We're home!

Reece was officially released from the hospital at 11:30 this morning (1/31/07). We are so glad to be home. The reaction of both babies to coming home? Poop, of course.

Lorelai is eating like a fiend, but Reece is a little more difficult to keep eating. He get's tired really quickly, and has a hard time coordinating sucking, swallowing and breathing, and often panics in mid swallow. Then we have to calm him down so he can breathe properly. He should be able to work through it as he gets stronger and builds up his coordination and muscles in his chest. He is a premie after all, and getting to full size is just going to take time.

Both parents were able to squeeze in a nap this afternoon while the babies slept as well. Two hours of uninterrupted bliss. Which is about 1:45 longer of bliss than either of us had the last two nights at the hospital.

Snug as a bug

This wasn't my idea, really!

Lorelai Ready for Her First Car Ride

Back Together for the first time!

Picture says it all. We did not position them this way. We laid Lorelai down next to Reece and she tucked herself in, right against him.

Mom and Reece

Lisa spending some quality time with Reece

Lots of Stuff going on

We have a lot of good news, starting with the triumphant arrival of Lorelai Kate into our humble abode. We brought her home on Saturday afternoon, and she is just a fabulous baby. We gave her her first non hospital bath, and she's doing all the little things babies do. Eating, sleeping and pooping. She really only cries when she gets cold, usually when her diaper is getting changed. The rest of the time, she gives us a good indication of what is wrong, and if we try to fix it, she's happy. By the way, those of you who told me the "your own baby's poop don't stink", you lied. And formula poop is a lot worse than breast milk poop.

Reece is also doing very well. They moved him out of the NICU yesterday, and he is now off his IV feed and receiving all food by mouth, though some of it he gets by a gavage tube down his nose, since his sucking reflex just needs to be strengthened a little so he can eat everything he needs to. It appears that he will come home Tuesday or Wednesday! It'll be busy around here, but not having to drive back and forth to the hospital to see Reece and deliver breast milk a couple of times a day will make things a little easier, and having him here will make us very happy!

Lisa is doing well, as long as she doesn't laugh too hard, her pain is minimal. I'm in good shape and we're developing a system of feeding and changing that gives us at least some time during the day to get things done. We'll see how much busier life gets later this week. I'll try to post some pictures and video's later tonight.

Short Video

I've been trying to post this for a few days, but google video has had some issues. Try this link for a conversation with Lorelai. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6119831226306386286&hl=en

The latest

It looks like they will be discharging Lisa today from the hospital, but as of 10:30 PM last night, a decision hadn't been made on Lorelai yet. She's doing really well, but she is pretty small. She's down to about 4lb 8.6 oz. It's a fairly normal amount of weight to drop after birth, so they are no concerned. They may just want to keep her checked in for a day or two more so they can monitor her temp and feeding, and get her to start putting on some weight.

The really great news was that we were able to go down to the NICU last night and spend some quality time with Reese. We checked his temperature (which was excellent), and changed his diaper, which was full of muconium, really sticky, tar like black poop that all babies have. This was also a really good sign. Of course it took us a while to clean him up, and during that time he decided to have another poop, and let the liquid artillery fly, thoroughly soaking Lisa's hand and much of the incubator. I think we went through about 10 wipes cleaning him up.

Once that was done, they weighed him (4lb 8.8oz). Then I dressed him in some snazzy PJs and we took him out of the incubator, and Lisa tried to breast feed him. It took all of about 30 seconds, and he hooked right on and started sucking. We don't know if he was able to get anything, but he kept sucking for about 15 minutes, and is a complete natural. After that Lisa just held onto him for another twenty minutes or so, and rocked him to sleep. I can't express how amazing this kid is. He's super patient when we were cleaning him up and only cried when he got a little cold. He watches everything you do, and listens to your voice. Lorelai likes to struggle and cry when you are changing her, and likes to be swaddled really tighly, but Reece just takes each environmental change like it is something to be studied.

Reece is probably going to remain in the NICU for a while yet. He needs to really start eating, and their requirements for letting him go are pretty stringent. He currently has what is called a PIC-Line in him, which is an IV placed in the top of his head, with a catheter that runs all the way down through an artery to his superior venacava (sp?) and they feed him that way. He has to be able to eat at least as much as they are putting into him via IV before they will move him out of ICU.

Lisa is doing really well. We're going to get a family room at the hospital so she can stay with the babies and try to feed them every 3 hours. I've been doing the day shifts so I can be there when the doctors come through, and Lisa's mom has been helping out at night. There's been some really long days this week. Yesterday was the shortest of the week for me, and I was at the hospital for about 16 hours, and that's be the short day so far. Lisa gets 2 hour cat naps a few times a day when we send Lorelai down to the nursery for a bit.

