Sunday update

Just a few things of note have happened since our last post:

- On Friday, we visited Primary Children's Hospital via the enclosed walkway that connects it to the U of U Medical Center. Docs in their cardiology group conducted fetal echocardiograms on both twins, looking for heart problems. The short version: they didn't find any of which we weren't already aware. Micah's ventricle walls are still thicker than we'd like to see and his right ventricular function is somewhat diminished, but that's not terribly surprising considering the symptoms of TTTS that caused this to happen in the first place persist.

- Fetal EKGs are "scored" on a ten-point scale. One point is "awarded" for each worrisome feature or symptom that the doctor observes. Micah scored a "1" (the ventricular issue) and Spencer scored a "0." We'll take it!

- During Friday afternoon's cord doppler session, the doctor indicated that everything looks pretty stable. She mentioned, in fact, that she fully expects the kiddos to stay inside for at least another week. That's good news since every day inside (we've heard) counts for two in the NICU after birth. That's just a rule of thumb, but more time in is definitely better than less.

The game-plan at this point is to leave the kids inside until test results indicate that one or both would be better served to be outside. The test in question are cord doppler exams (measuring bloodflow through the twins' umbellical cords), Non-Stress Tests (NSTs) (which look for heart-rate increases following activity--a measure of the development of the kiddos' sympathetic systems), and every-four-hours ultrasound heartrate checks by Melissa's nurses.

More later...