Healthy Baby Update 10/27/08 October 27, 2008

Not much to say today, but here are some updates:

Kate had her 3rd pediatrician’s appointment this morning.  She weighs 5 lbs. 11 oz.  That is a 9 oz. weight gain since last Monday.  She just keeps growing and growing.

Hannah loves her new big girl bed.  She weighs 4 lbs. 1 oz.  We’re not sure when she is going to come home yet, but hopefully within the next couple of weeks.  She loves her oxygen.  They keep trying to wean her off, but within a couple of minutes she begins to desat (oxygen levels drop).  I was talking to one of the nurses today about what would happen if we took her home on oxygen.  She said it would probably take her a couple of months to get off of it, whereas it could happen within a matter of days in the NICU.  So while we really want her home, it would also be nice to have her home without oxygen.  So…if we could all pray that God would strengthen Hannah’s lungs so she could hold her oxygen levels, that would be wonderful.  We have seen God answer our prayers before, so I’m expecting Him to show His greatness again.

I am feeling a bit under the weather, which is an obvious concern.  I think I am just getting a cold and it has probably easily set in because I am constantly running around and not getting much rest.  I don’t want to get either girls sick, but it also means me having to not see Hannah.  They are 8 weeeks old today and I have seen her at least once a day since they have been born.  It will break my heart to not be able to see her.  So…please pray for God to take any sickness out of my body and restore complete health. 

I added a couple of pictures.  From time to time, I would comment on how I felt like a dairy farm.  We bought a deep freezer to keep all of the milk in.  We could hardly buy freezer food because the milk had taken over.  Plus, breast milk lasts for 6 months when it’s stored in a deep freezer.  Here are some pictures of all of the milk that we are storing in there.  Keep in mind, this doesn’t include all of the milk I produced that the girls have already ingested.  This milk is above and beyond what they require.  Have a good laugh!

Hannah is a Big Girl Now October 26, 2008

I had one of my really proud mommy moments again today.  Hannah is 4 lbs. now and has graduated out of her “condo” into a crib.  HOW EXCITING.  The nurse told me that and my face lit up and I felt the pride only a mother can feel for her daughter.  I remember feeling that same excitement when Kate came out of her isolette.  It’s amazing the pride you feel over your childrens’ achievements.  This last week I have had some precious time with her.  She has started to breastfeed a little bit better and she gulps down her bottles.  After she eats, she stays awake for about an hour.  She has her eyes open for most of that time and it is just sweet to be able to talk to her and look into her eyes.  She stays so calm and content.  Her last brady was on Thursday and she is still loving her oxygen.  In the pictures of her below, she has a little pumpkin hat on that one of the NICU nurse’s mom made for the babies.

Kate is doing well.  She goes for her next doctor’s appointment on Monday, but I am estimating her weight at about 5.5 lbs.  She is a good little baby.  She eats, sleeps, and poops.

We are doing well.  George has worked a lot this week and I am constantly on the go.  It will be nice to have Hannah home soon so we don’t have to make those couple of trips to the hospital a day.  Enjoy the pictures below!

Proof that Daddy Changes Diapers

Growing Girls October 20, 2008

Yesterday in our Bible Fellowship class we talked about David & Goliath (I Samuel 17) and I just wanted to share some sweet truths I gleaned from our lesson yesterday:

1) David understood the heart of the battle.  So many times we get wrapped up in the hysteria of a “battle” (however big or small) and we miss why the battle is so important.  For instance, right now we have an amendment in Florida that is being voted on as to how marriage should be defined (one man, one woman).  There is a lot of other talk about people losing domestic partner benefits and its many ofter effects.  The very core problem that, as Christians, we should be fighting for is that God defines marriage as one man and one woman for a lifetime.  While the effects on family values are important, the true importance is what God’s Word says.  The Israelites were all riled up over Goliath and the Philistines and their insults, but they missed what Goliath was really saying.  Goliath repeatedly claimed that the Israelites God wasn’t big enough and no one could defeat him.  David heard loud and clear that someone was defying the living God and he refused to stand for it.  He knew that God was big enough to defeat Goliath and He used a humble, but faithful shepherd to do just that.  How cool!

