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Friday, April 29

we arE GROWING!

I know that kids grow "up", get "bigger" but when the twins were born so little it was hard to imagine them ever getting to newborn size. Really they aren't yet; but preemie clothes fit to about 5lbs and we had been noticing that the preemie sleepers were getting short on them. So yesterday after their baths we upgraded them to their first newborn outfits. Kelsey definitely needed to move up a size - she wasn't able to stretch her legs out fully in the preemie clothes anymore. Drew looks a little drowned out in his newborn sleeper - I think I put it on him so that both babies were the "same" :) But the sleeves are too long so he can't find his hands. There is a 6oz weight difference between the twins and we can certainly tell when we pick them up. I guess Drew is just going to have man-up and start bulking up!







And a big shout out to one of my best favorite cousins turning "dirty 30" today! Have a happy day Stef - We Love You!

Wednesday, April 27

Bed rest was good for me????

Did I just say that? Are you rubbing your eyes to make sure you read that correctly? Yes. I made this realization last night. I ran out to find Kelsey a spring/summer jacket because almost all of her 0-3 month clothes are sleeveless tanks or dresses. I also have not been in a mall since December 27th, hitting the after Christmas sales, so it took all my will-power to *only* shop for my babes:)

So it went like this: I went into the store and first came across the cute argyle polo I had been eyeing up online and - of course - it was on sale! Then I spot the outfit I wanted to get for Drew to wear on his first birthday and - get this - it's on clearance! I end up grabbing a couple more things on clearance and then find the cute little jean jacket I originally came in the store for! The whole experience felt like a big win for me and I would have kept shopping had I not promised to be home around 7 with ice cream.

What does this have to do with bed rest? Well, it kept me out of the malls and stores preventing me from going hog-wild buying clothes for my unborn babies. Sure I can/could have shopped online but then I only buy what I need because I do not like paying for shipping when I could drive to the store and pick it up. I was lucky to have made out of that store only $40 lighter and I felt like I got great deals - me=winning:)

Otherwise we are just one big happy family! And totally looking forward to our first night out with friends, since the twins came home, in a week and a half:) Can't wait to see Annie and Jason!

Monday, April 25

Chubby Bunnies

We had good but short Easter. It ends up being a long day when you don't stay in one place for very long and have to travel up, over, and down southeastern Wisconsin. We just wanted our less-mobile grandparents to have the opportunity to see the kids.

Today was their 1 month doc appt and I was quite interested to see what kind of weight gains they had made. Kelsey was 5lbs 1oz and Drew, our squirt, 4lbs 11oz. The nurse practitioner was not impressed with D; she wants us to wake him to feed him more often - which explains why he's our "good sleeper" right now (and K is our "good eater", obviously!). Otherwise they are doing well and we don't have to go back until 2 months, which will be a major vaccination appt - Yay! Good thing Craig will be with me for that appt too.

Grandpa Bob's first time meeting the babies


Craig's grandma with Kelsey

Saturday, April 23

Picture Post

I don't have much to say and if I did, I'm a little to lazy to try to form any intelligent sentances! So here are some photos from the week:)




Wednesday, April 20

Getting bigger

The city health dept nurse brought 2 nursing students with her and I felt better about having them come over; I mean I was a nursing student once and I know how boring my community health clinical was so it was probably a good change for them to be able to get out of the clinic. Depending on how "off" their scale is, Kelsey and Drew gained good weight - we'll find out for sure on Monday when we go back to the pediatrician for the 1 month appt. But K was 4lbs 9oz 19in and D was 4lbs 8oz 18.5in. So apparently we are doing something right since they've been home:) And they certainly look/feel "bigger" to us.

No one slept real good last night; it's not like I'm telling you people something you don't know about having babies! They were both fussier than normal and when I went in their room to soothe them back to sleep, they would just start up again 5min after I laid back down! We win some nights and we lose some:)

Will post some new pics next time...

Monday, April 18

Umm...snow??

It was kinda pretty when I was up at 5 this morning and I saw the snow in the trees...then I remembered it was the middle of APRIL! All this snow business should be over and done with. I have often said I love living in the mid-west; I like the changing of seasons and actually prefer winter to spring. But once the seasons start to change, I like to leave the previous on in the past and not re-visit:) That's all for my rant today; just ready for warmer weather (it could be my cabin fever from 3 months of being indoors).

We seem to get good sleep every other night. And it's okay right now because you know that eventually you will sleep. Because that second night when you are exhausted from not sleeping, you don't hear every little squeak and grunt over the monitor and we sleep until one baby is actually ready to get up. Drew had to be woken up twice to eat thru the night-early morning. And Kelsey lasted 4hrs in-between feeds early this morning too, so Craig and I slept really good from 6 till 9.

We had fun family visitors this weekend who brought cute gifts or good food or helped with a feed or just some general socialization with the outside world!! There were aunts, an uncle, cousins, "second and third" cousins:), grandma and grandpa, and step-aunt and uncle. It was the first time most of these people have seen Kelsey and Drew.

