March 8th Family Update

So, a quick blog just to let you all know how we are doing:

• I am feeling MUCH better. I am finally seeing an improvement from the delivery/c-section, no longer walking like Quasimodo and actually able to shave my legs again! Halleuliah!! I've been able to go down to the NICU everyday and spend countless hours with my babies. They are the wonderdrug I'll tell you what. No matter how crummy I am feeling, I walk in those doors, pick one of them up and all is forgotten. The nurses are great too. They have me doing almost all of their care while I am down there. I get to bathe them, feed them, change diapers, get their food ready, take temps., etc. I finally feel like they are mine and I don't have to "ask" to pick one of them up either. It's been wonderful! Dad jokes that I run the place. We've got the most amazing "spot" in the whole NICU with a view of the entire downtown skyline. They have the boys right next to each other and their nurses always snag a recliner for me when I come in. (Recliners are a hot comodity in this joint!) I can't wait for them to come home though. Hopefully, just a little longer.
• Jer's a champ! I can't say enough about how wonderful he's been these last two weeks; heck, 9 months! He's so amazing with me and with the boys. All of the nurses can't believe how much he does and how unafraid he is to get in and get his hands dirty. Literally. Just last night Ben pooped all over his hand while he was changing his diaper. It was hilarious. Nothing like a little newborn mustard poo on the hand for a good laugh!
• Both boys are doing tremendous. Abe tipped the scales at 4.7 lbs today and Ben hit 3.12 lbs. They both took their first entire bottles too! Abe took 40 cc's. and Ben took 34 cc's. That's a little over an ounce for each. (30 cc's in an ounce, sound familiar Melissa?!?!). So they have met two of the three requirements to come home. They have to be completely breathing on their own. No oxygen or ventilators. (check) They have to be able to maintain their body temp in an open crib. (check) and they have to nipple all of their feedings, no nasal tube. This is the last requirement and because they are almost two months premature, the hardest to accomplish. The nurses compare them taking their feeding by bottle to us trying to drink a milkshake with a coffee stir straw. Pretty rough. But as they grow, they get stronger and it becomes easier to eat. I'm also happy to report that both boys are able to receive breastmilk for all of their feedings. This has been a pretty big deal to me that they get as little formula as possible, especially while in the NICU. It's just so much easier for their bodies to process the breastmik and they use so much less energy. I guess it also helps me feel like I am able to do something for them as well. It's hard not being able to take care of your babies because they are in the hospital. You don't exactly feel like mom all of the time. This is the only way I feel like I can contribute to their health and wellbeing sometimes.
• Unfortunately, we still don't have an estimated date for their release. They just keep telling us by their 40 week due date (April 13th). It's frustrating that we don't have anything definitive but we know that it's God's will that they continue their stay in there. Also, we still cannot have visitors. I know...I know...it stinks. But on the flipside, we are just so grateful to God for these little boys and their health. If there's anything good about a hospital, it's that it reminds you how lucky you are because there's ALWAYS someone worse off. I won't go into any grim details about some of the things we've seen and heard while in the NICU but let me just say I am constantly thanking God for his grace and mercy on our family. Thankfully, all our little ones need to do is grow. Soon enough we will be wishing that Nurse Albin and his baby whispering skills would make a housecall.