updates

Lilly saw something on alex's try she wanted, so she just climbs out and gets it.
Julian's bubble bath. they were about 4 ft tall of bubbles.
Time management at it's best

Lilly had another f/u with the ped GI doctor last Friday. It went pretty well. She weighed 17 lb 8.8 oz and the doctor was pretty impressed with weight gain since last visit. She gained 12 gm/day since the last time we were there. Normal weight gain after 1 yr old is only 5-8 gm/day so she did better than expected, which is good because we still have some weight to catch up since we started about 3 lbs less that a normal full term baby. It is also pretty impressive considering our trip to Atlanta she didn't gain a single oz that week, and we also switched from formula to regular milk, which went from 26 cal/oz to only 20 cal/oz. The only concern is that since she's not on formula anymore, which in itself is completely nutrious, we have to worry about whether her eating is getting her all the other vital essentials to grow. I would have to say the past couple of days have been really good. She has had hot dog, strawberries, chicken, french fries, avacodo, pasta, green beens, and carrots, mac and cheese, and cereal. I would have to say I definately get points in heaven for trying to feed my children. I have spent so much money at the grocery store trying to find things that she may like to eat. It's never ending.

Alex is continuing to grow and eat really well. We have slipped back a little with the sleeping. He had gotten to once a night, but now we are back to twice a night getting up. He has even a couple nights, just wanted to be held, so I have slept with him in the guest room a little. We have tried really hard not to, but with 2 babies, I needed a little sleep. He also is doing really good walking. He CAN walk by himself, but is still unsure of himself. Once he figures out that he's really doing it, he will take off.

Julian is doing great. We've started t-ball, and he's enjoying it. We're just waiting for the weather to cooperate so we can get outside more with him. We watched a dinosaur movie Saturday for our "movie Night" and he was the narrator for the whole thing. He knows an incredible amount about dinosaurs, and talked the entire time, telling us who they were and what they were doing. It made us laugh. It amazes us how smart he is. I can't wait to see what he becomes one day. (Although, I am totally not ready for him to grow up)

This is Lilly during feeding time. She likes to stand up and eat. I know you say just buckle her in, but she absolutely hates to be confined and it makes the eating process much worse. (Don't judge until you try to feed her)

Play day

This weekend we got a new activity for the babies to play in. Hopefully the weather will stay nice here, because they certainly prefer to be outside. We got a sand box and hopefully they will love the sand because this summer is going to be spent at the beach. They were a little unsure at first what I was putting them into, but I think they enjoyed it. Lilly had her curious look on her face, and of course my non-eater tried out the taste of the sand. Funny, she will try to eat that but give her real food and she's much more careful. Julian played on the swing set and we got him some baseball bases so we could play in the back yard. T- ball started monday night and I had a ball watching him. He was having a good time and trying so hard to learn what to do. It made me remember me trying to learn to play softball when I was his age. I love how my happiness is watching my children have fun. I really hope he enjoys it and wants to continue playing. I am partial to baseball than other sports, so I would have a lot of fun watching him continue to play.

Julian being sweet and giving Alex a push.

They are playing nice for a little while.

Yes, Julian runs just like his mommy. Poor baby.

Trip to Georgia

We had a wonderful trip to GA this past week. It was Julian's spring break and a much needed getaway. We decided to brave a plane trip with the babies for the first time. It's so funny that Julian had probably flown 4 times by the time he was one, but with twins it is a whole different story. After a terrible rainy day and plane delays, we finally made it to Atlanta at 10 pm. Babies and Julian were exhausted by the time we got to the Stanford's but we made it. We had a wonderful week full of activities. We went to see my grandmother's which had not seen the babies yet, and they were thrilled. They said they finally believe the babies are "real" now. Julian got to go to Fern Bank to see the dinasaur exhibits, Chris and I took him to the aquarium with Jess and Patrick. He had so much fun, it was nice being able to spend some time with him.

Then we had our big party on Saturday to introduce the babies to all of our extended family and friends. It was a wonderful day. The weather couldn't have been more beautiful. We rented a inflatable bouncy for Julian and all the kids to play in. I think Julian was in it the majority of the day playing with different kids that had come to the party. We had a huge turnout and it was so much fun getting to catch up and spend time with everyone. I wish the day could have gone on forever. We celebrated the babies 1st birthday with their own birthday cakes. That is always fun to watch the babies dig in and see what they do. Of course, Alex, had his torn apart in no time, and even Lilly caught on and ate a little.

The trip home made us really miss being in the South again. We do really consider that to be our home, and would move back in a heartbeat. we just have the job thing holding us back. But it did make us a little homesick to come back to PA.

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.

Birthday weekend pictures

PaPa and Lilly
DeeDee and Alex
Daddy and Lilly
Julian getting off one of the big bouncy slides
Playing baseball

Jess and Julian sledding down backyard.


Birthday Boy!!!!