A few more I couldn't resist...

Sleepy Jake...

...and more sleepy Jake

Story time! Jeff reading sports scores to Abby

...and now Abby is asleep because sports scores are boring.

Abby annoyed that I keep sticking a camera in her face

Snuggle time! Goodnight everybody!

Three Weeks Old

Everyone is doing great and getting bigger! Jake and Abby will be 35 weeks gestational age tomorrow, which seems a long way from the 31 weeks, 3 days when they were born.

• Jake and Abby are both in open cribs now! This means that they are both able to hold their own body temperature, so no more isolettes, the plastic boxes where they spent their first few weeks staying warm. This is exciting for a few reasons - first, because it's one of the requirements that they need to meet to come home. Second, it makes them seem a little more like "nursery babies" which is fun for us. And finally, now we can walk in and scoop them up whenever we want - no need to ask a nurse to help us hold them! (Don't worry, they have "don't steal me" bracelets on that alarm in case anyone else tries to scoop them up but us.)
• Jake is now 5.3 pounds - preemie clothes are VERY snug! - and Abby is a whopping 4.1 pounds! Although I'm sure it won't last forever, right now every ounce is exciting to us and something to celebrate. 
• Abby is back up to her full feeds and also started on the same vitamins that Jake has been on for the past few days, so hopefully she'll start gaining as fast as he has been lately. The nurses say that neither baby is a "puker", and apparently they can usually predict this at this age, so we are hoping this stays the case when they come home with us.
• Bottle feeding is...okay it's not really getting easier for them, but come on, they're still really young. Everyone tells us that they'll get it when they get it, and when they do it will be like a light switch. Until then, we're having a good time working with them on it...and Aunt Angela got to feed Abby this week too!

Nothing else really to report which is great. At this point, we're waiting for them to figure out the whole eating thing, and then they need to be able to go 5 days with no A's or B's before they can come home. It could be as early as next week, or as late as their due date in early October, and there is no one that can guess when it will happen and nothing that will tell us that they're ready until they're actually ready. This is my test to see who is reading the blog, because we get asked EVERY day if we know when they are coming home! We won't know the answer to that until we have one foot out the door at the NICU. And believe me, once we get one foot out the door we are going to RACE home and very happily say goodbye to the hospital for what will hopefully be a very, very long time!

As promised, photos from the last few weeks...

Jake's first bottle! (Bad mom already, was so busy feeding Jake that I didn't get pictures of Jeff giving Abby her first bottle on 8/22 or her "I had my first bottle" sign. Shhh don't tell her!)

 

 Jeff's first time giving Jake a bottle:

More Jake eating...

Family photo shoot! including Jeff's first time holding both babies:

A very awake Abby, and our visitors the past few weeks:

Two Weeks Old...and almost Three Weeks Old!

It's been an exciting week since our last update! Here are the highlights:

• Jake is over 4.5 pounds now and his preemie sized clothes are getting a little snug! Good thing I bought out Carter's this past week. Jake and Abby now own every single thing Carter's has ever made in Newborn and 0-3. (Important note: this does not mean I am done shopping.) This also means that Jake has put on over a pound since he was born - his face is definitely getting rounder, and his little blue hat is getting tighter!
• Jake tried his first bottle this week! He is now "trying out" bottle feeding twice a day - once in the morning with a nurse, and once at night with one of his two nervous parents. He is still a little young to know how to suck, swallow, and breathe at the same time, but we're working on it.
• Abby has started on her feedings again and is doing great! They are slowly ramping them back up, right now she is just under 50% fed and the rest is still through IV.
• Abby also tried her first bottle this week! Even though she doesn't have as much volume to take down as Jake does, it looks like she is picking up the skill of eating a little faster. We hear that preemie girls tend to pick up skills more quickly than boys do, so we shouldn't be surprised if Abby is ready to go home before Jake does.
• Abby is gaining weight too, and is officially bigger than Jake was when he was born at 3 pounds, 13 ounces. Grow Abby grow! She is SO alert for her bottles every night. I think both babies will love eating like I do.
• Jeff and I changed both babies for the first time tonight, and wow is it scary thinking that you are going to break them by pulling something over their heads. Uncle John and Aunt Molly visited tonight and I think we put on a good show for them. Jake also peed all over his bed while Jeff was changing him, and then Abby peed all over her bed while I was changing her. Not our best display of parenting skills!
• We had a fun nurse tonight that let us do a mini photo shoot, so as soon as my laptop is virus-free again I'll post more pictures of the four of us together, me holding both babies, and Jeff's first time holding both babies!
• We had some great visitors the past week. Uncle Chris came by himself last Friday because Aunt Angela was on a camping trip, and Grandma Lucrecia and Grandpa George came on Saturday. This was Grandma's first time seeing Jake and Abby since the day after they were born, and what a difference two weeks makes! She also got to hold Abby, who was very well behaved. Uncle John and Aunt Molly visited tonight, and Aunt Molly held Jake when he was asleep after the hard work he did on his 8:00 bottle. Now that Abby is feeling better, we are loving the visitors! If anyone wants to come and see the babies, just let us know and we'll work out a day and time.

