Our Little Chunky Monkies.....

...are so gosh darned cute it's scary! And hungry. And getting fatter. Today, Sydney weighed in at 3lbs 14 oz and Olivia weighed in at 4lbs 11 oz. You go girls...I want you HOME and soon would be nice! :)

As anticipated, today was the much awaited day of FIRST bottles for the girls. Seeing as how I've had tons of firsts with the girls, I decided (without really talking it over with Matt), that he (Daddy) would the FIRST person to give the girls bottles. I spend plenty of time with them all day while he is at work and we nurse (something he OBVIOUSLY cannot do), so I wanted him to have a first, besides changing clothes and diapers. Even though he WAS the FIRST person to hold the girls while I was still in the hospital. Anyway, enough of my whining... back to today.



After arranging it with Matt that he be at the hospital on time for their 5 and 6 o'clock feedings to make sure he could feed the girls, I talked with Michelle our LPN and our nurse Anita, who were both excited that the girls were going to officially start bottles (this is a HUGE step towards coming home). They both made a point of telling me not to be shocked if the girls don't eat all of their bottles or even very much at all because it's their first time and it's often hard for preemies to coordinate sucking, breathing, and swallowing.

So, how this works/worked is that each of the girls eats 41 militers of breastmilk. Sydney ate ALL but 6 militers of her bottle and Olivia ate all but 3 militers of her bottle! So, they were CHAMPS. I'm so excited! Now that we've given them their first bottles, the nurses will continue to work at bottle feeding them for each of their feedings. Whatever they do not finish from their bottles will be fed to them from their feeding tube. However, eventually they will get rid of their feeding tube and have to get all of their food from nursing or bottles.


Sydney....











Sydney with her first bottle....











Sydney with Daddy...








We're still working on nursing, but it's still hard for Sydney and sometimes hard for Olivia as well to get latched on and consistantly suck while nursing. They'd rather play and look at mommy while she's feeding them. I, however, refuse to give up on the nursing, SOOOOO we will continue to practice and then feed them afterwards to make sure that they are getting what they need to eat. Sadly however, the times that they nurse with me, they cannot be bottle fed (for now) because that would be too much stress on them. :(


Olivia when I arrived today....just chillin'.






Olivia in her new outfit for the day....it's a newborn size. :)






"Mom...I like this sleeper!"

Also, today, PaPa Gale and Grandma Vicki came to visit. Now that the girls (okay, Olivia) is bigger, he wasn't as nervous to hold her. In fact, he was like a little kid in a candy store. It was so cute seeing him hold her! She loved it too, because she was able to eat (through her feeding tube) while he was holding her. Next time Grandma Vicki comes, I promised her she could hold Miss Sydney. Of course, that means we will have to schedule their next visit around her eating schedule because that's the only time the girls are awake and thus allowed to come out of their cribs/isolettes.


Olivia with PaPa Gale...







Other than that, not too much happened today, well, if you don't count guy's night out and my happy hour date with Gretchen... AND my trip/quest to find wooden letters for Gretchen to paint for me. I found some I like today, but they have to order 2 I's and an A and they are not sure if they can do that for me. :( Pains. One of these days Matt and I will discuss the Disney print idea that I had too. Whenever we have time for trivial things like that. :)

Tomorrow we are continuing on our quest of getting the house ready for the girls... We are getting our carpets cleaned, so the boxers are going to Nana Sharon and PaPa Rick's for the weekend. The chemicals are not good for their paws and they have a tendancy to lick them too, so that's bad. This weekend will be a pretty typical weekend running back and forth to the hospital to see the girls and feed them. So, very soon we'll be 'rich' for a week or two because we won't have to use as much gas. Yeah right. Something tells me this endeavor that we've embarked on for the rest of our lives is NEVER going to be cheap! :)


Have a great evening....
J

Baby, It's Cold Outside...

Happy Wednesday All.

So, a few weeks ago when the doctors and nurse practicioners were discussing milestones and steps towards coming home, they mentioned a few things specifically that the girls had to do: breathe on their own, eat on their own, and maintain their own body temperatures.

Well, Sydney has accomplished #1. Olivia is almost there. She's still on her tiny bit of oxygen and humidity.