The city health nurse is supposed to come over after lunch today to do a general assessment of not only the babies but of the living environment - to make sure they are safe. At first I didn't want them to come, but now I realize they will probably weigh the babies and I can see how much they've gained since Thursday.


This is Marty being needy - he just HAD to sit between the girls holding the babies!


Kelsey and Drew napping in our bed after a morning feed while one of us showers.

Friday, April 15

3 Weeks Old

In about 12hrs the babies will be a full 21 days old! It all seems so long ago with everything that has happened during those days. We are getting through the days and slowly figuring out what works and what doesn't. We are trying to keep their sleeping situation similar to the NICU, hoping to maximize the resting periods during the day. They are super grunty, squeaky little people and we are trying to learn to ignore it! But eventually sleep deprivation gets you and you can't worry about every little noise:)

Yesterday was their first pediatritian appt. They both gained weight since leaving the hospital - K is 4lbs 4oz, 18.5in and D is 4lbs 2.5oz, 18in. The doctor was very impressed with how soon they were able to leave the NICU and says they are doing just fine! Which is a relief because we worried there was SOMETHING we screwed up since leaving the supportive, knowledgeable nursing staff:) We have another appt on their 1 month birthday.




Laying on the doctor's table




Wednesday, April 13

We did it! (I think....)

Made it through our first full day, that is! The first night home (Monday) was fairly sleepless and the babies seemed restless in their new surroundings. We managed through it and got up Tuesday morning armed with coffee:) Kelsey and Drew found a pretty good routine of waking up every 3hrs to eat. Drew is working out some gas issues, so we purchased gas drops yesterday. It seems to distract him from eating, and he wasn't taking full bottles yesterday. But usually once Drew crashes after eating, he's out. Kelsey on the other hand is a bit more fussy and awake after she eats and sometimes needs extra cuddling time before we put her down.

Last night we were a little more exhausted, so I say we got more sleep but really because we couldn't physically stay awake no matter how worried we were about the kids! We also had to wake them up thru the night because they were pushing 4hrs since eating last. And by "we" I mean ME - Craig didn't hear me get up to do diaper changes. So I had to tell him it was time to feed "our" babies:) I always sleep better in the second part of the night, which is after their middle-of-the-night bottle, around 2 a.m.

So far Marty has been okay with the babies. He's not too fond of their noises and then barks at them. They don't seem to mind his barking but it bothers us when it doesn't stop! I don't think Marty likes it that we bring the babies into bed to feed them (right now that's where their feeding supplies are kept and we have no where else to sit upstairs). He walks up to them and sticks his nose in their face when they are sitting in their vibrating seats.

Craig put Drew next to the animals - they weren't too sure about him!




Monday, April 11

Honey, We're Home!

And so it happened! When I went in to the hospital this morning, their nurse said there was really no reason we couldn't take them home later. I expected as much since they had such an awesome weekend, but it wasn't going to be real until we were walking out the door! Of course, the doctor had to see them and agree to their discharge. And he was a very busy guy today, so he didn't finish going over their charts until 5 p.m. The neonatologist was a little surprised with how well they were doing and couldn't believe the nurses were asking him to discharge the "Bonin twins" today.

We were leery about how Marty was going to handle these new people in his house, so we picked up a bone on the way home from the hospital. He's been a little barky, but when the babies are quiet and laying down he doesn't seem to notice them.

So now it begins...figuring it all out, how things are going to work, when we are going to get things done. Man, preemies can make a lot of noise! I must have have had a 6th sense about them coming home because Friday night while Craig went out for beers with a friend, I prepared and froze a couple meals for us.

Thanks for all the support and well wishes these past 17 days in the NICU, as we were mostly in survival mode trying to get through each day. We can't wait till they are older, bigger, stronger for more people to meet them.

Here are some pics of their last moments in the hospital.





And first pic when we got home



Sunday, April 10

Home Tomorrow?!?

We have had big moves in the NICU since Friday. First they combined the twins into one space instead of separate "patient" slots to open up bed space for a potential baby admission. So we were learning to live in fairly cramped quarters Friday evening because the kids were still in their isolets, but they were both weighing very close to 4lbs, 3lbs 14.9oz and 3lbs 14oz, and would hopefully move into cribs by Saturday morning.

And so they did!! We came in yesterday morning and they were kickin' it like big kids in cribs. Kelsey finally pushed over the 4lb mark - 4lb 1.1oz and Drew was *just* under at 3lb 15.9oz. They had been taking regular bottles at all their feeds from Friday night to Saturday morning so the nurse asked the Neonatologist if they could go "ad lib" - which means there is no scheduled feeding/waking times; they let the babies wake on their own and dictate when they need to be fed or changed. The nurses will not let them go longer than 4hrs without eating but will also not run to them if it's been less than 2hrs since their last care.

This means LOTS of stuff - firstly anxiety, because they could potentially be home as early as TOMORROW night!! I know I've just wanted to bring them home ever since they were born, but now we have to really be the parents! And all the things we were going to do this week, preparing the house, getting the odds and ends errands done before the babies come home, has to be DONE.NOW. It seems so ironic now that last week Craig decided regardless of how the babies were doing, he was going to start paternity leave tomorrow.

