Home Sweet Home

Yesterday it finally happened...two weeks to the day after their birth, we were released from the hospital and NICU. WOOOOO HOOOOO!!! They still have to take vitamins, iron, and have NEOSURE added to their bottles every day. Upon release Ella weighed 4lbs15oz and Owen weighed 4lbs14oz-both have surpassed their birth weights. Looking good. They have also both been downing 60cc's almost every feeding which is 2oz's-way to go my little preemies!!! They are going to be chubby little monkeys in no time at all!!

.

Our first night home was not too bad. Jamie and I switched off every other feeding so we both got some sleep! :) I think this schedule will work for us for a while...until I decide whether or not I am going to switch to exclusive breastfeeding or not. I am still pumping and they are getting 100% breastmilk, I just may stick to the bottle feeding during the nights to get some sleep...if Jamie will agree to keep doing that!

.

Today is the first day that Owen and been sleeping better and longer than Ella. I think Ella has had some troubles with gas today. Momma has been having to give her some extra lovin' and holdin' time which she hasn't objected to one bit!! I have been enjoying getting to know everything about them-having missed out on all of the little things for two whole weeks. Now that they are home it is hard to remember that they are actually two weeks old and not just born and home from the hospital...especially since they are SO small.

.

I can finally breathe now that they are home, and not have to worry about getting dressed and everyone ready and out the door to get to the hospital by a certain time each day. I think Ava will also enjoy getting back to a regular routine and not being watched my someone different each day. I know my toughest days are ahead of me, but I am really looking forward to the future and my three little babies at home. Three kids under two...here comes the fun!!

.

Daddy feeding Owen his last bottle in the NICU!!

Freeing Owen from all of his wires!! Happiest moment for me. You can tell the twins don't wake easily when there is commotion around them. They are used to all of the movement from eachother! :) Ella is still completely passed out!
Mommy holding both of her babies for the first time without being hooked up to any monitors. So strange...

Owen in his carseat ready to roll.

Finally ready to head home.

Daddy carrying the babies out into the world for the first time.

Yippee!! Out of the hospital

In the car! We are going to have to reconfigure where all the carseats go. With one of the twins behind the drivers seat, Jamie can't get the seat back far enough to drive comfortably. :( How do we have a Suburban and feel like we don't have enough room. Oh ya, bc we have 3 carseats and one 6ft+ teenage boy. WOW!!

Home at last.

Hehe....love them!

Ava hadn't fallen asleep yet, so Jamie went and got her out of her crib to see the babies. She was SO SO SO excited to see them. She couldn't wipe the smile off of her face with just made my heart explode with sheer joy!

She kept going back and forth between both carseats just checking them out, rocking them, petting them, hugging and kissing them, and just beaming!!

Ava calls them Ooooooh and Lella...too too cute!!

This is where I find her most of the time...reaching over into their pack n play and trying to touch them-she can actually touch them- I just try and stop her before she does. Usually she doesn't listen. She also tries to put toys and books in with them...this is going to become a problem if she doesn't start listening to Momma and Daddy. :)

They already feel right at home!!

Moving in Fast Forward

Okay, so yesterday they were moved to all bottle feeds. Well, today when we went in at 11:30 they had already been evaluated by the Nurse Practitioner (which happens at some point every day), and they were already promoted to bottle feeds every feed amount as tolerated. The last step in the process for them to come home. Basically they put more than their minimum amount in the bottle and let them eat as much as they want, as long as they still finish their required minimum.

.

They both did fantastic and completed all of the extra that the nurse put in the bottle-which I think was an extra 10cc's. So I asked to speak to the NP to see how long they had to stay on this regiment before they were allowed to come home. The NP came over and said, well if they do good for the rest of the day and through tonight, then they can go home tomorrow. What? WHAT? Tomorrow? REALLY?? I was beyond excited and I was not expecting her to say that AT ALL!!! SO SO SO THRILLED at the thought of bringing my babies home!!! Now, there is still a slight possibility that they will not finish all of their bottles, but I really doubt it. Good thing we threw in Ava's old car seat for them to test Ella in. We also packed Owen's new one in the car so that we could exchange it. (I started reading some bad reviews on the one we had picked out for him, and they all complained about the same thing so I decided to return it.)

.

