Photo Shoot

We did a mini photo shoot today of the girls for their birth announcements. Below are some outtakes and some other shots from the last few days. Yesterday the girls had their first big girl baths in a little tub. They seemed to really like it!

Today Emma was alert a lot more than usual and was awake for her photo shoot and hung out and watched Mady's. It was great to see her as wide-eyed as her sis. They have been sleeping better at night - in fact, I had to wake them up last night to eat. They still need to stick to an every three hour schedule to keep gaining weight and growing. Hopefully soon we can go a little longer at night. Christian and I have been taking turns at night so that we can get at least 4 hours of sleep at a time. In between feedings there is about 1.5 hours of time to nap and then it's time for the next feeding. My mom came over every day this week to help during or after a feeding so that I could shower or nap. Now with Christian home with us, things have definitely calmed down. We'll see what happens after he goes back to work in a week. I can't believe I've already been home with them for a week. It feels like only a day or so. Time really does go by too fast.

Quick post

The girls are sound asleep, so I'm going to attempt a nap :) A quick update: we had our doctors appointment Tuesday and the girls were so good. We're going to keep an eye on Mady's hernia and the doctor is going to talk to the neonatologist to double check that we don't want to follow up with a neurologist about Mady's cysts. We talked about RSV and basically no one can hold the girls outside of our immediate family and close friends until summer. That unfortunately includes our nieces and nephews :( The girls will get to meet their cousin when he is born in February but won't be able to hang out with him after he enters daycare while the RSV and rotovirus seasons are here. It's the only way to truly keep them safe. We take them back on Monday to make sure they are increasing their weights and then their opthamology appt is Friday. They may have an early stage of ROP (retinopathy of prematurity), which is a condition in which the small blood vessels in the eye grow abnormally. ROP usually only occurs in babies who are born very early, at 32 weeks of pregnancy or earlier. By keeping an eye on them now, they can help prevent vision problems.

All is good here! The girls seem to love being home and are doing really well. We have an occasional choke or cough during feeding, but they seem to come right out of it after a good pat on the back. Christian has had to work all week but will be taking time off to hang out with us at home starting tomorrow.

I'll post some new pics soon!

S.W.A.K.

Our first full day at home was pretty good considering the lack of sleep from last night! My mom came over today to help with 2 feedings. The home nurse also stopped in and they girls are doing great! Madelyn had some great tummy and play time today on her play mat. Emma didn't seem as enthusiastic, but she did hang out with her lil' sis for awhile on the mat. Mady loves to stare at herself in the mirror!

Here's a few adorable pics I caught today. They LOVE to snuggle with each other.

Ssshhh don't wake the babies!

Our girls are finally home with us. We nested Sunday night with them at the NICU, which is basically like a tiny hotel room where they are off of all their monitors, but the nurses are available if you should need them or have questions. It went pretty well, with the exception of Mady choking on her feeding. She turned color, but after a few tries we were able to get her breathing as she should again. Other than that, it was a pretty easy night. They get up every 3 hours to eat, which takes about an hour between changing them and getting them both their bottles and then settling them again. The next morning however, Emma started crying and didn't stop for quite some time. We think it was gas because the girls are not very good burpers. We left the NICU around 2:30 to head home with our daughters! The ride went great, they seemed to love it.

Nesting with daddy

We came home to a balloon out front that says "welcome home" and some surprises inside. My mom made us dinner with several courses and set up a little candlelit dinner for us. My parents got us a gift basket of goodies as well. It definitely made walking through the door with our girls even more emotional for us. They came over in the evening and hung out with the girls while we caught up on some sleep.

Grandpa and Grandma

Last night the girls did NOT sleep. It was mostly Madelyn, but they kept us up all night. They only way they were content was in our arms. Needless to say, we probably got a total of maybe 2 hours of sleep. What's quite funny is that this morning, after their 7am feeding, they fell right to sleep and have been sleeping for 45 minutes. We have been walking around on tiptoes and whispering :) We think maybe they are just adjusting to life outside of the NICU. I also think that the 2 times we nursed during the night did not provide them with enough food to keep them satisfied. A home nurse will be in today to check on us and then we will go to our first Pediatrician appointment Wednesday!

It's so wonderful to have the girls home. It's just really hard to function with no sleep! Christian had to go into work today and tomorrow to finish up a project and then he'll be home with me for a week while we all adjust to our new life!

Pictures to come!