Anyway, that's about it for now. More updates to come as things change. I need to finish my breakfast and get back to the hospital.

Latest Baby Update

We got word a bit ago that it looks like Lisa and Lorelai wil be going home tomorrow (Thursday). Reece is doing really well, and is off all meds and extra oxygen, and we will try to feed him tonight, which is really excellent. It means Lisa and I will finally get to hold him! The next big step is to see if he can maintain his own body temperature in an open crib.

There is a good chance he will be moved from the NICU to the Interim Care Center, which is a lot more relaxed, but still fully monitored. It's actually a matter of how many babies they have in each area, and right now there are more resources available in the NICU than here (I'm actually in the Interim Care Center typing this), so they'll keep him in NICU until he gets to the top of the "time to move them out" list in the NICU. He's pretty close right now, but there's no rush to do it. Either way, he's going to be staying here at least 2 more days, maybe longer. A lot will be dteremined by how well he latches on and feeds tonight.

Lisa and Reece

Lisa and her Dad talking to Reece in the incubator

Reece, Later on Day 1

Reece, later on the first day after being removed from the CPAP machine and placed in an incubator. This little guy is a fighter!

Mom and Daughter

Lisa and Lorelai the first morning (while Joe was back at home in bed getting needed sleep)

Reece's First Hours

Reece a few hours after birth in the NICU, hooked up to the CPAP machine to help him breathe

First Pictures

Here are some pictures from the first 24 hours.

Me with Lorelai for the first time, while Lisa was still in surgery. I've gotten measurably better at holding babies in the last 24 hours

The babies doth cometh

Last night, January 22nd, 2007, our little family doubled in size with the arrival of 2 little bundles of joy: Lorelai Kate and Reece Joseph. Lorelai was born at 8:43 Pm and weighed in at 4lbs 13oz and Reece was born at 9:07 PM and weighed 4lb 12 oz.

It was a very emotional night, and I'll tell the whole story at another time. Lisa and Lorelai are doing really well. Reece has had a little bit of a rough start to life, but he is a strong, strong little boy, and is getting better every hour. He's currently in the NICU, but they've removed him from the CPAP machine they had him on to help him breathe, and is now on just regular 21% Oxygen via a nasal tube. We hope to have him out of the NICU in the next couple of days.

Many thanks to all of you who have already expressed so many kind words and helped out. We really do appreciate it.

I'll update as I have time over the next few days and post some pictures as soon as I remember to bring the camera home from the hospital.

The Nursery

A little tour of the Nursery. Notice how nice and clean and quiet it is.

Lisa, Her Mom & Babies

Here's a picture from 1/20/07 with Lisa, her Mom, Marcia and the babies (under the grey shirt).

Baby Update

We had another visit to the OB today, and Lisa had another ultrasound done. Baby A (the girl) weighed in at 4lb 7 oz (was 3 lb 10 oz on Dec 27) and Baby B (the boy) weighed in at 5 lb 6 oz (up from 4 lb 7 oz on Dec 27th). Everything is progressing very well. The heart rates are excellent, the fluid is perfect, and the blood flow to both is doing very well.

So we've just finished week 34, and the average birth for twins is at 37 weeks. Our doctor doesn't believe there are any indications of early delivery at this point, so we're looking at 37-38 weeks most likely, unless something changes really quickly. That puts us anywhere between Feb 5 and Feb 19th. We'll know more after the next ultrasound on Jan 29th.

At this point, the main issue is keeping Lisa comfortable. The babies like to put their feet on her ribs and push as hard as they can to stretch out, which usually implies pushing their head into her bladder. Apparently, that's not really that comfortable, at least not for Lisa.

If you get the chance to see the documentary "In the Womb: Twins, Triplets and Quads" on the National Geographic Channel, by all means, watch it. It was a fascinating look at what is going on in there. A little scary for parents to be at times, but comforting as well. It's amazing to see how much of the basis for the relationship between twins is formed before they are even born.

Intro to CamCorder

Our first corny video with the CamCorder

First Video

This is a test of my ability to post video from our new CamCorder on line. Let me know if you have any issues viewing this

The gift that keeps giving

I know, it's the thought that counts, but hey, I'm a very sharing, caring person, so I decided to share my cold with Lisa. I'm just about over mine, but she came down with the symptoms Friday night. Oh joy. As if the stuffiness caused by the pregnancy wasn't bad enough, the cold is causing her eyes to drain continuously. I tell her I don't think it's brains draining, but who really knows what it is. Hopefully the kids don't catch it too. I can't imagine what would happen if they started sneezing.

Lump O Baby

Okay, it's a littl late, but here is a picture taken of Lisa on Christmas day.