June 8,2010:
34 weeks, 4 days.
There has been progress! Ryan 4#11oz and Nathan 4#1oz.
Ryan has transitioned from an isolette to a crib. He has been able to maintain his core temperature, but is bundled for a snowstorm!! His oxygen is now off and he has been holding his own! He also has been taking in bottlefeeds almost every set of cares. This is great as it means he will soon be able to come home. Physical therapy is working with him to bring his shoulders in and strengthen them due to the long period of lying on his belly--causing his shoulders to rotate outwards. This will be something both boys will have to work on, but will eventually catch up on...

Nathan remains in his isolette. He is almost ready to transition to a crib. He's always a few days behind Ryan (we are told this is very common for baby #2 in twins). Ryan has battled RDS (Respiratory Distress Syndrome) which looks like chronic lung changes. His oxygen remains on and they are aggressively trying to wean him off. His needs vary based on activity and rest periods. Like Ryan, he is bottlefeeding as well (only with mom) and gavage fed the remaining times. It takes a lot of energy out of him to feed and has increased needs to rest more, and is not pushed as hard with feedings.

Both boys have been quite anemic this past week (again expected). Their labs have remained stable and slowly improved with an increase in iron supplementation. No transfusions, thank goodness. This in itself has caused them to be more pooped with activity, but are slowly getting over the hump.

I continue to make the 30-45 minute daily trips in to the hospital to work with both of them on bottle/breastfeeding, changing diapers, temps, and holding. It's amazing to me how they can be sleeping and almost sense that I am there. I believe that they are able to perceive light/dark changes with a body blocking their crib or isolette. They make these "half smiles" and flutter their eyelids; it's so cute. Sometimes I will sneak my hands in there and place one on their head and have their hand hold on to one of my fingers. It is an amazing feeling to be connected to your babies. On Sunday, I walked in to their room and saw Ryan in a crib. Something as small as a crib (which most term babies have and ours did not) was such a pleasant surprise to me. I felt overjoyed with the progress and notion that Ryan currently looks like a "normal baby" if you can define what that is. The mobile that hangs overhead and his jungle noises with him looking at the animals overhead and calming to the sounds, reassures alot of my insecurities. Seeing your premature infants-even if it's 1/2 currently, progress after such a stressful and unknown 5-6 weeks in the ICU seems like such a major milestone. It is a beautiful thing to see this process daily in front of your eyes. I have a very good friend who told me in the beginning, "they're tougher than they look," and she is 100% correct. Now, we will pray and wait for Nathan to make this transition as well.

The thoughts of one of our babies coming home with us is exciting and scary at the same time. What do we do? We don't have any monitors here or nurses to call with the touch of a button. What if Ryan's not feeding well or his color is bad, what if he is breathing fast? All of these what if's I'm sure millions of parents before us have gone through in being new parents, except most haven't been through what we have. We'll get through it. Hopefully without a million doctor and hospital trips in the meantime!!!

We will keep you posted on our boys. Kris and I cannot stress enough how blessed we are to have such wonderful friends and family. All of the phonecalls, gifts, cards, emails, etc have been so touching and encouraging for us through these difficult times. (Probably me more than Kris-he's the tough one). Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts!! It's not over yet---the fun is just beginning.....