Milestones!

We just got back from another trip to the doctor for weight and oxygen checks. We have officially hit the 5lb mark. Hallie is 5lbs 0.5oz. Remie is 5lbs 4.5oz. They both gained 6 ounces this week. It is really sad when you are so excited when they gain ounces! They also checked oxygen levels today. They are at the same levels that they were last week. So we get to leave the oxygen off. I guess we can continue using the oxygen bottles for coat racks! The doctor doesn't want us to get rid of them quite yet. We are also eating 2 ounces now. I was just thinking the other day that when they started eating, they were only eating a teaspoon of milk, fed to them through a syringe...now we are up to 2 full ounces.

Sleeping at night still sucks! They do really well until we wake them up to feed them. Then, generally, Hallie does not want to settle down to go back to sleep or they end up with the hic-ups. I have ended up with Hallie back in our room the last 3 nights, just so I don't have to keep getting up to put the binky in her mouth. Hopefully nights will start getting better with them eating more. If anyone has any great ideas for baby hic-ups...send them our way!!

I will also try to get some more pictures taken. I haven't been very good at that lately...maybe I will blame it on the lack of sleep.

Baby Update

The twins have been home for a week now. They will be 3 weeks old this coming Saturday (7/25). Ryan and I took them to the doctor again this morning for weight and oxygen checks. They both have gained 7 ozs. Remie is 4lbs 14 ounces and Hallie is 4lbs 10 ounces. YEAH! We have also been feeding them (or should I say...trying to feed them) every 3 hours. The doctor said we could eliminate one of the nighttime feedings. That was so wonderful to hear. It is getting harder to get up at night. Ryan and I both slept through one of the feedings last night. We also get to go off of the oxygen. We are keeping it around just in case we need it. It is so wonderful to be able to move around the house with them and not have to worry about oxygen tubing. Hopefully we can keep gaining weight and eating good.

Swimming Lessons

With all of the craziness of the last week and bringing the twins home... I didn't want to forget about the big girls. We finished up swimming lessons with Gin Manning last week. Rylie and Sydnie had a great time. They love being in the water. This was Sydnie's 2nd year and Rylie's 3rd.

Sydnie

Sydnie going off the diving board

Rylie

Rylie getting ready to go off the diving board

They Are Home!

They are home! We brought the twins home on Tuesday (7/14/09). It has been a little crazy since then so I haven't been able to get our blog updated. Ryan went to the hospital on Monday morning to feed them and got the news that they were able to come home. Needless to say, we were a little shocked, excited, and a lot nervous!! We had a few last minute things we needed to do to get ready. Ryan set up the bouncy chairs and swings Monday night. Later that night after the big girls had gone to bed, I went down stairs and this is what I found....

Sydnie was already giving the swing and bouncy chairs a trial run with her babies. It was too cute to not take a picture.

This is pictures of the twins that we tried to take in the hospital...the official hospital pictures. Obviously they were not cooperating very well.

Rylie and Sydnie were very exited to hear that the babies were coming home. This is them feeding them. We still have to stay with the "every 3 hour feedings." It is wonderful...especially at night...NOT!

Rylie feeding Hallie
Sydnie Feeding Remie

In their bed - sound asleep

Hallie with her eyes open

We have had them home for 4 days now. We are trying to get into a routine. They did have to come home with oxygen. So we have 50ft of oxygen cords for each baby running around the house. Nights have been the hardest. They seem to like to be awake from 3-5 in the morning and just when you fall back to sleep it is time to start it all over again at 6. Ryan has done his share of nightly feedings...it has been very nice. Hopefully our bodies will either adjust to no sleep or the babies will eventually be able to sleep for longer stretches of time.

It has also been fun to see their personalities. We have discovered that Hallie does not like to have a messy diaper. That has been half the problem at night. We will just put her to bed and she will mess her pants...which makes her very mad. It is great having them home and knowing they are getting stronger every day.

Together Again at 1 Week Old

They are 1 Week Old today. I can't even believe it. They have done so well...it is almost to good to be true. When Ryan went in this morning this is what he found. They are officially sleeping in the same bed. Can you tell them apart?

It's a good thing they have the bed labeled. For me the anxiety of not being able to tell them apart hit when I went in today. Before they were on seperate sides of the room...it was easy. Now what happens when we get them mixed up?
Yesterday they took the IV's out so today we were able to bring Rylie and Sydnie back to see them again. This is only the 2nd time the big girls have seen them. It is driving them crazy that they can't hold them. Rylie said this morning that she just wanted to hold their hands...that was it. I told her she will be able to hold them all she wants when they get home. Sydnie didn't want to see the babies this morning...so Ryan got a picture of her being a turd! It is so nap time.

