5 weeks old on June 6!

Madison and Kaitlyn turned 5 weeks old on Friday. It was an eventful day, but both girls are continuing to make progress and slowly gain weight.

Katilyn had surgery at 8am Friday morning (6/6) to close her PDA valve. Apparently her lungs were a little more expanded (likely from some fluid on them - not uncommon when the PDA valve is not completely closed) than was expected, and the surgeon put a small hole in one lung during the surgical procedure. Like Madison, a chest tube was put in after the surgery to handle the drainage. The surgeon was not overly concerned about the small hole and indicated they would leave the chest tube in until they felt her lung had recovered. Whether or not this would extend her stay at Mott is yet to be seen, but as of Saturday, she was doing well and only a small amount of drainage was occurring. Kaitlyn did not have the immediate low blood pressure issue like Madison, but by later in the day on Friday, they were needing to manage her b/p with medication. She will remain on those meds until it is stabilized. It is undetermined on her return date to Sparrow, but hopefully she will continue to recover nicely from the surgery and be on track to return sometime this week. A weight update on Kaitlyn last week reported her at 1 lb 11 oz.

Madison is continuing to do well after her surgery the week before Kaitlyn's. She is still situated in the isolation room at Sparrow but is no longer considered "isolated." She has made progress with her oxygen levels, and they did a trial move to a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine instead of the ventilator. A CPAP machine is the same equipment that people with sleep apnea commonly use. Rather than being intubated with the ventilator, CPAP therapy only requires use a mask. Madison was on the CPAP for part of a day but then moved back to the vent. They will continue to test her periodically and determine if she can be moved to a CPAP machine. Madison appeared to be retaining a bit of fluid over the last week, and she is back on a diretic. Her last weight report was 2 lb 2 oz.

Friday was a tiring day for Mommy and Daddy. Daddy drove down to Ann Arbor Thursday night when Kaitlyn was transported. He will (again) stay at the Ronald McDonald house for the duration of Kaitlyn's stay. Mommy got up early Friday to drive down to Ann Arbor and be present for Kaitlyn's surgery. Mommy and Daddy have not gotten to spend much time together over the last few weeks, as one or the other girls has been down at Mott, but they did get to have a lunch together on Friday. Mommy drove back to Lansing in the afternoon and then went to see Madison. Mommy stayed a little later than planned while the nurses worked Madison through some dsat episodes. Friday evening was full of storms, and by the time Mommy got back home, the power was out. It was uncertain how long the power would be out, and it was concerning since their freezer is full of breast milk. In order to not risk losing any of the girls' precious nutrients for their future, Daddy drove back home from Ann Arbor to hook up the generator and then turned around and went back to Ann Arbor. The ETA for power to be restored is late Sunday night, so it was a good thing they took this precaution.