The Wrigley Family: We are getting closer

It seems like my time just gets away from me so fast and before I know it I haven't updated the blog in a couple weeks! The boys are doing good! As far as an update on their white blood cells and absolute neutrophil counts we still don't know. They did a blood test on them looking for granulocyte antibodies that attack and kill the neutrophils but that test came back negative, which means they did not detect the antibodies. So they decided to do the test on me and see if I have them and for some reason the boys' just weren't detected on the test. I did that Tuesday and we won't have results for a week and a half or so. If mine comes back negative they will do genetic tests on the boys to look for possible congenital diseases that maybe they were born with. The three diseases they will look for are called kostmanns syndrome, cyclic neutropenia, and shwachman diamond syndrome. It is a 1 in a million chance of having one of these syndromes. The good news if it's one of these syndromes is it's treatable, the bad news is it requires a shot everyday for the rest of their life. Our neonatologist honestly thinks it is just a phase they are going through and even though they don't see this hardly ever he seems to think they will just get over it and we will never know why they had the neutropenia. I hope he is right! We will have to keep following up with the hematologist/oncologist here in boise until they figure it out though. The boys both had their first car seat tests on Monday. They have to sit in their car seat and not have any desaturations in oxygen for two hours to pass. They both failed. Jace only sat in his for 30 minutes before they had to take him out and stimulate him. Blair made it the two hours but the neonatologist said his breathing patterns were still a little too premature for his liking. He said if he was really trying to get them home that day he probably would have passed him but where Jace didn't even make it 30 mins and Blair had to stay until Tuesday night anyway for an eye exam he decided to try his test again later on. Both boys now have mature eyes and don't have to have eye exams for 6 months! Yay! We got by with no retinopathy of prematurity!! ROP is extremely common in preemies, especially ones born as early as they were and we feel blessed to have not had to deal with that! They both got their 2 month immunizations today and handled them like champs. They are such strong boys. They both have had really high blood pressures, like adult blood pressures. Blair's has been going on a lot longer than Jace's but they decided to have a nephrologist do a renal workup in them and make sure their kidneys are doing what they're supposed to and not causing the high blood pressure. They did kidney ultrasounds today and will do blood work in the morning and then the nephrologist will come see them tomorrow. We should know results tomorrow sometime. Hopefully that all pans out well. They started them on a low dose of spironolactone though to #1 help the high blood pressure and #2 help bring the swelling down in them. I joked with Tyson today about how they're going to need the weekly medicine organizers with the days of the week on them already as newborns so we don't forget what to give them and when! I am going to have to become one organized mama to remember everything and at what times. Other than that these two boys are doing great!! Most of the time they are just happy and seem so healthy and doing what newborns do. They are little fighters! They are so strong. They are my little miracles. And we are hoping to have our little miracles home by this weekend as long as they can pass their car seat tests. Unfortunately, until we figure out their white blood cell problem (which is their immune system) we will have to ask that nobody come visit us. The doctors have put us on strict orders to keep the boys confined because if they end up exposed to anything they don't have an immune system to fight it and would most likely end up back in the NICU. We hate to do that because we would love to see everyone and show off our little miracles but we have to do what is best for them. Thank you everyone for your continued prayers and kind words. We are blessed with the most wonderful family and friends.