Both girls are working towards task #2. Olivia totally gets the breastfeeding concept but will need to perfect it more. Sydney, well, she's getting there. Improvement is needed on her technique. And they both will have an opportunity tomorrow to learn about eating from a bottle. This is a normal progression for kids that won't be exclusively fed from the breast. Dad will get some time in with feedings and keep Mom from needing to be present at all eating times. So tomorrow I'll be introducing a bottle feed to them both.

Thirdly, as we discussed yesterday, the girls were moved into open-air cribs. This really challenges them to maintain their own temps since there's nothing but their clothing and a blanket to keep them warm. Well, one of the girls made it through this challenge... Back when the doctors first gave us the list of milestones, they told us that the open-air crib step wouldn't happen until the babies reached 4 pounds. Well, it seems this was pretty accurate. Seems Sydney wasn't able to stay warm enough. Since she's really only 3lbs, 10oz, she really doesn't have enough muscle and fat to keep warm. Olivia, on the other hand, did well today in her new crib. So, when I arrived this afternoon, Sydney was back in her old isolette. :( Oh well. Not a big setback, but it does delay the possibility of them coming home by a few days.

Other than this, not a lot new going on with the girls today. As I said, Sydney is now 3lbs 10.5oz and Olivia is 4lbs 8oz. I've warned Sydney that she's falling behind and is about to be passed by nearly a pound by her sister. We'll see how she responds.

Grandpa Gale and Grandma Vicki plan on visiting the girls tomorrow. It's been about 2 weeks since they saw them last, so they'll probably be surprised at how much they've grown. We'll see if Grandpa Gale decides that they aren't too little and actually holds one of the girls...

Until tomorrow!

M

PS..there are no pictures tonight because HORROR OF ALL HORRORS...we forgot the camera today..but we'll make up for that tomorrow night, we promise.

Isolettes? We don't need no stinking Isolettes!

...Hopefully one day my girls will enjoy films like 'Blazing Saddles' as much as their father...

Anyway, good evening blog readers. As you might be able to guess by the title of this entry, the girls made another big step in their quest to come home. This afternoon Olivia & Sydney were moved to open air cribs and out of their isolettes. Since their birth on 7-10-08, the girls have been residing at the hospital in what was formerly known as an incubator... As someone who is constantly curious about the English language (what, you didn't know that about me?), I did some digging on what the actual definition of 'isolette' was. According to dictionary.com 'isolette' is simply "a brand of incubator for premature or other newborn infants, providing controlled temperature, humidity, and oxygen levels and having armholes through which the infant can be reached with minimum disturbance to the controlled environment." Yeah, that. And by now, you've seen plenty of pictures of these things... A little over a week ago, they were taken out of their fancy-schmancy (that's a technical term) isolette and put into a 'stepdown' (i.e. older, not as fancy-schmancy) isolette. Now, because they have been able to hold their own temperatures, they are living in open air cribs. These are much friendlier looking and less like something that belongs in an ICU.

The new "convertible with the top down" model of crib

I think we need more stuffed animals on the wall behind me...

Jeni was late in getting down to spend time with the girls today because the baby that was just moved into the room across the hall had to have some sort of surgery today. In the NICU, they don't actually take the babies to an operating room, rather they bring the surgeons into the unit and close it down to visitors. Since we were right across the hall, our nurse called us to tell us that we'd have to wait to visit our girls until the surgery was finished.

So, Jeni did some more things around the house and spent more money (again) on the girls. Don't get me wrong... I know we have lots of expenses and my girls are worth it... I'd just like to see fewer outfits and stuffed animals thrown in on these shopping trips... :P Sorry, Jeni.

I stopped by the hospital as usual on the way home from work and visited with the girls and then Jeni and I had a romantic dinner in the hospital cafeteria. Following that, I walked Jeni back to the girls' room and headed home. She stayed and made up for time missed earlier in the day to practice with Sydney and Olivia again.