In the words of one of Jake and Abby's doctors, they are "coasting along" and doing really well, continuing to progress towards coming home. It's exciting that our visits with them have gone from pretty passive - mostly just holding them while they slept - to more active with changing clothes and diapers and doing feedings. Definitely giving us a glimpse of what we are in for! It seems like it will be exhausting and probably a little scary, and I'm sure we will absolutely love it.

Getting bigger and stronger and healthier!

We've had two great visits with the kiddos the past two days! Here are the highlights:

• The doctors were able to nail down the exact infection that Abby has and make sure she's on the right antibiotic. She's doing so much better, and today was *almost* back to her feisty self!
• Although Abby's lost a little weight because of her infection, she is up above her birth weight at 3 pounds, 7 ounces. The nurse today commented on how strong she is - she is already trying to pick her head up, and I swear she was looking at Jeff while I was holding her and he was sitting next to me. It is so good to see her so active again!
• If she continues to get better, she should be able to very slowly start taking feedings again either this weekend or late next week. Just like when she was born, they will slowly ramp down the IV nutrition she is currently taking in and ramp up her feedings, until she is taking all of her feedings by tube as she was before. 
• We haven't wanted many visitors since Abby has been sick, just to be extra careful that we don't bring any new germs in while she is getting better. Since she seems to be on the mend now, hopefully next week we'll be back welcoming family and friends that want to see them.
• Jake got his first trial in an open crib last night! He did great for awhile but then got a little cold, so they have him back in his isolette for a bit. The doctor told us that it's very normal for some babies to need a few trials before they get the hang of maintaining their own temperature, without working so hard to do it that they burn a lot of calories and start losing weight. So, we're not there yet, but we're working on it!
• Jake is still taking the maximum amount of feedings he can for his weight, and is now almost half a pound over his birth weight at 4 pounds, 2 ounces. I say it now every time we see him - he looks so big to me! I love it, love it, love it.

Our house is slowly, surely getting taken over by baby gear, and we could not be more excited about it. I am also slowly, surely getting my energy back. Every day seems a little bit better than the day before, especially since I have been drinking Diet Coke and enjoying Starbucks again.

Here are the latest pics! Baby in clothes is Jake, naked kangaroo baby tucked in my shirt is Abby!

Ten Days Old

I can't believe in a few days Jake and Abby will be two weeks old! These days have gone about ten million times faster than every day of my pregnancy. If it stays that way, they will be home before we know it.

Abby is getting better! She has been a little more like herself every day, and it seems like the antibiotics she is on are doing their thing, so hoping that continues and she is able to get back on her feeds later this week. What did we learn during this first sickness? That Jeff will need to be the calm, responsible parent that asks the doctor questions and remembers the answers, because I will  be the hysterical one that is incapable of absorbing information when one of my babies is sick. Hopefully this will improve over time so that I can at least take my kids to the doctor without going through a box of Kleenex watching them get shots.

Jake is doing great too, there is talk of moving him to an open crib soon because now he is over 4 pounds so should be capable of maintaining his own body temperature. We also may get to try to start feeding him as early as next week! Very exciting. We have heard that learning how to eat can be frustrating, because some babies take to it right away and some babies take a long time to get it, and there's nothing we can do but wait for them to figure it out. Hopefully the kids take after me and LOVE to eat, and not after Jeff who basically just eats to survive. I would imagine that Abby's infection means we might need to wait a little while before we get to try feeding her, but that's okay. I think it's important not to think of it as a setback or in terms of when they might come home - the important thing isn't how fast they are home, it's making sure they are really ready for it.

A few people have asked when Jake and Abby will come home. While there's no way to know for sure, we have been told that on average it's between 36 and 38 weeks gestational age, although we shouldn't see it as a bad thing if they take a little longer (see above on learning to eat). They are 33 weeks today, so hopefully sometime in September they will be home for good. We're going shopping this weekend for a car to bring them home in - the Sentra is on its last leg, and it would be really tough to put two car seats in the Sunfire!

