thetadpoles.com

Hopefully soon I can stop tagging my posts with NICU. Today the twins are 3 months old. In someways the time has just flown by. I look at pictures from the beginning and I had already forgotten about how small and fragile they were (to some people they look small and fragile now, to us they look so big and robust). Then I think of 3 months. Where we were the beginning of October and how much our life has changed since then. We drive to the hospital on autopilot. Tadd knows almost all of the security guards when he comes to visit at night (you need to be cleared to visit after visiting hours. NICU parents can come in at anytime.) I’m often in my own little world walking through the hospital and not even realize people are talking to me. Tadd has told me I have done this numerous times, sorry if you were one of them. I just start thinking of the twins and what I need to do and everything else kind of falls by the wayside.

UPDATES:

• Both: Had their cranial ultrasounds. They were done 3 times when they were first born and we were so lucky that they were negative. They check them again before they get ready to go home to be sure nothing has changed. Derby’s was still negative. Loen had a small amount of “shadowing” that the doctor said was clinically insignificant. Essentially a Grade I brain bleed. The good news is they had no signs of leukomalacia which is often a sign of cerebral palsy.They also had their 2 month vaccinations (yes, a month late). They said that they waited because they can sometimes cause apnea and bradycardia, so they wanted them to be a little more stable before they got them. Were working on the breastfeeding. On Tuesday Loen was able to get 12 cc’s. Yesterday she only got 3 but she was trying. Derby was able to get 9 cc’s. He likes to think it is one huge boob shaped pacifier. He falls asleep on me all the time. One day I took him off the breast because he wasn’t doing anything and tried to bottle feed him. He started SCREAMING, so the nurse said since he was awake try and put him back to breast. He screamed a few more little muffled screams into the boob then promptly feel asleep with it in his mouth. We need to practice a little more….

• Loen: Did not like the fact that Derby had one upped her on the nasal cannula so she decided she wasn’t going to use hers either. They are both down to just their feeding tube. Occasionally they will need a little “blow by” (where they hold up a oxygen mask to their face and let them have a little O2 to help bring their sats back up). Loen mainly needs that when she is bottle feeding. She had her eyes examined today and they look good. The best part is the doctor wrote for her to have a check up in 3 months! No more Thursday morning eye exam torture for her. Loen is getting chubby now that she is weighs 5 pounds 1 ounce.

• Derby: Weighs in at 5 pounds 1 ounce. I cant believe they weigh the same. Derby still looks heavier but we think it is due to the fact he is shorter and has the big ol chin. For one whole day Loen was 1/2 an ounce heavier than Derby but I think he tried extra hard to gain to so she wouldn’t be ahead of him. I can tell they are already very competitive! His eyes are the same so they will keep checking every Thursday to see if he has any changes. He is so much more alert now. I think he realizes this is when he was supposed to be born and is ready to start living it up.

Today the cable guy came out to turn on our cable. We haven’t had cable since last summer. We turned it off when we realized we were sitting at home watching crap like Wife Swap. With the twins comimg home we thought it might be good to have since we wont be leaving the house for awhile. The workers to install shutters in the house were also here. Next weekend is the baby shower for the twins and a few things have already arrived so the boxes are sitting in the front room. I felt like I had to explain why we had all this baby stuff but no babies. I wouldn’t want them to think we were preparing to kidnap a baby!

Loen

Derby