Surprise!

Well, it seems that another month (and a half) has passed, the twins keep growing, and all of you who love them so well are curious as to what they’ve been up to…let me fill you in!

We celebrated Easter in a very low-key manner–as we were still under house arrest, we stayed home from church (on the busiest day in the church all year, it just seemed like a good idea).  Our dear “Uncle” Kyle and “Aunt” Katie came to see us and enjoy a cook-out, and we got the twins all gussied up after church just for fun.

Exhibit A: Easter outfits!

(Forgive the picture quality—it’s an iphone photo of the screen on our Canon point and shoot…you get the idea.)

The Easter bunny even came to our house and brought us all sorts of fun things in our (overpriced-even-on-sale-but-so-so-adorable) Easter baskets from PBK.

We put the monkey mirror to good use right away during tummy time…

        

…as you can see, it’s a bit of a funhouse mirror, and makes the babes look a little crazy!

The week before Easter, Auntie Rachel came to visit and FINALLY got to get her paws on her niece and nephew!  Rachel drove my mom out to NJ two days after the babies were born (someone needed their mommy), and came out again at Christmas…all without getting to properly love on Henry and Holland.  As you can imagine, here was a major love-fest going on up in here!

Auntie Rachel with her “Cutest Nephew EVER”!

A few weeks after Easter, Grandma Jacobsen and Great-Grandma Phyllis came out to cozy up with our sweet babes.  I’d say they had a good time.

     

The family visits didn’t end there!  At the end of the month Auntie Dawn and Grandma Julie (again!) joined us for the better part of a week.  Auntie Dawn had visited in December when the babies were about 3 pounds and still on the ventilators…I think she had more fun with them this time!

We loved having all our visitors…Chris and I didn’t give a bottle or a breathing treatment for what felt like weeks!  We managed to get out a bit; a viewing of “42” and dinner, and a trip to Princeton to Winberie’s, one of our favorite places.  As the weather has gotten nicer, flu/RSV/general yuckiness season has all but ended, and our babies have gotten big and strong, we’ve been venturing out into the world a bit more…

…like to Babies’R’Us (makes sense, doesn’t it?).

And, on a particularly nice day, to the Jersey Shore outlets to walk around, get some fresh air, and see what the Banana Republic Factory Store had to offer us (unfortunately, not much!).  I’ve gradually been venturing out with BOTH babies on my own.  The first time we went through the bank and pharmacy drive-thrus (not requiring us to leave the car).  The next week we went walking at the Brick Reservoir with some other moms I’ve met.  This last week the 3 of us went to the New Mom’s Group at the hospital.  Today included a trip to FLC to say “hi” to some of our friends (without entering the learning area), and to give notice about some interesting changes…

I’ve been asked a lot about what “the plan” is for September.  Being tenured in my school district, I’m “entitled” to another year off with my employment status being reserved (there’s no guarentee I’d be assigned back as Basic Skills 3-5).  I had told my principal that I would be taking that year, knowing (with reasonable certainty) that I would not be returning in the fall of 2014.  Long story short, I took the plunge and officially resigned this afternoon.  It wasn’t a hard decision, and I’m so excited to be able to spend my days with these sweet babes!  I’ll certainly miss my coworkers and the interactions with students, but know that my work at home is what I want to be doing.  Hooray for a new phase of life!  (And, my visit to school is the reason you all get to enjoy this blog post…turns out our readers were anxious for more!)

Henry and Holland continue to amaze us.  Henry is weighing in right around 11 pounds, and Holland isn’t too far behind at about 10.  They continue to eat like champs, and sleep even better…yeah, we know we’re lucky!  About a month ago, Chris and I woke up at 6:21 am, looked at one another and smiled…the babies hadn’t woken up to eat at all…high fives all around!  They’re consistently sleeping from about 9 pm to 7:30 am, and even with a midnight pumping session thrown in there (building up that freezer stash again!), this is one well-rested mama!