I watched some more Olympics tonight and tried to get over my frustration from last night. In case you missed it, we've been watching quite a few events in the Olympics. Some of my favorites have always been gymnastics. WARNING: I'M ABOUT TO RANT. Last night, I was reminded of my love-hate relationship with gymnastics and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and the ridiculous rules involved with both. Another American girl was crushed and robbed, as really crappy judging (and an even more ridiculous tie-breaking system) stole the Gold medal from Nastia Liukin. In a clearly superior performance, Liukin received the same score as one of the 7 year old chinese gymnasts. The 7 year old had a great performance, but with several more errors... To add insult to the tie score, the convoluted tie breaker actually awarded first place to the Chinese 7 year old! Nearly every other Olympic sport simply gives out multiple medals if there is a tie... but not gymnastics. This is on top of the clearly ridiculous scoring from 2 nights ago, where my favorite gymnast of these Olympic games, Alicia Sacramone, was hosed by the judges who gave another Chinese gymnast the bronze medal even though she FELL DOWN on her landing during the vault competition... I think I'm going to stick to swimming and track & field events where it's competitor versus competitor, with no crooked or unqualified judges involved. Not sure if becoming a father has made me more sensitive to the plights of these girls or what, but these things just really ticked me off... OK, RANT OVER.

So, now that you had to put up with that (kinda like watching the undercard fights before the main event), here are some pictures from today...

Olivia either deep in thought or sleeping... before her diaper change

Olivia after a wardrobe change & just before being moved to her new crib

Olivia likes her hat & hates her cannula

In this picture, I told Sydney to give me her "Sneaky" Look. She's good.

Next, I said "Look surprise & puzzled." She's just a natural.

Finally, like all models, she was fed up and tired of the photo shoot.

More of our little models tomorrow. I'll try and keep my rantings to 2 sentences or fewer.

M

Getting Bigger!

Today (well, actually yesterday, since I was practicing the theme of our blog from this weekend last night), when I arrived at the NICU, it was time for the first of 4 nursing practice sessions with the girls. HOWEVER, before you can practice with the girls it's assessment time (diaper change, temp check, placement of feeding tube, looking for PGA (how they tolerated their feeds), outfit changes for both girls since they hadn't been changed the night before, and today...how long they are.


Miss Olivia is now 17.5 inches long (she was 15.5 at birth) and 4lbs, 6.5 oz.
Getting her outfit changed for her new sleeper!




AND...



Miss Sydney is now 16 inches long (she was 14.5 at birth) and 3lbs, 9 oz.

Getting her outfit changed for her new sleeper!





Shockingly enough, Olivia is working on her first little fat roll on her leg, it's soooooooo cute! Sadly, Sydney's outgrown her cute little yellow, pink, and purple hat, it was so cute for them to have cute DIFFERENT hats. Now she'll be in her (equally as cute hat), but the same pink and purple hat as her sister! :)

Also, yesterday they turned off their isolette's AGAIN. So, hopefully while I am there this afternoon, they will still be keeping their body temps up so that they can get into Open Air Cribs. After this we'll just need to work on continuing to keep their temps up and then eating on their own. SO, we are STEPS away from them coming home! YAY! WHich is why I've been scheduling some of those things on that LONG list I listed last week of things that need to be done before the babies come home (like carpet cleaning, thankfully Nana Sharon and PaPa Rick were able to watch the Boxer babies this weekend for us, OR we'd run the risk of having wet carpet potentially when the babies came home)! Some things are still getting worked on like the organization of the nursery and purchasing of last minute things from our registry, but a potential end is insight! :)



My only concern from yesterday's conversation with our LPN is that there is a potential that Olivia COULD go home on her oxygen. So not happy about that, so unmotivated breather you need to get with the program. THey have upped her levels to encourage her to breathe better on her own and they will try her again off her .5 liter of oxygen again, but you never know. I know that Michelle (LPN) was just trying to prepare me in the event that they have to go home and she's still on that oxygen. We also discussed my concerns about their reflux. Apparently ALL preemies have reflux and it is something they outgrow as they get bigger and learn to manage their airways better. We also discussed what happens when they are in big girl cribs, in terms of helping them maintain their body temps, so look to see them wearing JUST sleepers from now on as they are warmer than onsies. :( Oh well. Guess I'll be running to Walmart or Babies R Us for some more of those, but I'm hesitant to buy anything that is preemie anymore because SOON they'll start outgrowing those. Story of our lives I am sure!