I think all of the adrenaline from last week has finally worn off, and the three months I spent lying on my side have caught up to me. I am tired like I've never been tired in my life! Good practice, I guess, for the next 18 years. Jeff went to see the babies by himself last night, and sent me lots of pictures while he was there. Of course I woke up as soon as I saw how cute they were, and now I'm really excited to visit tonight and get to hold them again. It is really hard to feel so out of shape all the time because my muscles just aren't used to doing anything, but hopefully if I keep sleeping during the days and visiting at night for awhile, I'll start to get my energy back and be able to be there for longer periods of time.

Jeff went back to work this week, so this is our "temporary normal" life until the babies come home and he has some more time off. I might be a tad bit emotional these days - yesterday I cried when he came home because I missed him so much all day long. He proceeded to laugh at me, so I suspect I won't miss him *quite* so much today...

Sunday Blues

When I was working, even during the times when I absolutely loved my job and the people I worked with, on Sunday nights I always got that icky feeling that comes with the end of the weekend and the beginning of the work week - the Sunday blues. I was surprised to discover this didn't end during my brief time as a "stay at home wife". Even when my Sundays were almost the same as my Tuesdays and Fridays, I couldn't shake the Sunday blues.

Yesterday, almost everyone in our family had them. I woke up with a slightly higher temperature than the day before - not enough for my doctor to consider it a fever, but having had my temperature taken a bajillion times this summer I knew that's where it was headed, so we headed in to the ER early in the morning. One of my many doctors happened to be there, so we saw him (and an ER doc that looked amazingly like George Clooney - a nice perk if you find yourself having to go to the ER at CDH) and he fixed me right up and got us out the door with some antibiotics just as a precaution. This is the first time in quite awhile that a doctor pronounced something related to my pregnancy "very normal" and in fact "most women with twins have it worse". Imagine that! Jeff stopped in to the NICU to check on the kiddos on our way in, and because I have a fever they asked me to stay away for 24 hours just to be cautious, so I spent the day at home catching up on sleep.

Jeff was *ahem ahem* a little under the weather after the wedding the night before, so he spent the day in his cave (our basement) watching TV and catching up on sleep as well.

He was on his way out the door last night to go to the NICU when we got a call saying that Abby was having some tummy problems. They ran some tests and nothing came back that was alarming, and she was behaving normally so there was nothing immediately to worry about, but of course I worried and was happy that Jeff was going to see them. He held her for a little bit and read her a book that he picked out for them, and sent me pictures of a very sleepy happy looking baby. Like we have been told before, if there is even the hint of a problem, the doctors will start treatment without knowing whether it is necessary, so for now they have stopped Abby's tube feedings to give her digestive system a little rest, and she'll be getting all of her nutrition through IV for at least a few days. She will continue to grow and gain weight on the IV nutrition, and we were excited to hear that she is back up to her birth weight of 3lb 5oz! They ran some more labs this morning which all came back very normal, and will continue to watch her closely (as well as Jake, just in case), but so far so good. I felt terrible yesterday that this happened on the one day that we didn't get to spend a lot of time with them, and the one day that I didn't see them at all, but it helps that everyone keeps reassuring us that this kind of stuff just happens. So, maybe Abby's Sunday blues were just that, and she'll be back on her regular feedings in a few days.

Jake had to carry the health of the family yesterday, and he did a great job! His feedings continue to increase, and he is up to 4 pounds now! I have a feeling he won't be coming home in any of the preemie clothes I have bought him so far, so hopefully he'll get some good wear out of them over the next few weeks.

Even though I have no new pictures to add, I have some good ones from our visits over the past few days - in no particular order, because I'm still getting the hang of this blogging thing. We have been pretty good about making sure they are wearing a pink hat or a blue hat in their pictures, so hopefully you can tell who is who. Some of my favorites are of Jake when he was clearly SO ANNOYED with me for wanting to get a picture of his face. Enjoy!

Bedrest...AGAIN?!

I am a walking encyclopedia of pregnancy complications.

Having some post-surgery issues that are probably nothing, but I am paranoid and my doctors are cautious, so I am on bedrest again until Monday when I can get in to see them. The big bummer is that I found out about this right before my parents were coming to pick me up so we could go see Jake and Abby with my aunt and uncle. I know this is for the best in the long run, but man does it stink having my freedom taken away again so soon after I got it back! We're going to try to do the big meet up again next Saturday.

