He is Here!!!

We brought Jacob home this past Friday!!! We are so excited about this. We are now all home together. We are tired and we are just glad we can finally move on from this. I will update later, they are about to wake up to eat. Yes, I have them on the same schedule. It is hard when they both wake up screaming but I think I have it figured out. You should come over to watch the spectacle, it amuses even me. Here is a random picture. My mom was holding both sleeping boys and randomly Benjamin puts his arm over Jacob. They were asleep throughout the whole thing. It was cute and great to watch that.

Rice Bag Warmers

Okay, so honestly, I didn't forget what it was like to have a baby home, I just didn't want to remember. Benjamin is quite the character. He is asleep all day and up for a good portion of the night. This schedule was starting to take its toll because I can't sleep during the day because my poor daughter will feel so neglected. I also have to wake up and get my oldest off the school. So, it is hard to catch some zzzz's. Well, around here we have this party, 'Our Favorite Things', every year right before Christmas. It is kind of like Oprah's but we don't spend nearly as much on gifts and it is so much fun to see what other people have come up with. I look forward to it ever year. In fact, I think I know what I will be doing for this year's favorite things party.

This past Christmas, a lady made rice bag warmers. They are flannel. They are absolutely wonderful. Since I have had a hard time getting Benjamin to stay in his crib to sleep I have started to put the rice bag around him. Ok, I will say that I know nothing is supposed to go in the crib...BUT, I am very careful about where it is. I place the warmer around his backside and around his bum. This way he feels like I am holding him. Yes, it does work and I think from now on, I might make these for my friends who have new babies. You should try it. After every meal he just wants to cuddle and sleep and I just want to sleep. So, I put him in the crib, warm the rice warmer up, and put it around his bum. I figure I can put it there because in the NICU that is where the nurses would put a little wrap that helps to bundle him. He LOVES it. He falls asleep and stays asleep for quite some time. So, I am making some this weekend for a friend and I making a few more for when Jacob comes home. They are also perfect for warming up and putting in their carseats when I take them outside in the cold. I feel that those car seat covers are too expensive to go and buy 2 of them, and these warmers work perfectly. I will take a picture and post it so you can see how I lay it on him.

1 of 2

Benjamin is home!!! We are very excited. So we have 1 of 2 home. Jacob is still several weeks away. So far the girls have managed to do everything every new mom cringes at. They have managed to touch his face, hands, and head. That was the first thing they did when we brought him home. It all happened so fast I didn't get a chance to stop it. So, the new rule is 'if you must touch Benjamin or hold him, then you must sanitize your hands first.' The girls don't mind this because they get to hold him in the end. These boys will be so spoiled because the girls always want to hold them. I am so glad I have had the time to rest and recover because having twins and still recovering from childbirth would be very difficult. I can't wait for everyone to see the boys. I'm not too thrilled about bringing him to church yet though. I know he is almost 3 months old but I want to get him used to our germs first before I take him to church. Oh course, I will bring sanitizer along for anyone who absolutely must touch his face and hands. Even on his car seat there is a little stop sign that says, 'Please wash your hands before touching mine.' Each car seat has that. We will see how effective that is when I finally take him out in public.

Weekly Happenings

Since so much happens every day I can only keep up by writing about it once a week. Baby A is now at 2.5 liters of oxygen. When he was transferred to Fair Oaks he was at 4 liters of oxygen. That is amazing progress in a very short amount of time. He is also eating his food by a bottle every other feeding. He is doing really well. He still has a way to go though. His brother was taken off of his oxygen today. I will see how they are doing when I go in later on tonight. Baby B also has had his feeding tube taken completely out. He is either breastfed or bottle fed at every feed. I don't know when he will come home but he is very close. He can hold his temperature well enough, he can eat by a bottle or by other means at every feed, and he tolerates it, and he can breathe on his own. Sometimes they do send babies home with oxygen though, so Baby A might be going home with oxygen when he gets there, if he even needs it at that point. Baby A weighs 4 lbs 10 oz and Baby B weighs 5 lbs 10 oz. He has always been just 1 pound bigger. That one pound makes a very big difference.

Benjamin was supposed to be home by now but he keeps having apnea spells. They were going to send him home on an apnea alarm that is VERY loud and annoying. He has to go 48 hours without having a spell. I would be bummed that he isn't home yet but that alarm will do nothing but warn us (which is obviously good) and wake the girls up while scaring them to death. It is as loud as a fire alarm but it is right in your ear. We are worried that if Benjamin comes home without Jacob, we won't get to see Jacob as much just because I will have a newborn home that I won't be able to get a babysitter for. So, we can call his apnea spells a blessing in disguise. Oh, I just got home from seeing the boys and Jacob has no more feeding tubes. He just has his breathing tubes and he does really well eating from a bottle. That is exciting.