2) David ran out to fight Goliath.  He didn’t just walk, he ran.  So often we know what God wants us to do, but we stroll to be obedient.  So often when I stroll, I rationalize my way out of what God wants me to do.   Could God really want ME to do that…I don’t think I have enough faith…and the list goes on.   So the next time the Holy Spirit leads us to do something, RUN!

3) David tried on Saul’s armor, but it was too big and awkward.  So he took it off and went with what he had.  We cannot rely on other people’s faith to get us to victory.  God gave David the sling and rocks that he needed.  The armor wasn’t necessary, just his faith.  So if you think that because your parents are Christians or because you were raised in a Christian home, you have somehow earned your way into heaven…think again.  It requires a personal commitment to Christ. 

It always amazes me the stuff that God will teach me when I fellowship with other believers.  We need that fellowship.  That’s why church is necessary.

Health updates on my little sweet peas:

Hannah-Hannah is growing and up to 3 lbs. 9 oz.  She is able to breastfeed now and she is having some trouble latching on, but we are working with her and it will just take some practice.  She is taking a bottle at every meal now and doesn’t have her feeding tube anymore!  However, she’s still addicted to her oxygen.  Once she gets to 4 lbs. they should take her out of her isolette, but until then, she’s resting comfortably in her own little condo.  She also has not had any apneas or bradys since 10/17, which is awesome because she is off of her caffeine!  Her little friend, Ethan, went home, so she now has the most seniority in the NICU.  It seems like she’s never going to come home.  I know she will, but it just seems like we will forever be driving up to the hospital.  I also feel so bad for her because she misses out on our family time at home.

Kate-She had a doctor’s appointment this morning and is doing wonderful!  She is 5 lbs. 2 oz.  WOW..

Our First Almost Family Walk

She loves to wrap her legs around us!

Hannah

Hannah

Hannah

.I almost have a normal sized baby.  She has been permenantly placed in her crib in her nursery because she was keeping Mom up at night with her moments of fussiness and her little noises.  It has made sleeping easier for everyone.  People ask me if I find it really hard to put her down or leave her now that she’s home, but I think our stay in the NICU has allowed me to entrust my children to other people’s care.  We lived without them for 5 weeks so we are used to being without them.  It doesn’t mean that we don’t love holding them though!

New Pictures October 17, 2008

Don’t have much to say today, but I know that you all “thrive” off of any new pictures so I’m trying to be good about taking more pictures. 

Great Uncle Marc & Aunt Marsha Lantz-Meeting Kate for the first time!

Isn’t this precious?

Swinging Away

Sweet Dreams

Our Little Cuddlebug

Click on the picture to see it more clearly

Hannah is doing great!  She weighs 3 lbs. 6 oz.  I fed her a bottle last night and she took the whole thing.  Her little friend, Ethan, got to go home today so Hannah now has the most seniority in the NICU.  Hopefully, that will change soon and she’ll be headed out the door.  I’m so ready for her to come home, but I’m also very scared at how I’m going to handle feeding two babies in the middle of the night.  George has been really good about feeding Kate her last nightime bottle, usually around 11 or 12, and then I do the early morning feeding.  It usually takes me an hour because I have to feed Kate and then pump (can’t wait for that to be over) so I’m pretty tired by the time we’re all said and done.  I’m just not looking forward to being up for two babies.  We’ll see though.  Maybe I can convince Dad to get up, too, or maybe it’s just wishful thinking!  I’ll get some more pictures of Hannah and post them!  Have a great weekend!

