The Brady Bunch

This weekend both Clara and Wilson had several "Bradys." Bradycardia (referred to as a "Brady") is a somewhat common condition in preemies where their heartbeats and/or oxgen gets so low they have to be stimulated. It may be common to the nurses but it really freaks us out. In non-medical terms, they stop breathing, all of the alarms around their isolettes go off, and we lose control of our bowels.

Speaking of bowels, today's big news is that both the kids had good stool. Clara actually had a good enough bowel movement that it caused her to brady (yes, she literally pooped her heart out). As we move into increased feedings, the bowel movements are really important to monitor. Clara has bowel loops, so we were especially glad she was able to let some out. We can't believe we're even writing about this, much less proud about it, but such is life in the NICU.

After a "big" afternoon, Clara let is us know everything was still OK

Tomorrow Clara is having an echocardiogram to examine the flow between the upper chambers of her heart. All in all, both kids continue to do well. Wilson had an increase in his oxygen percentage (still around 28-30%) but the doctors aren't worried yet. Clara's white blood cell count is still high but they are getting lower with the help of antibiotics.

This weekend was probably harder on us in some ways than it was on the kids. Chris developed an infection in the incision from her c-section but the swelling has gone down since she started antibiotics. Morgan has to go back to work tomorrow and brought work to the hospital all weekend to try and get caught up from an unexpected week away from the office. It will be a hard change for both of us, but we recognize how fortunate we are to have the help of so many friends and family here in town.

Thanks again for your continued prayers. Wilson and Clara are now 9 days old and doing as well as we could hope for at this point. None of us would be doing so well without the love, support and prayers.

Three generations of McGarvey women celebrated with
Clara as she was held by her mom today