Jake and Abby

Monday, September 26, 2011

First Week Home

Our first week home has been great! Some things we have learned so far:

They grunt. A lot. They are incredibly noisy sleepers. So far Ollie is unaffected by it, and we've learned to sleep through their little noises as well.
So far they only cry when they actually need something. Usually food, sometimes a snuggle, or (dum dum DUM) a particularly eventful diaper change.
They are good sleepers, usually 2-3.5 hour stretches so we are getting plenty of sleep too. I feel like I should knock on wood every time I say this! Hopefully it continues.
Jake is louder than Abby. A LOT louder. Their personalities are starting to show more, and he is definitely more like me (impatient, total meltdown if he's hungry or cold) and Abby is like Jeff (laid back, not quite as impatient).
It's hard to tell who they look like so far, but they are getting bigger every day. Our next visit to the pediatrician is in two weeks for their 2 month shots, and by then Jake should be 8 pounds and Abby 6 pounds...although the way Abby is eating the last few days, she may catch up to him by then.
Someone asked this week if we are changing a ton of diapers. The answer is yes...we are changing a ton of diapers!

We had family photos taken this week and the few we have seen so far are adorable. You can view them here. We'll share all of them when they are available. We have taken a bunch of pictures of our own too, including Abby and Jake's first baths tonight! Enjoy!

Jake's last NICU bottle

Angela, one of our favorite nurses

Bye bye NICU!


Car seat ready for a fast getaway

Jake, looking terrified that they are allowing us to take him home

Laid back Abby sleeping through the whole thing

Terrified

Laid back

Here we go!

Wait, we're really going??

YES, WE'RE REALLY GOING!

So far Ollie's life has changed very little

We sleep...

...a LOT.

Sometimes we wake up...

...and it's usually because we're not happy.

Even the cats are interested!

We started having awake time even when we're not eating!

Like the rattle...

...not sure how I feel about the whale.

Photo shoot before our first outing to the pediatrician! This is when I realized that I can dress them up and make them pose for pictures WHENEVER I WANT TO.

No babies were harmed in the making of these pictures

Our first baths! Abby, then Jake

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Six Weeks Old...and we're home!

We got a great surprise on Saturday, September 17 - after 42 days in the NICU, Jake and Abby came home!

We were really surprised that it happened that day. Nurses had been hinting that it would be soon, but I resisted asking a doctor for a prediction on what day they would be coming home because I didn't want to get my hopes up. We heard on Friday that it would be "very soon", and when we went in on Saturday mid-day to visit them for a feeding the doctor on call decided to release them.

We raced back home (with a stop at the fire station to get their car seats installed) to finish getting ready for them, and thankfully Grandpa Gib was here and able to help us finish up a few things in their room. We have lots of great pics from the past few days, which I'll post as soon as I figure out how to hook up our fancy new camera to my laptop.

I hate to jinx us, but I'll say that we agree the first few days have been easier than we expected. Jake came home on a 3 hour schedule, a pokey eater that also wasn't quite as skilled as Abby so had to be fed carefully because he tended to choke. Within a day or so of being home, that tendency almost disappeared, and today he started eating enough (meaning, staying awake long to eat enough) that we could transition him to a 4 hour schedule, which Abby came home on. She eats like a champ and goes right back to sleep afterward. Both of them seem to be pretty good sleepers. Jake likes the swing, and they both love to sleep on anybody that's willing to hold them.

Our first outing is tomorrow to the pediatrician. We're excited to see what they weigh, a hard habit to break after knowing their weights to the ounce every day for 6 weeks. Jake came home at 7 pounds, Abby at 5 pounds 2 ounces, and we hear babies tend to gain more once they get home so we're hoping that is the case.

We are still getting in to a routine at home but excited to start welcoming visitors soon! If you are a visitor that's willing to bring us food or wash some bottles, all the better. More pictures to come soon, but this should give you an idea of our life at home...covered in babies, Starbucks within reach, looking tired and super happy at the same time. Loving having them home!!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Five Weeks Old

Everybody's doing great! Jake is up to a SUPER chunky 6 pounds, 9 ounces, almost 3 pounds above his birth weight! The doctor commented last night that if we took him to a grocery store now, no one would know that he's a preemie. I think it's the double chin! Abby is up to 4 pounds, 14 ounces. I can't believe my little girl is almost 5 pounds! She has had some good gains this week so it seems like she's going to start closing in on Jake more quickly.

Bottle feeding is still a work in progress, but we're getting there. Abby has been doing better than Jake at it recently, so she might make some of the nurses' prediction that she will come home before him true after all. She even finished a full bottle for Jeff on Saturday, which they have both done before for nurses who are expert feeders but never for us. It was great! Jeff was so proud that he took a picture of the bottle, which you can see below. In other news, both of them have had eye and hearing exams and everything looks great.

As we told them last night, we're almost ready for them to be home - I made a bunch of meals for the freezer over the weekend, we had our last "date night" at Morton's on Friday night, and we did a bunch of work on the nursery. Pictures of our progress, and some cute ones from the past week including Grandpa Gib holding one of the babies for the first time! are below. Getting closer to coming home every day!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

One Month Old!

At the end of my pregnancy, Jeff and I had a joke that any time he left me alone, something happened. On August 6, I was in the hospital on bed rest and Jeff was gone for the day, working on the nursery. In the afternoon I texted him to see what he was doing, and he said that he was at Chris and Angela's thinking about having a beer (would have been his first beer since May). I told him that I wasn't feeling good and that he should probably just come to the hospital instead. When you know you know - Jake and Abby were born that night.

Jake was born at 3 pounds, 11 ounces, and is now a chunky 6 pounds, 1 ounce. Abby was born at 3 pounds, 5 ounces, and is now 4 pounds, 10 ounces. They are both out of their preemie clothes and preemie diapers (sniff sniff), Jake because he was completely busting out of them, and Abby because her long arms were too much for the preemie sleepers, and she needs long sleeves because these kids pull their feeding tubes out every...single...day. We keep telling them, learn to eat and they can come out for good! They are doing better at that, having gone from trying 2 bottles a day to trying 4 bottles a day to now getting to try a bottle whenever they are awake when it's time for them to eat on their 3 hour schedule. So, slowly but surely, we are getting closer to being able to bring them home! Their room is almost complete, and since it is going to be by far the best decorated room in our house I'll post some pictures when it's done.

For now, the best part of their one month birthday...a birthday photo shoot! Most of the photos are almost identical, but obviously since they're of our kids we love every single one of them.