July 30, 2009

It has been a while since we have updated our site. I am happy to say that both girls are at home and are doing exceptionally well, given their history. Adelyn is in the floor on her favorite play mat sleeping with her "chewy" ( which is just my clean t-shirt that she has latched onto and uses it to chew on) I hear Caroline in her bed coo'ing and giggling at herself in the crib mirror.

We have had a very busy week, Like most weeks Tuesday -Friday are filled with appointments and visitors. (Monday is a personal day for the girls and I, tho, sometimes we end up having to go somewhere anyway.)Tuesday we celebrated the girls 7/4 month mark, Tim and i spent 2 hours making butternut squash baby food, Caroline had already gone to bed for the night, but addie was up and ready to test taste it and LOVED IT. Wednesday we went to Greenville for a NICU followup and OT consult. Both girls were being looked at for Failure to thrive, but with the progress from last week to this week it isn't as severe as they had thought. Adelyn weighed in at 8lbs 10 Oz, and Cara is 9 lbs even. which is good news. We did find out that the girls are technicly 3 months 11 days old- we will just celebrate being 4 months again :) Scheduled for a follow up, talked about what to work on with them, talked about their Physical therapy and did a feeding evaluation and off we went to Clinton to get photos of the girls. After trying to accomidate two fussy, hungry, and constipated little girls, we did get a handful of great photos that I cannot wait to show off.

Both girls are doing well developmentally, Adelyn is starting to smile at familier faces, and will make happy sounds at Tim and I. It usually takes her a little bit to warm up to a new face and by then they are cooing back at our little ham Caroline. She loves the spotlight and is an allaround happy baby. Both girls are pushing up on their arms to bring their heads up, and they are both starting to scoot well.

Both Girls will get Physical therapy twice a month, Occupational Therapy twice month, and the Early Interventionist comes out twice a month to our home. Both the OT and EI come to us once a week and the OT is in Greenville.

Other then showing off photos, i do not have anything else to report on Addie and Cara.

Braxton has been away this summer with his dad in Virgina. I know he is haveing a blast having his dad all to himself, but we sure do miss him around here. In the middle of August my baby will start K3 and we are just thrilled for him. We know that he is going to love that time in school, and making new friends. We are waiting patently for his uniforms to arrive and cant wait to take him school shoes shopping and to get supplies. this is going to be a fun and adventurous new chapter in braxtons life. I cannot wait to watch him experience this new journey.

Daddy Addie bonding time :)

Braxton loved holding his addie, he told her to hurry up so they can play.

My Beautiful babies.

Adelyn is doing so wonderfully. She is on 1 liter of O2 thru a nasal cannula. She is looking very cute in her preemie clothes. She has been tolerating feeds and weening from the oxygen very well.

Cara is now 3 lbs 1 oz ( Addie is also) and is on nasal cannula. she has been doing very well and does even better when shes snuggled up to sister Addie.

Braxton playing in Daddy Tims shoes :)

Cara off the C-pap

My Favorite part of Valentines day! Holding my Adelyn for the very first time. She did so well! AND put her on c-pap 2 days later:)

just wanted to let everyone know that addie is up to 2lbs 15oz and cara is 2lbs 8oz both girls are getting 5 cc of milk an hour. both girls are getting better everyday and they are growing and getting closer to the weight that they need to be to have the surgey to reconnect there intestines. they have to be 4lbs 4 oz to have the surgey.

Baby Addie. resting in her bed. She was a touch me not twin today.

Cara loved the attention.

just wanted to let everyone know that they are feeding the girls milk now. addie is getting .8cc an hour and cara is getting 1.9cc an hour. there have been no other big changes.

Cara update

Cara is still doing well on her c-pap. she is still picking at it and pulling it off. when we were in checking on her earlier she decided that she was not getting as much attention as she wanted to be getting so she decided to Brady down to about 30 beats a minute and as soon as we opened the incubator her heart rate went back to normal. the nurse weighted her when we were back and she has lost 2 ounces, down to 1 lb 11 ounces. the doctor put her new pic line in this morning so they would have a iv dedicated to her fluids and one if they needed to give her blood products. the doctors are still pulling off between 5 and 8 cc of fluid off from the reservoir.

Later this morning Cara has a head ultrasound to check on the swelling in her brain. she also has a heart echo to check her pda .

caroline has her momma's skin tone but its hard to tell whos fetures she has. She does let us know that she has an attitude and hates the cpap in her nose. cara loves to listen to mommas heartbeat and look around, but she sleeps best in my lap- she is a daddys girl.

Addie Update.

Addie was the first to break the 2lbs mark. YEAY ADDIE!!!!

Adelyn is still very sick but is making good progress. they were able to whein her oxygen some today, and are hoping to take her off of the vent and onto C-PAP by the first of next week. This is a goal Tim and I are looking forward to, we want to hold the baby that kicked and rolled around in my tummy the most. She was a huge belly hog. Addie is still very "touch me not" as the nurses say, she doesn't tolerate light, sound or touch very well. It is too stimulating and causes her to de-sat. She has my attitude- she doesn't like anyone in her space and has no problem showing out and letting us know it.

We are in love with her thick hair and pointy nose, she looks so much like her daddy, she even has his hairline! She is such a beautiful baby, we are so proud of her.

Adelyn has a Cat scan later this morning, we will post results soon.

Big Brother hanging out at the hospital.

I just looked at this picture of me holding Cara and loved it. i remember looking down at her while she was fighting with that Binky to stay in her mouth i didn't know tim had taken a picture. I would try to take the Binky from her to make her cry but she would desat to low. so i would have to give it back. Sometimes it would fall out and it was almost like she was rooting- she was licking me trying to get to her Binky. It was all very cute .

Daddy holding Caroline for the first time. He is such a proud daddy !

Kangaroo Care... Holding our Cara

Adelyn Michelle

One more of Ms. Addie, she seems to get slighted during photo times. shes very light and touch sensitive, shes had the roughest time gaining weight and fighting the sepsis infection. Shes still a fighter.

Caroline and her first Binky. She LOVES it. This is good for her learning to suck and swallow, it also helps her to breath on her own and soothes her. The very next day Ms. Cara was off of her ventilator and on C-pap :)

She doesn't like the C-pap right now, here she is holding tight to her new Binky. How sweet :)

Braxton playing with Lance. Two cute boys :)

Caroline sucking her thumb

Adelyn with her eyes open

Cara Sleeping, and under the blue light(on her back).

Adelyn under light (stomach)

These photos are posted backwards. I uploaded them in order, the last two are the first photos of each girl. The first 3 are the oldest photos of the girls both at Brenner hospital, 1 Cara 2 Addie 3 Cara.