4 weeks old

I know I promised pictures and we took them I am just waiting for my dad to email them to me. I tried to take pictures Sunday, but the incubators and I are the same height so its a little hard sometimes. I will have Michael take some if I don't get them pretty soon though I promise.

The boys are doing pretty good this week, Conner has been pretty stable on his ventilator settings so they were weening him down to move him a non pressurized vent but just as they were getting to the no pressure point he couldn't handle it and they had to put him back up. The doctor reassured us this is fairly common and we will try again slower throughout the week. Conner is also up to what is right now considered to be "full feeds" he's getting continuous feedings of 5ml an hour...which is a great jump from the 1ml every 12 hours he started on. Now that he is on full feeds they have taken him completely off of the TPN (gatorade/vitamin) IV. And other then his usual daily removal of monitors and wiggling Conner is just chugging along right now.

Chase is still not receiving feeds yet. They are waiting for his ostomy(I have no idea how to spell that word) to show it is cleaned out by making a "smear." The surgeon says that typically takes about a week, which will be tomorrow,but we won't be concerned until late in the week if there is still nothing. Chase is beginning to prove to the nurses that he is Conner's true twin and not just the "quiet bourque" like he has been called. He is wiggle worm. Every time we go in his little limbs are just a going. Chase is on a higher pressure setting then Conner but is beating him on his oxygen requirement for a couple days now.

I just want to take a minute and thank everyone for all the support you have and are giving Michael and I. Words can not describe how we are feeling right now and with things changing constantly we are living in a constant state of not knowing. The prayers are working. Our boys were miracles to start and every day is triumph. This Thanksgiving our boys will be exactly one month old....and there's nothing in this world I could be anymore thankful for. It amazes me just how many people have our family in their thoughts and prayers and to all you I am so very thankful.

We appreciate the support to get back and forth to the hospital, the hospital is 48 miles one way from our house and with gas being over $3.30 a gallon it doesn't make our daily commute easy. Last week we really had to sit down and figure out what to do about the cost. It broke both of our hearts to think we would have to cut back our trips to the nicu but we were able to pull the donation fund from this site to get a gas card.

I also want to say a special thanks to all those kind women who have cooked and have signed up to cook us dinner. Not having to worry about what's for dinner is such a relief. There was a time I was waiting for one of us to turn into a burger. We have been able to relax on our way home knowing that we don't have to cut our visit at the nicu short just so we can have dinner at a decent time.

Thanks again to everybody and I promise we will return the favors :)