It's Been A Little While...

Hey all!  Wow, can't believe how much time has flown by!  The twins are now 9 1/2 months old, almost 7 months adjusted.  They are both such happy babies with BIG personalities.  Greg and I are both doing great despite some serious sleep deprivation and social seclusion : ) 

Okay I apologize ahead of time for the Top Model reference but when I think of Harper I think "jazz hands" and "spark plug" and "schmize"...she smiles and laughs with all she's got, all the time.  She's such a joy and is just the funniest little thing.  Harper says hello with every inch of her being...from her hair sticking up on end to her kicking, dancing feet.  She's a very chatty girl that loves to sing and babble constantly...even when her brother is trying to sleep.

Finley is such a BOY!  So cute and very very busy...he is always doing and going.  Finn is army crawling all over the place exploring and chasing either us or the dog around the house.  Luckily

Making Ourselves at Home

Hi All!  We've been home almost 3 weeks now and are doing great. They are both eating a ton and Finn is now at 7 lbs and Harper is 5 1/2 lbs...they are getting big!  It's pretty remarkable how far we've come.

Just to give you an idea...here is a pic of them from mid January and one from yesterday:



Harper 31 Weeks







Finley 31 Weeks





Finley and Harper 39 Weeks



Harper and Finn are on a 2-3 hour schedule so they are keeping us pretty busy.  Sometimes they decide to eat together but more often than not they are staggered by an hour or so.  Thank goodness there's two of us!  Greg and I are typically assigned a twin each night so we're each able to catch an hour or two of sleep here and there.  They are starting to have more "awake" time so it's been fun getting to see them start to take in the world around them.

 

Life is pretty routine these days and we are really enjoying it.  We've managed our first family outing on a sunny day last week where we carried the kids in a moby wrap and walked Ella downtown.  Can't wait for the rain to let up so we can get out again!

 

 

Thanks to all who've fed us over these past couple weeks, we really appreciate it : )  This week we'll finally hit the twins' term date, 3/13/12...very surreal as we've had such a journey to get here.  We are so grateful they are both healthy and we are all very happy. 

 

Thanks again for all the support!  We are very blessed.

 

Allie, Greg, Harper & Finley

Home!

After nearly 60 days, we are finally home!!  Greg and I brought the twins home on Thursday night and have been in heaven the past 2 days.  We last posted on Wednesday and at that time, we hadn't a clue that we'd be home the following day!  How quickly things happened...Harper hit 5lbs that day and Finn was 6lbs, 9oz at 37weeks gestation and 8 weeks old.



Harper



Finn



 Those final few days were packed with immunizations, ultrasounds, eye exams, a car seat challenge, lots of eating and keeping warm.  On Thursday we were given the green light to discharge and that day was bittersweet as we said goodbye to the NICU staff who had truly become extended family.  It's amazing how the doctors and nurses managed to turn what could have been a horrible 2 months into a positive experience.

We were a swirl of emotions falling somewhere between total excitement and fright at the idea of taking home these preemie babies and assuming responsibility for them.  Luckily the NICU staff trained us well and so far we've managed to keep them fed and warm so far...  They even had a bath and tummy time : )  The twins also met their "best friend" who's been patiently awaiting their arrival.  Ella was very interested in the babies but listened well and sniffed from a distance.  She's since been super comfortable around them, I guess she's decided she'll claim them as part of the family.

While they are sleeping peacefully at the moment, I can't say that was the case the first night. We were all a little anxious about the change, even Ella who woke up whining every hour.  Finn definitely knew major changes had taken place and he spent the night trying to chit chat about it versus getting some shut eye.  But I'm happy to report night #2 was 100% better! 

So now we are on to the next phase of our lives where we are essentially on quarantine at the house for the next few months.  Hopefully once the sun starts shining and summer hits, the twins can make their debut into society.  But until then, it'll be a pretty quiet existence, that is until they start working on their crying skills!


Thank you for all your support through our hospitalization, we've had countless friends and family really go out of their way for us, thank you!!

As the visitation remains limited until flu season is over and they get a bit more stable, we'll keep going with the blog to keep anyone interested up to speed on the latest. 

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Love, Allie, Greg, Harper & Finley









Eat Sleep Eat Sleep and Do It Some More

We are now SUPER close to home...In the past few days the twins were taken off their feeding tubes, had their final head ultrasounds, hearing tests, immunizations, and are "back to sleep".  Back to sleep is sleeping how they should at home, separately on a flat surface with minimal bedding.  They went from a really cush set up to next to nothing...poor things!

Finley is now a whopping 6lbs, 4oz and Harper is 4lbs, 14oz...they are well on their way to a respectable "term" baby weight.  It's hard for us to believe how much they've grown and changed since their birth almost 60 days ago.