Last night we again enjoyed another meal prepared for us by my mom, which was nice because there just never is enough time in the day. BUT, while it was cooking, we were able to squeeze in a walk with the puppies who were SOOOOO happy to have some mommy and daddy time. After dinner we again watched some of the Olympics (I was able to wake up/stay awake for my favorite part...the Gymnastics)...where Matt got a little heated (again) as the US/Nastia Lukin was 'cheated' out of another gold metal. He's very passionate about his Olympics...I don't remember this from years past, but oh well. It's cute! :)



Have a great day..I'm off to nap for a little bit!

J

Sleep... Get it while you can.

Where does the time go? As the girls hit the 5 week mark on Thursday, it seems like only a few days ago I was making my first trip to the NICU to see the girls while Jeni was still in the hospital. Now, they are making daily improvements towards going home. They still have a few setbacks, but we can definitely see progress.

Speaking of setbacks, only a couple of days ago, Olivia was able to have her cannulas removed and taken off of oxygen & humidity. Well, overnight on Thursday the nurses decided she needed to go back on it. Seems she was having too many periods of low oxygen saturation... So we hope by next week she'll have them removed again. As we were told when the girls arrived, we would have ups and downs with their progress.

It was a busy and an exhausting weekend for everyone. As I write this, I'm the only family member not snoozing. Jeni (on the couch), Cassius (on the floor), and Sugar (on the chair) all seem to have taken this weekend hard!

Friday night, after the hospital, we enjoyed some Shepard's pie for dinner, courtesy of Grandma Pat. It had been nearly six months since we had this for dinner. Jeni calls this meal a "winter meal." It was tasty whatever it is...

On Saturday, the girls had lots of visitors. Jeni went down early in the day and spent time with them before heading out to West County for a hair appointment. Grandma Pat & Aunt Judy visited the girls in the mid-afternoon. Nana Sharon (that's the nickname that Sharon has decided upon, instead of Grandma) & Grandpa Rick came by and picked me up later in the day and took me down with them to see the girls as well. After the grandparents left, "Uncle" Keith and "Aunt" Amy came down. They met us at the hospital for a brief visit before we headed to dinner. As you may remember, Jeni was on bed rest on her birthday and couldn't make it out to dinner. So, she requested that we go to dinner somewhere she could sit outside. Typically, Jeni requests going to Hacienda in Rock Hill, so we gave it a try again. Unfortunately, it's been so nice that the patio there was packed. It was an hour and 45 minute wait for a table! So, our backup plan was another one of Jeni's favorites, Bandana's. We were quickly seated and enjoyed the gorgeous weather and some drinks and dinner. Not quite margaritas and Mexican, but a good 2nd choice.

Upon getting home Jeni and I settled in to relax on the couch and I pulled out the laptop to check my email... Unfortunately, when earlier in the day we reorganized the nursery, we had to unplug the internet router and modem... Apparently, this screwed something up, because our network was gone...NO internet access. So I literally spent the next 3 hours on my own and on the phone with tech support trying to get our internet back up and running. I finally got to bed after 1 AM.

Sunday morning the internet connection was back up but our wireless network was still whacked, so I spent another hour getting that fixed on the phone with the Linksys tech support guy. Not sure what his name was, but thanks Indian-tech-support guy! I'm sure he told me his name was Steve or Harry when it was really something else... Regardless, he helped me get us up and running... That's one of the reasons why this blog is just now being updated... Sorry if I've disappointed you. Indian-tech guy and I did work as hard and as fast as we could.

So after my education on the programming of a linksys wireless router and reassignments of IP Addresses (blah blah blah tech-y stuff), I enjoyed another beautiful day of weather by mowing the lawn! Fun! Oh, and pulling weeds and trimming. Jeni ran some errands and then went to see the girls. I cleaned up from the yard work and watched a little bit of NASCAR and took a little nap on the couch before heading to the hospital myself. I arrived at the hospital to find a very tired Jeni. She did one last round of practice with Sydney before I talked her into calling it a day there. We made it home and ordered some pizza for dinner. That brings us to now... I've been watching some more Olympics and preparing for my upcoming fantasy football draft and generally just putting off writing this entry... Oh well, looks like its bed time.

