today we were praised. no, praised VERY MUCH! well, actually, the dragon was. for exceptionally few alarms. for outstandingly unobtrusive behavior. for good heart rates, oxygen saturations, breathing frequencies...

two of the three ductuses are now closed, collin is a little behind on that one. however, because of the re-intubation he is stable enough to tolerate the medication again to help close it. so, alltogether pretty favourable odds, really. speaking of re-intubation: benjamin had to copy his twin brother and got his "trunk" back, too. needs some rest and assistance breathing. but he is also more stable as far as the rest goes, so this is no real biggie. only our little victoria keeps breathing on her own - despite her problems with fluid in her lungs and the respective cortison therapy. she is showing off!

summarizing, today was the longed for "up" after the past days' "downs"... well, ups and downs had been promised, so we're pretty much on schedule, here.

and we keep snuggling courage and self esteem into our little dragon. a little at a time... and today an exceptionally big little.