One week old!

One week ago the girls were born. It feels longer to me, but maybe that's because they've made so much progress since then. They're both doing great today. Caroline did had another brady early this morning for about 12 seconds... that's another 5 days for her. But both are still eating well and I think Livi is getting closer to coming home. The next few days will determine this.

NICU Day 6

I spent today with the girls again. They both ate really well today, meeting their minimums all by bottle. We did tube feed Caroline in the tube for one feeding just to give her a bit of a break. Both girls had bradycardia episodes today (called "brady's"). This is when their heart rates drop and slows to an abnormal pace for a period of seconds, and sometimes they stop breathing for that short time as well. The nurses assure me that this is pretty common in premature babies and will stop as the girls get closer to their due date. It's still scary to witness this happen because you can see the heart rate drop on the monitor and the alarm sounds and the nurse comes running in... very scary for a mom to see. Each time one of them has a brady automatically tacks on an extra 5 days to their NICU stay. Caroline has had a few of these already, but today was Olivia's first one. Maybe she just doesn't want to leave before her sister.
Livia looking at her daddy.

Sisters during Kangaroo Care

And Auntie Lindsay came to visit us today.

5 days old!

I was discharged from the hospital yesterday evening to go home. Haven't been "on the outside" in 6 weeks! It was very strange being outside and out in the public. I was glad to be going home, but it was sad to leave the girls behind. We left the hospital with our two empty carseats installed in the backseat. :( I cried a little.

Our apologies for not posting an update since they were born. As you can imagine, our days have been busy and long and I've been sooooo tired. Over the past 5 days the girls have been doing very very well. Neither have had any oxygen assistance, both are in open air cribs. Olivia is back up to her birth weight today, which they told me is great for being only 5 days old. She is the stronger eater and has been taking all her food by bottle, and has attempted some breastfeeding. They have been discussing discharging her relatively soon, maybe in the next few days. Caroline is also doing great, but has a little bit of catching up to do. By day 3 they put a feeding tube in her because she wasn't eating her minimum amount (both girls are now on a minimum of 35 cc's per feeding). Poor baby, she is very aware of the tube in her nose, which is left there 24 hours a day and taped to her cheek. She is always grabbing it and really hates it. We alternate feedings with her - one we will attempt to give her a bottle and if she doesn't finish it within about 20 minutes she is fed the remainder in the tube; the next feeding is all tube fed. The doctors are hoping this will help her to gain weight since she isn't burning as many calories fighting to eat. Here's daddy feeding her with the tube in.

Caroline's jaundice levels have been elevated so she was on the billy lights for 2 days to break down the liver enzymes. Here she is getting her "sun".

This morning we got up and went to the hospital to spend the day with the girls, which will be my daily routine until they come home. I've been pumping like crazy - every 2 to 3 hours and it makes me feel good knowing that I can still do that for them, even though I'm not giving my babies constant care. The girls did so great today. Caroline is off the billy light and took all of her 35 cc's by bottle from me at one feeding today! I was proud of her. Olivia continues to do well and had her eyes open a lot today, her pretty blue eyes checking out her surroundings and looking at us.

Daddy with both his girls today

And here are some pictures from over the past few days:

Grandma Karen

Grandpa Richard

Olivia Caroline

Kangaroo Care with Mommy


Grandma Diane & Aunt Kari

Our girls have arrived!

We became a family of four on Wednesday, October 15th!

Baby A:
Caroline Grace
born at 11:13am
4lb, 6oz & 17.75 inches

Baby B:
Olivia Reese
born at 11:14am
4lb, 8oz & 16.75

The nervous parents the morning of delivery

Mommy holding Caroline right after delivery

Olivia holding Daddy's finger

Daddy and Caroline

Little Olivia cozy in her crib

And here is the incredible picture of the girls' umbilical cords all tangled up. This is the reason why I had to be monitored in the hospital for so long before delivery. Scary stuff. Our girls are truly miracle babies!

Tomorrow is the Big Day!

Today marks my 5th week behind me in the hospital and I can't believe that by this time tomorrow I will be able to finally look at my baby girls. It's so weird to think that today is my last day to be pregnant! I can barely remember what it was like to be able to look down and see my feet! Rob and I toured the NICU last night. We feel a lot better after seeing what a nice facility it is and how helpful the nurses are there. They answered all our questions and were very encouraging about how well 34 weekers typically do with a little help.

My parents all arrive on flights this afternoon/evening and I already told them that we have to order a big pizza for dinner because I won't be able to eat after tonight - no breakfast tomorrow before the surgery and probably not for the better part of the day either. The doctors told me that I'll be taken downstairs tomorrow morning around 9am to prep for the surgery. Rob and I are both a little nervous, but definitely ready to meet our girls! We'll post an update and pictures as soon as the chaos settles after the big event. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for a safe delivery tomorrow morning!

Excited to be Parents!

The nurse came in today to talk to me about what to expect the day of the surgery and healing afterwards, what will happen once the babies go to the NICU, etc. She brought me two tiny pink caps that they'll be putting on the girls' heads right after they're born and they were just too cute! Here's a picture of Rob holding them:

And him hanging out in my room

Quick Update

We had an ultrasound on Thursday and they estimated the girls to be both around 4lbs each. This is great news! They grew so much since our last growth scan 2 weeks prior. They also did a doppler which detects the blood flow in their cords. There was some concern at our last doppler because Baby A's cord had a decreased flow, which had inhibited her growth. But this week's results showed that both babies' cords had normal flow. Thank God! My goal is to fatten them up as much as I can for the last few days before the delivery - so I've been trying to eat eat eat and rest so most of the calories go to them.

Rob is spending this last weekend before the girls get here fixing up their room. We unfortunately had water damage over the last month so he's had to repair the drywall and window casings and bead board. Next he'll have to repaint everything before the furniture goes in. A lot of work, so thank goodness my husband is handy! Once the room is finally finished I will post pictures. That's all for now... hopefully the next few days will be pretty uneventful!