From: JT and Writergrl
Hi everyone,
Thank you all so much for your words of encouragement and offers of support. It means the world to us and we tell the girls every day that people around the world are rooting for them. Watching them grow and thrive has truly inspired our respect for both of them - they're strong little people and we are honored to be able to help them grow up.
From the medical side of things - they're doing very well. The NICU environment is becoming more familar to us, but we know just enough to be worried with something changes, like an increase in the percentage of oxygen they receive. The doctors and nurses are great about explaining the day-to-day changes, but also putting it all into context for us. And - according to the experts - both girls are doing amazingly well.
This week they did need surgery to close the Patent Ductus Arteriosus - a small duct helps babies in utero circulate blood efficiently. Most babies have this valve open when they're born, but it closes within a day of being born. With preemies it can sometimes be helped to close with a form of ibuprophen, but for little sprites like ours, surgery is usually the way to close it. It only took 20 minutes, the incision site is about 1 inch long and is located on their sides, under their left armpit. At this point, their skin is still developing, so any scars should be very minor and small. They are already improving tremendously now that their blood can circulate efficiently.
At last check - Pumpkin weighed in at 990 grams or about 2 lbs. 3 oz. Cricket is at 750 grams or 1 lb. 10.5 oz. To all of you who inqured - Cricket did finally have a poopy diaper - several, in fact. Actually, so many people commented on it that we considered sending this email under the subject line of "Cricket pooped!" but realized that with the staying power of electronic communications, she'd most likely never forgive us when a frenemy found it and put it up on her MySpace page in 12 years.
Thanks again for the overwhelming outpouring of love and support for our family. Please keep the calls and emails coming! Even though we can't respond to everyone immediately, it is so nice to know how many people out there are pulling for our sweet baby girls.
With love,
JT and Writergrl
Photo update:
Here is Pumpkin with her eyes open and sucking on her first pacifier. Cricket is snoozing in her favorite position - tummy down and head turned to the left.
