Ella's First Bottle

On the twin's 5 week birthday, both girls got their first shot at taking a bottle. This is a pretty big moment, b/c taking their feeds from a bottle is the final hurdle before these girls come home (assuming that they keep moving forward on all other fronts, breathing, growing etc). The nurses warned us that some babies take to it very quickly and others can struggle w/ it and take their time. At Noon on Monday, March 9, Ella attempted her first bottle, seen here, looks tasty, doesn't it?
Here is Ella trying to figure out what all the fuss is about w/ her developmental therapist. They allow 20 min for the feeding, and whatever is left, they feed through the gavage (feeding) tube. When it was all said and done, Ella took 13 mls on her first shot at the suck, swallow, breath routine. Afterwords, our nurse said they would have been happy w/ 10 mls... Ella you rock!We learned this AM that during one of her feedings during the night that Ella took here whole bottle from the nipple... She definitely gets her love for food from her Dad.

-tinny out

Big Week Ahead!!

The girls continue to make steps forward. They have been off oxygen for a couple days now and each day have fewer drops in their heart rates/oxygen sats. Ava and Ella continue to grow at rapid pace (Ava-4lbs 8oz, Ella-4lbs 1oz), and have a big week ahead. On Monday they will be 34 weeks, which is the time they learn how to suck and swallow. We will be trying their first bottles on Monday!! This will lead us into the "feeder/grower" stage and if everything goes well we could be coming home soon!! The girls will start out with one bottle every 12 hours and increase as they tolerate them. Once the girls are able to take all of their bottles without droping their heart rates/oxygen sat for 48 hours they are able to come home. According to the nurses, this can take 2-4 weeks. We are praying that the girls will be able to suck, swallow and breathe all at the same time.

-Rachel

Just how big are they?

It has really set in recently just how much the girls have grown over the last month. In some ways they are still really small (both under 5lbs, but in other ways they look like normal babies. I set out to use a common object for reference in a highly scientific manner to show everyone out there in the blogosphere how big the Twinsler's are, and how far they have come. So, I've chosen an object that popped into my head the first time that I saw my babies in the NICU, a Chipotle Burrito. I thought wow, my babies are the size of a Chipotle burrito!

Here is an approximation of what how Ava compaired to a burrito during her first week of life.
Now in the second picture, we see Ella eying up her first real meal dirung thier 5th week of life.Rachel and I are both really luck to have such great twins and access to such great burritos.

Chipotle, you out there? How about a little corporate sponsorship for this blog, just think, it could be "the Twinsler's presented by Chipolte."

Seriously, looking over the pitures from a month ago really brings it all into perspective as to how far they come... God is good.

-tinny out

Steady

Today was an OK day. Ava continues to be a champ on room air w/ no breathing assistance, and Ella had a much better day than yesterday but decided to implode for 45 minutes in the late afternoon. She seems steady now, though.

We have great friends and family, and we are truly humbled by all the love and support that we are feeling from you all. Thanks

-tinny out

What A Day!!

Nick went in early this morning to find out that the girls had a good night. Which is always good news. He was there for the 9am feeding and had a hard time leaving because Ella kept dropping her oxygen sats. I show up around 10am and spent about 1 hour watching my beautiful Ella's oxygen sats continuously drop into the high 30's low 40's and her poor little face turn very pale with a tint of blue. Talk about stressful!! Today she was very unpredictable, one minute she sats in the 90's and the next minute she drops into the 50's. She knows what she is doing... just look at that evil grin...
Needless to say she is still requiring oxygen. By the end of the day thankfully she was doing much better. This behavior is a little unusual for her, so we are praying it doesn't continue.

On a happier note, our other beautiful daughter, Ava was taken off oxygen today and tolerating it so far. She spent some good time in mommy and daddy's arms. Here is picture of Ava receiving a boogerectomy. This is a pretty regular occurrence where they use a high powered suction device to clean out the nasal passages and mouth... It's pretty much like hooking a Dyson up to your nose, and it usually works.

-Rachel (w/ Nick's help for the boogerectomy)

Happy 1 Month Birthday!

We have some really great nurses in the NICU!! Last night our night nurse made this one month birthday card for the girls. Rachel and I were very impressed, first because she would take the time to make this beautiful card and second because of how nice a card it was for using supplies from around the office. The confetti are cut up post-it notes - brilliant!

Today, as the card implies, is the girls' one month birthday. In some aspects, this has been a realy long month, and in some ways, it has flown by. The girls are still dancing around w/ their oxygen, but they are continuing to grow and improve. Personally, I think they are becoming a lot more baby, and a lot less science experiement - Thank God for that!

-tiiny out

Weekend Update

Things have been going pretty well as of late for the girls. They have both been up and down in terms of breathing. They are slowly being weened off oxygen and "flow", but the nurses are quick to remind us that the girls are the boss, and they let us know what they want to do (I really hope that doesn't come home w/ them) They continue to tolerate their feeds that keep being increased, and all their systems seem to be working well, because they are growing. I am not sure of their exact weights, but earlier this weekend, they were both 1lb over their birth weights, and Ava could go over 4lbs tonight. Late this past week was the first time that Rachel and I both really noticed that they are getting substantially bigger. They both have cheeks, chins, growing bellies and the start of fat rolls on their arms and legs (as much fat roll as a less-than-4lb baby can have).

The other night, I asked the girls "How much are foot-longs going for these days at Subway?" They both rolled their eyes as I snapped these pictures...
Finally, Mom and Dad are doing well too...

-tinny out