4 month old babies

Pictures taken on Christmas day.

Little family o' five.

2 cutie babes.

heh heh.

Ivan in his cool new jammies-with dump trucks and excavators on them, of course.

Isaac has been off his oxygen for nearly 3 weeks now and is doing great on room air. He weighs about 12 lbs. He is the smilingest baby-so sweet. He has a few little coos but mostly likes to smile and giggle. Erik is about 17 lbs-built like a little sumo wrestler. He loves to coo and goo and also has an infectious giggle. Everyone comments on how blue his eyes are. They both have blue eyes but Erik's seem to be a little lighter-maybe they'll stay blue. We enjoyed some quiet holiday moments. We do allow grandparents to see them so we spent Christmas day with Lance's mom and dad and that was very nice. Ivan and I went to the Benjamin gathering on the 26th while Lance stayed home with the babes.

Pictures!

Lance took Ivan with him to Havre today so the babies and I are just eating, sleeping, and getting things done:)

Here's Ivan in his fab new sandbox. I try to get the babies down for naps at the same time in the morning so we can go play in it before lunch. I'm finally starting to get the hang of playing like a little boy-building roads, back, back back, dump, dump, dump. I was kind of lame at first (here, let's bake a cake, we'll use this stick for a candle). Sleeping cherub (Erik).

Isaac sleeping with his eyes still open a bit-doesn't want to miss out on anything!

All my men. Lance is a natural, don't you think? Looks like you've got it under control, honey! I'll be back in a few hours....

Babies are doing awesome! :)

I see my last post was exactly 1 month ago. Time flies when you're changing 400 diapers/day:) The babies are over 3 months old now. Isaac had an appt with the pediatric specialist today. He is doing great and will most likely be off the oxygen and the monitor in a couple weeks. Yay! Wireless by Christmas is the goal. He is 11# even. Erik is over 14 # now and cooing and smiling. Isaac is quick with the smiles but doesn't have anything to say yet. Ivan, on the other hand, keeps us in stitches with the things that come out of his mouth. I got after him the other day and he said, "Don't! I'm fragile!" He is quite helpful and likes to be involved with whatever is going on. He especially likes to make muffins or cookies-anything that involves dumping things in. We finally got some sand in his backyard sandbox (thanks to my Dad) and he loves that.
We had a lovely Thanksgiving. Stayed home and counted our blessings-and fed and changed them!:) We have so very much to be thankful for...
We have weekly clinic visits so my Mom has been coming to watch whomever is not seeing the doctor. We all enjoy her company and the change of pace.
When the weather was nice we would all bundle up and head outside for a walk. As you can imagine, it took about the same amount of time to get ready to go out as it did so enjoy the walk... I put Isaac in the front pack,, his oxygen in the backpack, Erik in the stroller and Ivan running along beside. I still have one hand free...maybe we need to get a dog or something...kidding! Of course, we can't go anywhere public but it works well to walk to the school after hours and walk around the track.

Halloween fun

Isaac and Erik in their kiddopotomus wraps. Ivan with his jack o' lantern. We roasted the seeds but he "didn't yike 'em."

Erik and Isaac: two peas in a pod.

Ivan with 2 little pea pods.

Erik and Isaac- 10 wks old.

Erik and Isaac-2 months old!

Our little men are doing fine at home. I stay pretty occupied keeping their bellies full and their diapers empty. Ivan is such a great little helper-so willing to fetch things for me when I am taking care of Isaac, since he's on a leash. Both babies were weighed this week. Growing like little weeds. We go to lots of doctor appointments so they are watched carefully. Thankfully nobody has gotten sick.
Erik taking a little snoozeroo. Tsk-on his belly.

Isaac with his fashion accessory.

Four bright little eyeballs...and Isaac is bored with the whole thing. Ivan, Erik, Isaac.

Erik 9# 5oz. Isaac 6# 5oz.

This is Isaac in the little gown that was specially made for my Dad when he was born because he was a preemie as well and there was nothing to fit him. Isaac is all upset because he thinks it's a dress. Mooo-om!!

Isaac's eyeballs are lookin' good

Mom and I just spent two action packed days driving to Missoula and back with 2 babies for Isaac's followup eye appointment. The NICU team checked his eyes once a week and sent the images to this eye doctor so this was the live exam. They are checking for retinopathy which can occur during oxygen therapy if the dose is too high. They don't want to see O2 saturation levels above about 97 percent while a baby is at risk for this. The blood vessels that grow around the eye are just under the retina and don't finish growing completely until very near term. In a preemie, the blood vessels can grow abnormally-toward the center of the eye instead of around the curvature and toward the front of the eyeball. Growing toward the center of the eye pulls at that thin retina and can cause detachment. Isaac's are fine-the vessels are mature and grew like they were supposed to. As he is home on oxygen, we are glad to not have to worry about the dose being too high. We are thankful to cross a worry off our list and not have to make that long trip again soon! It was a beautiful drive and we enjoyed the fall colors immensely.

So our days here consist of keeping tummies full and diapers empty, and going to doctors. The days and nights are busy but we are loving these three little boys!

Home again...