Henry ended up having laser correction on his left eye at the end of March.  Thankfully it only required a 1-night stay at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, and after several follow-ups, he has officially been CLEARED of his ROP (retinopathy of prematurity).  All of the blood vessels around his retina have vascularized just the way they should, and we don’t have to go to the eye doctor for 2. Whole. Months!  (Holland was also “discharged” from the Dr. Pardon’s care, but didn’t need laser correction…show off!)

We’ve had several sleep studies under the direction of our pulmonologist, Dr. Dadzie (the “Lord of the Lungs”).  After the first (March 20-21), we turned their settings down to 1/8 of a liter per minute, which helped the tanks last a lot longer!  We had been calling for “refills” once a week, but at 1/8 lpm, we could get 2 weeks out of the deal!  On April 17 we headed back to Jersey Shore to see if we could transition to room air during the day and 1/8 lpm at night…and we did!  This week we were back on the pediatric floor, and, while we didn’t have any alarms or huge episodes that would cause concern, Dr. Dadzie wants us to keep our peanuts on the oxygen at night for another month.  We were a little disappointed, but in the grand scheme of things, one more month of oxygen is nothing!  And, lungs are pretty important, so we want our babies to have healthy, fully-developed ones…and that’s what the oxygen helps do!  This last sleep study was decidedly less “fun” than the previous ones…the babies are older and know that they’re not in their home…and they didn’t like it very much!

Henry had another follow-up with the GI doctor, who was pleased with his weight gain, as well as the status of his poo…I changed his diaper, and the doctor snatched it from me to check it out!  GI sure is a glamorous speciality!

Our most recent trip to the apnea center was equally positive–both babies’ monitor readings were “normal,” and we are about one month out from getting rid of the monitors!  With each appointment and follow-up visit, we are reminded about just how healthy and amazing these babies of ours are.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again…our outcomes could have been very different.  We are so incredibly thankful for our healthy, robust sweethearts…and for all of you who prayed fervently for them.  As if we need a reminder, but our God is so very, very good!

Now for a picture dump!

Twinsies!  Holland and Henry (left to right) are FINALLY big enough to wear the outfits I bought the day I found out we were having twins (July 2).

Here they are cuddling under Grandpa Jim’s baby blanket.

     

Sometime in April we started getting REAL smiles from both babies.  Henry dished them out first, but this was one of Holland’s first real-deal smiles.  You’ll notice Henry still has a very serious face at times…I keep telling him that worrying so much will give him high blood pressure.

     

Waiting at the GI doctor makes us (Henry) feel a variety of emotions…

We often take a bunch of pictures in a row to capture a series of facial expressions…here’s an especially funny Holland one:

Seriously.  This is why my house is a wreck.  HOW am I supposed to get anything done with that face (and another equally as cute one) staring back at me?  I mean, really!

REALLY!  (Look at the rolls…my baby boy has ROLLS!)

 

Welcome Back!

So, it turns out that the time available for blogging DRASTICALLY decreases once these babies that the blog is all about are home!

Henry and Holland have officially been home for 6 weeks.  They’ve been a blur of feeding, diapering, doctors’ appointments, snuggle fests, breathing treatments, and Friday Night Lights.  That’s right.  She’s got time for FNL but not blogging.  In my defense, I can watch an episode (or 3) of FNL holding 1 (or even 2) babies.  Blogging does not allow for such things.

Moving on.

You might not believe it, but our babies are growing like weeds!  With all of these doctor visits, there are many opportunities for our peanuts to be weighed (which has quickly become “my strange addiction”…I love it when throwing them on the scale!)  Most recently (today) we visited the pulmonologist to check out how our lungs are doing…and get weighed!  Henry has officially graduated from peanut status to pork chop status and is weighing in at…

…drum roll…

8 pounds!  I know, we’re in shock, too!  (Side note: I weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce at birth…way to go, Mom!)