Hallie

Remie

Hallie after eating her lunch.

Remie after eating her lunch.

They have increased their feedings to 35ml...just a little over an ounce, every 3 hours. I have also discovered that Remie has a little red spot on the inside of her right eye lid. Almost like a little birth mark...I don't know if it will stay, but for now I will use it. Hallie doesn't have one. Remie is also a little fuller in her face...maybe that is what 1/2 lb will do to you.


The doctor says that they both have a heart murmur. We knew Remie did, but as of yesterday they both do. I know they have been watching Remie but they will be doing an ultrasound on Monday on both girls. My understanding is that it is pretty common for preemies, hopefully they will be okay without any major problems. Overall it has been a very positive week...I hope it only continues.

Still More Baby Pics

I wanted to add these pictures to the post I did this morning but I was struggling to get them loaded, so I gave up. These were taken on 7/5/09 of Remie. It kind of puts into perspective, how little they both are. Ryan is holding her foot and her hand.

More Baby Pics and Updates

The babies are making so much progress every day. It is very exciting to see. All of the pictures below were taken on 7/7/09...it was a very eventful day. Rylie and Sydnie came home from Grandma's and were able to see Hallie and Remie for the first time. They were very excited. Grandma Shirley was able to help me hold them up to the window to show Rylie and Sydnie.




This is Remie after getting her back to the room.Hallie sporting her hat, she was having a hard time keeping warm.
As of Tuesday, Hallie was still on oxygen. They also had to put Remie back on during the night. They tell us that is normal, and not to get disappointed. However, with Remie it is on the lowest setting, if they turned it down any more they would turn it off. Hallie's is a little higher, but they are both during great.

Later that night, I was able to bath both of the babies. They handled it a lot better then I thought they would. We tried to take some pictures of the event, but they didn't turn out real well....too much wiggling going on. Grandma Shirley stayed in town on Tuesday afternoon and was able to be there when I gave Hallie a bath. She then got to feed Hallie. When we were getting ready to bath Remie, my mom came in...So both Grandma's got to feed them. I think both Grandma's need to move to our house for the next couple of months!! Both babies had gained about an ounce. Which is wonderful!

Grandma Shirley with Hallie - after her bath.

Grandma Joy with Remie - after her bath.

The nurses have been feeding them every three hours. Ryan and I have been trying to be there for the majority of the feedings during the day. He is able to go in at 9:00 and then I have been getting in for the one at noon. Everyday we go in, they have increased their feedings or something new has changed. It is very encouraging to see.

As of last night 7/8/09 - They both were eating 20 mL of milk - which is almost an ounce I think - from the bottle. Yesterday, when I got there at noon, they had taken the feeding tubes out. And as they increase the amount they are eating from the bottle, they are decreasing the amount of fluids they are getting from their IV's. The nurse yesterday, said that hopefully they could take the IV's out in the next couple of days. Both babies love to eat. We kid around they are little piggies. They are just taking things very slow and making sure they are still breathing while they eat and maintaining their heart rates after they eat. Last night while I was there, they were weighed again. Hallie was 3lbs 15 ounces - two ounces away from her birth weight - YEAH! and Remie was 4lbs 4ounces - 3 ounces away from her birth weight. Hopefully they keep making great progress!

We are not sure when they will be able to come home. I talked to the nurse yesterday and she said that they have to off the IV's and things for 48 hours. They also have to be eating and gaining weight. She did say that they have sent babies home with oxygen, so if that is the only thing keeping them there, they would send them home. We just hope they keep making great progress and can come home sooner then later.

More Baby Pictures!

Hallie trying to open her eyes^

Remie ^

Remie's Little hand^

Kim and Remie^

Ryan holding Hallie for the first time^

They Are Here!

Well, it is official...They are Here! It was been a very eventful last 48 hours.

It started Thursday night (7/2). I started spotting and as the night wore on, I started having more contractions with more spotting. The contractions got to be 6 minutes apart. I spent most of the night watching the clock and keeping track of contractions. At 3:00 am I finally called the hospital and they were not that worried. I had been talking to my Sister-in-law Julie earlier that night and she called the hospital earlier. They knew I was coming in for another stress test the next morning so the nurse just left it up to me. She said, "If the spotting changes color and/or the contractions get more intense then come in." By morning both had settled down so I never did.

