Can't think of a good title

First off, thank you Janeen, for informing everyone of the need for prayers for little Abbey Tubre. It was a scary ordeal for Jaclyn and Torey and I know they appreciate all the support from the good folks of Wichita. The latest on their baby girl is that they diagnosed her with a strep infection in her blood. They started antibiotics and are hopeful that they were able to catch it early. I guess she went ahead a took matters into her own hands and extubated herself, so they left the breathing tube out and just had her on CPAP for the time being. Then she managed to remove the CPAP gear, so they just have her on a little bit of oxygen. She's doing much better today. They were able to take their biggest boy home, so there was some good news from the day! Keep the prayers a-comin'...

As for the Graf quad squad, all is going well and I keep holding my breath. I know how quickly things can change for the better or the worse, but we just try to always keep a positive attitude - no use worrying about something we can't control. God's in the driver's seat and we are just trying to enjoy the ride (as rollercoaster-esque as it may be). Now for some individual updates... I think we'll start with Danna and go from smallest to biggest baby, just to shake things up a bit!

Danna is still doing very well, especially for her size. She currently is weighing in at 1 lb 11 oz (775 grams which is 40 more than last night), and uses every bit of those 27 ounces to let us know when she is ticked off. Yesterday she halfway pulled out her feeding tube, so the nurse had to replace it with a new one. I caught a little video of her after I changed her diaper and before the new tube was placed. She wasn't a happy camper! Also, the neonatalogist said that if all goes well this weekend, they may consider taking her off CPAP sometime next week. They have also begun feeding her breast milk with the added supplement for extra calories, just like her bigger brothers. She's up to 12 mL every 3 hours. The doctors, nurses and her mom and dad are all very proud and happy with her progress. Keep it up little girl!

Danna being pissed off (see video above)

Laine is also gaining weight like he should. He's up to 2 lbs 9 oz (1160 grams). He's such a sweet little boy and always seems to know when someone is looking in his incubator at him. He'll usually manage to barely open at least one eye to acknowledge his viewer's presence. Mama's voice gets a full head turn, though. It's amazing how they really do recognize their parents' voices. His feeds are at 18 mL every 3 hours and they'll increase it in the morning if he continues to tolerate them well.

Our little man, Laine

Now for the kicker....Pius has lost the heavyweight title. He is weighing in at 3 lbs 13 oz (1760 grams). I got to spend quite a bit of time with my long armed, long fingered baby boy yesterday. He got to try out his big boy pants and give the breastfeeding thing a go. It's not really breast "feeding", but it starts getting them used to the idea of it. They call it non-nutritive breastfeeding and it entails me pumping right before allowing him to start sucking. I don't think he really grasped the concept, though. He would open his mouth and all, but then didn't know what to do after that. Not bad for his first time, though. Also, it must be the way I smell or something, because right after we started, he took the stinkiest poop ever! We had to stop everything and change his pants and start again. Then, not 3 minutes later, he took another big, stinky dump! I find it hard not to take offense. He's my little (or big) squirt, that's for sure. He is at full feeds at 36 mL every 3 hours (1 1/5 ounces).

Pius, just kickin' it

Our wide load, Forrest, is also at 3 lbs 13 oz, but he is 10 grams heavier than Pius at 1770 grams. He was being a little ornery boy yesterday. While he was sleeping, he kept dropping his oxygen saturation level down in the 70's pretty consistently, so they ended up putting him on a little bit of oxygen (0.2LPM by nasal cannula) and he did just fine. They'll probably be able to remove it sometime later, but they also drew blood for labs and blood culture to check for infection just to be on the safe side. Preliminary results came back positive for infection, so they had to draw another blood culture and start an IV to give him IV antibiotics. Yesterday he and mom got to snuggle for awhile. I helped with all his cares and then held him for a long time. Those of you who know me know that I love to do self portraits with the camera. Well, my skill came in handy that day, as no one was around to take our picture (besides the other babies, and I really didn't think they'd take a good picture anyways). So Forrest and I took a few self portraits that evening and they turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself! Forrest also had a go with the non-nutritive breastfeeding today. He had about the same success as Pius. He is also on full feeds at 34 mL every 3 hours.

Forrest with his long fingers

Mama and Forrest doing our self-portrait

Mama and Forrest (oops, I cut my head off in the pic but look at all that hair!)

Forrest sucking his thumb

As for general news, all the head sonos came back a-okay. They won't even recheck Pius or Forrest again, and will only do Laine and Danna just prior to discharge.

Uncle Phil and Aunt Cathy Brady arrived into town on Wednesday while I was still in the hospital. They came to Phoenix to be with Becky while she recovers from her procedure. Becky said it was okay for me to update everyone on her situation, so I'll paraphrase. A couple weeks ago she had an area of skin on her upper thigh evaluated by a dermatologist. They determined that it was melanoma and she had to schedule an appointment with a plastic surgeon to see about having it removed. Her surgery took place on Thursday and they felt good about being able to get all the cancerous cells removed. They didn't have to close the site with a skin graft, which is very good, but the incision is pulled very taut so she isn't allowed to sit. Yes, that's what I said. She can either stand or lay down, which makes going to the bathroom somewhat challenging! She's doing very well and I'm enjoying the chance to baby and bully her now (give her a taste of her own medicine!). Come to find out, she's just as stubborn as her cousin, Monica, when it comes to accepting help from others. I'm sure she would appreciate prayers for her continued healing and rapid full recovery.

Until next time..... Love, Moni, Billy, Pius, Forrest, Danna and Laine