Freedom & Humility October 15, 2008

Hannah was transferred to St. Joseph’s Hospital yesterday because she was having a routine eye exam done and there are no doctors at Brandon Regional Hospital that do this.  Yes, she is just fine and on her way back over to Brandon this afternoon.  That is the preface to my little story.  I was driving over to St. Joe’s, which requires a 30 minute downtown highway drive.  Along the way, I decided to change lanes and apparently I didn’t look hard enough and must have cut off another car.  So I am upfront admitting I probably was in the wrong.  The lady in the car decides to get up next to me and honk her horn attempting to get my attention.  I’m still driving along.  Well, it comes time to take an exit and she cuts right in front of me, leaving about 10 feet in between the cars (mind you, we are going about 70 mph) and slams on her brakes.  I hit my brakes and continue driving, fighting the temptation to continue driving extremely close to her, but knowing logically there is no point in doing that.  She then proceeds to stick her hand out of the window and flip me the bird for a good 5-10 seconds.  I continue driving just as peacefully as can be.  So there is a point to my story; bear with me.  I know that the Bible says to pray for your enemies and I knew that rather than be angry with her, I should be praying for her, but what lame prayer could I pray other than “Lord, please save this woman.”  His response: Pray that she will be released from the anger she has and have the same freedom you have.  You see, I could have played along in her little revenge game, rather than admit that I was wrong in the firstplace.  Her response to cut me off and slam on her brakes was completely irrational.  She was doing to me what angered her in the first place, placing her own life at risk, placing her car at risk, and placing the countless people behind me at risk.  I thanked the Lord that I had the humility to realize that I am a sinner and I make mistakes and the freedom to not be controlled by anger or revenge.  Her anger led her to do irrational and dangerous things, out of a need for revenge.  Had I not thought that waving or offering some simple gesture of apology would have been taken as something other than a peace offering, I would have.  I hope that makes sense, but I have so come to appreciate the lessons that God speaks to my heart outside of my quiet times with him. 

As far as the girls, Hannah and Kate are doing very well!  I walked into St. Joe’s yesterday expecting to see this little 1.5 pound baby and she wasn’t the smallest one in the room anymore!  She’s still just over 3 pounds, but she is getting chubby cheeks and meat on her arms and legs.  I look at her and see a smaller Kate.  It is starting to set in that I have identical twins, which is a little scary.  I can tell them apart now because Hannah is smaller, but when she catches up, we are in trouble.  I can’t wait to bring her home and shower her with the same love we are spoiling Kate with.  Keep praying that Hannah will decide to give up her oxygen and continue to do well with bottles.  Love you guys!

I’m Back October 12, 2008

Daddy’s Girl

Grandpa & Kate

Kate

Kate on Nannie Ellie’s Blanket

Kate’s First Bath at Home

Kate’s First Bath at Home

Kate’s First Bath at Home

Also Daddy’s Girl

Hannah-notice the big girl clothes

Hannah

Hannah taking her “first” bottle

Hannah-Snug as a Bug

So I’ve been hearing subtle hints that I am not blogging enough…I hear you loud and clear.  I have had the best of intentions about blogging this past week and it hasn’t gotten done.  I’m trying to get into a better routine.  I haven’t even had decent, quality quiet times so I haven’t been able to justify taking the time out to spend blogging.  I’ve had much more “down time” today though so here I am.

We are loving Kate being home.  It’s so precious to me to go wake her up for that 3 am feeding.  She hates it.  The only time that I really have trouble waking her up is in the middle of the night, which is making me hopeful that she will be easy to train to sleep through the night.  We have quite a while for that though.  She had her first pediatrician’s appointment on Friday morning.  We went really early in the morning so there wouldn’t be other people there, but the few that were there had to stop and stare.  Who can blame them?  She’s one of the two most beautiful girls in the world (not that I am biased or anything).  She is still maintaining her 4.5 lbs.  Hopefully, she will gain some weight at her next appointment.  She has weekly appointments so they can monitor her weight gain.  That is my biggest “fear” right now.  She doesn’t breastfeed for as long as I would like her to, so it worries me that she isn’t getting enough.  The NICU nurses tell me that she will wake up and cry if she’s still hungry, but she generally goes 3.5-4 hours between feedings and she has plenty of wet diapers. 

