Today was a great day for weight gain for the babies. Miss Lily hit 3 lbs! Woo hoo! She gained 40 grams today after her feedings were increased from 22 ml to 24 ml of breast milk. Charlie was also increased to 24 ml of breast milk and his weight went up to 1470, or 3 lb 4 oz. Annaleigh remains the smallest but thanks to the extra calories she began receiving yesterday she put on 60 grams to reach 1210 grams to reach 2 lbs 11 oz. Grow babies grow!
We had nice visits with the babies today too. This morning I went to the NICU alone while Joe was busy at the bank opening accounts for the babies – three college educations won’t come cheap! I held all three babies while I was there, although all of them were on the fussy side. The damp, dreary weather must have been affecting them – they just wanted to stay snuggled up in their isolettes. This evening the babies had lots of visitors. My mom and Nana came up with Joe and me and had a great visit. Nana comes to see the babies every 2 weeks and enjoys every second of her visits. She learns new songs each time so she can entertain them with fresh material. Along with the standard “Twenty Froggies,” a song that my great grandmother used to sing and that Nana used to sing to me when I was little, she also modified a song called “Oh Johnny” for Charlie:
Oh Charlie Oh Charlie
You are my love
Oh Charlie Oh Charlie
Heavens above
What makes me love you so?
You are handsome it’s true
And when I look at you
Oh Charlie Oh Charlie Oh
I am definitely memorizing this so I can sing it to Charlie too. I love it!
During my morning NICU visit Annaleigh’s nurse asked if she could introduce a new dad to me. His wife had given birth to twins a few days ago at 24 weeks 5 days and the nurse thought it would be good for him to speak to someone with babies of a similar age. I spoke to him briefly while I was holding the girls, and when I was done he and I stepped outside the NICU to talk a bit more. I tried to answer his questions the best I could, and he kept repeating “My wife and I are so scared.” My only response was “I know, but it DOES get better, really.” Talking to him made me look back on our last 6 ½ weeks in the NICU and it made me realize that it really DID get better. And I am so grateful that we seemed to have reached the “better” part of our NICU journey. Instead of being afraid to enter the NICU each day for fear of bad news we now can’t wait to rush in there to cuddle our babies and see how they’ve grown. I was also pleased that the nurses think our babies are doing well enough to be used as comfort for new preemie parents. We know that things could still change in an instant so we try to remain prepared for that, but we are enjoying each and every improvement our babies are making and savoring every time a nurse or doctor says, “When they go home…” or “In just a few weeks she’ll be out of here…” At this point we are closer to the end of our NICU journey than the beginning and that is a very nice thought indeed.
We had nice visits with the babies today too. This morning I went to the NICU alone while Joe was busy at the bank opening accounts for the babies – three college educations won’t come cheap! I held all three babies while I was there, although all of them were on the fussy side. The damp, dreary weather must have been affecting them – they just wanted to stay snuggled up in their isolettes. This evening the babies had lots of visitors. My mom and Nana came up with Joe and me and had a great visit. Nana comes to see the babies every 2 weeks and enjoys every second of her visits. She learns new songs each time so she can entertain them with fresh material. Along with the standard “Twenty Froggies,” a song that my great grandmother used to sing and that Nana used to sing to me when I was little, she also modified a song called “Oh Johnny” for Charlie:
Oh Charlie Oh Charlie
You are my love
Oh Charlie Oh Charlie
Heavens above
What makes me love you so?
You are handsome it’s true
And when I look at you
Oh Charlie Oh Charlie Oh
I am definitely memorizing this so I can sing it to Charlie too. I love it!
During my morning NICU visit Annaleigh’s nurse asked if she could introduce a new dad to me. His wife had given birth to twins a few days ago at 24 weeks 5 days and the nurse thought it would be good for him to speak to someone with babies of a similar age. I spoke to him briefly while I was holding the girls, and when I was done he and I stepped outside the NICU to talk a bit more. I tried to answer his questions the best I could, and he kept repeating “My wife and I are so scared.” My only response was “I know, but it DOES get better, really.” Talking to him made me look back on our last 6 ½ weeks in the NICU and it made me realize that it really DID get better. And I am so grateful that we seemed to have reached the “better” part of our NICU journey. Instead of being afraid to enter the NICU each day for fear of bad news we now can’t wait to rush in there to cuddle our babies and see how they’ve grown. I was also pleased that the nurses think our babies are doing well enough to be used as comfort for new preemie parents. We know that things could still change in an instant so we try to remain prepared for that, but we are enjoying each and every improvement our babies are making and savoring every time a nurse or doctor says, “When they go home…” or “In just a few weeks she’ll be out of here…” At this point we are closer to the end of our NICU journey than the beginning and that is a very nice thought indeed.
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Charlie is looking so great! He's getting so big that his little gray outfit hardly fits him!
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This is what three pounds of Lily looks like!
11 comments:
UGh, where is Miss Anneleigh tonight?
Brookie is soooooooo sexy
While my trio were in the NICU the hospital social worker approached us and asked if we wanted to apply for medicaid for our little ones. We told her my hubby's salary would not qualify us for medicaid. She explained that it would not be us qualifying it would be the babies. The reason they would qualify was because of how premature that they were born (10weeks early for us). We figured it couldn't hurt to apply and our trio received medicaid for their first year. Talk about help especially with all the hospital bills (we had an 11 week NICU stay). We couldn't have accounts for them for this first year because they could not have any assets in their name (this is what made me think of this tonight). Talk to your hospital social worker and ask her about this. If they qualify you can also get WIC. It never hurts to ask.
So glad to hear your little ones are doing so wonderful. You all will continue to stay in my familiy's prayers. Stay strong!!
what a sweet song for Charlie! And you are right, the fact that the hospital staff is recommending you to speak to brand new preemie parents is a REALLY good sign. I'm so glad it has gotten better for you. I have said this before but you guys really have the best attitudes.
"Closer to the end of your NICU journey than the beginning..." -- isn't that a great thought!! Or as my mother always says about things -- won't be as long as it has been!
Yeah - where's Annaleigh???
Wonderful news and great pics.
All My Love, Auntie :) xoxox
Whew! What a relief! The babies are growing so quickly, thank goodness. They are all beautiful and healthy and hopefully the hospital days are numbered. Wonderful news!
Cheryl
The good days are far out numbering the not so good days. The future looks bright for those three Little D's. Kudos to you, too, Brooke and Joe.
Lovin' the fatties!!! Keep up the hard work, babies!!
I will also second the idea of talking to your NICU social worker about medicaid. Dylan was the only one that qualified for it, Ayden was just a little too big. Glad to see that Lily hit the 3 lb mark!! Huge accomplishment!!! But I am also wondering where is Annaleigh? Hope to see her in the next blog!
Andrea
edasmommy0709
twin boys born at 27w6d
Oh, they look wonderful! I'm so glad that you have reached the better part of their NICU stay and that you're getting closer to going home every day. I'm so happy for all of you.
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