8+ months

Why, hello!

We had a long stretch of time where there wasn't much to write about since not much was changing for our babies, but there have been a lot of changes recently.


As of last week, Avery is officially completely off of oxygen support both day and night.  She continues to develop and do very well at home.  Her physical therapist made a comment that if she didn't have a list of all of Avery's diagnosed medical problems in front of her, she didn't feel like she'd know she wasn't looking at a normal baby.

Check out those cheeks.



Wren stayed on her course of slow improvement while living on the oscillator until last Wednesday.  Towards the end of February, once we were able to start holding her regularly, she started showing signs of improvement and slowly developing.  She's still behind where Avery is at, but she has become more interactive and looks at us and sometimes smiles.

This has been a long time coming, but she finally transitioned off of the oscillator and onto a conventional ventilator last Wednesday (yep, the same device she was using back when she was a newborn).  Among the doctors, there was a spread of optimism and skepticism about whether she'd be ready to handle it this time around, and sure enough, she did great.  Almost right from the start, she seemed generally happier, became more interactive, and improved further.  She was doing so well that they were able to drop her oxygen all the way down to 21% (which is the equivalent of room air) and a fairly low pressure.  At that point, the only benefit she was getting from the vent was that it helps add a little pressure to inflate the lungs.

A couple of days ago, she was able to move one step further and transitioned to a home ventilator (in this picture).  Her step to this happened quicker than anyone anticipated and has been very encouraging to the doctors.  So encouraging, in fact, that they met with us today in a care conference to discuss getting her home.

It was starting to feel like we'd never have this conversation.

Dr. Christensen said that the only thing really keeping her from coming home now are the need for myself and Shannon to get trained up on all aspects of her care, and getting private home nursing figured out.  The process for all of these things is beginning now.

All at once, we are thinking that we can do this, but we're also still terrified. That part hasn't gone away yet.


For now, I'll just focus on the fact that I am feeling really grateful and hopeful.