Holland is trucking away, too, breaking the bank at 6 pounds, 10 ounces!  She’s feeling more and more substantial all the time, but her “little” brother still looks like he could eat her for breakfast!  We are so thankful that they are both eating so well and gaining the weight they need.

Speaking of eating, these chow hounds are officially eating between 4 and 5 ounces approximately every 4 hours.  Henry is just about always a sure thing for 5 ounces, and Holland will usually chug 5, too.  I’ve been increasingly thankful for that chest freezer of breast milk that I stockpiled for 10 weeks!  Eat, babies, eat!

At our last pediatrician visit (February 28), she recommended we fortify their milk with some extra calories.  We were excited at the thought of extra weight gain for the twins, so we went out and picked up some Neosure to add to their bottles (common for preemies).  After about a day and a half, Henry and Holland both went on hunger strike.  They arched and writhed, spit out the milk, let it run down their (increasingly chubby) chins…flat out refused to eat it.  After chatting with the pediatrician again, we decided to scrap the Neosure and stick with 5 ounces of straight-up milk; they were getting more calories when they were eating the straight up breastmilk, even with the fortifier.  Picky eaters already!

We’ve still been going to the eye doctor regularly.  Dr. Pardon is starting to see the regression she needs to, but they aren’t quite ready for “release” yet.  She sent us to a specialist in Cherry Hill to get a closer look, and he assured us that they shouldn’t need surgery…just time!  Bullet dodged!

Henry’s follow-up hearing test went very well–the audiologist said she’d follow up with us between 12 and 18 months.  Sounds good to us!  He’s also had to go to the gastroenterologist for some follow up from his liver function tests.  Once again, everything looked good–blood work and an ultrasound of his liver appear to be just fine!  Phew!

Again, as these follow-up appointments continue to go so well, we realize how fortunate we are to have such healthy preemies!

We also are fortunate to have such good sleepers…I know you’re not supposed to say that out loud, as its a sure jinx, but I know they’ve been well-trained.  Thank you, NICU!  We’re getting 4-5 hour stretches of sleep at night, and as they get bigger and bigger, we’ll be able to stretch it out.  The days are pretty quiet, but they’re more and more alert and awake.  Henry has great neck control, and Holland is no slouch either!  They’ve started to focus their vision on things, and seem to be able to track sometimes.  They’ll rock from side to side on the floor, and we can tell they’ll roll over sometime soon…and we’re thisclose to smiling!  Thisclose!  Can’t.  Wait.

Yesterday we had a photographer come and take some newborn shots of our “newborns.”  Because they’re not your average newborns (only by size!), they decided to be very awake and alert…which makes it difficult to get the cute newborn-y shots.  However, Kristen Driscoll (our photographer) totally made the best of it, and I can’t wait to see the shots she got!  We’ll be doing a series of sessions with her until their first birthday!

And now, for the pictures (from our iPhones, not the pro ones!).  There are thousands, but I will leave you with just a few!

February birthdays…who needs’em?

                    

Here’s to hoping we’re a little more awake, alert, and enthusiastic for our 4 month picture (HENRY!)…which we’ll take in less than a week!

       

Funny faces!

So tired from admiring the owls and squirrels on their activity mat!

      

Grandma Julie came all the way from Wisconsin!  …and had a baby in her arms the entire time she was here!  Sometimes, she even had two!

Daddy has become very good at multi-tasking.  Here we can see him checking something on his iPad, feeding dear Henry and drinking a Mt. Dew.  Evolution at its finest.

     

Henry and Holland had special valentines for me on February 14.  Made my heart melt!

    

We attempted some photos sans cannulas for possible birth announcements (they’ll be arriving in your mailboxes soon..ish).  Outtakes seen above.

     

And to close; it may be forced, but we’re pretty sure these guys are becoming best friends.  Like it or not!

Just for Uncle Ted…

…and Heather, too.

