All is Well

 It feels like we have fallen off the map lately.   We have had such a busy month that I'm not sure where to start for an update!  Plus, my brain is running on empty.  So if this is a little scattered, just pretend to follow. 

The babies had a busy month in the hospital.  They learned to take bottles, and they got fat.  Both babies are pretty anemic which is common for preemies.  They had a few blood transfusions which helped them to eat better and breathe better.  Tripp is the fatty of the two.  He is a pretty eager eater.  He gained a little faster and learned to suck better.  Once he could take all of his feedings by bottle for 48 hours, we could bring him home.  We were really nervous to bring him home.  Something about being responsible for a NICU graduate was a little overwhelming.  We got to bring him home on Dec. 20th.  Just in time for Christmas! 

Here is a picture of his last few minutes in his hospital bed.

 We got him dressed in his Christmas best and got him ready to go!  The nurses all lined up to say goodbye to him and that's when I lost it.  I was excited to take him home.  I was sad to leave Charlie up there all alone and I was so grateful to all of the amazing nurses and doctors that basically saved our babies.  It was a very bittersweet moment.

The nurses warned us that once a baby leaves the hospital for home one of two things would happen.  The changes from hospital to home are so stressful for them that they will either cry constantly or sleep and sleep and sleep to shut all of the stresses out.  Guess which one Tripp did?   He slept for the first hour....and then cried the rest of the night.  Not fun.  But, to make up for it, he has been an angel ever since.

Jack was so happy to finally have Tripp home.  Tripp was the baby he claimed from the beginning.  He dotes on him constantly.  It is pretty precious.  

Through all of the excitement, we remembered to have Christmas.  Jack and Luke were so excited Christmas morning!  I have to say, Christmas is about 100 times more fun with kids. 

Luke loved the chocolate more than the toys.  He just kept shoving his mouth full.  A child after my own heart :) 

Jack's one request for Christmas was a Transformer.  Every present that he opened before the Transformer was a bust.  He opened his Santa presents and I said, "Jack!  What did Santa bring you?"  His reply was, "Well, I'll tell you one thing, it isn't a Transformer."  Good thing Grandma delivered in the Transformer department :)  Ha!

Luke loves Chuck the Dump Truck.  Every day when he wakes up he begs to watch Chuck.  It takes a lot of effort to get him to do anything else first.   He was pretty pleased to get a real dump truck :)

Now for Charlie....

Charlie runs on his own schedule.  There is no pushing him.  We really tried to get him home for Christmas, but he wasn't feeding well and had his own agenda.  He is going to be our child that sets his own pace.  I am going to have to learn to be patient.  Good luck to me :)

We finally got to bring him home December 30th.  Just in time for the new year!   We were so excited to reunite the babies.  I don't think they had a clue.  But, to see all of my boys in one room was one of my favorite moments.  To have my little family all together was magical.

The babies are both over 7 pounds!  They are growing great and they have been such good babies.  We have about a million doctors appointments over the next year.   Both boys have an ASD which is a hole between the atriums in their hearts.  So, we will be followed fairly closely by a Cardiologist.  They also have funny shaped red blood cells so we will see a Hematologist and a Geneticist.  This should be a very educational year :) 

The babies immune systems are still very immature.  We are on lock down in the house until March or April.  So, the bishop came to our house and we were able to bless the babies on New Years Eve.   It has been so wonderful to have them home.  Jack and Luke are fascinated by them.  We are sleep deprived and the house is a disaster, but we are so perfectly content :)

Lukey Doo Turns Two!

 Sweet Luke turned two this week!  He is such a joy in our home.  He is a gentle soul and has a very sensitive little heart.  However, he may be the most stubborn child I've ever met.   He chats all day long and actually speaks very clearly.  I love this age when their personality really starts to blossom.  We are so lucky to have him and I can't wait to see what he does this year! 

Look Mom, No Cannula!!

The babies have been in the hospital for 48 days.  They are 7 weeks old tomorrow!  I can't believe how fast it has gone by!  If I were still pregnant, I would be 36 weeks along....and ginormous.  I suppose there are some upsides to delivering at 28 weeks.

We have settled into a nice rhythm here.  I go up to the hospital during the day every other day, and then every other night, Jay and I go together.  Our drive to the hospital takes about 45 minutes.  It has been really nice to have that alone time with Jay.  I might actually be a little sad when we don't have those long evening drives anymore.  

Jack and Luke love having Grandma Durrant here, so they don't really mind that I leave them a lot.  Although, on Friday, Jack said, "Mom, do you have to go to the hospital today?  Can't you just stay here with me and play?  Tripp and Charlie can't even play yet.  They will never know the difference."  Haha!  He sounds so grown up sometimes. 

They may not know if I come up every day or not, but I sure miss them if I don't.  I can't wait until they are home and I can snuggle them whenever I want :)

Jack took a headband and put it around his face so that he could have a nasal cannula like Tripp and Charlie :)  He is such a funny kid!