Ava's old car seat failed their tests, so we had to leave and go buy two new car seats. Ava's car seat was a little too big, and the straps wouldn't tighten enough. At this point I will pay any amount to get my babies out of there. So after lunch we headed back to the hospital with two new car seats. They had just finished another full bottle each-which just reassured me that they would be coming home tomorrow. They also scheduled Owen's circumscision for later that day. I was so sad I would not be able to stay and be there with him to comfort him after it was all done. :( My poor little man.

.

Soooo, tomorrow morning all they have to do is review the car seat tests and review their eating from the night before, go over care for the babies and for Owen's circ, finish up some paperwork and we should be on our way. I can't believe they are coming home two weeks to the day that they went into the NICU. I feel like I have missed out on two whole weeks of bonding time with my babies. I know it is going to be hard, and a lot of work, but I am so looking forward to getting to know Owen and Ella.

.

This may be my last post for a couple of days until I can figure out a schedule for the family. Wish us luck!!!
.

Mommy and Owen

Ella completely passed out drinking her bottle. Hehe!


Notice anything different?? They also got their feeding tubes taken out!! She still has a little bit of tape on her cheek in case you were wondering. I am SOO looking forward to them not having a million tubes connected to them!

Maybe one of the last pictures of them in their NICU crib together. Bittersweet.

Ella in Ava's old car seat. It is crazy how small they look in their seats.

Getting Close...

I was so exhausted yesterday that I couldn't bring myself to get on the computer and post a blog. The hospital I delivered at offers something called a courtesy room for parents who have babies in the NICU-and I stayed in one last night. Basically if they have an open hospital room we can stay in it for free. It was amazing to be able to spend so much extra time with the little ones. With the two hour round trip drive from our house to the hospital, I usually only get to stay for one feeding before I have to leave to get back to Ava. So, I really enjoyed seeing so much more of the babies, and getting some time to myself between feeds. Since I am a nursing mother, I can still order room service when I am staying in a room as well. (Not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier post, but my hospital actually offers room service. There is a menu for breakfast, lunch & dinner and you just call in what you would like to eat and they deliver it to your room. The food still isn't that great, but it sure beats being delivered a tray of mystery food.)

.

So much has changed with the babies since I last blogged. Yesterday they were switched to the bottle, bottle, tube schedule and did great on it. They finished all of their bottles. So today they were moved to all bottle feeds. YES!! I have been looking forward to them getting to this point for so long. I really hope that they are strong enough now to finish each bottle every three hours. They hadn't been evaluated by the doctor before I had to leave today, and after they were the doc gave me a call. I believe she said that if they do well on this schedule for 48hrs then they would be able to come home. I am not getting my hopes up quite yet, just in case I misunderstood her (I was woken up from my nap when she called so I could have been hearing what I wanted to hear) ;) .

.

She said that we needed to bring their carseats up there so that they could be tested sitting in them to make sure there are no problems with the fit and that the babies don't have any breathing problems while they are in them. She also asked if we would be rooming in the night before they were released. It is not mandatory, but they offer a room with a large king size bed for parents to stay in the night before they go home just to make sure they feel comfortable taking the babies home. You also still have their NICU nurse at your disposal all through the night just in case anything comes up. I don't think we will be doing this, but I am still going to talk it over with Jamie.

.

Just having the doctor talk to me about these things really makes me think that they are getting super close to coming home. I mean they could be here by this weekend!! Again, trying not to get my hopes up, but it is SOOO hard. Today I had my first real breakdown leaving the hospital. I literally had to force myself to start the car and pull out of the parking lot. I almost went right back inside to stay for another feeding. I think being able to stay the night and spend so much extra time with them made it that much harder to leave them. I really haven't had good quality time to bond with them. There are always nurses looking over your shoulder and checking in on you. Granted all of the nurses have been wonderful, I just want them ALL TO MYSELF!!

.

I am hoping tomorrow will be a better day. It is just getting so hard to leave them knowing they are so close to coming home. In the beginning I knew in my heart that they needed to be in the NICU, now my heart knows that they need to be home. I hope tomorrow I will have more positive news. ;)

.

