7 Weeks!

I'm going to try to start doing posts like I did during my pregnancy each week with the same prompts.  I don't know how it will go, or how long I'll keep it up, but I do enjoy looking back on my weekly updates.  The prompts may change at first until I figure out what I want to track.

Alex

 

Alex holding Ben's hand.  He was also sucking on Ben's hand.

http://youtu.be/pOG3vFCAk0w

Weight:  (i'll weigh them later and post it here)

New developments:  He is really getting good at holding and moving his pacifier.  He actually holds on to the little nub thing on the outside with his fingers, not just blocking it with his whole hand.  He also reaches out to touch Ben a lot more than Ben reaches out to touch him.  They are both really starting to suck on their hands.

What he is wearing: They fit in their bigger boy cloth diapers now.  They aren't supposed to fit until 8-9 lbs, but they seem to be working just fine.  I'm glad because I didn't buy very many really small diapers.  They were getting a little over used.  Now we have plenty to choose from.

Favorite memory of the week:  He was awake for a few hours one day while Ben was sleeping.  We did tummy time on my chest and sang songs.  Of course I had to make up songs because I can never remember the words to real songs while under pressure.  I made up some excellent ballads.  He doesn't know the difference.

Least favorite memory of the week:  He has really been choking on bottles this week.  I don't know why, but it hasn't been fun.  Nothing has changed.  I think he is having trouble breathing because he is a little congested.  That is one of the side effects of his reflux.

What we're looking forward to:  He is currently really working on better head control.  I'm looking forward to him getting the hang of it.  He is trying so hard, it will be nice to see him reach his goal.

Ben

 

Here is Ben wearing on of the hats that our wonderful neighbors Randy and Sandy got for the boys.  Sandy saw that I wanted hats with their names embroidered on them, so she made some for me.  They each have 3 hats with their name.  I didn't even have to break out the sharpie, duct tape, or hi my name is stickers. (reference to previous post :) )

 

Baby sneeze about halfway through.  You can see Alex's hands on the right side.

 

http://youtu.be/K2ui_bdcSLw

 

Baby yawn.  Almost as cute as a bunny yawn.

 

http://youtu.be/zoZpusa7HCY

 

Weight:  (i'll weigh them later and post it here)

New developments:  He has periods where he is a lot more awake for a lot longer.  It is good and bad.  Good because it is nice to have him up and interacting, but bad because I get even less time away from him to do things that need to be done.

What he is wearing:  His name hat!  And it is adorable.

Favorite memory of the week:  This morning he was fussing in his crib, so I put him in bed with us.  He was giving me the cutest faces.  It was really dark though, so maybe the cute faces were all in my head.  My brain was probably trying to make him seem cuter so I wasn't angry he had me awake at 5am for no reason.

Least favorite memory of the week:  He has been falling asleep before he is done eating and then freaking out 20 minutes later from starvation.  Of course that is after I've put everything up so it takes a while to get more food for him.  I tell him he is not really starving, but he doesn't listen.

What we're looking forward to:  He is getting his next Synagis shot next week.  It will probably be the first time I go out by myself with both babies.  I'm really really (not) looking forward to that!

Cody and Courtney

 

Bottle Feeding 2

 

 

The joys of two babies.  Just a little spitup... on both sides.

 

 

 

 

Favorite (non baby) memory of the week:  I made bacon pancakes.  Cody's ring tone is a song about bacon pancakes.  Every time his phone rings I crave them, but I had never had them.  I finally got around to making them on Sunday.  Yes it was delicious, but not worth the extra work.  I'll just top the pancakes with bacon next time.  I'll skip the "inside the pancake" step.

Least favorite memory of the week:  Cody has a big audit for work coming up this week.  He's been really busy.. (and grumpy) preparing for that.

What we're looking forward to:  We're looking forward to getting Shep home.  He has been with my parents for weeks now.  That dog is getting spoiled.  He'll be so disappointed to come home.  Hopefully mom and dad can stay not sick so they can bring him up this weekend.

 

 

 

6 Weeks!!

The boys are now 6 weeks old.  I can't believe they are that old.  The NICU time really doesn't seem to count in my mind.  Their due date is on Wednesday, so I guess that is another milestone.

We had a follow up Pediatrician appointment to check their weight and make sure things are on track.  They both gained weight and are okayed to start the regular baby appointment schedule instead of a more highly monitored schedule.  Interesting side note, their doctor is an identical twin.

Ben is 6 lb 7 oz
Alex is 6 lb 9 oz

They don't fit in any preemie stuff and they are in regular size diapers now.  We are doing cloth diapers most of the time.  I thought Cody would dislike it more, but he told me today how much he doesn't like the disposables.  Other than the added laundry, I'm pretty happy with the cloth diapers as well. 

