October 6th, 2007

We're just waiting for our Tuesday eye appointment. We're told that the plan is to send us back to the Wichita NICU on Tuesday. However, it is still possible that we will have to stay longer. Please pray that their eye exams go well and that we are able to go home.

Carver continues to do very well. Last night and today he's been a little crabby. I'm not sure what's bothering him. It's been a struggle to get him to eat his minimum amount of formula. Hopefully he'll be back to himself tomorrow. He continues to be on near room air on 1/2 lt of flow.

Kinnick still struggles with her breathing. The Beaumont hospital doesn't want to look into what is causing her struggles. They plan to leave that for the Wichita NICU when we return. They say that it will require a ENT to evaluate her and don't want to get something started in Michigan that will have to change hands when we return to Kansas. Guess that makes sense since we are supposed to be heading home next week. She still bottle feeds very poorly. The nurses always seem to have a reason (excuse) not to try to bottle feed her. This makes it difficult for her to start over after going nearly a complete day without trying. I've asked them to at least try during each feed even if she only takes 10ml. She needs the practice. Still doesn't seem to make a difference, because this isn't happening. Can't wait to go home and do it myself. Because of this, there is no doubt that she will require a G-tube for feeding in order to go home in the near future. The G-tube will not prevent me from bottle feeding her. I am confident that with consistent practice, she will learn to bottle feed and will not need the G-tube. It's too bad that the nurses won't do this for Kinnick. It's too easy for them to put her feed on a pump and do something else with their time. I'll quit talking about that - obviously it frustrates me.

I'm still working from my hotel. This seems to be going well. It makes for long hours working CST. I typically log in around 7:00am CST and log out between 7:00pm and 7:30pm EDT. I go to the hospital each night after work and visit the babies till around 11:00pm. However, this is much better then other options that were explored. Other options were quiting my job (can't do that because I need insurance), going back to Wichita to work and fly back to see the babies every other weekend (couldn't stand the thought of leaving the babies behind). So, this gives me the best of both worlds. I'm very fortunate to be able to work remotely.

I miss my family and friends. I can't wait to see everyone. It seems like it has been forever!