7 March

(1st and 3rd pictures are of Aiden and 2nd and 4th are of Austin) Aiden has also now been put on antibiotics due to elevated white blood cell counts. Good news with Aiden is that they can no longer hear a murmur in his heart. So hopefully the meds worked for his PDA. They can still hear a murmur in Austin, however, but they won't be able to say for sure whether the holes are closed up in either of the boys until they repeat the echocardiograms Monday. That said, the boys look really good today! They took the blue lights away because their biliruben numbers are down below the threshold. They seem more relaxed, their breathing is much less labored, and their skin colors look a lot better; they're not so dark anymore. The reason they are both on antibiotics is because X-Rays of their little lungs show them being "hazy" indicating possible pneumonia. Their O2 saturation levels have been outstanding all day (hovering around 100), and their blood pressures are great indicating that if they do have an infection, it is not affecting them too much. We are told that, at this hospital, they treat what they see and don't wait around for symptoms to get worse.
It's funny, Aiden is constantly pulling at his breathing tubes. And Austin seems to sleep like I do! Mouth open, on his back, with his hands up by his ears! Mommy and I were commenting how peaceful, rested, and relaxed they seem today. We heard them cry the other day and they cried a bunch today too. It's wild to hear. They definitely voice their opposition when nurses (or I) touch them or agitate them when they didn't want to be disturbed!
We got to hold them both today! Mommy held Aiden and Daddy held Austin. It was an overwhelming moment!