The girls’ quick growth and development continues. Brooke graduated from her isolette to an open-air crib a few nights ago, and when Claire gets just a little bigger and is regulating her body temp better, they’ll try co-bedding in a pediatric crib. Both are gaining weight well and steadily increasing the amount they eat. They’ve started learning to eat from a bottle (called “nippling”), which is an important part of the progression from tube feeding, to bottle feeding, to breastfeeding. The meds for apnea and digestion were recently discontinued, without causing any turn for the worse in breathing or digestion.

A couple nights ago, Nurse A. demonstrated with Claire how to bathe our preemies, and then we got to bathe Brooke ourselves. It was a team effort between Kat and me, but I got the easier part. Kate did most of the body wash (while I propped Brooke up as needed), which is the part they fuss and cry about; I then wrapped her up and put her in a “football” hold to wash her hair in the sink, which she seemed to enjoy a lot. She looked at me and looked at me, and I loved her and loved her. It always feels good to get to do those “normal” parent things that most parents don’t have to wait long for after delivery. The thrill of baths and diaper changes will probably fade, but it’s nice to feel like “real” Mommy and Daddy, and not just spectators while paid professionals take care of your baby. (I did decline a changing opportunity for probably the first time last night, when we were just about to leave for the night and Claire had a poopy diaper up for grabs. I let the nurse grab it.)

Kat is recovering well from her c-section. She still needs to take it easy for a while (I keep reminding her), but I don’t insist on a wheelchair anymore for the trip between the hospital entrance and the NICU. She has an appointment coming up soon to hopefully schedule surgery to remove her gall bladder. She was diagnosed with severe gall stones in the first trimester and was hospitalized for them early in the third, but the docs didn’t want to operate during the pregnancy unless there was no other choice. She endured a substantial amount of pain and discomfort, but made it to delivery without gall bladder surgery. Fortunately, she hasn’t suffered any gall bladder type pain since delivering, but we want it out as soon as it’s medically advisable. If we’re really lucky, it can happen before the babies come home, so she can get that recovery out of the way.

Pics are hopefully forthcoming soon. I have a bunch of pics ready and even uploaded, but I’m figuring out how to use a cool gallery/slideshow feature that’s new to me.

Brooke and Claire got transferred this morning from the excellent hospital where they’ve been since being born a week ago, to another excellent hospital closer to home. It happened a day later than originally planned, but we were happy to wait as long as it took for the doctors to feel confident that the girls’ reflux and apnea issues were under control. Both have responded well to reglen for the digestion issues, and caffeine for the apnea. During our morning visit, both girls seemed more feisty than usual, which probably has a little something to do with the caffeine. They even had a bit of synchronized crying, and it’s starting to sound a little less like their first squeaky cries, and more like regular newborn cries. It’s still so new and uncommon that it still sounds cute to us, though I’m sure it will eventually feel like nails in the brain like most baby cries after a while. Read the rest of this entry »

It has been a very exciting and eventful week and I have a lot I want to write and share about it, but as usual, life seems to happen faster than I can write about it. Our precious twin daughters were born on last Tuesday, April 7. We expected them to be born early because twins usually are, but at 31 weeks, 4 days, they came even earlier than we expected. The babies are in the NICU but doing very well, and Mommy Kate is still in the hospital recovering from her c-section but also doing well and expecting to get discharged tomorrow (Saturday). There’s much I’d like to share and make sure I get down before memory fades, but in the interest of a writing goal I hope to manage in the next hour or two, I’m not going to even try to catch up and will just tell our birth story Read the rest of this entry »

My niece, Jenna, is nearing the end of her kindergarten year, and getting smarter and more independent every day. She’s not just smarter than ever; she’s also clever enough to use her skills to come up with fun treats and surprises for her mom, all the while concealing her plans through indirect questions and subtle misdirection. For Mother’s Day this year, she put together a surprise plan to really pamper Mommy (my sister) from the moment she woke up. In retrospect, there were little hints that could have tipped my sister off, but I’ll just relate the story as I heard it, and you can decide for yourself whether you’d have caught on.

(The day before Mother’s Day…)

Jenna: Mommy, are you going to sleep late tomorrow?

Mommy: I don’t know, Jenna. I’ll probably be up pretty early like usual to make breakfast for you and Christa. Why?

Jenna: I think you should stay up really late tonight so you’ll be really tired and sleep late tomorrow. I can make food for me and Christa. I promise not to make a mess.

Mommy: Okay. Sounds good.

Phase I - complete. Mommy didn’t see through the small talk, and is planning on sleeping in. |inline