Thursday, April 7

Mr. Mom

Well, let's see...I'll re-cap what's happened this week.

Kelsey's IV came out Monday (yay, one less line to worry about). Both of them have been alternating between bottle and breast feeds. Sometimes the feeds go well and other times they just can't wake up enough or seem to care to want to eat, so we just gavage it into their tube. They are getting ready to come out of their isolets and into cribs so the temperature in the isolets has been lowered daily until it reaches room temperature. Then they watch to make sure the babies can maintain their body temp without assistance. So it is a combination of body temp and weighing around 4 lbs to live in cribs. K was 3.13 lb and D was 3.12 lb - we are getting close!

I came into the hospital yesterday morning and found the nursing staff had dressed the kids in *real* clothes! It was so cute to see them look like actual babies. Previous families donate clothes to the NICU so that if there are malfunctions, our clothes won't be ruined:)


Craig with both babies! I was busy pumping to feed these hungry kids:)

Tuesday, April 5

Just Pics of Kelsey

We're not favoring either baby - it just happened that our *star* photographer (Annie) was only around for Kelsey's cares and bath. We'll catch Drew next time:)



Kelsey's second bath with us




Monday, April 4

Opening Day!

Anybody lucky enough to be in attendance for the Brewer's 4th loss of the season? Craig and I joked last week that we could now go to opening day because we had a "baby-sitter" - an expensive baby-sitter but also the best:) Seeing as how the game was pretty uneventful, we are glad we weren't serious.

The kids are doing so well at breast feeding. Drew is taking so much that we are able to give him less thru the tube. Kelsey takes it well but becomes disinterested after 10 min. They become pretty worn out after the breast feeding attempts so there are days we only try once but I try to get 2 "breast attempts" in daily. Today K is 3.11 lbs and D is 3.8 lbs. K's IV should come out in the next couple days and then her weight gains will level out like D's.

Today I also noticed that there was a discrepency in the gestational age they had written on the bed side charts compared to how far along I would be, if still pregnant - 35wks 1day. But they had 34wks 4days written down. I don't think it hurt anything except that they have had me trying breast/bottle feeding earlier. I guess we all make mistakes!

Saturday, April 2

Laundry made me Sad

I know in a past post I may have said how excited I was to do the laundry again - that I actually missed it! Now that I am home and feeling good, I was able to run down and do a couple loads of the kids clothes and not have to rely on Craig. Well, there happened to be a clean load in the dryer last night that Craig had done the day before. So I was folding it, realizing most of it was Craig's clothes but what was mine was maternity stuff - bed rest garb. It was a bit of a smack to the face that truly I wasn't pregnant anymore and that I have babies. I know that sounds a little weird but we've been in an altered state of being the last week. We went from labor and delivery status to worried about NICU babies and never had the down time to realize the change.

Altho we have great news today. We came to the NICU today to find out Drew was getting his IV taken out because he was doing so well on his feeds. We also did more "nippling" with him and the guidance of the lactation consultant and he did so well the nurse didn't have to give him as much thru the tube. He also jumped up in weight to 3.8 lbs!! He is getting closer to coming out of the isolet and coming home:)

Kelsey has been tolerating feeds and finally pooped on her own. Up until today, they would give her a little "poop helper" suppository which is normal for preemie babies (to need help pooping:)) She also is growing like a weed - 3.99 lbs! It's probably because I told her she is the big sister and she needs to stay that way for when they come home so Drew doesn't beat her up! (Because I am the older sister and I know all to well that you have to stand your ground!)

Otherwise Craig and I are going to try to have a night out, just for dinner. Something we really enjoy but haven't been able to do since before Christmas. The last time we were even "out" together was New Year's Eve. So we are REALLY looking forward to it and since the kids had such a good day, we should definitely be able to enjoy it.

Friday, April 1

1 Week Old!!

It's been 1 week since my water broke! It's hard to believe. I can't tell if it's been a long or fast week...it's just been. I totally forgot it was Friday - it just feels like another day. We are happy to keep moving forward.

The babes are doing well. Kelsey was able to come off of her bili light - which was a nice surprise when I showed up this afternoon. Drew is growing fast - his weight last night was 3.62; up almost an ounce from yesterday. K's weight has been slower but her feeds were held for a while when she wasn't digesting her food. Otherwise the whole goal is to keep them growing!

Craig had a little bit of a rough week just knowing he was at school while I was with the babies each morning. But I have to remind him that right now I'm trying to get them comfortable with breast feeding and it will be much more helpful if he can be home when we bring the babies home. He knows what's best for us, but his heart is in the NICU.

Here are some pics I promised. Sorry they aren't very clear. They were taken with Craig's cell phone because I pulled a rookie new mom move and left the camera at home because I had uploaded some photos :(

First family pic! (Craig has Drew - I have Kelsey)

Kelsey left - Drew on right