One Month Old

It's hard to believe that Anderson and Jake are one month old today. The past four weeks have flown by, which I find incredibly wierd due to the fact that I am up about 20 of the 24 hours a day, so one would think that the time has dragged on.

Kevin is back at work now and even though it has only been a couple of days the boys and I have been able to keep a pretty good schedule. They are still eating every three hours, unfortunately there have been no signs yet that they can hold out longer so that we can get an extra hour or two of sleep sometime during the night. We are both incredibly exhausted and are counting down the weeks till they can start sleeping for longer periods of time.

Next Monday they have another appointment with the peditrician. We are curious to see how much weight they have gained. We know that Jake feels much heavier than Anderson and he consistently eats quite a bit more than his brother so we are guessing he is going to be a chunker. Here are some new pics of the boys.

Happy Three Weeks, Anderson and Jake!

Today we took Anderson and Jake on their first field trip. We went to Kohls for about a half an hour and then to a quick dinner. The twins slept the whole time so they didn't really take much in of their first trip out. I enjoyed going to a store and not having to be pushed around in a wheelchair, that hasn't happened in several months!

I put together a slideshow of the boys' first three weeks with Kevin's help.

Team Edgar

Anderson and Jake have been keeping us very busy! They are both doing great, eating well, sleeping when they should (most times) and making us laugh with their funny expressions and little snorting sounds that they make.

They are on a three hour eat, play, sleep schedule. It takes a little over an hour to feed them both so by the time they are fed, we clean up and make more bottles for the next feeding it leaves us with about an hour of free or sleep time till the cycle starts all over again. During the day we share the responsibilities, in the evening we each handle them independently. I usually go to bed from 7 p.m. to midnight and Kevin takes care of them and then I am up for the middle of the night feedings while he sleeps. Kevin goes back to work next Thursday so it will be interesting to see how I will survive. The boys are awesome though so it is well worth it!

Finally a Family Picture

And it only took 11 days. They had a good appointment yesterday, I don't think we have a feeding problem anymore. Anderson gained 11 ounces in 5 days and Jake gained 14. The doctors only look for about an ounce a day. They said we could take Anderson off of the high calorie formula. Nights have been interesting, Tammy usually goes to bed at about 7pm, I stay up for the next two or three feedings till midnight or 1am, and then Tammy takes the next two after getting some sleep. Of course we both end up waking up for nearly every session because they fuss a bit.

I also posted a little video of a hiccup battle they had going for a while when we had them both in the same bouncy seat.

MVI_5723

I am so in love!!!!!!!!!

Well I finally have a free minute to update, although I should probably use the time to be sleeping instead but I had to let everyone know how in love I am with Anderson and Jake! This past week has been the best of my life. I cannot express how much I love being a mom, how much I love Kevin, and how I cannot wait to watch them grow and develop. They are our dream come true and our miracles. We are so grateful that they are healthy and developing well.

Many thanks to all of you for all of the emails of support, prayers, and congratulations. Hopefully one day when we share this blog with the boys they will realize how loved and wanted they were by us and friends and family alike. We wish we could respond to them all but as you can imagine we are a little busy right now. In fact I ask Kevin almost everyday what day of the week it is or he will ask me the same question three times in a hour.....sleep deprivation can really take its toll. We will use the blog now to shamelessly brag about Anderson and Jake and to post pics :) Hope everyone will enjoy them as much as we do!

And if you're not sick of them yet, here are some more pictures in an album.

Or a nifty slideshow.

Together at Home

We are all home now. Anderson ate well again last night and gained a little weight, which combined with the special lights he was under, helped reduce his bilirubin levels (used to measure jaundice) to a normal range. With that he was discharged this morning and we brought him home to see his brother again.

Tammy has been amazing, her motherly instincts have kicked right in. It's eases my mind to know that when I can't handle something she's right there to show me the way it should be done. Tonight I'm trying to help her get some sleep, because she hasn't gotten much since we've been home, by taking all of the changing and feeding responsibilities tonight, if she'll let me. Her birthday is tomorrow, it's my gift to her, if she'll accept it. It's hard for her not to be awake, checking on them and making sure they are ok.

We are still yet to have a picture taken of the four of us together, we will have to do that tomorrow. We'll have to get some new pictures up soon.

