Fun Fact

The boys were admitted the night of the Opening Ceremonies. If they were discharged today, they would come home the day of the closing ceremonies.

But since they were discharged yesterday, its not going to happen!

Our first family of 6 picture (yes I know K has her eyes closed- its the best we have so far. Maybe one of the grandparents got a better shot)

Kiran reading us all the book "God Gave Us Two"

NICU: A Blessing?

(I'll be the first to admit this was not how I was feeling on Sunday (when I started this post!) as anyone who spoke to me at church can attest. But for the majority of the past 14 days this has been true.)

I was disappointed when we determined it would be best for the boys to induce at 34 weeks. I knew that they would need NICU time instead of coming home with me. I don't think its possible to understand the heartache of birthing a child and then not being with them in the hours,days just after their birth. My heart and body ache for them to be with me. That's what a mommy does- she takes care of her children. It goes against every biological urge to leave them and not be the one protecting and providing for her babies.

But...Jonathan and I found over the last 14 days that this NICU time has indeed been a blessing to our family. Has it been hard? Absolutely. But every day I get to go up to the NICU and focus solely on my babies. I get to feed them, nurse them, snuggle with them and rock them for up to 5 hours a day. What mom of 4 can spend that time just loving on her newest baby? In the NICU, I'm allowed to be completely focused on loving the babies and when I'm at home with the girls, I can be completely there also.

We've had time to spend some last quality time just the 4 of us- especially since I feel so much better now. I'm not just observing my family as I have the last few months but I'm able to participate in life with them again. And I'm enjoying these precious last days with just my girls. Life has already changed and will change dramatically again when these boys come home. What a gift to have a few extra days to play Super Stretchy ABC with K & S, to take them to CFA, to go feed the ducks (or not b/c it was FREEZING yesterday) and do activities that we will still do after the babies come home but it will be harder or it may be with only one of their parents instead of both of us.

Even though I had wanted to skip this whole NICU thing, even through that God has been pouring out mercy, grace and blessing on our family.

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The boys snuggling with their favorite nurse Tyner!

The boys are making great progress! Their weights are going up- Owen finally hit 5lbs! Their bilirubin has just started going down and they are eating all by bottle. Owen has had his feeding tube out for more than 24 hours. We are getting close to having them home with us and we can't wait. Although if we show up and they are gone, we know Tyner took them.

Getting Back on Track

Well the boys are getting back on track. They spent Sat night to Tues morning under the lights. Their bilirubin went down but now it needs to continue to go down even though they aren't under the lights.

Rhys

So now we just need them to eat their bottles and put on weight! Rhys did really well today- nursing good and eating all of his bottles with no trouble. Owen still tuckers out after half of his. Hopefully Owen will wake up soon and start taking all of his bottles or he's going to be left behind when his brother comes home. The only thing worse than have two kids at home and two kids in the NICU is having two kids and a baby at home and another baby in the NICU.

Owen

They really are beautiful and perfect and I cannot wait to show them to the world.

All the noise was getting to Owen

My doctors in Houston called to check on us. They told us that Rhys & Owen were some of the furthest along twins with some of the heaviest weights and closest weights that they'd had. And the nurse said I was only the third person she knew of that was able to successfully avoid a C-section. God just rocked on this one. He gave us abundantly more than we imagined.

Daddy with his future left-handed pitchers?

The nurse took their measurements today- head circumference, abdomen and length- and they were exactly the same in all of their measurements.

P.S. We are looking for a few things- a crib mattress and a changing table pad. Leave a comment or email me if you have one that we can borrow or buy from you if you are done with it. Thanks!

Setback

We were moving along beautifully and then their bilirubin levels rose. They had moved out of isolettes and were maintaining their temperature really well.

Both boys were eating good- Owen was making a lot of progress in eating all his bottles.

Daddy feeding Rhys

They dropped their IVs totally.

Snugging with our babies

But their bilirubin levels rose again so we put them back under the phototherapy lights. The lights make them really tired and lethargic. So they aren't eating as well. In fact this morning the nurse had to put a tube in Rhys's nose for the first time to help him eat. It makes me sad that we seem to be going backwards. I'm so anxious to get them home. They need to do 3 things to be discharged:

1. get rid of the jaundice

2. gain weight for 2 days straight

3. eat all milk by bottle

And here's the long awaited picture of them side by side. I thought Owen's face was rounder- and it sure is!

Owen- left Rhys- right

Those Dern Bilirubin Levels

I talked to Rhys and Owen's nurse this morning and they are both doing great. However, their bilirubin levels are creeping back up. Pray that they would reverse and start going down on their own. Owen still isn't quite taking all of his milk by bottle although he has made great progress in the last few days. He doesn't eat well when he's under the bilirubin lights because it tires him out. They are going to check their levels again at 3- if they are over 12 they will have to go back under the lights. Rhys's were 11.9 this morning so we need his body to work fast! Thanks for praying!

Wait- We Have Other Children???

Kiran & Sienna have been amazing throughout this whole pregnancy/hospitalization/birth/NICU experience. Its been a huge joy for me to be home with them again AND to feel better. I feel better now than I have in 8 months.

I decided it was time for Sienna's first haircut. We have a place that will do baby's first haircut for 1 cent and they give you a certificate and everything. Of course, the big sister had to go first to show the little sister that it was ok.

When it was Sienna's turn, she hopped right up into the race car.

Sienna got her baby mullet cut off.

And Kiran got a princess hair style which she proclaimed that her Daddy would think was very pretty. And he did.

One Step At A Time

It seems that every day we go to visit the boys, they have taken one step closer to coming home! They are both off the lights for jaundice so they get to wear clothes now! They are being weaned off the temperature controlled air in the isolette so that they can move to open air cribs.

They have both tolerated an increase in food every day. They are eating one ounce now and have been able to lose all nutrition through their IV. Now they just have fluid coming in. The next step is to increase the food enough so they will lose the IV completely. Rhys is still taking all his by mouth while Owen only takes about half. Owen does seem to be getting more proficient at eating so hopefully he'll transition to all bottle soon.

I got to start trying to nurse the boys when they were 3 days old. The first time neither of them had any idea what to do. Since then I've only worked with Rhys so that Owen can focus on the bottle. From the second day on, Rhys has started latching- sometimes he'll eat and sometimes he doesn't. I love being able to do something so normal with him.

Thanks for your continued prayers! The boys have been making fantastic progress. Kiran is so excited for them to come home. She always asks us how they are doing. Every day she tells us certain songs she wants us to sing to them- yesterday it was "Jesus Loves Me" and " Jesus Loves the Little Children." Sienna is no longer scared of my pump so that makes life a little less stressful.