3/1

Well, our new little ones are settling in, and for the most part they do seem to be doing well. All four have transferred to the Medical Home, bringing us to 22 babies here in all. Our capacity here is 20 babies, so things are very busy for now! Our other baby home currently has 13 babies, with a usual capacity of 10 to 12. Fortunately, we have another 5 babies waiting to "graduate" into foster care, so as soon as homes are ready for them we should have some breathing space again.

Baby Min is totally adorable and just perfect in every way. He is strong and healthy, so we plan to begin casting his bilateral club feet this week. The feet look severely deformed, but since he is so young and does not have other associated medical problems we anticipate a relatively quick and uneventful correction. Stay tuned for updates on that. (And do excuse the pink blanket; he really is a boy!)

Little Yu and Yin are doing well also. Yu looks a bit more malnourished, and has a cute little skin tag on her cheek. Yin gave us a scare yesterday when her O2 levels dropped quite severely, but we have started her on antibiotics to treat pnuemonia and she has stabilized and has not worsened. So that is good news.

The tiniest of our new arrivals is Jun, but even he is gaining very quickly. Surprisingly, his oxygen levels have been quite stable. He only requires some assistance feeding and hot water bottles to help maintain a stable temperature. Our big concern for him now is a large ulcer on the side of his head. He has a similar (but not open and ulcerated) wound on the opposite side of his head - the symetrical nature of these wounds lead us to believe he suffered some kind of birth trauma. Perhaps damage from a difficult forceps delivery; we may never know.

As always, we are grateful for your prayers and support!