Here are some more pictures of our beauties...

Sydney just chillin'

Olivia relaxing as well...

Sydney during a diaper change

Olivia snoozing

Jeni with the girls together

Olivia with a BIG yawn

And Sydney making a silly face & looking surprised...

More updates tomorrow!

- M

Houston...we have a 4 Pounder...

...Well, actually a 4 lb, 1 oz baby and a 3lb 5.5 oz baby. Finally we are gaining some substantial weight. Our night nurse told me this morning that she actually weighed Olivia 3 times because she was so shocked by her weight gain! I was happy to see Miss Sydney finally move from 3lbs 3oz!

The girls are ONCE again dressed in their adorable Twins Rock onesies. Our night nurse was SOOOOO excited about them. THEN after she dressed them, when she was on her break she was reading a magazine and saw that JLO had dressed her kids in the same outfits (well, her boy wasn't in the purple one), and she thought that was even cooler! :)

Sydney

Olivia

Today, after a quick trip to Target, I worked a little on the girls' closet. I've finally figured out how I want to move some things around in the nursery so that things flow a little better AND so that I can get into ALL of the closet. Right now the closet is partially blocked by the girls' dresser! It stinks. Next, I need to get more closet organizers and label the drawers that I am placing in the closet so that Matt can find things (he often doesn't understand my logic in organization). I also need to get a 3 drawer organizer to keep outside in the nursery for bottles, bottle liners, pacifiers, and nursing covers.

Then we need to figure out what we want to put on the girls' walls, they are looking QUITE bare. We have the cool plaques from our neighbors, but I need to figure out WHERE I want to put them in the room and what else is going to be on the walls so that Matt can hang them for me. I was thinking some Disney prints would be cool, maybe from Finding Nemo, and I wanted to have poor Gretchen paint me wall letters, but it's time for school to start, so I'm not sure if she's going to have time. :( We also talked about hanging one or both of the girl's quilts for decoration as well, so we'll see.

Other than this, nothing too exciting happened today!

The girls are great, their weight is even better. We'll have open air cribs in the next week and officially start some bottle feeding next week. Nursing is going pretty well; they definately have moments where they want to work more than others. They tire out very quickly. Tomorrow is FINALLY Friday, and I anticipate that it will be just as busy a day as today was, as I am dedicated to getting their nursery organized by the end of the weekend!

Have a great day!
J

Don't Ask, Don't Tell....

...is the policy in the NICU in terms of WHEN will babies come home... Well, I asked yesterday what they (the Dr and Nurse Practictioner Michelle think)...and their answer...well, probably close to 3 weeks is what they think....so, not only am I SUPER excited, but I am now frantically thinking of ALL the things we need to do between now and then!

1- ORGANIZE the closet in the nursery.
2-Organize our house, which includes our basement and our storage room (things I wanted to do before I was put on bedrest, as well as other things I've thought up recently).
3-Get our Carpets cleaned.
4-Get new tires for Matt's car.
5-FINISH shopping off our registry for things we 'NEED' that we haven't bought (ie monitors, etc).
6-Make sure we have the supplies we need (staples for food, dog food, baby stuff like diapers).
7-Finish returns from baby stuff that the hospital tells us we cannot use with the babies (ie. sleep positioners (great in the NICU b/c they are monitored 24/7, but not at home...NOTHING in the crib).
8-Mom and Dad time (looks like we'll be seeing a movie this weekend b/c soon that won't be so easy to arrange).
9-Finish arguing with my insurence about how I had 2 babies NOT 1. So, they'll pay the rest of my bills, apparently this is a difficult concept for them. My friend Laurie warned me that this may become an issue, it was with her triplets, easily fixed, but they are SLOW on the uptake.
10-Take Cassius back to MU for a check up/follow up appointment.
11-Start the girls photo album (after I organize their pictures that I've had developed) and work on their baby books.
12-Pack up my maternity clothes for the next friend who get's pregnant to peruse and take what's needed!
13-Figure out what I have that fits and start wearing those!
14...I'm sure there's TONS more I'm forgetting. :)

In terms of the babies coming home... do please be aware that this can/could change at any time...it could be longer, it could be shorter, but please don't be disappointed either way. We don't want the girls home until EVERYTHING is figured out and solved at the NICU, as they know what's best for them!