In happy news, I'm very grateful that I got to see our babies this morning for a few hours and introduce them to their Uncle John! He said they were bigger than he expected, which is an awesome compliment for preemie parents to hear. Everyone was on their best behavior for him, and for our friends Matt and Lauren who came to meet them after John left. Matt was brave enough to hold Jake for awhile and they got along great.

Baby updates of the day:

• Jake is *this close* to weighing 4 pounds! Maybe tomorrow. In the excitement of that fact I forgot to ask Jeff how much Abby weighs now - of course he is the "numbers" parent - so I'll update on that next time we see them.
• Jake's IV came out today, he still has the heplock in like Abby but every tube and wire less they are connected to is a cause for celebration.
• We saw Jake and Abby in clothes for the first time! I have bought some things for them - not too many because they'll hopefully outgrow preemie size around the time they come home - and we were waiting to bring them in until the nurses confirmed it was okay. So excited to see them in some of the things we picked out soon! 
• We took some cute pictures today, I'll post those soon.

I'm off to follow doctor's orders and get as much rest as I can tonight and tomorrow. I have never cheated on bedrest before, but will be REALLY tempted to tomorrow...how can I go a day without seeing my babies?? Jeff is my official driver so he'll have the final say. I know from experience he is a tough nurse, so I won't hold my breath!

One Week Old

...and what a week it's been! This will be a catch up post, since both babies have made some great progress this week.

At 2 days old:

• Jake and Abby were moved in to the same room. This makes it much easier for us to visit with them, and for the same nurse to take care of them both whenever possible. Also, it's good to get them used to sharing things early! (Ang and I never really got the hang of it.)
• We officially have 2 independent breathers! They continue to do great breathing on their own.
• They are eating approximately two teaspoons every 3 hours each. Right now they are fed through a feeding tube (the thin tube you see attached to their face), which goes in through their nose and all the way to their stomach. It doesn't seem to bother them too much, although both of them sometimes tug on it to see if they can get it out. It will come out for good in a few weeks when they are old enough to try bottle feeding.
• They were "upgraded" to smaller beds. This is another sign of the lowering levels of support that they need to function. The next upgrade for them will be to open cribs, and that will come when they are able to maintain their own body temperature without warming from the isolette. The soonest they might have the ability to do this is when they are around 4 pounds. That will be an exciting milestone, because when they hit it they can start wearing all the cute teeny clothes I waited so long to buy!
• Rooming together + no breathing support = both babies can be out at the same time now = family photos! I was NOT happy with how I looked in these pictures, until I got the courage to post one on Facebook and everyone commented on how great I look. The best conclusion that I can draw from this is that no one even saw me because they were so busy looking at Jake and Abby, so from now on I will try not to censor pictures based on my appearance!
  

At 3 days old:

• My doctor took pity on me for my long hospital stay and let me go home a day early! (While technically not a "Jake and Abby" update, still very exciting). On the way home we stopped at Target, where I was passed by a very cute old lady with a walker and then needed assistance from another sweet old lady to close my car door, which was awesome. It is so nice to be home! And I was so excited to see the babies' room and our new guest room, which were painted by Jeff and both grandpas while I was in the hospital.
  
• Jake and Abby had another nurse request to be one of their primary nurses, meaning whenever she is on duty she will be assigned to them for consistency in their care. I was especially excited about this, because their nurse is a girl I went to high school with! What a wonderful place to run in to someone you already know and feel comfortable with. She is already taking such great care of our babies.
• Both babies are tolerating their feedings really well so every 12 hours they are getting a little bit more food. Right now Jake is fed every 3 hours at 3, 6, 9, and 12, and Aby is fed half an hour after him, so it's nice to time our visits with them so that we get there in time to hold them while they are "eating".

At 4 days old:

• Their nurse Kristin weighed them while we were there, and Jake gained so much that she weighed him twice just to make sure it was right. He was up 3oz, so he is now officially over his birth weight at 3lb 13oz! Abby is gaining back what she lost after she was born too, right now she is just below her birth weight at 3lb 3.5oz.
• Jeff changed another diaper, which I haven't been able to do yet since moving around is still a little challenging. His technique is improving from the first diaper change, when he used 10 wipes and basically just wrapped Abby's diaper around her legs, and his second diaper change where Jake peed all over everything in the area. Twice. I'm excited to start helping with this soon too! This is what happens when you wait for your kids to be born minute by minute - it sounds so, so amazing to be able to change their diapers. I'm sure the novelty will wear off quickly!
• Their feedings were increased again, and now they are getting all of their nutrition through the feeding tubes in their nose, where before some of it was going through their IVs. This means their IVs could potentially come out soon, although they both seem to enjoy the using the gauze support for the IVs in their arms as pillows while they sleep.
• We are dealing with a few very typical "preemie problems". Abby has some spells of apnea (where she forgets to breathe) and bradycardia (where her blood oxygen level drops as a result). She usually pulls herself out of it and the spells aren't "big" enough that anyone is worried about them, it's just something that she needs to outgrow. They might give her some help to do that by starting her on caffeine to help a little, but right now they are comfortable that she's managing it on her own. Very common, and nothing that the doctors are worried about at all.
  
