1 week update

Caroline and Emily are 1 week and 1 day old!!  While it seems like the week has gone by quickly, it's amazing to think of everything that has happened and how far the girls have come.

The girls have been doing very well in the NICU so far.  We truly could not be happier with their progress.  Both are breathing completely on their own, and both have graduated to "big girl cribs" with no heat lamps, meaning they are regulating their temperatures with no problems.  Emily has been off of the IV fluids {which were supplementing her feedings} for a couple of days, and Caroline's IV probably came out this evening.  So the next step is to start working on nursing/bottles!  The girls are most likely moving from the NICU to the special care nursery tomorrow.  Special care is a middle step between NICU and going home...yay!  We've heard that it's really nice, and each family has a private room, so it's more like home than the NICU.  We're excited about this next step, and continuing to pray that the girls keep doing as well as they have so far.

Because I've been using 99.9% of my time in the NICU to hold babies, I haven't been very good at taking many pictures.  But here are some from the last few days.

Emily

Caroline

Emily

 Caroline - wide awake!

Emily

holding Caroline

And here's one Matt sent me today when he was holding Emily...wearing her fancy big girl nightgown!  ;)

One of the hardest parts of this week has been splitting my time between being with Will at home and the girls at the hospital.  Oh how I wish I could be in both places at once!  It has been SO great to be back at home with Matt and Will.  And in the last couple of days I've been getting around well enough after the c-section that I have been able to be here with Will all by myself for awhile each day.  It's been great to reconnect with him and get back into our playtime routine.  I still can't pick him up, but we're getting pretty creative with step stools when we need to be!  Here are a few pics of my sweet boy.

Playing with his new block set {thanks Madison and Emma!!}

Will loves to wear "daddy gasses!"

I can't wait to see this sweet boy as a big brother!  {I mean...obviously he is one already...but he hasn't gotten to meet his sisters yet!}

so blessed

They are here!!!!  We can now officially add March 2, 2012 to our list of very best days ever.  Caroline Faith arrived at 1:40pm, weighing 4 pounds, 3 ounces, and Emily Katherine arrived at 1:41pm, weighing 4 pounds, 8 ounces.  They are doing wonderfully so far, just facing the normal preemie issues of learning to breathe, eat, fight jaundice, and stay warm.  They are truly miracles, and I still can't believe they are here.  God is SO GOOD.  

Both girls are on CPAP, which is a machine that doesn't breathe for them, but gives pressure into their lungs to help them remember to breathe on their own.  CPAP is a wonderful thing, but unfortunately it covers most of their sweet little faces, and causes some facial swelling because of the pressure.  So we are excited for the day when they graduate from it and we can really see what they look like!  ;)  {update!  I just took a break from writing this post to walk down and hang out with the girls, and I got to see Emily's CPAP hat get changed out!  Such fun...I got to see her head and face for a few minutes and I took a couple of pictures that I'll include below!}

Both girls are being fed through feeding tubes while they are learning to digest, and while they are too small to have the sucking reflex necessary for nursing or bottles.  Emily is also enjoying some time under a UV light to help with her jaundice, which is very common in preemies.  Caroline hasn't needed the light yet, but it's most likely that she will at some point.  Right now, we are praying for good digestion, continued success with breathing, and growing!

I'm feeling much better today, and I've even been walking over to the NICU all by myself this afternoon.  Such an independent feeling after being wheeled everywhere for the first two days.  I'll be going home tomorrow...kind of a strange feeling to be moving out of the hospital after 6 weeks!  I am so excited to bond with Will at home again, even though I will still be splitting my time between home and the NICU for quite awhile.  OK, time for some pictures!

Babies day belly pic!

Sweet Caroline right after she arrived

Caroline with her CPAP on...I'm thinking I need to develop a prettier CPAP hat for the NICU that doesn't involve safety pins and rubber bands.  ;)

I got to be wheeled through the NICU on my way to my post-partum room after recovery.  I had just very briefly seen the girls in the OR when they arrived, so this was my second chance to check them out. 

Yesterday {March 4} Matt and I got to hold the girls for the first time!!  We actually weren't expecting to get to hold them so soon, but because they were very stable on CPAP and they also got some of the IV lines out of their belly buttons, we got the go-ahead from the doctor for a short hold!  There are so many things I totally took for granted since Will was a full term baby.  We won't take anything for granted this time around for sure!

holding Caroline

 Matt holding Emily

Our awesome nurse even let me sneak in and hold Emily for a second...shhhh, we were only supposed to each hold one!

And here are two pics from Emily's hat change tonight.  Her little nose and eyes are swollen, but at least we got a peek at her sweet face!  {they haven't done baths yet in an effort not to stress them out, so it's hard to tell her hair color...but it seems a bit blondish...maybe a dark blonde?}

What a double blessing to add these girls to our family.  Thank you soooo much to everyone who has been praying for us and for them.  

thirty one!

Wanna see something crazy?