Things have been pretty busy ’round these parts!

The babies came home on Tuesday, January 29.  We went into Jersey Shore University Medical Center one “last” time (we’ll be back for check-ups and such!), made our way to the NICU, and between brief moments of hyperventilation (on my part, not my cool-as-a-cucumber-husband), got our babies and headed home!  Kathy, Penny, and Ina (all our daytime primary nurses) were ALL working, so we were able to say good-bye and attempt to show our never-ending gratitude for their work…we truly owe them our firstborns, but they seemed happy with the chocolates we picked up for them!  EVERYONE at JSUMC was amazing–we had such a positive experience, and while we won’t miss heading to the hospital each day, we will miss the people we’ve interacted with so frequently!

We got the babies dressed up in some stylin’ duds, bundled them up, and I got to hold BOTH my babies at the same time.  Kathy wheeled me out while Chris went to get the car, and we all piled into the Pilot for our journey HOME!

Loading up the carseats for their maiden voyage!

 

We busted out of the joint…er, got wheeled out by Kathy!

When we got home we were greeted by a very festive front door:

 

And then we got comfy in our new digs…

 

Since then, we’ve been hanging out doing fun things like…

Going to the pediatrician…and showing that we’re packing on those pounds!

Snuggling with our sibling…

Snuggling as a family…

     

Ramping up some sibling rivalry…

      

 

Taking baths…

 

Having fun with Photobooth…

 

Going to the opthamologist for follow-up visits–Holland’s eyes are getting better (and will hopefully continue to do so!), and Henry’s left eye is clear…still waiting for that pesky right one to fully mature!

Crashing in our bouncy seats…

      

…and doing a fair amount of sleeping and yawning!  The nights have been okay, and we know that they’ll only get better.  This is all temporary, and someday we’ll long for the days when Henry and Holland cried for us in the night….or at least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves!

We are still in disbelief that these guys have been home with us for a week already!  We are so thankful for everyone’s well wishes and prayers–we’ve continued to feel (and need) them!  Chris and I feel so well cared for…hopefully the babies say the same some day!  We can’t say enough how grateful we are that our babies are HERE with us, much less HOME with us.

Home, sweet home!

 

 

 

10 Weeks Old!

The babies turned 10 weeks old today!

To celebrate the both PIGGED out all day.  Henry took 4 ounces at his largest feeding; the minimum amount he should take is 40 CCs (1.33 ounces), and anything more is bonus.  I’d say we have a piggy on our hands!  Holland isn’t about to let her little brother show her up; she took over 3 ounces.  We are so excited we have eager eaters on our hands!  At weigh-in, Henry tipped the scales RIGHT at 5 pounds, and Holland is sitting steady at 4 pounds, 11 ounces.

       

This should be the LAST “week picture” taken in the hospital!?!?!  The babies are still on for discharge tomorrow!  Hearing tests, car seat tests, final eye exams…they’re all done!  We had At Home Medical deliver our what our babies will require to be home.  We are the proud “owners” of two large oxygen tanks (think the helium tanks that fill up balloons), lots of tubing to follow our babies around, two nebulizers, some travel gear, and all our prescriptions filled!  We hooked up Henry to his apnea monitor to make sure we knew what we were doing (success!), and went over the final discharge “checklist” with Penny.  We have a visit with a home health nurse on Wednesday evening (hopefully we’re all still standing), and are heading to the pediatrician on Thursday morning for a meet’n’greet and weigh-in.  We will head back to the eye doctor on Tuesday, and hope that Henry will be “released”; his eyes are almost “mature.”  Baby girl is still showing some signs of ROP, but her stage/level combination usually takes care of itself, or so Dr. Pardone told us.  We sure hope she’s right!  As you can see, we’ll have a lot of follow-up appointments in the next few months…we probably won’t take Henry and Holland many other places.  They are super susceptible to everything, and we are not planning to risk getting sick!  Time to hole up in the house with some Netflix and snuggly babies!