Jamie didn't spend the night with me at the hospital, but we did have a wonderful date night before he left. We went to our favorite restaurant-Z Tejas-and had the BEST dinner. It may be the last dinner we have alone together for a long long LONG time. Don't even know when we will be able to eat out as a family...two carseats and a high chair for Ava??? Yikes, we are going to have our hands full. Anyway, we held hands, talked, just really enjoyed our time together. I have the best husband in the whole world...don't know how I would have made it through the pregnancy without him, and would be a complete mess these past two weeks with the babies in the NICU if he wasn't by my side. Love you Jamie! Look forward to our next date night in about a year. :)

.

Sister yesterday...pretty in purple. She looks like a little doll.

Daddy holding Owen...thinking he is trying to tell me something. :)
Snuggling with little sister. She is so content after her bottle.

Pic from today. Not sure if you can tell from this pic, but they are really starting to fill out in their faces. UGH I can't wait to get these two home!!!

Catching On

Another great visit today. Owen and Ella are really getting the hang of bottle feeding! They are starting to finish all of their bottles. I am SO proud. I am going to talk to the doctors tomorrow, but I think the next step is two back to back bottle feeds then one tube feeding...right now they are almost bottle feeding every other time. We are slowly working up to bottle feeding every time-which is what we need to do to go home. I am so anxious for them to come home, and yet so nervous. How am I going to handle two newborns and a toddler? I keep telling myself..one day at a time.

.

They are also catching on to gaining weight. Tonight O weighed in at 4lb11.2oz and Elle was 4lb10.8oz. In just a few days they have really packed it on!! I guess that NeoSure is doing a great job.

.

Look how tiny their little feet are. Their fingers and toes are so unbelievably small!!

Little Owen...totally awake as usual. I have noticed that he is really becoming more alert and active.
Holding both the babes...Ella really wanted to give big bro a kiss!
Typical pic...Owen wide eyed, and Ella passed out the second she is done with her bottle. Atleast when they come home I will have one good sleeper on my hands.

So sweet!

Back snuggled in their beds. So hard for me to leave after I get them back in their beds all wrapped up. I just have to keep snapping pics of them. I love that Owen's paci is as big as he is. ;)

Can't wait to get these two precious wads home!!

Big Sister

Thought I would post a few pics from the last dinner we had out a couple of days before the babies came.

Ava and Daddy waiting outside for a table. Amazing how when I told them to say "cheese" they both gave me their best fake smiles. Lol.

I can't believe Ava's hair is long enough for a double french braid! She is getting SO big!

We met Tara, Damon and Gavin at Hill's Cafe. Gavin is such a cutie...check out that smile!!

They really adore eachother. Gavin starting to flirt, look how coy Ava is acting.

Gavin putting on the moves...going in for a kiss...

Aaaaahhh!!!

Hahaha....look at Ava's face...cracks me up!!! Guess Gavin is a pretty good kisser! Hahaha. They kissed a couple of more times before we had to make them stop. Could this be the start of something???

First Solo Flight

Today was my first visit to the NICU alone. Ava came down with a little bit of a runny nose and was sneezing yesterday, and it carried over to today. She also had a slight fever, so we thought it was best that Jamie stay home with her while I went to the hospital. Now I am not supposed to drive for another week, but there was NO WAY I was missing a visit with my babies! I felt up to it so I was on my way.

.

The one downfall to my first outing was that I didn't have my husbands help in getting ready and out the door. He was busy taking care of poor little Ava. So...after getting to the hospital I first realized that I had forgotten the milk that I had pumped. No biggie I thought, I am about to pump again when I get to NICU and can just leave that. Well, when I get my pump out I realized that I had forgotten all of my pump accessories at home as well. UGH! These were both things that my husband gets ready each day and makes sure are packed for the hospital. Luckily one of the nurses snuck me a pumping accessories kit (you only get one and have to pay for any extras) and I was able to use a hospital pump.

.

The bad thing was that it delayed the babies feeding schedule by 30 minutes. I felt like such a horrible mom! I didn't really try to breast feed today because I felt so bad-I just wanted to hurry up and give them their bottle. I will not make this mistake again. Lol.

.

The babies are still at 40cc's of milk, but today they told me they are adding NeoSure to their breastmilk. NeoSure is a formula like powder. The nurse said it is to help them gain weight. The downfall to this is that it makes their poop really stinky. I was like no problem. That is until I changed Owen's diaper and he had a little poopie surprise for me. As soon as I pulled back the diaper my nose hairs started to curl. It was such a noxious smell I can't even describe it. Similar to how vinegar is when it gets too close to your nose. Hopefully they won't be on this stuff for too long. Yowzers.