Nothing too exciting going on with the girls... slowly but surely gaining weight and LOTS of sleeping, but they are moving towards that more wakeful period which will become more common the closer they get towards being full term. Personalities are changing (My Olivia is a SCHEDULE girl! Do not mess that up or there is HECK to pay with that one, I tell you).

Yesterday (the day this post should have been written), I went to a breastfeeding class. I'll be doing that EVERY Wednesday until they are out, so that I know all I need to know! :) They're more than likely BOTH going to have open air cribs next week AND start bottle feeding. Practing is going pretty well with both girls, so I'm super busy when I am at the NICU. :) Daddy got to hold both girls yesterday AND they were able to FINALLY meet another one of Mommy and Daddy's friend's who will SOON be one of our favorite Aunts! Aunt Nancy came for a visit! :) For those who don't know, Nancy is my best friend and has been since 8th grade...scary long time. Boy, have been been through a lot together! :) Aunt Nancy worked down by the NICU today, so it was a little easier for her to arrange to come down. She had to pass off baby duty to Uncle Drew so that our Best Friend Baby Stephanie could get home (she's the reason it's been so hard to get Aunt Nancy down to see us)! It really sucks that small children can't come into the NICU. I know it's really hard on families that have little ones too. But, rules are rules for a reason and I know it's best that they don't get any little kid germs for QUITE some time. Which is why they will come home on restrictions that include no quality time with small children and non-immediate family members. So our seclusion as well will continue. :(


Aunt Nancy loved the girls and they are super excited about their froggie blankets that she made them AND their butterfly baskets for their nursery as well. I need to get some talent, I tell you. I think I'm going to have to get a sewing machine so that I can make cool stuff for my friends too! :)


Just chillin' before time with Daddy while Aunt Nancy was visiting....


Olivia


Sydney


In other news... I'm finally outgrowing MOST of my maternity pants. You know you have issues when you stand up and your pants fall down. SO, guess I'll be exploring other clothing options when the last of these pants are too big. I still haven't worked out/walked yet. I'm so beat when I get home from the NICU that I'm lucky to have a conversation with Matt before I fall asleep (which is why the blog didn't get written for yesterday until today). Oh well. Slowly but surely in the next 3 weeks everything will be finished on our list....YAY!


In updated news...we have our insurance woes figured out. The representative for Hazelwood just called me back and told me that we are OFFICIAL... We now have 2 babies on my insurance for the first month and that Olivia's claims will start getting paid... Thank God b/c 2 of those claims (among the others) are for 107k and 97k. HOLY you know what! We'll give a final total on one of our blogs in the near future! :)


Hope All is well!


J

No More Lazy Breather!

As I arrived today at the NICU after work, Jeni announced to me that Olivia had a surprise for me. I was hoping it was another milestone... which it was. I checked her out in her isolette and Olivia was cannula-free. She was breathing well enough on her own that the nurse practitioner on duty decided to remove the oxygen. I was hoping that this would happen and had a feeling it would be soon since when I called last night the nurse had turned Olivia's oxygen off completely. It's nice to finally see her little face without the tubes in her nose!

Jeni had a busy day which included a follow-up trip to her doctor. This was her last visit to her specialist and she has now been released from their care. The visit went well with Jeni being released to start some light workouts including walking and lifting. I know she's very happy about this. She'd been looking forward to being allowed to do more as she has been obsessing with getting off her "baby weight". Jeni luckily remembered to take baby pictures in. On her last visit the nurse practitioner told her that she shouldn't bother coming back if she didn't bring pictures!

Following our time at the NICU, we headed home for dinner. We had a nice Thanksgiving-type dinner with food that Jeni's mom provided. We had turkey in the crock pot, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Yummy! You would have thought Jeni hadn't eaten in a week the way she acted during dinner!

We finished the evening by watching more of the Olympics. Michael Phelps continues to dominate in every event he's in and rack up gold medals & world records... Amazing!