Yep...pretty sure my belly grew exponentially this week!  I'm sooo excited that we reached 31 weeks today.  That means ONE. MORE. WEEK.  Seven more days.  We can do this!  This has definitely been the hardest week yet...more contractions, bigger belly to manage, really really missing my boys {and my life}, plus the complete lack of privacy of hospital life just all started to get to me this week.  BUT...I could not ask for anything more than the blessing of these healthy baby girls.  I can't believe we get to meet them in just a week!  Soooo worth it.

They continue to be very feisty during monitoring sessions, and I'm hoping that will translate to strong girls who are fighters in the NICU.  :)  I can feel their hiccups this week, and once they both had them at the same time.  Such a funny feeling!  When we took their measurements on Thursday, baby A was measuring around 4 lbs, 2 oz, and baby B was around 3 lbs, 12 oz.  The doctor says that the measurements could be off by 15% either way, and I know that Will always measured big.  We thought he was going to be a 10 pound baby, and he was only 7 lbs, 15 oz.  I'm hoping that with one more week to grow, the girls will be around 4 lbs each by next Friday.  

In other news of the week - Will got a big boy haircut yesterday!  He looks so grown up...just like a big brother, don't you think?

30 weeks!

I'm so happy that we hit 30 weeks yesterday!  Being in the 30s sounds so much better than the 20s, right?  :)  The countdown is officially on...if everything goes well in the next two weeks, the babies are scheduled to arrive on March 2nd at 1:30pm.  Sounds like a great day to have babies to me!  So far they are looking really good.  Two times, baby A has had some decelerations during monitoring {decelerations are what we're watching for - they are when baby's heartrate decreases temporarily, which could signal distress if it becomes a pattern or she doesn't recover right away.}  Luckily, both times it has been isolated and she has recovered very quickly, so my nurses have said that because she is head down and very low, she might just be laying on her own cord every so often, meaning it may not even be related to the ginormous knot in their cords.  I guess it's normal for babies to have them, just not normal if it becomes repetitive.  {but those 2 monitorings when it happened really made me glad to be here!}  Both babies are having plenty of accelerations during monitoring {which we want - it shows that they are responsive} and I can feel when they get the hiccups now.  It's so funny because earlier today, they both had them at the same time.  Lots going on in there!

Here's the baby belly at 30 weeks:

This week at my Thursday ultrasound, I was the only patient in the office, and my awesome tech had a few extra minutes, so she switched the machine over to the 3D view!  SUCH. FUN.  We never did one of these with Will, and it was super cool to see baby B in 3D!  She was easier to see when we were looking live...the picture is sort of like one of those pictures that you have to stare at for awhile before it suddenly becomes clear what you're looking at.  ;)  But here it is...it sort of helps if you pretend she has a head full of black hair. {and I promise she doesn't - that's where the machine was only getting the front of her face}  So can you see her?  Nose is in the middle, far left of the picture.  The little bulge to the right of her nose is her eye, which is closed...and then you can see her cute chubby cheek below!  {seriously...pretend the black part is her hairline...it helps, and sort of makes her look like a young Michael Jackson...}

Just 13 more days to behave in there, sweet babies...we can do it!!!

two!

Lately the blog has been focused on the twins a lot, but Saturday was ALL ABOUT WILL!  Our sweet boy turned TWO years old!  It seems so unreal to me that he is not a baby anymore.  The past two years have truly been the best of our lives.  Will is such a blessing to our family, and I can't wait to see him continue to grow and become a big brother!  

Just a few words that describe Will at two years old:  hilarious, curious, determined, smart, loving, talkative {except around new people}, and absolutely so LOVED.  I love that we can have conversations now.  It is so amazing to get to hear what's going on inside his mind...he is constantly surprising us!  A few of my favorite "Will" phrases right now include..."that noise?!" {said when he wants to know what a noise is}, "where'd he go?" {pretty much anytime he wonders where something or someone went...and usually said while shrugging with both hands up in the air}, "love you mama" and "goodnight mama!"  And I should mention that Will's favorite thing to say is "keys please!!"  He will ask anyone for their keys, and good luck trying to get them back if you surrender them!  His other favorite is "hold it!!" - said emphatically anytime he wants something.  He also loves singing the ABCs and counting, and he's pretty darn good at both.  I could go on for days listing things I want to remember about this age.  Seriously.  So fun!

Since I'm in the hospital, instead of throwing a big party, we just had a small family get together in my room. I won't lie....the morning of Will's birthday was the hardest time at the hospital for me so far.  I skyped in with Will and Matt for their birthday pancake breakfast, and I was just so bummed that I wasn't there to celebrate.  {and it really didn't help that the tricycle I ordered in PLENTY of time had been delivered damaged, and the replacement got delayed in shipping out of the warehouse, so although it had been promised that it would arrive in time...it did not.  Toys R Us FAIL.}  BUT....then my mom came up with decorations, Sesame Street plates, and an awesome cake, and we turned my room into a party.  Then after naptime, Will and Matt came up, along with Mimi & Duke, Nana, Aunt Ryan, Uncle Alex, Uncle Jonathan, and Jordan.  Will had a blast, and I honestly think that he had more fun with it just being our small group because all eyes were on him the entire time, and he loved hamming it up for everyone.  Here are some pictures and videos.