.

They did graduate to 4 bottle feeds in a 24hr period. WooHoo...progress. One step closer to coming home. Owen finished his bottle for me today in 30, and sister finished in an amazing 13 minutes!! I was so proud. I think she is finally getting the hang of it. Hopefully I will get a good report for the rest of their feedings tomorrow. Jamie will be back to taking me to the hospital, so hopefully we won't experience any setbacks. :)

.

I love it each day when I first arrive-walking around the corner and see them snuggled up together sleeping. I just love it! Warms my heart every time.

Please Mom...No more pictures! You know how I like my beauty sleep.

Ugh...could they get any cuter??!!!
Mommy and Owie..finally full and satisfied after having to wait forever.

Little Ella Bella downing her bottle like a champ. Today she is wearing a hat made by the nice ladies from Threads of Love. It is the cutest little beanie I have ever seen. I wish I could take it home with me.

Hey Mom this bow you put on me is too heavy for my little head!!

Ahh...thats better!

Counting down the hours until I can get back to see my babes. Praying for continued good reports! :)

Special Visitors

Today Owen and Ella has some special people come to visit them....my Mom and Grandfather drove up today from DFW. Is was special to have the babies first great grand parent come to see them!

.

Not much has changed with the babies. They are in their open crib and taking 40cc's of milk. Still not finishing all of their three bottles in the 24hr period which we need them to do in order to move to the next step-which will be bottle feeding every other feed. Still no weight gain either...hopefully that is right around the corner. Although, their weight isn't what is keeping them in the hospital-just their learning to feed.

In the waiting room getting ready for the first group of people to go back. My mom is signing to Ava "I Love You". I love Ava's face because she is just looking up in pure adoration. She LOVES LOVES LOVES my mom. Cries if they are separated for any amount of time when she comes to stay with us. ;)

In their new crib. Gives us SO much more space in their tiny little nook. Before Jamie and I were so squished trying to both fit back there once the curtain is drawn to block off our little spot.

Peacefully sleeping together.

Today they were swaddled together in the SAME blanket. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen!! You could tell they were just SO content!! I hated to unwrap them to wake them up.

Hehehe...could they get any cuter??!!

Owen taking his teeny tiny bottle. He did great today and finished the whole thing!

Ella's turn to wake up. I had to snap a quick picture of her with her eyes open. Not sure if you have noticed the trend yet, but when we wake Owen up to eat he is wide awake. Will keep his eyes open the whole time. Girlfriend LOVES her beauty sleep. Hates to be woken up, and can barely keep her little eyes open when she is eating. Today she almost finished her bottle, but had to be tube fed the very last few cc's. She just couldn't keep herself awake...despite all of mommy's efforts.

Grandma Sher Sher and Owen. She got to feed him his last little bit of milk so I could start on Ella.

The special man of the hour-Great Granddaddy and Owen

Great Granddaddy and Ella. He was so happy to be there visiting with him. It was truly a special day!

I thought I would show you a few pictures from around the NICU. The ones I could take anyways. Here is where you scrub in for 3 minutes like you are going in to surgery before you are let back into where the babies are. Even your camera has to be wiped down before entry, and you have to use paper towels to touch and carry back any bags you are bringing back with you. Once you are back there, once you touch anything other than your baby you have to sanitize your hands. I usually end up using the foam hand sanitizer about 30 times when I am back there. Lets just say my hands are pretty dry. :)

Just outside the NICU is the Ronald McDonald Room. They offer snacks, drinks, two computers with internet access, a couch and 2 recliners for all of the parents with kids in the NICU. It is a very nice thing to have, and super convenient. With so much time spent up there I just think it was awesome they did this for parents!

Hoping to get a good report of the kiddos tomorrow. I really want the nurse to tell me that they finished all of their other two bottles from the feeds after we left. Don't know how much longer I can take my babies being away from me. I am not pregnant anymore, but sometimes I feel like I didn't have babies at all. When we are at home it is like life was before they were born-like nothing at all has changed. I REALLY want them here with me. I am holding up better than I EVER thought I could. Please keep praying that they come home soon!!