Probably the biggest change is that they are also feeding on demand.  So all feeds are by mouth now and they get to dictate when it goes down...not an ideal situation for us!  We are praying they stay on a similar schedule so we're able to keep up and easily get them back on a "set" schedule once we're home. Feeding them both takes around an hour and a half to 2 hours total.  Needless to say it's been a busy and tiring few days.  We are truly now caring for these kids ourselves and while the hospital is nice, it would be a ton easier if we were home.  All the more motivation to get these kids ready to graduate from the NICU sooner rather than later...if only we could take a few of these special nurses with us : )

This is a brief post but I'll leave you with some very cute pictures taken of the twins a little over a week ago by Meghan Fonseca...

 

Hopefully our next post will be when all four of us are back living at home!  Wish us luck!!

The Countdown to Home!

Hey All!  Last week we posted about bath time, bottle time and some together time...well this week I'm happy to post about our path to going home!  We are now 48 days in (50 counting when I was admitted) and we are starting to talk seriously about going home.  And it's about time!  I'm getting stir crazy sitting in their room day and night! 

It might help to quickly fill you in on the basic requirements for the twins to be able to walk out the door. They have to essentially do 3 things: maintain their temperature, breath consistently on their own, and take all their feeds by mouth.  I'm told once things "click" that this can all fall into place within a few short days...hard to believe but that's what they tell us : ) 

So far the twins have totally proven that they can breathe on their own and are super stable now in that category.  I can't tell you what a looong process that has been for Harper in particular so it's just great that she's now as steady as her big brother.  Secondly they have now been out of the heated bed for almost 3 days and are maintaining their temperature just fine!  That may be due to their new digs...

Yep!  They are co-bedding now in an actual crib. It's pretty exciting.  It was a whole new experience being able to change a diaper from a new angle and not having to stick our arms through those annoying portholes any longer.  They are breathing fresh air and cozying up together...it's very cute.

And it's very noisy!  All those little grunts and groans (and gas!) were muffled in their closed top beds but now we get to enjoy it all.  Finn also has recently found his voice and last night he cried for a while until it dawned on me that he might be hungry.  And low and behold...the boy was hungry.  So this is a big thing that he woke up on his own and announced he had an empty belly.  It's a term baby thing to do, not a preemie thing so that was actually very cool.  Harper on the other hand is more reserved but always ready to eat when the time comes.

Speaking of empty bellies, that's the third and final challenge for them.  They are currently taking around 60% of their feeds by mouth so we are well on our way to 100%!

They get weighed before and after a feeding...This is Finn : )

For us we are so amazed and pleased that the twins seem to be really neck and neck right now.  We think we may even get lucky enough to have them discharged together or at least within just a few days of one another.  But we're trying not to jinx it since even with getting over these three hurdles, there are a series of mini tests for them to pass as well...such as sitting in their car seat for 90 minutes with consistent breathing and heartbeat and sleeping 100% on their back without any spells.

Harper



Finn

So wish us luck these upcoming days and maybe by the end of next week we'll finally be heading home!

Together Again!

The twins had a great week last week with lots of growing and learning...All that activity led to a couple dirty kids that needed a bath!  A new bed for Finley and baths for them both were on the docket for Saturday. 

Harper Lounging

The Parents...

Harper

Finley

Harper's Bath

Finn's Bath

Finley

After they were clean and shiny, the twins were allowed to co-bed for a few hours and it was just precious.  In typical Finn fashion, he laid back and closed his eyes while Harper stared in his face with just such intent interest!  It was so cute...

 

Harper is now at 3 lbs, 14 oz...so close to 4 lbs!  She's taking the bottle like a champ (they do one bottle a day now!) and feeding well in general.  She is really growing up and catching up to her brother.  She also continues to show her spunky side to all who interact with her.  But man, she can turn on the charm too with her big eyes and smiley cheeks....She's really coming into her own.  Oh!  And you may have noticed that her nasal cannula is gone...She is officially off all respiratory support and doing fantastically.

The Back Handed Slap!

Finley is now at 5 lbs, 6 oz but unfortunately he's been cheating a bit since it's mainly bloat and not nutritional gain.  He is retaining fluid and his longstanding heart murmur is still apparent BUT all these are "typical" preemie things that he should work through.  It is however something he is working on and it is getting in the way of his training at being able to feed without the tube...it's something to keep in your prayers.

Finn w/Dad's Hand

The twins are turning 35 weeks on Tuesday and are really right on track.  From what we can tell, it seems we have another few weeks here at the NICU.  We are definitely working towards going home and these next couple weeks are going to bring major change.  While we never wished for a lengthy NICU stay, it has truly been an amazing journey.  We wholeheartily love the staff and have made some special bonds here...it's going to be very sad to leave in some ways but also very exciting.  We can't wait to be 100% responsible for these two babies and to truly start our journey as a family of 4.5 : ) 

First Bottles!

Harp's First Bottle

Finn's First Bottle

Sleeping Girl

Snug as a Bug (Harper)

Calling it a night!