Update on the twins....and other stuff.

Wow, has it been a month already? It seems like a lifetime yet like no time has passed at all since I've had these two little babies. So much has happened, yet they are still in the hospital so it seems like we've been stuck at the same stage forever. Jane and Kate are both healthy and gaining weight like crazy. Jane weighs 6lbs. 13 oz. and Kate weighs 6lbs. 11 oz. That's 2 lbs these guys have gained. You would think that with that awesome weight gain they could come home. Well, the hold up is their eating. Since they were premature, they hadn't developed the skill of sucking, swallowing, and breathing at the same time. It is also very exhausting for them to eat, so they fall asleep easily and sleep for hours after each feeding. So I had to start feeding them twice a day is all. I would drive down to Provo twice a day and feed them. We weighed them before and after each feeding so we would know how much they had eaten. With a bottle it's easy to see how much they eat but not with nursing. So that's how they do it. The first time I nursed them, the scale said they burned more calories than they ate. It was pretty depressing but only left room for improvement.

It's been a long process. We did 2 feedings a day for about 1 1/2 weeks. We moved on to 3 feedings and stayed there for about 2 weeks. Thursday we started adding a 4th feeding. They did pretty well but got really exhausted, so we were figuring we would be there a while too. Today they are doing 4 feedings and have two times where I nurse them back to back. Usually we would do a feeding in between where they are fed through a tube in their nose to get a break. Now we are seeing if they have enough stamina to get 2 feedings from me in a row.
Anyway, it has been a very long and exhausting process for all of us. I get up to pump every 3 hours...or so I'm supposed to. I'm at the hospital early in the morning and late at night and try to be there for Jules and Libby at home during the day. It's been a busy month but hopefully this will all end soon and we can enjoy them more at home. It was a little nice at first, to recover from a c-section and all, but I am more than ready to bring them home. Now for a bunch of pictures.

This is Brett holding the babies for the first time. He thought he didn't really "need" to hold them like I needed to but once he held them, he was hooked.

Aren't they so cute? Not sure now which baby is which but I think Kate is on the left and Jane is on the right.

Brett holding both of the babies. Kate on the left and Jane on the right.

This was the day the babies got put together in the same bed. Since they were so used to being close together in the womb, they tend to do better when they are together in the bed also. They had to be in separate beds for a week because of tubing and cords they had in them. If those cords came out then it would have been bad, so they were separated. We had our moms come to watch the joining and they got to hold the babies. It was nice having 2 babies, one for each grandma to hold. My mom has Kate and Tammy had Jane.

Jane

My dad holding the babies for the first time. She was kind enough to wake up for him. They are usually awake when I go see them, since they have to eat. I get to see their eyes and their smiles. I have never seen such small babies smile as much as these girls do. It's so sweet.

When we first put them together. They leaned in to each other and it was so cute. They are almost holding hands.


Again, blogger uploaded pictures all messed up. This was the first time I held both of them at once...well, except for the 7 1/2 months they were in my belly.

Jules holding Jane. The girls can see the babies on weekends so we have taken advantage of that. They love going in to see them and love holding them.

Our first family picture. I love it. Libby's hair could use some help but it is what it is.

Even Libby gets to hold them. Here she is holding Kate.

Kate on left, Jane on right.


We all needed a good trim to our hair; especially Libby. She has a really cute curl in her hair but it's also messy and hair is always in her face. The way her hair grows, it just grows in her face. Here is the before shot.

During the hair cut

After. It's a really cute bob with some shorter bangs but they can also go to the side. It's cute when it's done, she looks so grown up.

Jane went on oxygen for little bit. She still needs a little help while she eats. Kate went off it all together for a bit but is back on it. She will most likely come home with it for a while.

Daddy, Jane, and Libby

Not the best angle on Jane but if you notice, she doesn't have any tubing on her face for the first time since she was born. It was only because I accidentally stepped on her feeding tube and it came out. They put another one in right away but for a brief moment she didn't have anything on her face. I long for that day. I'm so tired of all of these wires connected to them.

The cutest outfits. I was waiting to bring them home in these outfits but they were gaining weight so quickly that we put them on them in the hospital. Thanks Keri!

Identical? Nope, they look a little bit alike. I think they will look more alike as they get older. We can tell them apart because Jane is bigger. They actually have different blood types too, so they are not identical. Jane on the left and Kate on the right.

Their heads are so soft that the nurses have to rotate them throughout the day to keep them nice and round. They love being on their sides so the back of their head is very round. This is how we keep them on the back of their heads to make it a little more flat.

Just a sweet picture of Jane.


The babies bedroom. I made all of the bedding the curtains, and the flag banner. I can't wait to bring them home.

Jules and Libby holding the babies again. Libby has Kate and Jules has Jane.

Kate on left and Jane on the right. This was taken last night. Again, Libby has Kate and Jules has Jane. It's really funny to watch Jules and Libby. Libby especially knows which baby is which and she doesn't get to see them very much at all. They are super excited to bring the babies home. I think they will be shocked and probably want to send them back once they come home.

Our first family picture

There you have it. We were able to bring the girls in to the hospital tonight and snap a picture with everyone.....all 6 of us. Whoa, are there really 6 of us? The twins are progressing nicely. Each feeding, they figure things out a little quicker than the one before. Tonight, they took a huge jump in how much they ate, er drank. Life is good.