Well the babies both recovered from having the rotavirus. However, we ended up having to bring Savannah to the ER for something completely unrelated. While getting Savannah ready for her bath last night I noticed about a 1 inch laceration underneath her armpit. The plastic lead from her Apnea monitor was pretty much embedded in her skin, which cause a major infection. Luckily she didn't have to spend much time in the hospital and was released later that night with oral antibiotics as well as antibiotic cream. I never thought we would be in the hospital for something like this. Savannah never showed any signs of discomfort, but I have to admit it looks really bad. Hopefully this will heal quickly without any further problems. Since she is basically wrapped in guaze we now have a problem with putting new leads on her to monitor her breathing. Right now we are improvising with a pulse ox machine that alarms when her oxygen level drops.

Charlton is back on the new formula. However, I am not impressed so far. He is still seems to be very uncomfortable after every feeding. Not to mention hungry about two hours later.

The other day at the doctors but babies received a serum to help prevent rotovirus. This is the second time they are getting the serum, however, this time they have had some very unpleasant side effects. We didn't know at the time, but just recently found out that this is a live virus. Both babies have been showing signs of the rotovirus. Poor Chuck has been changing diaper after diaper and the babies have been extremely cranky. Their little butts are so red and have been bleeding. We are hoping this will clear up tomorrow or they may start to get dehydrated.

Savannah and Charlton had their monthly follow up doctors appt. yesterday. Charlton now weighs
10 lbs. and is 20 3/4 long and Savannah is not far behind at 9 lbs. 4 ounces and 20 1/4 inches long. They have finally made it on the growth chart, registering at about 5%. We thought they were due for shots, but they are not due until next month.

They also switched their formula to Enfamil Nutramigen to help with their GI track. Savannah was doing well on the Similac Neosure, but Charlton was always in pain and not very regular. (If you know of anyone that has Enfamil coupons that they are not using, please have them send them our way.)

Savannah's head is definitely looking better and the doctor is not concerned at all and thinks it will reshape itself in the near future.

Both babies are doing very well overall and the doctor seems happy with their progress thus far.

CJ is getting very strong and can almost hold his head up on his own. Savannah is getting strong every day, but is not at the same point as CJ yet.

Savannah had her first Occupation Therapy session today. The therapist seemed a little concerned because Savannah's color was very pale and she seemed very lethargic. She recommended that we get a pulse oximeter for her so that we can make sure she is getting enough oxygen. Savannah's alarm also went off three times in the short time that the OT was at the house. We had to do a download a few weeks ago and found that her alarm had gone off 280 times with in a 3 week period. The Dr. said they were false alarms, but Chuck and I have had to stimulate her on many occasions because she still breathes extremely shallow at times. We are glad to have the monitor, but it definitely wakes up everyone in the house, quite often.

Little Charlton is doing very well and definitely has his own little personality. He always wants to be held and cuddled. Savannah likes to be held as well, but he is much more vocal about it.

Both babies have been doing tummy time and we have definitely noticed the increase strength in their necks.

We consider ourselves very blessed because they really are good babies.

I am sorry I haven't had much to report on, but as they say, no news is good news.

CJ and Savannah are doing very well. They both had their physical therapy yesterday at the house. The physical therapist works with them to move their muscles to help prevent them from tightening. This is to help reduce the risk of Cerebral Palsy.

CJ did very well and was very active during his session. Savannah on the other hand wanted to sleep instead. Just as the PT was ready to leave Savannah woke up so the PT stayed to work with her for a little bit.

Savannah's head shape has become a concern for us since one side is extremely flat. We have to constantly change her position to help get this worked out. CJ's head seems to be nicely shaped.

The babies have been taking a little more formula, but still have trouble taking as much as they need. Savannah is also known for skipping a meal or two. Although we try our best to wake her up, she just can't be bothered. CJ on the other hand is very opposite in the fact that he is like clock work. Every three hours we know he will start crying and start rocking the crib by flopping all around to get some food. Sometimes we just stare at the cribs because we are amazed at the sounds that come out of them. They certainly do not sound like little baby sounds. Mainly sheep like sounds and a lot of grunting. Also, CJ's flopping like a fish sound.

Tomorrow we are hoping it is a nice day so we can join the nurses and doctors at the NICU annual picnic. This will give us the opportunity to meet other parents who have had similar experiences and to see many of these kids grown. Apparently they have been having this picnic for 25 years.

Ashley is still having a difficult time adjusting to have her brother and sister home. Although she loves having them home and wanting to be a little mommy she still craves her own attention.

Yesterday Ashley told daddy that she wanted to visit her grandmother. She went into her room and got dressed, packed her back and then was off to see grandma. She asked daddy if she could have a map, but fortunately she did not make it far because it was raining and daddy didn't give her a map. We are really trying to focus more on her needs as this has been a difficult transition for her.

The babies are both doing very well. CJ is definitely the little snuggler, where Savannah is content being left alone. However, we try to spend equal time snuggling each baby as well as Ashley.

Ashley is having a very difficult time adjusting and has regressed a little bit. We are hoping this phase is short lived.

We are getting a little cabin fever since we are only allowed to take the babies out while it is warm. They are not allowed a lot of people, especially other children until they get much stronger and RSV season passes. So it looks like we will be spending a lot of time home since RSV season is not over until April. They will, however, get shots to help prevent getting RSV. These shots are once a month until April comes around.

October will be a busy month for doctor follow up appointments. They have to see the Pulmonologist and Savannah will be having another Eye exam and will be seeing another surgeon for her thumb. For those who don't know, Savannah's thumb turned black when she was about 3 weeks old. The doctors thought she was going to lose her thumb, but one day when we arrived at the hospital we noticed it was no longer black and was pink again. The only problem is its shape and possible functionality. However, the surgeon thinks he may be able to fix it so it is fully functioning and looks normal. It really doesn't look bad at all, but we will take the doctors advice to have a consultation to make sure it will function properly.