We are also almost ready here at the house.  We did a pretty deep clean, got the bottles sterilized, organized all their equipment, finalized things in the nursery, and even gave the pups a bath so they’re ready to meet the babies, too!  Over the last couple days, I’ve made a list of some easy, throw-together dishes we can make for dinners.  Tonight I went to the grocery store and filled up my cart with all sorts of goodies–it felt a bit like shopping before Hurricane Sandy–very strategic and thought out.  Friends have already dropped food off, and we have a lasagna coming tomorrow…helping us out in a major way once again!

We feel so many different things about bringing Henry and Holland home.  We are obviously over the moon with happiness, nervous about dealing with everything they need, and just a tad scared about figuring everything out.  I still am in complete disbelief; 10 weeks ago I wouldn’t have thought that my babies would have come home.  When my complications started, I was sure I had lost the babies.  I remember lying on the floor on November 17 while the EMTs started an IV and thinking about the cribs upstairs and how we wouldn’t need them.  Now they’re set up waiting for two little bodies.  At times after they were born, even though 26 weekers typically have a 75-90% chance of survival, I was overcome with the fear of losing them.  Now we’re taking them home…for good!  While I would’ve never chosen for things to play out the way they have, our NICU experience has been almost entirely positive…our babies did so well, and had so few complications and bumps in the road…way to go, Henry and Holland.  Let’s keep up this overachieving business, okay?  Free ride to college?  Make it happen!

We can’t believe that tomorrow at this time, we’ll be snuggling with this stinker at HOME!

Praise the Lord!

Say That Again?

Henry and Holland will be home this week.

That’s not a typo.

Tomorrow they will be 10 weeks old, and if all goes according to plan, we should leave with them on Tuesday. (There were words of shock when we were told that..Some don’t deserve to be repeated!) They’ll be just under 37 weeks gestation, and home. How is this even remotely possible?

One word: God.

I had a friend in college who upon seeing a beautiful sunset while chasing a hot air balloon (the things you have time for in college!), commented “I don’t underestand how someone could see this (the sunset) and NOT believe in God.” These words stuck with me for the last 11 years or so, and when I see something especially beautiful I often think back to them. Over the last ten weeks, I’ve often thought of them and said them to myself. How could anyone see our perfect babies, who were born too soon and so small, see how far they’ve come and NOT believe in God? His hands are all over this story, and we are so thankful for His supreme goodness and guidance.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t often question why this happened…I certainly have. My fears often got the best of me (particularly the first two weeks), and I couldn’t trust that all would be well. Thankfully we had the prayers of so many people to lift us up and help us know that all would, in fact, be well.

So, all that aside…

Holy cow, our babies are going to be home in 2 days.

They had their “poly” today, which helps determine what meds they might need at home (caffeine, Zantac, etc). The extra strip under their cannulas is what senses everything. They will have oxygen at home, but their settings are so low…1/4 liter, 100%. Ina said she can blow harder than that! We are hopeful that they won’t need it for long, and once we know the logistics of it, I’ll feel much better about it.

They don’t look too stressed at the thought of going home…though we think Henry might try to pack Ina in his suitcase and bring her home!

We have about a bazillion things we hope to accomplish before we pick’em up for good…the most important thing, is that they are ready to go home…even if we aren’t 100% set (and really, what new parents are?), we will figure out being a family of four in our own time.

Don’t stop praying now! We need it more than ever!

Home Stretch

Well, it seems as if we’re in the home stretch of this NICU business…things are really winding down!

*Henry is now receiving EVERY feeding via bottle!  We gave him his 3 pm feeding and his 9 pm feeding.  He took the 3 pm feeding like a champ (after a little nipple mishap–he worked at it for 10 minutes or so before we realized the nipple was defective!).  We were also there for the 9 pm feeding, and he got a little tuckered out; he took about half of it and then started protesting a bit.  He took the rest of it through his feeding tube, and was happy as a clam.  Keep working on it, little boy!