We have officially hit our out of pocket max for health insurance for the 2012 year.  They haven't even processed the claims for my hospital stay or the NICU stay for the boys.  I'd say we definitely got our money's worth last year.  The neonatalogists charged $300 per day per boy.  I've already got that bill.  That really adds up.

Alex and Ben are getting increasingly mobile in their cribs.  They are able to move closer together when they want.  They also plant their head and kick around in a circle.  It is kind of like how Cody and I crawled, only on a smaller scale.  (I balanced on my head face down and kicked with my legs.  Cody balanced on his head facing up and kicked with his legs.  Neither of us was very good with our arms I guess.)  They like to get really close together and scream in each other's face.  I don't think they intend to scream in the other's face, but it does happen.  They are also able to roll from their back to their side or from one side to their back to the other side.  I think they do this by flinging their head to the side as fast and hard as they can and letting physics take over from there.  I haven't seen it happen, but they end up in positions I didn't put them in.

Teamwork

(Alex left shirtless, Ben right in blue)

Baby Entertainment

Everyone says twins are great because they entertain each other.  Here are some videos of them entertaining each other.  Alex in long sleeves and Ben in short sleeves.

 

http://youtu.be/fu17l0yVBnU

 

 

http://youtu.be/yN1fygyGlOc

 

 

 

 

http://youtu.be/bmrPv-BaCuQ

 

 

 

 

http://youtu.be/cQvW6x4hKuo

 

 

 

 

http://youtu.be/8UCQgKEDzrk

 

 

http://youtu.be/tOXVe5-uKOA

 

 

Pictures of babies sleeping:

 

 

 

When we put them in the pack and play they were not that close together.  They both moved toward the other to get that close.

 

 

First Pediatrician Visit

We had to go see the Pediatrician on Monday.  It was a little soon for Ben, but they wanted Alex seen within 48 hours of discharge.

Everything went well.  She was very nice.  The office is relatively close to our house.  It is right on the edge of town facing us, so we just have to take the highway into town to get there.  Unfortunately, it shares a building and waiting room with an adult physicians clinic.  My healthy babies were in the waiting room with a bunch of sick, hacking adults.  Not as cool... but in a relatively small town I guess I'll just be happy we have a specialist at all.

Ben is 5 lbs 12 oz and 18"

Alex is 5 lbs 15 oz and 18.25"

They compare our babies to 5 week olds, so they are in the 0 percentile for height and weight.  Our babies are technically 5 weeks, but preemies usually get their age adjusted down so you're not comparing them to babies that were full term and are now 5 weeks old.  Our babies would only be like 38 weeks right now if they were still in the womb.  They are in the 11th percentile for head size though!  My boys have gigantic noggins.  I can only imagine what percentile their heads would be if you compared them against other 5-6 lb babies.  Probably off the charts huge.

We're Home!!

They finally let us go! 

 

Alex was discharged on Saturday, Jan 12.  He spent 33 days in the NICU.  We had him for 1 night in the hotel at the hospital before his brother was released.  It was a relatively uneventful night. 

 

Ben was discharged on Sunday, Jan 13.  He spent 34 days in the NICU.

 

Once we got home, we quickly learned that taking care of the boys was going to be a real pain in the butt.  Our friends stopped by to bring dinner (which was delicious by the way), and I had no way to eat it.  I had two sleeping babies on me.  It brings a whole new meaning to the term baby blanket.  (Blanket made of babies... HaHaHa...)

 

Here I am trying to eat with a plate balanced on my shoulder.

 

 

Here is a video of them moving around:

 

Any talking you hear in the background is the show, The West Wing.  I'm only introducing my boys to smart tv.  :)

 

Ben is on the left in short sleeves.  Alex is on the left in long sleeves.

 

http://youtu.be/v81Ouh_p3iY

 

 

 

Here is a video of them much calmer:

 

 

http://youtu.be/EfsxCv8Ledc

 

 

Here are some pictures:

 

This is the crib they had at the hotel for Alex.  It was huge and metal.  It really looked like baby jail.

 

 

 

Alex in his car seat.  He seems so little in the car seat, but when I hold him he seems huge.

 

 

Cody with Alex.  He wasn't really sleeping.  You're not allowed to do that with a baby!  They were just snuggling pre-putting Alex in baby jail.

 

A couple from their first night at home.  This one they are awake and interacting a little.  By the way, I have no good answer for why my printer is in the middle of the room on the floor.

 

 

And they fell asleep.

 

I'll post some that are not quite so red when I have some time.  I've been too busy feeding them to get a lot of good pictures.

 

We are doing well and getting adjusted to life with babies.  They are still alive, so I'd call that a win.

 

 

 

 

 

One Month Old!!