Kevin

We're Home, Anderson's Isn't

He lost a little weight during the day yesterday, more than they wanted to see so he had to stay. Tammy is in some pain, we've paged the doctor so hopefully he can take a look while we're there with Anderson. Then we have to get back to take Jake to the pediatrician on the other side of town, so no time for a good update.

Thanks.

Kevin

Getting Better

Anderson was doing much better yesterday afternoon, after a good feeding he was able to come back to the room with us around 1:00 pm. Both of them are latching on very well now, Jake still seems to have a much larger appetite, but Anderson is definitely eating plenty and passing it through, and as a result he has been much more alert and aware of things around him (as much as a 4 day old can be I guess). It is a big relief. They both went to the nursery again last night and Tammy was able to get the most sleep yet. We went down to be with Anderson and so Tammy could feed him at 3am, it was just about his best session yet, a touch over twenty minutes with a lot less stimulation needed to keep him awake and focused. Tammy is down with him again now, this will be his second feeding since the 3:00 one.

Tammy and Jake are going to go home today, we haven't talked to Anderson's pediatrician yet, so we're not sure about him, we're hoping tomorrow. There is still a lot to be done yet, Tammy has to have some staples removed and they both have to be circed (which I think will happen to both today). Not sure what time we'll be leaving, but the more time with Anderson the better.

Anderson Update

Well, Tammy is back and we've spoken with the doctor about Anderson (see last post). It looks like he won't be coming home with us tomorrow, they want to see him eating more. Tammy is going to go back down there in a bit to try and feed him again, he took about 15 ccs this morning and was on the breast a llittle to, but very slow.

We can't wait to be home together as a family.

Back in the SC

Anderson is back in the special care nursery, although he never technically left, he was still in their care, just spending his time here with us. Yesterday he was doing rather well, and they mainly had him there to finish administering his anitbiotics to prevent serious infection. We were told he could come back with us after an adequate feeding and good sugar level test. We tried once with no luck, but he was fast asleep and was pretty fresh off the dextrose iv. An hour later we tried again with the lactation consultant and he got a good 15 minutes in, an hour later tested well, and was sent to our room. Last night before bed we tried to feed him, but it was a real struggle, he only took in about 10cc and that took a lot of stimulation, where his brother will take 30 without nearly as much agitation. We sent them to the nurseries last night so Mommy could try and get some sleep, Jake to the regular nursery, Anderson to SC. When we called this morning, he only took in 10 cc at his two feedings and that is not enough, they had to give him some additional nourishment through his iv. I spent an hour with him this morning before they kicked me out for the nurse shift change, and Mommy is there now, we're waiting to hear what the doctors have to say.

We were hoping we would all be able to go home today (before the feeding issues last night with Anderson), but yesterday Tammy's doctor stopped in and mentioned he would like her to stay until Sunday. She didn't like the sound of that, but if Anderson has to stay it will be easier all around, saving us trips back and forth, close attention for Tammy and the kids, plus another day of help in these first few days that can be scary is welcome.

They should be getting circed today by Tammy's doctor who has been great, they don't know whats coming. I'm not sure if Anderson will be an issue since he is in SC.

So here's hoping Anderson can learn to enjoy food as much as his dad does.

Kevin

Together Again Pictures, and Anderson update.

Anderson is in the room with us. It was a long 2 days without him, but we're very happy to have him with us now. After a successful feeding today and a good sugar level test, he was brought to our room. We were finally together as a family.

See some pictures (but curiously, none of the four of us yet).

Thanks again for all the love, support,comments and well wishes.

Kevin

More Pictures

For those interested more pictures can be found (and downloaded) at my webshots account. To download a full image, click the magnifying glass beneath the pic to open it up at full size. Then right click the image that pops up and select save image as and you can name it and save it to your computer.

http://community.webshots.com/album/556826356ixXHkv

They're here!

We proudly announce the arrival of.....

Jake Thomas (top), 12:23pm, 6lb 4oz, 19 inches and Anderson James (bottom), 12:24 pm, 6lb 7oz, 20in

Anderson is in the Special Care Unit, he was working a little too hard to breathe, he had a lot of the fluid in his lungs that didn't get squeezed out during the c-section. He had an x-ray of his chest done to check for pneumonia and it looked good. They put him on oxygen so he didn't have to work so hard. We hope to have him back with us in the morning. Mommy is doing well, but pretty exhausted. We hope to have some better pictures soon. Thanks for all of the love and support.

Kevin