*Baby boy is also down to about 1/2 liter, 100% oxygen.  They’ll keep moving him down as they can!

*Holland is back at bottle feeds, and doing just as well as she was before all this UTI business!  For her 3 pm feeding she scarfed down her whole bottle in about 5 minutes!  Girl’s got skills!

*Little lady is at just under 1 liter, 100% oxygen.  We’re hoping that once she’s off the antibiotic (3 more doses), she’ll require less and less of the O2!

*Chris and I are being trained on how to work the apnea monitors tomorrow (Friday).  The babies will definitely go home on these, and we’ve heard that most babies discontinue monitoring after their second round of shots (between 4 and 6 months).

*Tonight we helped with a breathing/nebulizer treatment.  The respiratory team administers these to both babies at 8 am, 2 pm, and 8 pm.  They basically hold the tube in front of the baby’s face, and the medicine/steroid (Pulmicort) is inhaled.  Henry loved it, and would almost lean his face into the steam.  Holland not so much…she just about jumped out of her crib to get away from the tube.  Thankfully she let out a few good yawns and inhaled some of the good stuff!  I think it’ll go better if someone is holding her.

*We’re busy getting things ready for these babies to come home–most things are assembled, the baby clothes are washed, sorted, and put away, and we just need to put some finishing touches on the nursery!  We’ll be busy getting a head start on some cleaning and shopping this weekend…we think we’re just about ready!

Henry is not impressed.  With anything.  Especially burping.

Baby girl is still rocking the open crib and maintaining her temperature!  We’re hopeful that they’ll wheel the isolette out of her room soon…no need for that thing anymore!  We’re hoping to get the two of them in the same room, but we’re not sure it’ll happen before they come…home!

We can’t believe we’re even using the word “home” in the same sentence with the term “our babies.”  Keep trucking along, babies!

 

10 Days

When asked when he thought Henry might make his homecoming, Dr. Ramos replied “About 10 days.”

‘Scuse me?

Seriously?

Chris and I felt a combination of excitement, anxiety, joy, and sheer terror at this estimate.  Holland won’t be too far behind; we can’t get over the fact that Henry has pulled “ahead” of his big sis.  We’re hopeful that once her course of antibiotic is through she’ll be back to her butt-kicking-and-taking-names self!  She’ll start taking one bottle a day again tomorrow, and our hope is that she’s just as good at it as she was initially!  Henry is taking a bottle for every other feeding, and still doing fairly well…he tends to tucker out a bit toward the end, but that should get better.

We spoke with the pulmonologist (Dr. Dodze), who is starting them on some different breathing treatments.  They’ll continue them once their home as well.  He seemed to think that the babies would come home on some oxygen assistance, though when he found out Chris was a pastor, he said “you can talk to God and He can help them with their breathing.”  (English is not his first language!)  Since the home oxygen doesn’t have a “blender” (the ability to change the percent–it’s always 100%), the staff has the babies set at 100%, and is changing the pressure (liters).   They had been set around 40% at 2 liters, but they’re now at 100% at 1 liter; the pressure number will gradually go down.  Both babies seemed happy with this new set-up, and Kathy was thrilled that their monitors weren’t going crazy!  We’re hopeful that they’ll continue to do well with their new set-up!

Please excuse the short blog entry…the babies keep looking good, and we’re in “get ready” mode–I’ve got laundry in the washer (will it ever end?!?!), Chris is putting together pack’n’plays, rock’n’plays, and other baby gadgets, and we’ll soon be off to get some sleep while we still can!  Eeek!  Here’s to hoping that Henry and Holland keep up their great sleeping habits when they’re home!

          

Weekend Recap/Nine Weeks/Two Months/Oops, I Haven’t Blogged!