Well, back to watching the ladies team gymnastics finals...

Oh, and here are some pics of 2 future Olympic gymnasts...

Here are the first pictures of Olivia without her nose cannula

And Sydney hamming it up...

I call this one Sydney's Paparazzi pose.

Continuing with their Diva lifestyle, the girls have multiple wardrobe change throughout the day (thanks to their mother and the nurses who love to dress them). These pictures are the girls modeling new hats sent to them from Grandma Carol and Grand-Dude Jim. (Yes, Grand-Dude).

And finally, you may have noticed the new color scheme on the blog. Well, simply, I got bored with the old 'dots' layout and wanted something new with more color. Hope you enjoy!

Take care.

M

A Rough Day...to be had by all...

You know it's a bad sign when you call in at 7 am to check on the girls and your night nurse tells you that one of your babies is 'beside herself', so be prepared that things may not go as greatly as planned (i.e. nursing may be a little difficult). When I called this am, our night nurse (Kelly) reminded me that the girls were having their eye tests and head ultrasounds today...all routine NICU tests. Apparently, when they came into dilate the girls' eyes, Olivia got herself so worked up that she was inconsolable. SO upset in fact, that they had to move her to her stomach to get her to calm down. Sydney, I ask? She's doing great. Okay, so I go about my day, run to Sam's to get some staples that we have run completely out of (the first time this has EVER happened to me). I thought I did pretty well at Sam's, and I ONLY bought the girls 3 outfits (Carter's...super cheap at Sam's, size 6 and 9 months). :) What can I say? I have an addiction. At least the girls will be dressed super cute, right?

I arrived down at the NICU to discover that Olivia was so upset this AM that she actually pushed up her ENTIRE feeds and therefore didn't actually eat her breakfast. :( Sydney did well. Both girls had already had their eye tests and were having their head ultrasounds as I arrived. YAY, more things for me to ask the Dr and Nurse Practitioner about. After their head ultrasounds, I checked both girls before I started Sydney's assessment (diaper change & temperature check that she gets before each feeding), ONLY to discover that BOTH girls had majorly spit up (great another thing to talk to the Dr and NP about... do they have reflux?). SO, after I changed Sydney's diaper, I had to change her entire outfit and then nurse her. She did a great job for a baby that was 'stressed' out. I really probably should have not practiced with her, but she did do a great job! Then it was on to Olivia. Her spit up was bad too, so I was prepared to changer her outfit as well. What I was NOT prepared for was the poop. It was ALL OVER. So all over that it was under her armpits, up her back, and in her hair. It was AWFUL. I had to use 15 wipes (this includes the ones that were soapy to bathe her with). Gross! Her entire bed needed to be changed (3 receiving blankets were used, plus her outfit was ruined... Well, I'll know for sure after our laundry is done). As I was getting ready to practice with her the DR and NP showed up to discuss my concerns (I'd asked our nurse to page them for me)...

My concerns:
1- the girls new habit of spitting up after meals (welcome to the world of Reflux :( the Dr tells me)
2-Sydney's weight loss over the weekend a whole 10 grams, but I'm eager for her to gain weight 3-Eating/nursing difficulties (they aren't 'getting' it so far)
4-Ideas on WHEN they would potentially see them going home (3 weeks if not longer)
5-Eye Exams (The Eye Dr wanted to see Olivia in 2 weeks for a follow up, is this normal...yes it is. What was not normal was his not wanting to see Sydney for 6 months)
6- Results of their head ultrasounds (not in until tomorrow, but the tech had told me that they looked great)
7- We WERE going to also discuss the fact that Olivia hadn't pooped since Sunday AM and if this was normal (It is for breastfed babies to have poops every other day as they get older)

As our conversation rounded to an end, we also discussed my issues with the nurse this weekend and they both agreed with me that I was NOT overreacting and that all my issues would be addressed. They did tell me that since the girls were so steady they would more than likely be getting float pool nurses more often. BOO. But that I wouldn't have this nurse again, they promised and that they'd address her issues with the charge nurse.

Little Miss Olivia didn't end up nursing for this feed, mainly because she was so worked up from her day that she was exhausted and feel asleep before I could get her to nurse. She just needed some mommy time.