We went in at 12:30 pm on Friday (7/3) for the NST. The nurses did know that I was still spotting and they continued to watch the contractions, that were quite regular at that point. About 1 1/2 hours into it the nurse called the "on-call doctor" to see what to do about the contractions. The doctor wanted them to check me and if I was dialated less then a 3 and 70% effaced, they would let me go home. I was almost a 4 and 80%. So they said I would be staying the night. They gave me a shot to stop the contractions and 1 of two steroid shots to help the babies lungs. They had to wait at least 12 hours for the other steriod shot...24 if we could. So I was hoping to go home after the 2nd dose of steriod shots, which would have been at 2:00 today. The contractions stopped and I felt great. They brought in dinner later that night around 7:00 and as I sat up to eat, my water broke.

They then moved me to a bigger labor and delivery room where they had to start my contractions back up so that I would dialate. Such a process! They wanted me to labor on my own for 2 hours before they started the PIT. The room that they moved me to had a great view of the USU Stadium so we had great seats for the fireworks. After the fireworks they started the PIT and about an hour later they started my Epidural. I just have to say...Epidurals are wonderful! I then moved a centimeter and hour and when I reached an 8 they then moved me to the OR just in case of a C-section. I guess it is standard for twins. Once we were there and my doctor was there (who fortunately was "on-call" for the rest of the weekend) broke my water the rest of the way and in two pushes we had two babies. I do have to admit it was one of my most easy labors. It is easy to push them out when they are little like that.

Hallie Grace was born at 4:05am. Once her head had come out, three golf ball sized blood clots came out and she was very pale and not breathing well. The doctor said that I had, had a rupture of some sort when she delived, something to do with the placenta. She lost some blood which made the doctors very concerned. As I was laying there, Ryan was watching everything that they were doing and all I could see was her little hand...which was moving periodically. Nothing else was and she was not making any sounds. Very scary!

This is a team of 4 working on Hallie. This was right after she came out.

Remie Ryan was born at 4:08 am. She made a few more sounds then Hallie had which made me feel a little better. This is a picture of her, but as you can see she has little dimples on her chest because she is trying so hard to breathe.

This is the team of 3 working on Remie.

This is pictures of each of them in the NICU, they are both on ventilators at this point. The first one is Hallie. She still was very pale and not breathing well. They tested her red blood cell count and it was very low, so they decided to give her a blood transfusion to help.

This is Remie with the ventilator. They ended up giving her Serfactin to help with her lungs.


I wasn't able to go see the girls until around 10:00. Due to the epidural still wearing off and also Ryan had ran home to freshen up and the nurse wanted me to wait and have him help me down to the NICU.

This was a little later in the afternoon. My mom, dad, and grandma were able to go in and see the girls. This is my dad with Hallie. By this point Remie had been off the ventilator and they had just taken Hallie off. Hallie still has tubes in her nose to help her.

This is my mom and Grandma Wilson with Remie.

Remie sucking on a binkie...YEAH! She was hating it at first.

Hallie with the tubes still helping her get air.

To add to all of the craziness of the day, we also got to see Rylie and Sydnie for the first time in 2 weeks. They have been camping with my parents during that time. Ryan and I were suppose to go up and get them Friday night. Obviously that didn't happen. My mom and dad brought them back with them to see the babies. Unfortunately, Rylie and Sydnie can't go into the NICU, so they have only seen pictures of Hallie and Remie. They felt pretty bad. But they will get to see and hold them soon enough! This is me and Rylie sitting on the bed. Ryan had just brought the laptop so I was checking up on Facebook!
Ryan took Rylie and Sydnie to get some dinner later on and I went back down to the NICU, where Remie was completely off all of the breathing tubes. So I was able to hold her for the first time. They are so small...it is just crazy!

Here is their information:
Born July 4th, 2009 (at 34 weeks 3 days)
Hallie Grace 4lbs. 1 oz. 4:05am 17 inches long
Remie Ryan 4lbs. 7 oz. 4:08am 17 inches long

They both have a LONG road ahead of them. The nurses haven't even had them try eating eating. They both have IV's that are giving them their proteins, fats, etc. for now. However, they both have made leaps and bounds today. It has been exciting to see how much better they are both doing! They will be taking it one step at a time.

For me, I am doing great, just tried. I am hoping to go home tomorrow, I will have to wait and see what the doctor says tomorrow when he comes in.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers! Thanks to our family who have been so great to take Rylie and Sydnie. We love you! We will try to keep things updated as we learn more.