We started the party with some squeezable applesauce...perhaps Will's favorite thing in the world right now. 

We read some cards {sitting at Will's fun new picnic table from Mimi and Duke!}

We even wore party hats for about 2 seconds before Will ripped his off.

Awesome Elmo cake!  Thanks Mimi!!!

Lighting the candle!

After blowing out the candle, Will immediately leaned over and took a bite out of the cake!

mmmmmmm....icing!

While he was taking his first bite, I made a comment about letting him do it because it was his cake, so he sat up, looked at me, and said, "let him do it!"  Then he went in for another bite!  Total power move.

After a few bites from the whole cake, we traded for a piece.  He loved spooning the icing into his mouth!

And then he remembered that it's easier to just jam your face into the cake! Ha!

Here's a little cake eating video.  Please excuse all of our background conversations...I really wanted to post this to remember Will eating the cake with no utensils and saying, "delicious cake!"

Then we opened some more presents...Nana got Will a Spiderman themed gift, complete with his very first suitcase!  {Not sure if I've mentioned this on the blog before, but Will and Matt have a hilarious game that they play where Will stands up on the bed and yells "SPIDERMAN" as he collapses into Matt's arms.  Love these guys!}

Kind of a random picture, but I love how the light hits Will's sweet little profile.  Melt my heart.

Will definitely put some balled up wrapping paper inside his shirt and declared, "babies in there!"

I got in as many hugs and snuggles as possible!

Will used the baby belly as a nice little seat, and I loved it.  Unfortunately this was my last day of holding Will for awhile...I ended up having enough contractions that night after the party that I had to have a shot of terbutaline to stop them. {don't worry...they weren't productive, but the doctors still weren't loving them considering our situation}  Soooo....no more lifting this sweet 28 pound boy until after babies {and after c-section recovery!}

After a fun party day on Saturday, it was back to reality for Will today.  He had to visit Dr. Denison for his 2 year checkup.  Considering his disposition at his last few well visits, he actually did great today!  My mom and Matt took him, and I hear that the weight and height checks were a bit rough, but it sounds like he held it together pretty well for the actual visit with the doctor.  He got a great report, and here are his stats:

Weight: 28 lbs, 2 oz {50%}

Height: 34 1/4 inches {45%}

Head: 19 3/4 inches {80%...big brain?}

And I'm ending this post with a video from Saturday of Will singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  He had to be bribed with the promise of getting to play with Uncle Alex's keys in order to get a repeat performance for the camera, but I'm so glad we got this on video.  Priceless!

Happy birthday, sweet Will!  We love you SO much!

twenty-nine!

Today = 29 weeks!!  I can't believe that we will get to meet our sweet girls in 3 weeks or less!  {hopefully not sooner than three weeks, girls...don't get any ideas!}  This week has been nice and uneventful, except for a few contractions Tuesday, but everything is just fine.  My doctor thinks the babies are probably just having a growth spurt that may have caused those.  

Babies are growing!!

We got to see the babies on Monday AND Thursday this week, and we did measurements on Thursday.  One baby was measuring 3 lbs, 1 oz, and the other was around 2 lbs, 15 oz.  Hooray for 3 pounds!  

here is baby B!

And here are a couple of pictures of Will playing with the Ernie and Elmo balloons that Jennie brought him.  He LOVES them.  His favorite game is to hold them and let one {or both} go, and then say, "Come back, Elmo/Ernie!"  So fun.

He sometimes just carries Ernie around while he plays with other toys.  And by toys, of course I mean the buttons that control my bed, the buttons on the monitor, or someone's keys.

 I can't believe that our baby turns TWO tomorrow.  Where did the time go?

twenty eight!!!

Today is 28 weeks!!  Hooray!  Of course, we ultimately want to make it to 32 weeks before meeting these sweet girls, but 28 is a big milestone in terms of their ability to do well if they had to be delivered, so getting to today with two healthy babies is such a blessing!  

Here's my awkward bathroom mirror cameraphone belly pic...

{how fun is my pink "28 week" balloon from my sweet mom!?!}

And here's a profile picture of Baby B from our Wednesday ultrasound...she's sorta kissing baby A!

 And I have to document Will's new favorite part of visiting me in the hospital...dinnertime!  As I've mentioned before, dinner is served anywhere from 5 to 5:45 here at Hotel Presby, so Will is usually visiting when my tray arrives.  He LOVES it.  It's really pretty amazing, because he will try {and enjoy} things from the hospital tray that he would never eat at home.  {And I can personally vouch that the food at home is better in every possible way.} Maybe it's the novelty of eating while sitting on a bed?  Yesterday before dinner had even been delivered, Will jumped up on my bed, settled in, and said "Dinner please!"  Love him!

Happy Friday to everyone, and happy 28 weeks to the babies!!