Hannah is doing great!  She is weighing in at 3 lbs. 3 oz.  She has taken her first full bottle.  She did it last night while both of us were at the hospital with her.  I got so excited because she drank the whole thing and George told me she did that a couple of days ago.  I couldn’t believe that he hadn’t told me.  HELLO?!?! That’s a big deal.  It just shows how “with it” us moms are and how daddies tend to just go with the flow.  I forgave him!  She is still on her oxygen and having Bradys so those are our specific prayer requests for her.  And in case any of you were wondering about her pooping situation…don’t worry, it is all cleared up!  Whoo…if you could smell the poops she comes up with.  God sent a double blessing on that prayer request.  They are weaning her off of controlling her temperature in the isolette so that is why you see her in big girl clothes in the picture.  She probably will not graduate into a crib until she is 4 lbs. though.

George and I are hanging in there.  We are sleeping much better.  The first couple of nights George would suddenly jolt out of bed, flip on all of the lights, and check on Kate.  He gets worried when he doesn’t hear her.  He has since calmed down and is not so concerned, which is nice because I do enjoy my sleep.  We just love having her home.  It is difficult for me to feel like a good mom towards Hannah since I’m unable to see her as much.  When I do go see her I am usually tired.  I spent much more time with Kate at the hospital and I’m feeling guilty for not having equal time with Hannah. 

Here are some pictures of the girls.  I’ll try and post more than once a week (but I can’t promise anything)!

Welcome Home, Kate! October 7, 2008

So…..we got to bring Kate home today!  YEAH!!!  George and I roomed in with her last night at the NICU and everything went great!  She kept us up all night with her grunting (which supposedly is very normal for preemies-welcome to the next couple of months of no sleep) and cooing, but other than that, we all survived the night.  It has been very precious to have her home with us.  Of course, she hasn’t seen much “down time.”  She always seems to find someone’s arms to be in, mostly her daddy’s arms.  Bella was really excited and freaking out at first, but she has since calmed down and is laying next to whoever is holding her.  I think she is going to become very protective of her.  Kate weighs 4 lbs. 7 oz.

Hannah is also doing great!  She is barely on her oxygen, but seems to have a slight addiction to the little she is on.  The respiratory therapist keeps joking that he is going to make sure she stays addicted to it so she won’t ever go home and they can keep her.  She is growing so much.  She is up to 2 lbs. 15.9 oz.  our goal for the week is 3 lbs. and she is so close to it!  Way to go, Hannah.  She is still struggling a little bit with bottle feeding, but hopefully she will begin to catch on.  Dr. Ghabour said it will probably be at least 2 weeks before she is able to come home. 

Here are some pictures of Kate’s homecoming and some of her visitors!  I know that many of you are looking very forward to meeting the girls, but since they are still supposed to be in the womb, they are very susceptible to illness.  Babies do not get most of their immunities until the last couple of weeks of pregnancy so they are without much of the protection normal babies would have.  Therefore, as much as we would love to, we will not be sharing Kate (or Hannah when she comes home) with many people at this point.  Thank you all for continuing to pray for us and I will make sure I keep sharing them with you through the blog.  Enjoy the pictures!

Hannah Meet Kate, Kate Meet Hannah October 6, 2008

So I have some absolutely adorable pictures to share with you!  We got to put them right next to each other.  Hannah sort of looked over at Kate and had this bewildered look on her face.  They’ve been away from each other for so long, I’m not sure that they remember having a wombmate. 

Hannah-She is holding strong at 2 lbs. 12 oz.  They gave her some blood yesterday to help her with reducing the Brady’s she is having and just give her a little boost.  Since they draw blood every couple of days, it tends to deplete her because they have such a small amount to begin with and they don’t replenish it that quickly. 

Kate-She is still on the path to coming home.  She just has to make it through today without any Brady’s.  She passed her carseat challenege.  They put her in the carseat for 30 minutes to see if she has any Brady’s and she didn’t!  George and I will be rooming in at the hospital this evening.  Since we didn’t have the luxury of caring for our babies in the hospital with the nurses watching over us, they allow us to come back in for a night.  I’m thrilled beyond words!  I woke up this morning with such excitement.

