Praises and Prayer Requests

Kangaroo care with Aryanna

We just returned home from the hospital for the day after a sweet time of cuddling our babies.  We both got to do kangaroo care (skin-to-skin holding) tonight:  Mommy held Anthony and Daddy held Aryanna.  We also had sweet nurses today that took their “tanning goggles” off during diaper changes so we could see their beautiful eyes—they opened them a bunch for us.  (They usually wear the goggles to protect their eyes from the lights for jaundice).  There’s a lot to update everyone on so here are some praises from today and some continued prayer requests.

Kangaroo care with Anthony

Sweet Aryanna

Praises:

-Anthony and Aryanna are one week old – Happy Birthday babies!

-Aryanna’s brain scan came back negative!  She won’t have another one until the middle of July.

-Both babies are having their feedings (2 ml each) increased from every 6 hours to every 3 hours.  Right now they are being fed through their feeding tubes.

-Both are down to one bili light for jaundice.  They both had 3 or 4 at one point so there’s a lot more room to walk around the room now.

-Aryanna pooped for the first time!  She pooped for the nurse this morning and mid-diaper change for mommy this afternoon! 

Aryanna without her tanning goggles

-Anthony’s lungs are opening like they like to see so they’ll leave his ventilator settings where they are for a couple of days and then see about weaning him off of the vent.  He was also on sedatives when he first went on the vent because he was uncomfortable, but he is off of them now and resting well.

-Aryanna is doing great on the CPAP for her breathing and may be able to move up to the Vapotherm in a couple of days.

Prayer Requests:

-Anthony’s brain scan came back with the left side still being a grade 4 bleed, but the right side has changed from a 2 to 3.  This was obviously hard news to hear, but we’re still trusting God for a miracle.  Pray that the bleeding would stop and that he would have a resilient little brain that would compensate for any damage from the bleeding.  His next brain scan will be next Thursday, June 7^th.

Anthony's tiny fingers

-Anthony still has the heart murmur, but thankfully he’s not having any side effects from it.  They’ll still give his PDA some time to close before they consider surgery.

-Life with preemies is a constant roller coaster.  There are days with incredible highs and others with devastating lows.  Pray for Jose and I as we walk through these emotional highs and lows.

We are so grateful for everyone’s encouraging words, support, prayers and love for our twins.  We are so lucky to have such a great support system on this journey.

Anthony

Anthony

Aryanna

Thank you!

Karissa & Jose

(Anthony & Aryanna)