babies are.......

HOME!!! That is the reason for the long time since my last post and for this post being so short. Eleni came home on the 18th and Justin, 2 days later. Yes they were home for Christmas and it was so wonderful. Things have been very stressful and we are both sleep deprived but it is all worth it. We are in love with our two little munchkins.

So far they have had doctor appointmens each weekday since they have been home, with pediatrician visits for weight checks (and Eleni had an eye issues which turned out to be blocked tear ducts), prep for Justin's surgery next week and follow ups with all the specialists that were seeing them in the hospital. I expect things to calm down somewhat with all of this by the end of Janurary and hopefully by then we can have the feedings further apart. That will leave us more time to sleep and do other things we can't do right now, like catch up on the blogs of friends. If not, oh well, we will do what we need to do to be sure our babies grow big and strong and healthy. I hope that everyone who is reading this is having a wonderful holiday season and wishing you a happy and healthy new year!!

babies' progress

Both babies are now over 4lbs.

Justin has a heart murmur but he had tests done and his heart is fine, it is just another annoying thing to keep an eye on.

Justin is now in a crib (see photo above).

They no longer need feeding tubes.

Eleni passed her carseat test yesterday. Basically they put her in it while she is hooked up to her monitor and watch it for 30 minutes to make sure no alarms go off. She looked so cute in her carseat.

And the best news of all, Eleni is coming home in the next few days (probably Monday.) Yay!!!

good news....

The babies got their first bottles this week. They are now on 3 bottle feedings a day, they rest are done by feeding tube. They are doing great! They are both taking around an ounce per feeding, Justin a little less and Eleni a little more.

And Eleni is just over 4lbs as of two days ago. Another great milestone.

And Eleni graduated from her incubator to a crib today!!

so excited.....

I know, I am so guilty of not reading or posting on other blogs (and I am sorry about that and will try to catch up soon) but I could not help and post about today.

The babies were allowed to wear clothes that my sister sent. They are preemie NICU safe clothes. Here are some pics. (Justin had a little fashion show, he spit up on the first outfit. hehe)





And, the best news so far..........they both took their first bottle today!!!! Here are some pics of that. They did so awesome, I am so proud of them. I can't wait to feed them again tomorrow!

update on babies

The babies are doing well. She is now 3lbs 10oz and he is 3lbs 6oz. They are telling us that soon she will probably be in a crib and that she might be able to get a bottle soon. And there is still hope for them or at least one of them to be home for Christmas. So this is very exciting.

So far there is no change on the situation with her brain. It has not gotten better but not worse either. It seems like this will be something ongoing rather than something that can just be rectified before leaving the hospital. Which I guess we kind of knew but at the same time, is upsetting to us. As it is, both of them being preemies mean they will have many more doctor appointments than the normal baby and now with this situation, she will have many more than her brother. And while we were not too thrilled with putting them in day care to begin with because of the danger it poses to preemies, we don't trust anyone else to watch her right now. So it looks like I will not be going back to work and we will be struggling financially. Also, while the fluid on her brain may drain on it's own, the ventricles in her brain are misshapen. So that means that her brain did not form properly. Hopefully she will have as little difficulties as possible because of this.

Now with him, his brain is fine but we found out yesterday that he has a hernia. They don't seem to think it is a big deal, it is not that bad and very common but it is just another thing for our babies and us to deal with. He will probably have surgery done to correct this before he leaves the hospital.

It is really hard dealing with all of this. We are so grateful that they are here and are healthy for the most part but still it is just so hard. We see other babies in the NICU for a day or two or even a week but then they go home and our babies are still there. We see other babies getting bottle fed or breastfed all the time, but ours are still getting tube fed. And to get to the NICU, you have to walk past all the rooms of the new mothers and we seem them with their new babies in their rooms. And then at the end of each day, we go home empty handed.....again. All we want is to take our babies home and live our lives.