• Jake is being monitored for jaundice every day - he has a little bit of a golden tinge, so he looks like Aunt Angela fresh from a spray tan - but so far it hasn't reached a level high enough that it requires treatment. If it goes up more, they have special lights that they will put him under to treat it. Again - very common, and nothing that the doctors are worried about at all.

At 5 days old:

• My friend Jessica (who is also expecting another little one in November!) came to bring us lunch, and also brought us the most beautiful baby books that she made herself for Jake and Abby. Each has their own book with scrapbook pages for every month of their first year and each of their first holidays. Great motivation for us to make sure we are keeping up with our picture taking!
• We had a long visit with the babies in the afternoon. Nothing new to report, which is great because it means things are continuing in the positive direction they have been going. I held Jake for two hours, he was basically fully supported by a pillow the whole time, and I was STILL exhausted afterwards!
• Grandpa George came to visit us in the hospital! Grandma Lucrecia was in Washington D.C. and I'm sure VERY jealous that she had to miss out on the time that he spent there. He got to get a good look at the babies' faces for the first time, since last time he saw them Jake was on the ventilator and Abby on CPAP. Abby cried while he was there and it was interesting to see the variety of reactions - Grandpa was worried something was wrong with her, Jeff looked at the monitors to make sure nothing was wrong with her, and I laughed because crying means she's breathing which can never be a bad thing, right?!
  
• Recovery from bedrest has been much tougher than recovery from delivery. I hit a wall on Thursday and wasn't able to go see the babies that night because I was worried I had a fever. Turns out I was probably just overdoing it, so I stayed home and rested and Jeff popped by to see them quickly (everyone doing great!) then came home to make me mac and cheese (a staple in our house this summer!).

At 6 days old:

• Both babies are now at the maximum feeding for their weights! This is great because it means they are able to digest as many calories as they can for their body weight, so they should continue to gain weight and have their feedings increased appropriately. Right now Jake has 30cc's every 3 hours, and Abby has 28cc's every 3 hours.
  
• Abby is free from her IVs! She still has a heplock in, so they can connect her quickly if she needs to get anything intravenously, but she isn't attached to as many wires before so it's a little easier to move her around. The nurse asked if I wanted to pick her up out of her isolette by myself, and I panicked! Maybe tomorrow, I need to prepare for this because like I'm sure many parents do, I am worried that I am going to somehow break her by not picking her up the correct way.
  
• The doctors have been continuing to watch Abby's "A's and B's", and we're happy to report that the number of episodes she is having is going down every day. One of the requirements for going home is to be able to go 5 days in a row with no spells, and although that count won't start for awhile, it's great to know that she is moving in the right direction.
• Jake's level of jaundice continues to go down. He looks less like a spray tanned Aunt Angela, AND he is so far avoiding the "tanning bed" lights that are the treatment for jaundice. Another step in the right direction!
  
• Jake and Abby had their first visitor outside of our immediate family. Our friend Britt came to meet the babies, and she got to hold Jake for an hour. He loved her (of course) and she reported that he enjoys stretching and also making funny faces.
  
• Jeff and I signed up for an infant CPR class at the end of the month, which is offered through our hospital and available to anyone that might be watching the babies without us at some point. It will be nice for me to finally go to a "baby class". I missed the twin class at our hospital because I was on bedrest a few floors up from it, so Jeff went to represent us and was the only "single dad" there!
  

The babies have a big one week birthday planned. Jeff and I are going to visit them in the morning, and introduce them to our good friends, newlyweds Matt and Lauren Parsons, who aren't requiring any proof that we had a great reason to miss their wedding in Jamaica in May, but we are providing it anyway :). Then tonight Jeff is going to another friend's wedding (congratulations Andy Pickell and Jenny Goodstein-soon-to-be-Pickell!), and I am going back to visit the babies again with Grandpa George and Grandma Lucrecia, and also Fran and Cheryl, my aunt and uncle. Tomorrow we are going to sleeeeeeeeeeeep...and maybe go to Babies R Us.