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.

Continuing at a Different Place

Well, yesterday couldn't have come sooner. The boys were finally moved to Fair Oaks. We are very excited about this. One baby liked the ride, the other did not; go figure. I will have to upload some new photos of them. They have grown enough in 1 week to make a big difference. Baby A doesn't look so anorexic anymore because he has gained some weight. He is over 4 lbs and his cheeks are filling out nicely. Baby 5 is over 5 lbs still. He hasn't put on any new weight. The boys are adjusting to their new place well. The room is HUGE. I really mean that. There is a bathroom in their room as well. That will be nice because I won't have to leave the NICU and then gain entry again to use the bathroom. There is a shower just in case we want to stay. There are lots of chairs and 1 reclining chair which is actually very comfortable. The nurse there told me that they will be pushing the boys to get better quickly. I am okay with that. Yesterday, Baby A started to cry. He looked like he was trying to eat something because he kept turning his head when you would rub his face and he would try to suck on his fists. I put a pacifier in his mouth and he took and was completely happy with it. I was pretty shocked because he has NEVER done this. The nurse was thrilled. Today, he did the same thing. He was upset that he was hungry, like normal babies are, and so I gave him his pacifier and he was thrilled. I don't think he feels satisfied because his feeding tube isn't in his stomach, it is in his intestines. Even Baby B doesn't feel satisfied because he can't have his food from a bottle yet. His tube is in his stomach though so if I am there and he is getting his food I have to give him his pacifier so he feels like he is at least eating his food. Poor kids. I hope this means they can have bottles for them soon. Baby A has to take baby steps to a bottle though. He has to have his feeding tube pulled back into his stomach to see if he can tolerate that first. It will be a very small amount to start out with but eventually the nurses will get to a bottle.

So much changes in the NICU in a blink. It is hard to blog about everything that changes everyday. I did take 2 Christmas stockings over to the NICU and I hung it up on the wall. I am sure Santa knows to go over there. I should be playing Santa but the girls are still awake and you can't be Santa with your kids still awake. I did eat some of the cookies though. :) Hopefully they don't get out of their beds. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

Disappointed

Since the last post, Baby A has been able to come off of CPAP and onto the nasal cannula. That is exciting. Baby B's breathing is just fine. Remember how I told you that things change in an instant? Well, this past weekend Baby A was found to have a staph infection on his face. It is from the bandages on his face that hold the cannula and feeding tubes in place. Since they don't change the tape that often, dirt and grime get under the tape and of course other things get under the tape and it led to staph infection. Of course Baby B didn't want to be left out so he now has staph infection on his face as well. :} I can hold them still but I have to wear a horrid gown and gloves. This gown always heats me up and I end up sweating to death before I am even done holding one baby. I usually have to step outside where it is cooler then come back and hold the other one. I have to wear the gown for a while now until it is all clear. Since they just found the staph for Baby B, it will be a very long time until the gown can go away.

Baby A weighs 4lbs now and Baby B weighs 5lbs now. They were going to be transferred to Fair Oaks last week but the snow storm was imminent and since there was a ton of other transfers that needed to be done, the boys kept getting bumped. So now since Baby A isn't breathing as well on his cannula as he was last week he can't be transferred. Since I refuse to transfer one baby without the other then they both stay at Fairfax. Anyway, other than that they are fine. I go in everyday to hold them and to try and feed Baby B his bottle. He only gets a little bit through a bottle and he gets mad that he can't eat from a bottle. He puts his hands in his mouth to try and suck on them, he turns his head both ways looking for that bottle, and he will just flat out cry because he can't suck on a bottle. When I am there and they start his feeding I have to let him suck on a pacifier because that is not how he wants to eat. So I hold him and he sucks on his pacifier while the food goes into his stomach through a tube. I know he hates it but for now that has to work because he has to take little steps in order to be fed a whole bottle. It is really sad to see though. I can imagine that it wouldn't be satisfying to just be fed through a tube.

I don't know when Baby A will be learning to feed. It is a very frustrating process though because I really want my babies home. BUT, I do want them to be completely healthy. So, here is to another holiday in the NICU. At least Santa will visit there as well. Santa did stop by the NICU on Saturday though and the boys were able to get pictures with him. No, Santa did not hold or touch the boys he just stood on the outside of the isolette. I am hoping it doesn't ice over on Christmas because that would be too hard to sit here and not go visit on Christmas day. We were very tempted to go and visit the boys this past Saturday even with the snow. It isn't anything we haven't driven in before when were in Idaho. We will see what happens. Take care and have a merry Christmas. I know we will.

Lately...

It has been hard to blog every day but so much changes from day to day. This last Sunday the doctors decided to try the nasal cannula on baby a. He did well on it. However, the next day they did a blood gas and of course the CO2 levels were too high. So, they put baby a back on the CPAP. Tuesday, the doctors wanted to try the nasal cannula again because they need to get to a point so they can start trying to give him a bottle. He needs to learn that before he leaves the hospital. They put the cannula on him while I was there and he looked so cute without the CPAP. So far he has been doing well on the nasal cannula and his blood gas has been fine. We will cross our fingers it remains that way. He hates the CPAP because it rubs on his nose and he doesn't do well with it. I went in yesterday and I was able to kangaroo hold each of them. No it wasn't at the same time but that is okay. They are both getting bigger and it is nice to just hold them. We might be able to transfer to Fair Oaks at some point soon. We are very excited about that but we are sad to leave the doctors and nurses who have taken such great care of the boys. Fair Oaks is smaller and they can both stay in the same room until they leave. The parking is free and you can valet park your car for free as well. I love that feature. The biggest point of all is that Fair Oaks is closer. We like that idea. The boys still have a while to go in their hospital stay so something closer will be great. Baby B is learning to eat with a bottle. He will eat 5 cc's and he does well with that. When he has more than that he kind of forgets to breathe while he is eating. So, obviously he will be in the hospital for a while so he can learn that. I will post some pictures when I can. I am pretty busy. I spend a lot of time in the NICU with the boys and then I am so tired by night time that we just sit here and crash. Our place is pretty messy as well so don't come by anytime soon. I might not let you in. :)