Two for One

While I was pregnant, Joe and I would often talk about when we thought the babies would be born. Joe was very insistent that August 6th would be the day. Even after my water broke on June 18th he still believed that the babies would not make an appearance until August 6th. Well, today is August 6th and the babies are 40 days old. So much for that prediction.

Today may not be the babies’ birthday, but it was still a good day. I went the hospital this morning alone. Joe had broken the lens on his camera and was desperate to get it fixed, because, after all, what would a blog update be without pictures? After spending hours running all over town searching for a camera repair shop, it was discovered that the camera was not broken but that Joe had just accidentally changed the setting. A flick of a switch and the camera was working perfectly again. Ooops. So Joe did not make it to the NICU this morning, but I made out like a bandit there! When I arrived I asked to hold Lily, since I had not held her the day before. The nurse got her settled in my arms and then asked if I would like to double hold and add Annaleigh to the mix. Of course I did! It was the first time I’ve gotten to hold both girls at the same time and it was great. They both seemed to enjoy it and behaved beautifully. I wonder if they knew they were snuggling with their sister.

After finishing with the girls I headed in to visit Charlie and his nurse set me up to kangaroo him for the first time. Charlie really seemed to enjoy the special time with mommy. In fact, he enjoyed it so much that apparently he was very angry about going back in his isolette. As soon as his nurse put him back he spent a good 10 minutes dropping his oxygen levels and heart rate. It was quite the show. Naughty Charlie.

Joe returned with me in the evening and got some snuggle time with Annaleigh. She was mad about something or other and alternated between sleeping in Joe’s arms and crying and flailing her little arms about. For some reason we find Annaleigh’s tiny cries (which sound more like the mew of a kitten) hysterical. Tiny mad babies are funny. Lily slept during our evening visit and Charlie gave us a repeat performance of this morning with a bunch of desats. He had been completely quiet until Joe and I went in his room. How nice of him to save all the excitement for mommy and daddy to see!

There were not a lot of changes made with babies today, in fact Annaleigh was the only one with a change. She was raised to 18 ml of breast milk and is still doing wonderfully with it. She and Lily weighed the exact same this evening – 1110 grams. Charlie is weighing in at 1260 grams.

When we weren’t with the babies today Joe and I were working on the nursery. We got the bedding in all the cribs, set up the mobiles, and hung up the wall décor. We are absolutely in love with the nursery. It’s adorable and we can’t wait to fill it with babies!


Doesn't Charlie look comfy?


As you can see, Charlie just loves to keep his mouth wide open. His nurses sometimes use their finger to close his jaw, but as soon as they move he just pops it right back open.


Annaleigh has discovered her fingers! She's constantly grabbing things-- her tubes, her blankets, our fingers, etc.


Lily is doing really well on CPAP. Her numbers were down pretty low (low for her, anyway), thanks in part to the chin strap that keeps her from leaving her mouth open like Charlie.