check-ups

Well, I was very brave today. 3 kids check-ups at the same time. I did make Chris go with me because everyone needed vaccines today and that would be a lot of tears and needed another pair of hands to comfort with. Everyone did really great. It's easier to take the babies than to tell Julian he needed to have a shot today. Of course I did some bribing. It seems to work well for us.

The babies are doing great. It's nice to have a pediatrician tell you that. I think they look good, but someone that sees babies all day to tell you how well they are doing makes you feel much better, especially when you have the start in life they did. Lilly weighs 16 lbs 12 oz, of course she's not on the curve for a full term baby, but when you adjust her age for her prematurity she is about 10-15 percentile. That's great for my 2 lb baby, and Julian was always small for awhile. And when she was born, she was actually the size of a 28 wk baby. So if she was adjusted for by 12 weeks, she would be even higher on the curve.

Alex, weighed 21 lb, 12 oz. This put him on the curve in the 5oth percentile for a full term baby and about75th for a preterm baby. He is so opposite of Lilly. He eats anything I put in his mouth. He is almost 2 lbs bigger than Julian at a year, and he started 2 lb smaller than Julian.

Developmentally- they are doing fantastic. Dr. York (our ped) was impressed by how well they were doing and said they have pretty much caught up to full term babies. The only thing they aren't doing yet is walking (Alex is getting close) and they only say mama and dada.

Julian is also doing great. That was the first time they have seen him because he is really never sick and in need to go to a doctor. My kids have really been luck. I think Julian has only been on 3 antibiotics his entire life. I think staying home with them has really helped in that area. He passed his hearing (so i know he hears me know), and vision, and got his hep A vaccine. I think Chris had a harder time with Julian getting his shots than he did.

But they are doing great, just have to keep forging ahead. I just have to look at pictures of where the babies started out every once in awhile to know how far they've come.

Birthdays

The twins are 1 today!! What a year we've had. Thinking back a year ago, was not the best time in our life. Lilly had been causing problems with the pregnancy for a couple months. I had been to countless doctor appts to check on her progress and growth. They had figured out that she had a cord problem, where the cord doesn't insert fully into the placenta so that it doesn't allow her to get as much circulation from the placenta as she needed to fully grow. Alex was doing great. He was actually a nice size baby for me, and Lilly had been doing good until about 24 weeks. We will never forget that last appt with the MFM specialist. It was the monday before they were born. I had told Chris it was ok for him to go back to Canada to work, I just knew Lilly had grown, because I had gained weight and was so sure everything was going to be good for another 2 weeks. Thank goodness he didn't go back yet. I could tell once the ultrasound started that she hadn't grown at all and the bloodflow through the cord wasn't doing as good. The doctor recommended that we deliver, that if we waited, bloodflow to Lilly could stop and at this point nothing good would come from keeping her in any longer. I was devastated. The MFM called my OB and arranged for a c-section for that Friday. My ob was so nice to come deliver me at a hospital where he doesn't work. As a L&D nurse, I knew way too much to expect. I knew what obstacles the babies were going to be faced with and that was the hardest thing to do to go deliver my babies knowing what they were to be faced with. I had prayed for the babies for so long, and now the day was here. I was hoping to get a few more weeks, but 32 weeks was much farther than I thought I was going to get when I left Canada at 26 1/2 weeks. Their prognosis would have been much different at that time.

Friday came too fast. Although, I was happy to get to the hospital and hear Lilly's heartbeat. I had been fearful everytime that something was going to happen to her and we would have waited too long each visit. Chris and I got to the hospital that morning. Mom and Dad, Mary and Anne were also there with us. Jess came into town the night before and she and Blake were taking care of Julian that day. It was so nice to have them there with us for support. The babies were born at 11:05 and 11:07 am. It was such a relief to hear them cry when the came out. They were wisked away and my nurse kept giving us updates. We won't forget them saying Lilly was mad and giving the nurses a hard time, that she was such a little fighter at 2lb 5 oz. Alex was a different story. He weighed 3lb 11 oz, but apgars were 5 and 7. He looked pale and had little tone when I saw him. They just let me take a pick before they took them to the NICU.