I had my quiet time the other day and the Lord revealed something to me about our situation.  The title of the devotional was “It Could be Worse”.  Basically the whole premise was that no matter what your circumstances, it could be worse.  George and I are constantly on the go and are exhausted 95% of the time.  However, I could be tired for much different reasons.  We could be tired and exhausted from grieving over burying a child or children (which was a huge fear of mine).  We could be tired from worrying about sick children.  I am so grateful that God has made me tired because I have a desire to be at the hospital because my babies are healthy enough to be held and breastfed.  What a blessing!  Not that having worn out feelings are not valid, but I need to keep them in perspective and realize it’s not the end of the world and this too shall pass.  Sometimes we get so caught up in the bad side of our situation that we miss seeing the blessings that God has given us in the midst of a trial.

Pleasant Surprise October 3, 2008

So, all of the people (and it’s only our immediate family) allowed to visit Hannah and Kate always say, “Oh, I can’t wait to hold them.”  My parents have held both of them for very short instances while their bedding was being changed or the nurse snuck them into their arms.  However, both of my parents and Krista have now gotten to actually hold Kate and enjoy her.  Here are some pictures of that:

Grandma Schaefer & Kate

Nanny Krista & Kate

Nanny Krista & Kate

Nanny Krista & Kate

Grandma Schaefer & Kate

Hannah is up to 2 lbs. 12.5 oz. and Kate is hanging out around 4 lbs.  She is breastfeeding about 3 times a day and no Brady’s since Monday (keep praying).  Hannah, on the other hand, had two Brady’s while I was feeding her the other day.  Way to scare Mom, Hannah.  The nurse told me that I reacted correctly though to stimulate her out of it.  I think it was her way of telling me that she didn’t want to work for her food.  She likes to suck on the bottle, but not swallow.  Other than that, I’m just running around like a crazy woman trying to prepare for Kate’s homecoming. 

I loved the comment by Amy Wilson, a NICU nurse that we know from church.  She wrote that our girls needed to teach a seminar to the rest of the NICU babies on how to scoot on out of there.  The nurses and doctors have commented on how great our girls are doing.  We all know that is due to the countless number of people praying for them.  Thank you will never be enough, but I’ll say it anyways.  THANK YOU!

Exciting Steps October 1, 2008

Well, things had gotten a little dull there for a week or two as they were just growing, but there is all kinds of fun stuff to tell.  Here it is:

Hannah-She is currently weighing in at 2 lbs. 9 oz.  She is still on oxygen, but it’s very low.  She is also still having Bradys.  She had one while I was holding her yesterday.  Of course, she smiles right afterwards like she’s just seeing if anyone was paying attention to her!  The big news is that she is now taking a bottle twice a day!  She took 10 ml out of 24 so that is good for just learning how to bottle feed!  Hopefully, she’ll start packing on the ounces.

Kate-Kate is ready to go home except she had a Brady on Monday.  She went a whole week without having one, but they can’t have any for at least 7 days before they come home.  She has gone to on demand feeding, which means that when she wakes herself up (no more than 5 hours though) to eat she gets fed.  I can also breastfeed her as often as I am there!  Her feeding tube is out and she looks like a “normal” baby without any tubes on her face.  Dr. Landfish said that we can bring her home next Tuesday as long as she has no more Bradys!  Pray hard because we would love to have her home with us!

Mom & Dad-We are doing well.  I’m racking my brain with all that needs to be done if she comes home next week!  Dad has been busy working a lot.  He sometimes goes in at 7:30 one morning and doesn’t come until 4:00 p.m. the next day.  I think that he is struggling a little bit with guilt over working and being so tired.  Pray for him that the Lord will encourage him and I can support him as his wife.

Enjoy more pictures!

Kate

Kate

Kate

Kate

Kate

Dad Bottle Feeding Hannah

Dad Bottle Feeding Hannah

Dad Burping Hannah

Grandpa & Hannah

Hannah

Hannah