5 March

Took them off antibiotics today. Did brain ultrasounds on both boys to check for bleeding in the brain and preliminary results say they both scored "1" which is best on a scale of 1-4. Austin has no evidence of a heart murmur, but Aiden does. It is loud enough that they plan to get an echocardiogram on Aiden this evening and will go ahead and do Austin as well this evening. Aiden has a hole in his heart which is causing the murmur they can hear through the stethoscope. The hole is normal when in-utero but usually closes later in the pregnancy. Austin's apparently closed already. Depending on the size of the hole, they will either wait on it, administer drugs that help it close, or in the extreme case, will have to perform surgery and put a patch on it. They tell us it is not cause for concern at this time. Fingers crossed. You cannot believe how unimaginably beautiful these two little boys are to see, speak to, and touch. :o) We love them with all our hearts...
*** UPDATE ***
Talked with the NICU late tonight and were told that Aiden and Austin, in fact, now weigh 2 lbs 11 oz and 2 lbs 7 oz respectively..! That is a 17 oz drop and 9 oz drop since birth..! We were never told anything about their weight so we were quite concerned but after talking with a doctor, it is normal for newborns to lose weight in the way of fluids and stuff after they are born. They just don't want it to be more than 10%. And in our boys' cases, they are suspecting that the birth weights were erroneous. Let's hope so! Additionally, both boys were diagnosed with holes in their hearts (patent ductus arteriosus). I guess Austin didn't want Aiden to be alone..! They are on medication (indomethacin) to try and close it. They will do another echocardiogram this weekend to see if the meds are working... ughhhh. All that said, however, the doctors and nurses continue to assure us that Aiden and Austin are doing very well as measured by the air they breathe on their own, their blood tests, their urine tests, the way they act and react, the scans of their brains, etc. So that is all good to know...