The A-Team: An Update

It's been two weeks since we were placed with our newest little ones. I've been meaning to update this but I've been lost in a fog that is VBS. Fortunately for all my readers, Andrew doesn't believe in sleep and I've got so many VBS thoughts zooming around in my head that sleep alludes me. So here it is -- a 4am A-Team update!

Andrew is doing well. He's gained almost 2 pounds since we've had him and he's really starting to chunk up. This a really good thing -- the less fragile you are in this zoo, the better! He's not sleeping -- except during the middle of the day and then he's dead to the world. We're working on that. We're battling some eating issues because his mouth is just so stinkin' small. It's difficult to find a bottle that little that also lets milk out as fast as he'd like. We're on brand number 5 now. Other than that he's a happy little guy -- and boy do I mean little!

Andre is still in the NICU. He's having difficulty maintaining his oxygen saturation while eating. Luke visited Tuesday and reported there wasn't much change. Andre was still only allowed 4 bottle feeds/day and he was requiring oxygen during/after the feeds to boost his oxygen levels. This is a typical preemie thing and one we'll just have to wait out. Unfortunately there isn't a pill or a drug or anything that can remind a baby to breathe while he eats. We did this with Jack except Jack didn't have breathing issues -- he just couldn't remember to make his heart beat while he ate. Details, right?! I'm set to visit tonight so I'm hopeful that at least some progress has been made. Given the slow progress we've seen so far, though, Luke and I are inclined to guess Andre will be a due-dater. We don't expect him home before the end of June unless something dramatic happens.

I won't know anything about the case or the likelihood of permanency until our court date in early July.

That's about it! We're working on feeding and growing Andrew and wrapping our minds around taking care of two newborns!

20 new toes

There is still a huge, massive, gargantuan part of me that can't believe I'm actually writing this post. At 9:15 Wednesday morning we made the decision to open our foster home to new placements. And at 3:53pm that same day Luke called to tell me that we'd been placed. With a sibling set. Actually a set of twin little boys. That's right -- twins!

Born May 19th, the boys were a little early but are healthy as can be expected for such little guys (each barely weighs in at 4.5 lbs as of now). Andrew came home to us this afternoon and is so incredibly tiny. Baby Andre is still working on his breathing and eating in the NICU and will probably stay there another 2 weeks or so.

As always I can't say much else due to privacy issues. I don't know much to be honest. We don't even know if the boys are identical as we haven't seen Andre yet. Once I get them both home I'll post a picture.

Like before, we are hoping to adopt these little guys. The case looks promising but it's so early that really anything could happen. The reality of adoption is hitting us in waves as we go; raising two little boys the same age is going to be a new kind of interesting for us.

And so our little family has grown by 20 toes and 20 fingers and a whole bunch more!