The Calm After the Storm

Tomorrow the babies will be four weeks old, and for the first time I find myself with very little to report. And that’s a great thing!

Annaleigh is doing just fine after last night’s surgery. It will be a waiting game with her until her bowels start functioning normally, which will take about another week. She was lucid today and hasn’t needed any more pain medication. During our evening visit, she was wiggling about with her eyes open, just like nothing had ever happened.

Lily and Charlie continue to do well. They’re eating a lot and gaining weight. We got to hold Lily this morning and Charlie this evening (well, Brooke got to hold him; he started acting up when it got to be my turn. He’s definitely a mama’s boy!). We’re just waiting for them both to hit 1200 grams so they can try coming off the respirator. Hopefully they’ll take to it just like Annaleigh did.

In all, it was a good day.

I would also like to take a second to again write about how amazing the doctors and nurses are at St. Peters. Every day, we are met with positive, professional, and caring nurses who treat our babies like they were their own. The doctors are patient and kind and they always take the time to make sure we understand exactly what it happening with each baby. If we have a question or a concern, seventeen people jump to get us an answer. I know I’ve said this before, but we could not have asked for a better place to have our babies at this most critical time.

We will forever be indebted to St. Peters Hospital.


Annaleigh has a feeding tube in her nose instead of her mouth. The tube is used for helping clear the gross stuff out of her belly. It pulls at her nose but looks much worse than it is. She's also on a respirator for a week or so to help ease the strain on her body after the surgery.


Annaleigh is no longer in an isolette. She's actually in an open bed with a heat lamp over her head keeping her warm. It's loud out there but it's necessary because the nurses are always doing some check or other on her and taking her in and out of the isolette wouldn't be practical.


Charlie continues to grow. Grandma Pam saw him for the first time in over a week today and was amazed by his size. I'm going to try to put my wedding ring around his arm again on Monday and I'm not entirely sure it will fit! That would be awesome!


The Bug loves to put on a show for us. Every now and again, she opens her eyes real wide and flails her arms and legs about in such a way that we're convinced all she wants in attention. She's going to be our girly girl.


Lily also loves to be held. She breathes so much better when we're holding her. Again, we're pretty sure it's just because she wants the attention!