A quick update

I don't have any pictures. Sorry :)

We took the girls this morning to the neonatal follow up appointment. It went really well! Both girls got to get rid of the monitors! I feel like I have real babies now and not "re-chargable" ones. :) Jaycie is 7lbs 5oz, and Jemma is 7lbs 8oz. They are both right around 19 and 3/4 inches long. It's amazing how much they've changed in 6 weeks.

I really can't describe the freedom we feel to just walk around with the babies. No cords, no beeping monitors, NOTHING. It's amazing. I keep bending over to plug them in when I lay them down. I can't wait for Jadyn to get home so we can tell her that there are no more monitors. She hated those things too!

We have to keep waking them up to eat every 3 hours for another month - then we can relax and follow more of their schedule. I was really hoping we could start stretching more through the night but we will survive!

Jaycie has thrush in her mouth. We have to keep the binkies and nipples separate to hopefully keep Jemma from getting it. We have to throw most things away when we are finally past the thrush. The medicine she is supposed to get is supposed to be sweet and most babies really like it... - not ours. She spits it out. I have to keep trying different ways to get it in her mouth.

The girls are still wearing newborn size clothes and nb diapers but they are starting to fill them out. That's been another fun thing to watch - their clothes actually fit! :)

The next doctor appointment is the 2 week of May - that's our first round of shots. :( Oh well, we will survive that too!

It finally happened....

We finally had a fussy night. I knew it was going to happen - we have 2 babies after all, but I wasn't ready for it! For the last almost 4 weeks I've adjusted to an interrupted sleep pattern. Bed at 11, bottles at 2am, bottles at 5:30, up at 7:30 for Jadyn. It works. Last night was different. The girls were fussy, so I've been up since 2am. i sent Greg to the couch at 3 so he could get sleep for school (I couldn't do that to his students!!). I'm sure I will nap later today, but right now I'm running on coke and I'm tired. And, I'm thanking God that this is the first night it's happened and praying desperately that it's the last for a few days at least :)

This is Jaycie at 2am..... Right before things got crazy :)

What a week!

The babies are changing so much, it's crazy! They are filling out, eating more, staying awake more, and making their presence known more. It's so much fun to watch the changes. The part that is not fun is the increase in dirty diapers. On Monday I changed 12 dirty diapers in a 20hr period. That's a lot! We go back to the specialist on the 25th to see if the girls can get off the monitors. Please pray with us that they can. Life will be so much easier when we don't have to plug in everywhere!

Jadyn is doing well too. She loves going to school and is there every day from 8-3. I already know I'm going to need to have "school time" with her this Summer. She also has really taken to painting, although Mommy doesn't have the right paints (grandma Carmen does). We do chalk instead at our house :). Jadyn is in a "only take pictures on my terms" phase, so I don't have many of her. And, when she does, it's that CHEESE face! Oy!

Life with 3 girls is getting interesting! :) I'm sure crazy crazy days are just around the corner!

One month

My girls are 1 month old! I cannot believe it! Jaycie is 6lb 6oz and Jemma is 6lb 7oz. We are still eating every 3 hours. The girls are such good babies. They very rarely cry. In fact, Jaycie has a "fussy time" every evening but she is easily consoled by holding her - she especially calms down for Daddy. They are still sleeping in our bedroom in their little rocking "hammocks" as my Mom likes to call them.

Their first outing was to Uncle Al's house for a little get together. Then last Sunday they went to Nana and Papa's for Easter.

We still are sporting the monitors but the appointment is April 25 to see if we can get off of them. We are praying that we will so that it's not so much work to go everywhere.

My 1 month old girlies :)

Jemma and Jaycie

Easter 2012

We've been home with the babies for about a week and half now. Things are going well! They are on a 3 hour routine and we just repeat it over and over all day. They are both gaining weight although not as quickly as the home health nurse would like. I don't like "high pressure" feedings, but because we have to make sure they eat it all that's what it feels like! They also both have some upper respiratory congestion, so we've been actively using the lovely blue bulb.

Easter was a wonderful day! Greg and Jadyn went to church with my parents and I stayed home with the little girls. After church we headed out to my parent's house for Easter lunch with my family and an egg hunt with the cousins. They had a lot of fun together! This was also the first time that Alex got to meet Jaycie and Jemma.

Daddy and his girls all dressed up for Easter

 Daddy, Jaycie and Jemma

 Jadyn Millee

Jaycie Marie

Jemma Carmen

Happy Easter! Happy Spring. God is good!

The details

This could be boring, but I really needed a place to write this down that I won't lose until I get around to the baby books. ;) Read if you would like!

March 12 - All day doc appts. Saw Dr. C in the morning. She told me that I was in great shape to carry the babies 3 more weeks. My Ultrasound was great. My non-stress test was okay. I passed it, but was very uncomfortable in the process.

March 13 - Greg took me to get my haircut. We did somethings around the house. At 3:00 Greg left to go pick Jadyn up from school. At 3:40 I had been sitting on the couch but decided to stand up and tidy up the kitchen. When I stood up and took a few steps (to the hardwood floors) my water broke! At first I thought I had lost control of my bladder, but when it kept coming and coming I knew that this was different. My phone was in the kitchen so I had to walk that direction leaving what Greg called a river of water though the living room. I called my doc's office first and they told me to get to the hospital. Then I tried Greg (but he had left his phone at home). I called Lori to head to the house to watch Jadyn and I called Kathy to cover for Lori until she could get there. Then I called my Mom who had to leave play practice to come to the hospital.

4:00: When we got to the hospital they hooked me up to monitors and then did what seemed like a "PH" check to see if it had indeed been my water that broke. It was. And, I was 2cm dilated plus she could feel Jaycie's head.
4:30: At that point things started to get urgent. I started having contractions. The hospital started moving in fast mode to prep for the C-Section. After looking over the chart he got rather concerned and everything started moving even faster.

I'm not sure of the the times from here on, but at 6:33 baby A was born and at 6:34 baby B was born.
Both of the girls were taken to the NICU immediately, Greg went with them. Jaycie CPAP for 6 hour and Jemma was on it for 12 hours.

March 14 - I was finally taken down to see the girls.

March 15 - Both of the girls started milk/formula in a feeding tube. They started earlier than the docs thought they would be able too and had very little residual.

March 19 - The girls both had on onesies for the first time. They looked like babies :)

March 20 - The girls both got their iv's out. One step closer to home.

March 21 - The girls took their first bottles. Jaycie had 1 for the day and Jemma had 3.

March 22 - Mommy got to hod both babies at the same time!!

March 23 - Jaycie got moved from her pod to the crib

March 24 - Daddy got to hold both babies at the same time

March 25 - Jemma got moved from pod to crib. Jaycie's weight was 5.3; Jemma 4.14

March 26 - Both girls got their feeding tubes out.

March 27 - Both girls have been bottles for 48 hours

March 28 - Jaycie weighs 5.4, Jemma 5

March 29 - Jaycie goes home

March 30 - Jemma home.

We are tired but so so happy to have everybody home and learning a new routine!