Well, it’s been awhile!  The good news is, the babies are trucking away…

Henry is taking just about every other feeding by bottle!  I tried nursing him on Saturday, and he wasn’t too interested in having to work too hard for it.  I tried again on Sunday, and he figured out what he needed to do!  We’ll work on it.  He is a bit of a lazy eater…he either stays asleep or falls asleep–we’ll work on that, too!  At weigh in today, he tipped the scales at 4 pounds, 13 ounces!  Up 3 ounces from last week!  Chubster!

Holland is back OFF the optiflow, and back on the regular nasal cannula!  She was a bit back and forth with her temperature, so she is back in her isolette, which should help keep her warmer.  The nurses think that after a few more days (and maybe putting on a few ounces), she should be better at keeping herself warm and get out of that isolette once and for all!  Baby girl weighed 4 pounds, 8 ounces still today (same as last week)–Dr. Ramos wasn’t worried since she’s not yet back at full feeds.  She’s still on an antibiotic for her urinary tract infection (from last week), and hopefully once she’s cured, things will go back to normal for her!  Poor baby!

Today the babies turned 9 weeks old!

We can’t believe it either…

You can see that Holland was rather sleepy, but Henry was wide awake!  He’s been more and more alert, and having more awake time during our visits.  It’s fun to watch him look around and check everything out…he looks a little less worried (sometimes).

See?  More contentedness, less concern!

We caught sweet baby boy in the middle of a yawn!

When he’s not awake, looking around, or worrying, baby boy is waving to everyone he sees!

Baby girl is not to be outdone.  Her little brother may be looking all over, but she’s giving out “smiles”…

Real or simply gas-induced, we’re claiming it!

She’s also all about stretching out to show us how loooooong she is…no more preemie clothes for this supermodel!

And, just for kicks, every once in awhile, she shows us her baby blues, too!

Heart.  Melting.  Could she be any sweeter?!?

Along with turning 9 weeks old today, the babies also celebrated their 2 month “birthday” on January 19th.  Don’t worry–it was documented!

Someday these babies will earn their keep and hold the sign on their own!

The babies got to meet some dear friends this weekend.  Katie and Kyle (who we’ll affectionately call Uncle Kyle and Aunt Katie) have been waiting to meet these little stinkers for quite some time!  “Auntie Kirsten” saw them when they were a few days old, and was amazed to see how they’ve grown…what a difference 9 weeks makes!

We keep hearing the word “home” used frequently in reference to our babies.  We can’t quite wrap our heads around the idea of these guys coming home!  We can’t wait, but we also have some apprehensions–it’s going to be a bit scary to have these delicate little packages in our care (and not have nurses nearby!).  We anticipate that the babies should come home the first week of February–perhaps at the same time?  The nurses have told us to expect them to come home with some oxygen assistance, and they’ll definitely have apnea monitors for the first few months.  This certainly isn’t the way we anticipated bringing home our firstborns, and we (especially me!) need to adjust our expectations.  They’ll be meeting with a pulmonologist, and we should know more about what the first few months home will look like then.  Phew!

In other news, we’ve found a pediatrician!  Our beloved Dr. Bautista (who is on this weekend!) happens to have a wife who is a pediatrician…who practices in Colt’s Neck.  Seriously, we make one turn to get to the office!  We went on a tour of the office today, met the office staff, and are planning to submit the babies’ paperwork ASAP.  The office manager showed us around, and when we explained our babies’ history, she said they would make special allowances for our babies–appointment times when there are fewer people in the office, being taken directly to the exam room and not waiting in the waiting room–all good things for preemies with not-so-great immune systems.

Keep praying…for Holland, for Henry, for us, for the other NICU families, for the nurses, for the doctors…it’s been truly amazing to see how much prayer makes a difference through this whole process!  We can see God working each day, and know that His hands are the ones leading us all through this…all the way home!

