A Whirlwind!!!

The past 11 weeks have flown by! Can you believe it...11 weeks? One week from today will mark three months old for Aiden and Will. As you can imagine, we have been busy. Any time not spent feeding, playing, or working has been spent sleeping (and there hasn't been much of that). This is my excuse for not updating the blog :)

Some things have changed and some remain the same. At our last doctor visit Aiden weighed 10 pounds 10 ounces and 21.75 inches long, Will was 10 pounds 5 ounces and 21.25 inches long. They have both more than doubled their weight since birth and look like "real babies" now. Both of them are able to hold their heads up without assistance for short periods. They are also becoming more alert with every passing day. It is not unusual for them to stay awake between feedings during the day. Both boys are smiling and every now and then will laugh!

We are still having "episodes." Aiden and Will are seeing a GI specialist at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. They have been diagnosed with severe reflux. This is what causes the choking (blue baby) episodes. We still average about one episode per week, so both boys continue to wear heart monitors. The doctors say we will outgrow this...but it could take several more months!

The past several months have been full of firsts. We met our cousins for the first time! We are going to have so much fun growing up with Nate, Noah, Harrison, and Tate! We made out first trip to Athens,  went to our first Georgia tailgate, dressed up for Halloween, and sat on Santa's lap!

We love each other

Meeting Great Grandma for the first time

Cuddling with momma

This is my bed!

Living the dream

Halloween is exhausting

Hungry skeletons

Aunt Whitney, Uncle Alan, and Cousin Tate

Dawg fans

Yeah, we're cute

Our first family tailgate

Hanging with Cousins Nate and Noah, they're pretty cool

We're one month old!

Hard to believe we are one month old today! I guess when you spend three weeks in the NICU, a month goes by quickly. But in looking back we have come such a long way. We are sleeping a little now that the boys have apnea monitors we use at night (monitors their heart rates and breathing). Will had one more blue incident last Friday night. The alarm did go off so at least we know it works. But a terrible way to wake up in the middle of the night. We are eating and growing every day. Our days (and nights) consists of feeding, burping, changing...then repeating. But we waking up a little more each day to play!

We can't thank Aunt Shell enough for coming and helping us all last week. She pulled several all nighters to help us with feedings, etc! This week Mama G and Nana are coming to assist in our three ring circus so better say some prayers for them. :-)

Angela

We are over 6 lbs!

Haven't had a smurf incident since Saturday. We are staying on the regimented schedule of holding them for 20-30 mins after eating. This means most of our days (and nights) are spent feeding babies! But it is paying off...went to the doctor today and now Aiden weighs 6 lbs 4 oz and Will is 6 lbs 5 oz. Since our weight gain is so good, we are going to stop taking the high calorie formula all together now!

Aunt Shell is here this week so we have an extra set of hands which is great! She took most of the night shift last night, so we could get a little sleep. Thanks Aunt Shell! And for everyone who knows Aunt Shell, you know she loves taking pictures....so here are a few from the last couple of days.

So glad we are home and can get spoiled a little - Aiden

1st bath at home was exhausting - Aiden

Got to sit up for a while so we don't turn blue - Aiden

Brother time!

We are home...time to celebrate! - Will

Have a million nice places to sleep, cribs, pack n plays, co-sleeper....yet here we are with a mattress raised with scrap wood on the floor. Oh well, we do what works!

So glad Aunt Shell is here!

Chillin with dad - Will

Dad, are you sure you know what you are doing? - Will

Did We Bring Home a Smurf?

Probably not, but at three apples tall and blue you might get confused.

The first 36 hours home have been busy!!! Will decided to give us a scare yesterday. Angela was holding Aiden when he decided to spit up. While she was cleaning him up I notice Will making odd movements. Upon getting to him his eyes looked like saucers, he was purple (not blue yet), and spit was coming from his nose and mouth!!! Quick work with the bulb syringe and a few hard slaps on the back (baby heimlich...thanks infant CPR class) brought him back to a normal color. It think he was more pissed off with me holding him upside down smacking his back then not being able to breathe!

After this episode we have decided that there will be no sleep for all of us at the same time...for a while. Thankfully, Aunt Shell arrived last night so the adults once again outnumber newborns. Until the risk of suffocation by spit up reduces we will take shifts and someone will always be awake with the boys. No rest...for the next 18 years!

On the fun side, we watched our first Georgia football game together. What a game!!! I think Coach Richt and the guys put on a show just for us. We also went on our first outing yesterday! We loaded everyone up and went to the Brookhaven Farmers Market for breakfast and fresh pastries for the weekend. The boys were quite an attraction.

First family picture at home.

The ever present bulb syringe.

Strike a pose - Aiden

Will continues to complain that we give hime the short blanket. 

  

Uncle Raymond and Aunt Morgan came to visit. Their baby girl enjoyed kicking the boys from inside her mommy's tummy.

 

 

WE ARE HOME!

Home at last!

