Catching up...

We've been away a few days. Ben and I enjoyed a weekend FINALLY taking some things to my mom's house to store in the basement. We've been trying to get it there for two months, but things kept happening - like babies being born! But it's finally there. Thanks to mom for having a basement with ample storage room.

We then traveled to our friends' new house in Newland, NC - near Blowing Rock. Kevin and Maria are friends from Johns River Valley Camp and hosted our other camp friends as well. As always, it was great fun - complete with a campfire in the woods. From there we hopped on the parkway in Linville and stopped at Linville Falls for an impromptu hike to the waterfalls. It was a lovely weekend, but tiring. Ben promptly took a nap when we finally arrived home!

We haven't seen the girls this weekend, but we have called to check. Sometime Saturday, Abigail hit 1000 grams! As of tonight, she is back at 989grams. But she's still above 2 lbs. Natalie is very quickly catching up and has also hit the 2 lb mark! Tonight, she was 919 grams. My, my they are getting fat!!!

In the past few days, both girls have gone back on CPAP tp have a little rest from the nasal canula. Oh, I finally learned what CPAP stands for - Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. It does just what it says. The girls weren't peeing enough too, so they increased the laxis.

On Friday we had a sit down with the doctor and nurse practitioner. We went from head to bottom with each system. Basically, the girls are doing very well. They are exactly where they would expect them to be considering their gestational age and age at birth. The plan from this point out is to feed and grow - and learn to breathe. The biggest potential hurdle is a dreaded condition called NEC. It's the black plague of premature babies. It's essentially the degeneration of the gut tissue. They don't know what causes it or really even how to treat it effectively. A baby can get it in any form from mild to severe. The doctor said a baby can go from healthy to death in 12 hours. It really is the plague. The next four weeks or so are the most critical and when it would be most likely. SO - our new motto is -"no NEC, no NEC, no NEC". Everyone together now..."no NEC, No NEC, No NEC". Very good. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

We continue to look for continued growth and strengthening lungs. Thank you so much for all your prayers. They really are working. Natalie and Abigail are getting stronger every day.