In my 2 hour break from nursing the girls, I washed out the receiving blankets and onesie that Olivia had been wearing and sprayed them down with Dreft spray, pumped, and called a couple friends. One of the friend's I talked to was my friend Stephanie. I called to see how the first day of school went...gotta love the first day. Sounds like it was pretty typical. The end of summer and beginning of the school year is bittersweet, and I am sure next year will be even more bittersweet to me when I go back for the first day. :(

Matt joined us for their 5 and 6 feedings and assessments for which neither girl had another poop of gigantic proportions, THANKFULLY! Nursing went well, not as great as over the weekend but it was a rough day for them. In addition to all this, their Uncle Mike and Aunt Nozomi came to see the girls as well... fun, fun times. :) Thankfully we had a dinner casserole to go home to, after a quick run to Babies R Us for MORE baby stuff. And to think I thought we had enough...not! The girls went through 9 receiving blankets today. Craziness. So I needed to purchase more, the first of many of these discoveries I am sure.

Tomorrow I have my follow up appointment at Dr. Paul's office (where I will get released), so hopefully I can start walking and lifting some light weights to work off all this pregnancy and bed rest fat. :( Then, when I see the girls I am going to have the lactation consultant help me with the girls during their nursing sessions. We need to get working on this eating thing so that we can move onto bottles and get home. Now if only they'd stop having brady's (heart drops), we'd be even closer to being home free. They have to have 5 days FREE of brady's before they will be discharged. This seriously stinks b/c some days they have 4 or 5 still. :( And we need to get Miss Olivia off of her oxygen. In good news, the girls are official! We received their Social Security Cards today! So cool.

Hope all is well,
J

The Great Debate

So since their birth, the constant debate between Jeni and I has been who the twins look like. To the casual observer, one may not be able to actually tell the apart yet. As their parents though, we can definitely see some distinct differences between them. Besides their size difference (Olivia is noticeably larger) they had differences in their facial features. In my opinion, Olivia looks alot like Jeni. Specifically, I think Olivia has Jeni's eyes. Not the color (since their eye color will still change probably) but the shape of her eyes. As for Sydney, Jeni and I both believe that she looks more like me. Jeni also thinks both girls have my mouth. And if you all know Jeni, that's probably a good thing since she's known to curse like a sailor on occassion... Just kidding Jeni. :)

So, with this debate, I decided to go back and look at some baby pictures of the two of us and see if I could find some that solidified our opinions... Here's some I found.

You may agree... Or not.

- Olivia taken on 8-7-08

- Jeni and her grandpa, circa 1977.

- Sydney taken 8-10-08

- Matt taken circa 1975.

In news regarding the girls, no real changes. They both lost a few grams after being switched to their new isolettes, which is to be expected. These force them to regulate their own temps more, which can actually burn additional calories, thus causing them to actually lose some weight.

Olivia is still on 1/2 liter of humidity and on 23% oxygen. We hope to get her off of both of these in the next week. Sydney has been back on mom's milk for 2 days now and things seem to be good. Hopefully this continues.

Jeni went down to see the girls this morning to arrive in time for their 11 & 12 o'clock feedings so she could get in some more practice time with them. I had some yard work to take care of so I had Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Rick swing by and get me on their way to the hospital. After arriving we hung out with the girls for about an hour. Sharon and Rick left around 2:00 so Jeni could practice again with the girls. Follow those practice sessions we left as well.

Since our schedules have been so whacked with trips back and forth to the hospital, we haven't been doing our usual homemade dinners at home. Its been a lot of frozen pizzas and fast food for us. Luckily some folks have been generous enough to make us some meals! Tonight, we stopped by and Grandma Pat had 3 meals made for us. We'll be dining in style this week! This is in addition to the stuffed peppers that Grandma Sharon made for us and dropped off late last week.

Tonight we did get home in time for me to grill. So I made some pork steaks and grilled the veggies that Grandpa Gale gave us. It was a nice evening at home hanging with the boxers and watching the Olympics. Go USA! :)


Anyway, until tomorrow, here are some more pictures of the girls from today...

Sydney Ann

And Olivia Kay

Have a great day!

M