Tripp and Charlie are thriving!  They are getting fat, fat, fat!!  Tripp is now 4 lb. 13 oz. and Charlie is 4 lb. 6 oz.!!  They are starting to look like babies....instead of fetuses....or monkeys :)

The boys have made some awesome progress this week!  They have both gained enough weight that they can regulate their body temperatures somewhat.  So, they were moved out of their isolettes and into bassinets!!  Now they don't seem like they are locked away in little cages.  They are out in the open!

They also both came off of their nasal cannulas!  They haven't been having any apnea episodes and they were both weaned off of their caffeine!  Hopefully they can keep them off this time and not tire out!  Because it is so nice to see their little faces!

Aren't they so darling?  Charlie on the left, Tripp on the right.

Since they are regulating their temps, they get to wear clothes!!  Here is Tripp looking studly!  I couldn't get a picture of Charlie in his outfit because he is still a little cold and has to stay wrapped up over his clothes.   They are about a day away from growing out of their preemie clothes.  Chubbers.

Grandma and Tripper :)  Seriously, I think I have eaten a Chipotle burrito about the same size as him.

 Another leap made this week is bottle feeding!  Both boys get to try a bottle once a day.  It really wears them out so we have to start slow.  Yesterday, Tripp took 15 cc's and Charlie took 7!!  This is one skill they have to master before they can come home.  A full bottle for them would be about 40 cc's.  So, they have a ways to go still.  Their feeding tubes got moved to their noses so that they can get a better latch on the bottle.  I can't even imagine having a tube shoved up my nose.  Blech!!

Jay and Mini-Jay.

Charlie is always smiling.  I don't care if it is gas.  He sure has a cute smile! :)

They are starting to look more identical.  I am needing some ideas to tell them apart.  Right now I just count on their beds staying in the same place so I know who is who :)  Tripp's double chin helps, too :)

Can't wait to have our two other boys in the picture with these guys!  If all goes really, really well, we may have them home for Christmas!!  It's a long shot, but I'll take it :)

NICU Graduates

We are so fortunate that my mom was able to come out here for the past month.  I'm not sure what we would have done without her.  She took care of me after my c-section.  She did our laundry.  She cooked and cleaned.  She took Jack and Luke to the park and watched them everyday so that Jay and I could be at the hospital with the babies.  I'm 30 years old and I still need my mom :) 

We took her to Gettysburg because we wanted her to get to do something fun while she was here.  We had a great time!  My dad came out last week to see the babies and to collect my mother :)  Jack and Luke were so happy to have Grandpa around for a few days :)  They left on Saturday and we have been on our own for two days.  It feels a little weird.  Luckily, Grandma Holly is coming tomorrow!  The boys are so excited and we are so grateful that we have family to help us until the babies come home :)

This week, our boys graduated from the NICU!!!  WAHOO!!!  They are now in the Intermediate Care Nursery.  Basically, they have the same care as they did in the NICU, but the babies in the IMC are more stable and really just there to finish growing :)  We are so pleased with their progress!

Jay and Charlie.  Don't be fooled by the size of him.  There are 2 blankets wrapped around him.  He is still the size of a squirrel :)

 

 Tripp holding my hand.

 

Here is Charlie without his nasal cannula!!  He was breathing without it for about 2 days, but his oxygen saturation wasn't staying high enough so he had to go back on.  At least his sore little nose got a break for a few days.  

  

 Here is our little corner of the NICU.  It really is starting to feel like a second home.  Even the security guards recognize us.  We are becoming part of the hospital family :)

 

Tripp also had to go back on the nasal cannula.  He was off for about 4 days, but they just get really tired of doing it all on their own.  His red blood cell count was also low, so he had to have a blood transfusion.  That has helped his oxygen levels quite a bit, so hopefully he can try again without the cannula.  He LOVES his binky!  Which is a good sign that he might be able to try bottle feeding soon.

(Charlie loves his binky too, but he gets distracted by it and forgets to breathe :)  He hasn't learned to multitask yet.)

Charlie after his bath getting his hair combed.  So cute!

When I hold the boys together, they throw a few punches, make a few squeaks, and then they calm down and snuggle right in :)  They are such boys.  Wrestle = Love.  (Charlie on the left, Tripp on the right)

Tripp is now 3 lbs. 9 oz. and Charlie is 3 lbs. 4 oz.  What little chubbers! 

As for these two, yes, they still exist :)  Unfortunately they aren't getting much blog time.  They have been such troopers through this whole thing.  Jack has been such a great brother to Luke.  They really are great friends. 

