72 Hours

Arthur getting some tummy time in.

We hit a significant milestone today! 72 hours since birth and both boys continue to improve. Arthur is loving being on tummy time for the first time, and got a long "hand hug" from his daddy while opening his eyes to enjoy a little milk on a stick. He's still too small to take out of the incubator, but Cyrus is big enough and has been snuggling on Laura's chest for over an hour now. Laura and Cyrus are both thriving finally getting to do this. Both boys are improving in their respiration in response to their new freedoms. Laura continues to recover well, now only on over the counter medications for pain and able to walk fairly well over short distances. The biggest risk now, as earlier when the sack ruptured, is infection for the boys. It's not likely that we'll have sudden catastrophic changes now that they're beyond 72 hours, but infection while they're still this small could easily be deadly. Still, the risk is far lower than it's been for most of the last three months, and for that we're very thankful! We're also overjoyed to get to love on our little boys after months of just hoping they'd make it this far! The hardest part of this continues to be missing our girls, who are still mostly living with Aunt Natalie and Uncle Trevor and their cousins. We're so thankful they're being well cared for while we aren't able to be there for them, but we really miss getting to see them everyday. We will probably need to continue having them stay there for much of the summer so we can focus on caring for the boys in the NICU till probably early September. Please pray that our boys can avoid infection and continue to make good progress toward growth, and also that our reduced time with our girls is sufficient to encourage our hearts and theirs as we prepare to reunite in the fall with four kids at home!

Cyrus and Laura snuggling.

Jonathan giving Arthur a “hand hug”.