Chuplicates: 2-7

Can I get a drumroll please?..........Penny had a.......GOOD DAY!!!! (and the crowd goes wild!!!) The results came back from her hepatic blood panel as hepatitis negative for A, B, and C. Her bilirubin numbers are headed in the right direction. Her PICC line cultures came back positive for staph epi so it was pulled out. Her gases were getting better all day, but as soon as that PICC was pulled she got even better! Her settings are now almost where I was told they would need to be to be extubated! So, my hopeful self is thinking it'll happen tomorrow, because they don't usually extubate at night. Because her PICC line is out she'll have to get her all her medicines through peripheral IVs, which as I'm typing this, she's just pulled her one IV out, but she has an excellent nurse tonight that will get her a new one that should last a few days. That's the down side of having no PICC is that peripheral IVs only last a few days and then she has to be stuck again, whereas her PICC was in for 6 weeks and just now had to be pulled. But that PICC was obviously infected and needed to come out. She should be feeling much better starting really soon. I also just finished kangarooing with her and she tolerated it for almost an hour. She opened her eyes a few times and really seemed to rest well when she was sleeping. Precious precious.

Miss Lydia had a big day herself. Today was the day that her suck/swallow/breath finally clicked!!! (and the crowd roars!!!) We met with the lactation consultant here this morning and she taught me all the tricks I was missing and things just fell into place. As I'm typing, again, Jonathan is bottle feeding her for her evening "try" and she just took 24 ccs from a bottle. She's a champ! Also, as I mentioned yesterday, when we get her out to feed her, we get to dress her!!! I couldn't stop giggling the first time we did! When you see these pictures I be you'll giggle too.

Specific Prayer

Penny to be extubated soon and to keep improving with her pulmonary system
Penny's bilirubin to continue to decrease
Penny's IVs to stay viable for long periods of time to avoid more sticks
Penny to start putting on weight
Lydia to continue being a champ at eating (just like her daddy)
Lydia extra protection from germs and sicknesses as we have her out of her isolette more often