Well the doctors told us it would be 3 to 4 weeks in the NICU and it was exactly 3 weeks, guess they know what they are talking about! We got home a couple of hours ago and are excited (and a little scared) to be on our own now. But hopefully all our weeks in training at the hospital have us prepared, although nothing can prepare us for the sleepless nights ahead.....let the fun begin!

I don't think the nurses sent us home with enough samples.....

We are liking the nap nannies!

Car Seat Test Underway

Both boys finished 8 bottles yesterday and are on track to do so again. As a result, you will notice something very different in this picture...no feeding tubes! They have been removed, permanently (we hope).

Aiden had a small Bradi this morning but it was related to eating a little too much and then laying down. The nurse practitioner thinks we may go home Friday provided that Angela and I are comfortable using the bulb syringe and resuscitating them if necessary. A little scary, but we are up for it. Having seen it done (and participated) in the hospital I think we are more prepared than many first time parents. Keeping them upright for 15-20 minutes after each feeding helps too. Each meal time will require two sets of hands, one to feed and one to hold. Let the fun begin!

So, one of our last hurdles is the car seat test. We have to sit in our car seats and keep our oxygen saturation and heart rates above 80% for 90 minutes. Halfway through and so far so good.

Fingers Crossed

No bradi episodes since Friday! So fingers crossed that we have outgrown them! We are getting feistier by the day...Will has pulled his feeding tube out twice in the last couple of days. We have completed 5 of the 8 daily feedings by mouth for the past couple of days and today we are attempting 6! Once we do 6 successfully for a couple of days we will move to 8! We have to do 8 complete feedings for 2 days in a row, then we can go home! Lastly, we have to sit in our car seat for 90 minutes and not have any breathing issues. So hoping we will be home this weekend if all goes well.

Bottles Bottles Oh My!

Yesterday the boys did great with their feedings, they did 4 complete feedings in a row. But sadly for the boys, 4 feedings in a row means the nest they have been sleeping in gets taken away. They now have to learn to sleep on their backs. Today the feedings went good, but the boys were overall tired from yesterday so didn't finish them all. Our nurses assure us this is to be expected. 

We were doing good with no more "brad" episodes until this evening, Will had another one.... So at least 5 more days for him no matter how good the feedings are going! We just hope they will grow out of these soon, as nobody wants them to come home when they are still having these episodes. But I honestly have to say I am getting tired of the hospital, so can't wait until we don't have to be there anymore!

Angela

Aiden passed out after drinking his bottle.

Who took my nest away? - Aiden

Still not sure how we are going to do this on our own when we go home! :-)

I don't want to lay on my back, give me my nest back! - Will

Will after his bottle race with Aiden, Aiden won...this time. 

It's a Preemie Thing

We hit a milestone today, both Aiden and Will now weigh at least 5 pounds (Aiden is 5 lbs 1 oz and Will is 5 lbs exactly)! We continue to do the preemie shuffle, couple steps forward then one step back. We have made some progress on feedings, enough that the doctors increased feedings by mouth from 2-3 to 3-4 today! We did 3 in a row complete feedings but then both the boys decided today that they are just tired and don't want to finish some. We are told this is typical for preemies, so we will continue to be patient and wait for them to grow stronger.

Boys are still having the "bradi" episodes, which means they stop breathing and turn quickly into little blue babies. Aiden had a bradi yesterday and Will today. These episodes even fluster the nurses, so we are thankful they are there to quickly react! Apparently Will had all the nurses in the pod at his bedside today when he decided to bradi. Stephen continues to explain to the boys that there are better ways to become a ladies man! So pray they grow out of this preemie problem quickly because according to our great nurse, Scarlett, it is an automatic "5 more days stay in the slammer" from the last bradi no matter how well they are feeding.

Today we decided to have a little photo shoot so we could send birthday wishes to our Aunt Michelle! Here are a few pics in our cute coordinating outfits!

Angela

Move over!

Oh mom, what are you doing to us! 

This is more our style, action shots of sleeping!

Happy Birthday Aunt Michelle!

Angela  

Go Dawgs!

We have continued NICU bootcamp over the past 2 days along with having our first football Saturday! We attended the required infant CPR class only to find when we got back that Will required choking assistance that we were learning about while we were in class! When the nurse is still flustered about the incident, I am very thankful they are there to execute the life saving measures as I am not sure I could handle it! So even though we want the boys to come home, we know they are in the right place right now! The boys continue to work on feedings. Will and Aiden have both taken at least one feeding completely from the bottle. We have increased to 3 mouth feedings a day. Of course we have to get to 8 complete mouth feedings a day in order to go home, so we have some work to do! We are continuing to gain weight - Will is back to his birth weight and Aiden is close. 

So our very first tailgate wasn't far from what you see at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, bottles and boobs followed by passing out! We already know how to party! Since it appears there are no preemie onesies for UGA, Mama G gave us cool monkeys instead. But don't worry, it won't be long before we can fit into the big boy outfits!

Here's looking at you, kid. - Aiden

Staring Contest - Aiden

Just chillin' - Aiden

My first tailgate is exhausting - Will

Oh how the tailgate has changed!

Go Dawgs!

Scoot over bro!

Cuddles are good!