Lungs and Cuddles - Update #17

Today was an amazing day. ....well everyday is an amazing day but it was super special because I got to cuddle Marika for the first time. We spent about an hour together. Its difficult for me to properly articulate those moments, other than it was outstanding. I always had this apprehension about handling little ones, especially because they weren't mine and I was extremely inexperienced. I had no such fears with my little one, as delicate as she is she settled down nicely and I look forward to many many more special times with her.

We have put up a link for a web cam as nice little view into our lives. Take a peek if we're online.

Live cam here.

C'mon now, why would we put up a live link, that ridiculous. I hope that some of you clicked on there and saw the dogs. You'll have to do with pics and my bad jokes. Sorry video just takes to long to sort out and between all the little husband errands I run, no shot I am waiting for video to upload.

Kyra had another good day today, just before bed she has had one of her chest tubes completely removed. She will have an xray in the morn to check if everything is holding well. We are hoping for no pneumothorax. When air escapes the lung, (through a small hole) the chest cavity fills with air and actually makes the lung collapse. This is the current reason for the remaining chest tube. She has a super grip and spent some mommy daughter time with her clenched fingers on Jo's pointer finger.

The ward we are now on is a short term post partem ward. The people her are quite different, the nurses have a mandate to have a quick turnover. After 9+ weeks on bed rest in anti-partum this pressure was not received well on our end. Seeing all the moms/families with their babies up here has been difficult as well, that being said, it is nice to have uninterrupted sleep still. Some of the families are pretty funny as well. There have been countless dads who look like death warmed over.... merely a statement not mocking at all, I am sure there will be many times when I am in this semi-nuked state and have no idea how I made it to where I was going. Grandparents are the best though by far, well seasoned in the art of child rearing I overhear countless tidbits of advice that seem to sound more like orders than helpful hints.... thankfully we had none of that in our room.

I find the grand rounds in the morning fascinating, the doctors bantering back and forth, and the nurse spewing numbers, which in turn results in a different angle on the listening doctors eyebrows. We had a good chuckle as the nurse misspoke and said that Kyra's lung was clamped although she meant chest tube. It was a 'had to be there moment' of which she recovered nicely by mentioning she does this semi-regularly to see if anyone is listening to her ramblings. Seeing the normally stoic doctors break into chuckle, reminded me that they are human, really good ones at that, who have helped my girls recover.

Continue to pray for strong lungs for my babies, also that we would be able to get into the Easter Seals House so Jo can be near the girls. Also that she continues to heal well which in turn keeps her mobility up. Sorry for the late blog posts, but this seems like the best time to get to it as Jo is sleeping and has need of my time.

Ryan




My baby girl Marika and I share our first cuddle.




Kyra with no tubes for a minute....

Back on so she can grow stronger