Our babies are one month old!  I took quite a few pictures like this.  I'm just uploading a few so people can pick their favorite.  Ben is on the left in the doggie onesie.  Alex is on the right in the green striped onesie. I was trying to get one with both of their eyes open, but Ben was a little too sleepy. 

 

Tales from the Hospital: Cleaning Lady

I don't know if I've posted this story yet, but I think of it now and then and it makes me laugh. 

There is a housekeeping staff that comes in to room in the NICU twice per day to empty the trash and take out the used linen.  Some of the ladies have been chatty and some just pop in and out quickly. 

We were sitting in there with the babies a few days ago when one of the chattier ladies came in to clean.  We had never seen her before.  I don't remember how exactly it came up, but we started talking about how I had an emergency delivery that was a little more risky and horrible.  She said, "Oh I know, I cleaned up your operating room afterwards." 

How horrible does your operating room have to be for a random cleaning lady to remember you a month later?  There are a lot of babies born in this hospital.  She must've cleaned quite a few operating rooms between then and now.   It must have been like a horror movie.  How did she know it was my operating room?  Does she remember all of the operating rooms and the people that came out of them?

Moral of this story: Yes, the people that deal with this stuff every day do in fact remember specific people and their horrible operating rooms.  You do not get any anonymity because they deal with it every day. 

I think this supports the theory that you should always wear clean underwear because you never know what ER staff will see you in dirty undies.  Apparently they will remember you.

How I Know I'm Becoming a Mommy

Today after nursing the boys I noticed a big wet spot on my t-shirt. 

Me:  Hey Cody, is this pee?
Cody: How would I know?
Me: (smelling shirt) I think this is pee.  Do you think he peed on me?
Cody: I don't know
Me:  (smelling shirt more vigorously) Here, smell this.  I think it is pee.
Cody:  No.

We never did figure out if it was pee.  Cody changed his diaper and we moved on.  But, I didn't get grossed out.  I didn't gag.  I didn't yell at the baby for peeing on me.  I stood there in the NICU smelling my shirt for probably 2 minutes trying to decide if it was pee.  Thinking about it now, there is really nothing that it could be except pee. 

Moral of the story: I spent an awfully long time today with my face against a pee cloth.

Pictures and Updates

We are still trapped here with no end date in sight.  Everyone keeps coming in and telling us we will leave  "soon".  They've been using this word, "soon," for about a week and a half.  I've started just telling them that I don't think they know what soon means.  One of the nurses switched to eventually.  It seems like eventually is a much more accurate word for our home date.  Although, I've begun to feel like eventually is a lie as well. I'm pretty sure the boys will be here forever.  

We are really... really.... really ready to go home.  Monday will be 4 weeks.  We've been here for a whole freaking month.  I'm getting significantly worse at hiding my frustration and rage.

Anyway, here are some pictures and stories of our last week or so.

We celebrated New Years Eve here at the hospital.  The boys were going crazy, so we didn't get up to the room until right before midnight.  We didn't think to chill the champagne before we went down for the day, so we had midnight champagne out of plastic hospital cups with crushed ice.  Cheers!

Cody's work sent us a beautiful arrangement of flowers.  This is not a very good photo because we have insanely bad lighting in our room.  The blue flowers are actually purple.  It is great to have around.  Unfortunately, we can't keep it in the NICU, so we don't see it very often.  It makes our room smell great though!

Alex sleeping.  This is one of the first photos after his feeding tube was removed.

Another one of Alex sleeping.  Cody was holding him while he played a game on his computer.  Alex was pretty out of it.

Ben sleeping.  We thought this was a hilarious way for him to sleep.  He definitely knows how to strike a pose.

Ben awake.  He is probably being burped.  That would explain the position and the weird face.

Ben sleeping on my lap.

Ben on the left and Alex on the right.  I took a series of these photos trying to get a good one of them making a similar face, but it totally did not work.  This was one of the more relaxed faces for Alex.  As I took more pictures, he got more and more wound up.  Eventually he was making a crazy cry face while Ben just slept away.  

This picture is misleading.  It almost looks like Alex is happy.  Really, he is just taking in a breath of air before he starts crying/screaming loudly.  Alex is a good baby.  He is usually the quieter one.  This particular photo shoot just happened to be at a bad time for him.

We are doing okay.  We are just really ready to leave.  I'm tired of everyone telling me I need to go rest because I won't rest when we get home.  I'd kill to be getting no rest but have my babies at home.  I don't want to rest.  I want to sit with my babies in my underwear on my couch.  I promise I will not post a picture of that when I finally get my wish.

A Glimpse Into Our New Lives

The babies have really started to get good at crying.  Since they are each crying more often, we are seeing a greater frequency of them crying at the same time.  This video shows how crazy things are going to be at the Ruby household.

http://youtu.be/Fn-uyWyc-eY