I was told they had to intubate Alex and give him surfactant because he was having a hard time breathing. They had to leave him on the ventalator. Lilly was on CPAP and doing pretty good. It was going to be a long 7 weeks to come and many obstacles to face. We had to first hurdle Alex's severely premature lungs, and pneumonia on top of that. He looked so sick and frail it hurt me to have him deal with that. For so long we would come in and just focus on Alex because he was in a worst state of health and everyone would would into Lilly's isolete and be in amazement that she was breathing on her own and sooooo small. We dealt with the possibilities of brain bleeds, PIC line placements, multiple IV, umbilical lines, Ventalators, CPAP, feeding tubes, apnea spells (they would stop breathing and heartrate would drop), possibility of eyes not being developed, learning how to eat. On top of dealing with the babies, I had never left Julian for that amount of time. I felt terrible that I couldn't be the mom he was used to while I was busy with the babies. My mom stepped in as a substitute mom while I wasn't there for Julian and the babies. For 7 weeks, we would split our time. If I was with the babies she was with Julian and vice versa. I hated to have the babies at the hospital by themselves, so we tried to maximize the hours with everyone. Julian also went to "daycare" for the first time ever. I felt terrible about that. We had sacrificed so much so that he didn't have to be away from us, but I also knew he needed to have time to play with other kids while we were at Dee Dee's. Thank goodness he did enjoy it or I would have felt like a terrible mom. Slowly but surely the babies started to do better and were able to come home. I did a quick trip to babies R us and Target when they told me they could come home. I didn't have a singe thing for them. We never had a shower for them, or bought anything because of everything that went on during the pregnancy.

Now, a year later, I can't believe where we started from. The babies are doing wonderful. Other than Lilly's still very small, you would never know they were premature. Alex likes to eat which is very ironic because he had a very hard time learning how to suck a bottle. He would pass out every time he ate for a long time. Lilly has had her ups and downs, eating is still an issue but developmentally they are fantastic. They even do things they aren't suppose to be doing yet. Lilly is so smart and aware of her surroundings. She takes everything in and has become quite the mommy's girl. Alex loves to be held and just wants someone to meet all his needs. He loves to eat, and Alex loves watching Duke. I think that is going to be Lilly's first word. They both only have 2 teeth, Alex is trying to walk, Lilly is a great crawler. Lilly actually likes to eat McD's chicken nuggets. I don't know what I did to get such bad eaters. I think mom wished it on me since I was this way as a child. (ha).

I am so blessed to have 3 wonderful children. they make my life so happy and exciting. We are still hoping to get another year down, so that life is more manageable with twins.

Lilly right after she came out, before they took her to the NICU
1 year old
Alex in the NICU. On a vent, and having a difficult time with his lungs. Poor baby.

Lilly update

Just an update since we were sick:

Of course the last person I wanted to get sick and not eat for several days was Lilly. She lost about 1 lb. Doesn't sound like much to you or me, but for a little girl, that pound took 1 month to gain. Since she was sick she hasn't wanted to eat like before. Seems like we are back to where we started. (2 steps forward, 1 step back). The GI doctors increased her medicine to help her want to eat, and now we are eating our bottles better, but she still doesn't want any solid food. I feel like my whole life is spent around feeding people, Julian included. He isn't much of an eater either. I used to chase him around the house shoving food in his mouth. I'm sure lilly is going to be the same. thank goodness I have one child that will eat. You would not think that feeding someone could be such a difficult task, but it is a huge stressor in my life.

Our "feeding specialist" came by yesterday to see Lilly. It has been a while since she's been out since Lilly had been doing so good. She was so impressed by how Lilly is developmentally. She was shocked about how well she interacted. She said she acted more like a 18 month old, than a 11 month old. (Too bad she looks like a 6 month old). She thought Lilly may not have the mechanics yet of eating, but she does, she knows how to eat, just chooses not to. It's funny too, she will shake her head "no" at you when she is done eating. So, I will continue to try to find different foods she might like.

Today, we went to the Pediatric GI doctor to follow up from the hospital visit and since we have increased her meds. She thought she looked great too, from the first time we took her there. She weighed 16 lbs 1 oz today. She gained 12.5 gm/day since last visit. (That's almost 1/2 oz, which is almost where she should be- wonder what we would have had without the weight loss). She plotted her and when you adjust her age for her prematurity, she is actually in the 25% for weight and 20% for height. That's pretty good for my 2 lb baby. So, we did change her meds around a little more. The doctor said that after a GI virus, sometimes, GI motility slows down, so food doesn't empty as fast. She has been having more problems with her reflux, so we changed some things around to help. We will f/u in 3 weeks to see how things are going.

Lilly loves her bath and is a good picture taker for me.