Harry, dressed for the first time
Little JoeJoe and Harry have reached eight weeks old, and tomorrow will be the equivalent of 32 weeks gestation.
Both babies are doing fantastically well. Harry is now spending one hour in every eight completely off his cpap, with only oxygen prongs to help him breathe. This is a huge step and once he manages 24 hours off in one go he will no longer be an Intensive Care baby and will be moved down to Special Care, where he will learn to feed.
Joe is doing well on cpap, but isn't yet quite ready to spend time off. His oxygen requirements are low, nearly always below 30% and he continues to amaze the doctors with his progress. It was only a week ago that he was still ventilated so he has come a long way. He has developed a hernia near his right testicle and the surgeon has seen him and will be keeping an eye on it. Hernias are very common in premature babies and it's only a very minor surgery to fix it, most babies are back to normal within a day or two of having it repaired.
When the babies were weighed on Wednesday, Joe was 975 grams, or 2lb 4oz and Harry is 1215 grams, or 2lbs 10oz.
Sadly I have to report that the twin next to Joe died in the early hours of Wednesday morning. She fought a hard battle for five long weeks but in the end her little lungs just weren't strong enough to cope.
Wow both your boys are doing amazingly! They are making astounding progress and it sounds as though Harry will be saying goodbye to ICU soon, shortly followed by his brother. Joe has really turned around completely hasn't he?! J had a hernia and it sorted itself out in the end.
ReplyDeleteI'm so very sorry to hear that Joe's little neighbour died. Her parents and her surviving twin are in my thoughts. xo