Jack has been busy perfecting his dance moves.  He really is pretty good.  Once things calm down I should think about getting him into something.  And Luke has become obsessed with the Lumineers song "Ho Hey".  He walks around the house all day yelling, "Ho!!  Hey!!!"  They are pretty cute and we can't wait for our house to be overrun with all of our little men soon :)

Twinner Reunion

I can't even explain how crazy life is.  You just never know what is going to come next.  I suppose that is what keeps one from getting bored.   We have gone through a couple of roller coaster-moments in the past few weeks.   One day we are elated, the next day we are deflated.  I think this may be exactly what I needed.  I am such a planner and a control freak that it is good for me to learn to roll with the punches. 

We survived the hurricane!  We had a ton of rain and a few pretty good wind gusts, but really, that is about all we got.  We are so grateful as so many others were not as fortunate as us.  I don't think I have ever prayed so hard for the power to stay on.  We just bought a deep freezer to store all of the milk I pumped.  I didn't want all of those hours to go wasted.  We had one flicker of the lights and that was it.   We weren't able to go up to the hospital for a couple of days because Baltimore was partly flooded, but the nurses kept me well informed during the hurricane and they assured me that if their power went out, they had generators to keep the babies alive :)

Jack and Luke aren't allowed in the NICU so they haven't seen the babies yet.  Jack begged for us to take him to the hospital where he promised to wait quietly in the waiting room :)  We agreed to his terms and decided to have a fun outing on the way up.   We drive right through downtown Baltimore and the Inner Harbor to get to the hospital.  The harbor is lined with shops and restaurants and huge ships.  We took the boys to see the ships and have lunch.  Jack was in heaven.  Luke was mad that we wouldn't let him run around.  We took the boys to the hospital and Jack realized that waiting in the waiting room was pretty boring and it was ok for us to visit the babies without him next time :)

The babies have really been doing great.  A couple of weeks ago, the doctor told us that both boys have spiculated red blood cells.  Meaning, they aren't perfect circles.  They look like they have little bites taken out of them.  Most premature babies have some of these funny looking cells.  Usually around 5% of their red blood cells look like that.  Our babies have about 50% that look weird.  This put the doctors on alert and they started doing a few tests.  Jay and I both had our blood checked to see if we have that, which we don't.  So, they were concerned that the babies had a lipid disorder.  After a few consults with the doctors, I still had no idea what they were looking for or what any of it meant.  All I knew was that it could mean some really scary things for the babies.  We went through a week of worry and fear and sadness.  It was terrifying.  We prayed and prayed, and our families prayed and we fasted and we prayed some more.  Finally, the results came back and they were normal.

I have never felt such relief.  So, they still have weird shaped red blood cells, but they don't have the really scary disease :)  We will follow up with a Hematologist after they are discharged to make sure all is well with them.

The babies have the best nurses and doctors.  They are so intuitive and they really care about our boys.   Both Tripp and Charlie are busy babies.  They are excellent at pulling their feeding tubes out.  It frustrates their nurses, but they are impressed by their coordination :)  They can also move around quite a bit in their isolettes, which screws with their vitals.  The nurses have to strap them down to get them to stay put, so that the boys can sleep and grow :) 

Here is Tripp fast asleep.  Finally holding still. 

And here is Charlie.

And Charlie again.  They are growing so much that they have to keep going up in sizes for their hats.  They also graduated from ultra-preemie diapers to regular preemie diapers!  Wahoo!!

Here is Tripp trying to roll over.  I kept moving him and then he would just throw his head back where it was.  He knows what he wants I guess!

Here is Charlie in his seashell bikini :)  

Tripp made a giant leap this week and came off of his nasal cannula!  He is breathing completely on his own and doing very well so far!  There is a small possibility that he will have to go back on it because preemies get tired so fast and sometimes they need a break.   But, we are so proud of him :)  Plus, he is sooooo darling without all of that stuff shoved up his nose and taped around his face!

My mom got to hold Tripp today.  I think she is smitten with him.  How could she not be?  Both boys have what the nurses call a "toaster head".  Tripp's is worse than Charlie's.  Because it is easier for them to breathe lying on their bellies, their heads are always to the side.  The nurses are good about making sure they have equal time on each side of their head, but it just gets a little flat looking....like a piece of toast.  Eventually when they breathe better and they sleep on their backs, their heads should round out a bit.  Haha!

Doesn't he look like a little old man?  They even have wrinkly butts :)  So cute.

The big news today is that the babies were finally reunited with each other!!  They have had another baby between their isolettes in the NICU, so they haven't been able to be together.  Today the nurses moved their beds next to each other and I got to hold them both at the same time!! It was so precious to see them together.  They looked into each others eyes and made little noises....and then they held hands!!!!  Such a sweet little moment that I got to be there for.  However, holding two babies is not easy.  In fact, it is down right hard.  It is going to take a lot of practice.

Both boys are starting to put some weight on!  Charlie is 2 lb. 13 oz. and Tripp just hit 3 lbs! I go in every day to drop off my milk.  I'm like a personal dairy.   I'm thinking of going into business.  Anyone on the way to Baltimore that needs fresh milk, just leave a milk box outside and $20 :)