 lbs 5.3 oz. Our darling Baby C has come so far from the time when she was intubated and struggling to cry. Yesterday, she got her fingers just right underneath her nasal gavage (the feeding tube) and pulled it out (ouch!) To prevent this from happening again, they're keeping her "under wraps"... this is why she looks like a little papoose.

And finally we have Ella. She leads her sister by 1/2 oz, weighing in at 4 lbs 5.8 oz. Ella likes to hiccup. Several times per day we will hear little "chirps" from her crib. Every time she gets the hiccups, her oxygen saturations plummet (it's actually rather comical).

This photo shows Ginger surrounded by babies. They're everywhere!!! This is how she spends her days, talking to and caring for Ella (back), Joel (right), and Grace (front). The nurses pull the curtains around her to provide some level of visual privacy.