Lost and Found

I’m thinking we may have to watch these two closely…

…they seem to lose accessories (like hats!) pretty easily.  I can already see my future as a parent digging through the lost and found at school for the missing item of the day.  Oh, babies!

This mommy stayed home from the NICU today…with a tickle in my throat, I thought it might be a bad idea to go see my super-susceptible-to-anything babies!  After gargling saltwater a few times, I’m hopeful that I’ll be as good as new tomorrow morning!

Daddy headed to the NICU by himself, and reported back that the babies are doing just fine!  Holland seems back to her normal self, and after clear chest x-rays and negative cultures, they’re going to keep her on a precautionary antibiotic, and re-start her feedings tomorrow!  Henry is still trucking through his bottle feedings (up to 2-3 a day!), and gave a slower flow nipple a try today.  Chris reported that he was a bit disgruntled about having to work harder for his milk…get used to it, Henry!  Dr. Torrine said we would try nursing him (direct from the source) once I was sore-throat-free!  C’mon, sore throat…leave me alone!  My babies are counting on me!

We’re still busy getting ready here…I’m going to start some “artwork” for the nursery tomorrow.  I like to think I’m super crafty…here’s to hoping that it turns out the way I want it to!  The nursery is almost complete!  Pictures to come!  (I know you’re all on the edge of your seats!)

Rollercoaster

We’ve read and heard that a NICU stay is a lot like a rollercoaster.

We don’t especially like this analogy, since neither of us are particularly fond of roller coasters, but also because we know that through this whole process we have so much to be thankful for despite the ups and downs.  There are bound to be good days and bad days, and as long as we take each as they come, we know that we’ll get through it!

However, the ups and downs of rollercoasters are pretty accurate in regards to the last few days.  Yesterday was such a stellar day, with lots of excitement and positive developments.  Today wasn’t the opposite, but it didn’t follow suit!

Apparently Holland had been having some residuals after her feedings (unlike her), doing a little de-satting (even at high O2 settings), and just not looking like herself (poor coloring).  Penny had a chest X-ray done: it was clear.  She had a blood test done: all counts were good.  She did a urine culture: it was interrupted…yes, you know what I mean.  It seems that after she relieved herself, Holland felt better and was herself again.  By the time we arrived, she seemed totally normal!  As a precaution, she’s receiving an antibiotic to cover some basics, was put back on optiflow (heated oxygen), and taken off of her feeding schedule.  Hopefully she’ll be able to get back to normal tomorrow!

She was a vision in polka-dots today (and yellow!)…Penny held her up for a picture (which is why her face looks a little wonky), and we hoped she’d open her eyes.  We tried chatting with her…no go.  We tried turning down the lights…

…no go.  Better luck tomorrow!  Feel better, baby girl!

Henry James just keeps rolling along!  He’ll be receiving 2 feedings by bottle each day, increasing as each goes well!  Chris was able to give him his 6 pm bottle, and he did so well (both of them)!  Penny again told us how great it is that they’ve both taken bottles so well right away…good things!  We’ll try him on the direct source this weekend; he needs to nail down that breathing while eating thing!

Remember what this is?  Trust us, you’ll like it, baby boy!

And we’re in!

Time for a burp!  I think we’ll have some fun contests at the dinner table with these two…they clearly take after their great-grandma Neerhof in that arena!  These babies can burp!

Wide eyes.  Dribbly chin.  Happy boy!

The eye exams went well yesterday; Henry’s still show normal immature development (which is good).  The doctor is going to keep a bit of a closer eye on Holland, but there’s no major concern.  Any issue that arises this far along would probably be fairly easy to correct (with laser surgery…think LASIK)…but as always, we’re hopeful all will be well!

At the end of the day, the babies are good, and we are thankful.  While today wasn’t a banner day in the NICU like yesterday, things are moving in the right direction!  We have two beautiful, almost-fully-healthy, almost-term babies who are growing and developing as well as they can…for those things, we are so incredibly thankful!