The Week of Milestones

So this has been quite the week of milestones for the kids and me. Let's see if I can recap:

Ryan got his first tooth last week. Yes, my 12 week preemie cut a tooth. For a few days, he kept putting his hand in his mouth, even right after he ate. So I kept thinking he was still hungry and would try to give him more food but he would refuse. Then came the drooling. So just for fun, I peeked and lo and behold, there it was ---- a little white tooth peeking through. Blew my mind. Luckily, he isn't really fussy about it --- but he still isn't eating the same. Tylenol seems to help a bit but I am trying to be conservative with that and just let him get through it. It would be nice if he was old enough to hold the teething ring I have for him :)

I was a "single mom" for 3 days while Matt was offshore. It really sounded more daunting than it actually was. BUT I REALLY MISSED 5:30pm which is when Matt typically gets home from work and I get a chance to run to Sonic, Walgreens, Kroger or other really fun locales. When you have 2 babies, the whole packing up and going thing just to get a large Diet Coke isn't really appealing. I'm over getting my caffeine high by the time we get out the door. Anyway, the babies and I survived and actually did pretty well. I have a whole new respect for moms who's husbands travel all week or single moms altogether. Not easy.

So that was a milestone --- mommy can keep the babies for 3 days and all are still alive & mommy is sane :) (Well, I was a little bit insane Weds when Matt was supposed to be coming home. I had talked to him earlier in the day and his chopper was delayed. He said he would call before he took off (original flight time was 10am but was estimated to leave b/w noon and 1pm). I was in an appt with Quinn and didn't really think about it again until we got on the road - and oh, my word, it was 3pm and I had not heard from Matt. So I tried calling his cell. No signal. Tried calling his office number offshore. No answer. Ughhhhh. Waited until 4:15 before I went into a somewhat hysteria state. Talked to a very nice man in the control room of the Atlantis rig floating somewhere in the Gulf. Explained my situation and told him that I was worried since I had not heard from him. The control room guy politely told me that the chopper took off late (3:15pm) and if I did not hear from my husband by 5:00pm, then I should be really worried. Thanks, guy. 4:55pm I finally spoke with Matt. Awesome. Heart attack avoided.)

Quinn is off of oxygen!!! Praise God! We had the LONGEST day at TCH for her OCRG test to determine whether that would be feasible or not. But when we left, I just had this overwhelming peace that all was fine and she was going to pass the test with flying colors. And she did! She had zero apnic episodes and never desaturated under 80% the entire time. Her average saturation was 89% which was fantastic. (Again, as a reminder, normal babies saturate 99-100%, but with Q's heart, her normal function will be less. And actually, for explanations that are too lengthy to go into for a midnight post, anything higher than an average sat of 95% would not be good for her). The Dr. was really positive about removing the oxygen and then we will just continue to use the pulse ox monitor to grab baselines during the day & keep it on her as she sleeps. He recommnended only 4 or 5 days for that ---- umm but this mom thinks that one little cord is a massive improvement and I'll probably strap that bad boy on her until her surgery. We will meet again with the cardiologist on the 13th and from then go ahead and schedule her surgery, 6-8 weeks out. So by the end of the year, we should be monitor free, oxygen free, and heart fixed :) yay God!

So as soon as we hung up, I immediately started pulling the oxygen taping off of her little face. After a little fussing, I could tell she was relieved. It will be interesting to see how she is in the next few days when she goes to reach to pull it out (as she always does) and it's not there. I hope it will make her happy :) because it makes this mommy smile to see her without it. Don't get me wrong, I was happy for her to have it before b/c it was keeping her well, but her little body is starting to heal itself from the prematurity and failure to thrive, so it was such a pleasure to take a step forward. One step at a time with this kiddo.

There was another milestone this week, but it escapes me. I'll probably remember it tomorrow when I post for the twin's 3 MONTH BIRTHDAY. OH, my. Where does the time go? We thank you all for your continued prayers. They are working!!! More to come also on my trip to TCH & a OCRG party room :)