Happiness is...
...having my baby home
...being the Mom of 3 boys
...finding toy hay bales in my purse:)

My Mom stayed with Ivan and Erik while Lance and I went to Great Falls to pick up Isaac today. It was quite the ordeal as we had to meet with the rep for his equipment and then drag it all home as well. He is doing fine and it's good to have his sweet little face around again. He has oxygen, an apnea monitor, and a couple medications. I am so thankful for all the fantastic support we have in our family and friends...

Pics of my boyos

Isaac is still in the hospital at the moment so these are mostly from his brief few days at home. He is doing fine there and hopefully we can give it another go sometime this week. We don't ask when anymore, just wait and see what each day brings. We miss him!. You'd think one baby would fill up a house but there is just something about that sweet little face.

Isaac with his oxygen up his schnoz, recovering from his surgery. Looking kinda crabby about it. This was on Saturday. We brought him home Tuesday (10/6) without it. The timing on this one is hilarious. Here I thought Erik is my mild one and it looks like he's taking a swing at his much bigger brother.

Ivan wants to be in on the first feeding at home with Isaac.

Little baby Isaac, home in his nifty swing. The little hand to the left tells the rest of the story. Ivan thinks that swinging should be a more vigorous activity:) Ivan is adjusting very well to being outnumbered! He is a great big brother and helper.

Isaac, Ivan, Erik

Erik and Isaac. Not hard to tell them apart:)

I seriously have my hands full with these two! Isaac and Erik.

Ivan has been having an absolute ball in the fall leaves. We go out and play in them every afternoon. I actually do get a few in a bag.

Isaac's first airplane ride

We had 2 blissful days at home with all our babies. On Friday, Isaac started to have some respiratory distress so I took him in to the ER. They took great care of him here in Chester and got him on some oxygen. But they are obviously not set up for neonates so we took the evening flight to Great Falls and he is back in his cozy NICU bed. You probably didn't even know Chester had a direct flight to Great Falls. Poor little Isaac didn't even enjoy it-he screamed the whole way. He is negative for RSV (respiratory syncitial virus) and the regular flu. Test for H1N1 (swine flu) has to go to state lab and won't be back until at least Monday. So he will be in for at least a few days until those results are back. He is very stable with the oxygen and doesn't act sick. Dr. Duritz is on this week and he was the neonatologist who was there when the twins were born. He has twin grandsons himself so he told us that ours are the 2nd best looking twins he has ever seen:) This morning Dr. Duritz talked with us about Isaac's chest x-ray. It shows diffuse infiltrates (little patches of white on the lungs where a normal x-ray shows dark). He said if the baby has no other symptoms the x-ray would be considered insignificant. But since Isaac is seeming to need continuous oxygen the x-ray indicates bronchopulmonary dysplasia. His lungs are a little inflamed and irritable. The upshot is that he will come home on oxygen and be on it until he outgrows this. There will always be some dysplasia but as the lungs grow, the new tissue is healthy and eventually the diseased portion is a small percentage of the entire lung. One of Dr. Duritz's twin grandsons had the same issue as a neonate. He was home on oxygen for 6 months, and is now doing fine, playing sports, hiking in the mountains, etc. So he will outgrow this and for now just needs some "vitamin O" (oxygen:). It could be for a couple weeks to a few months. We feel so thankful for all that is available to us medically to help our little son:) We will also have to be careful at home to not use scented products or burn candles as these are all irritating to sensitive lungs. They emphasized the need to continue to keep our visitors to a bare minimum (we are allowing grandparents only at this time). He weighed in last night at 5# 11oz. Lance's parents and my Dad were both in Great Falls on other business but were able to stop by the hospital and offer their support so that was nice. Lance and I visited again this morning and fed our little man. He is doing very well on his oxygen. The NICU will move to their new unit in the new tower on Monday so he gets a new cushy room at the resort. His nurse gave us a quick tour and it is beautiful and state of the art. Lance and I came home to the other two boys and we all took a NAP:) Mom went back home for the rest of the weekend. I did take some pictures of the 3 boys so will get them on here soon but wanted to update while I had a few minutes. Ivan is awake now so those few minutes are up:)

3 sweet boys.

One of the benefits of having a NICU baby (or two) is that they are on this fantastic schedule. We are happily humming along here. Keeping these three clean and fed is a full time job. It is wonderful to have my Mom here for a few days. My dishes magically are washed and put away. I put laundry in the washer and next time I check it is neatly folded. Ivan is quite sweet with the babies-of course it helps to have Grama here giving him extra attention. He went out and played in the leaves this afternoon. Very cute to watch him jump around and enjoy them. We weren't sure whether to rake leaves or shovel snow today. The day started out with fog and turned to cold, blustery wind and swirling, dry snowflakes. Temp in the 20s. ZZzzbrr.

TWO Baby Eriks!!

We thought Ivan's reaction to meeting Isaac was priceless:) Isaac is home at last. Our hearts are full, our cups overflowing.

Isaac post op day 4

This blog is helping me from having the days run together quite so much. Lance and I each went to one care time with baby Isaac before heading back home to Chester today. He is improving bit by bit. His oxygen came off this morning, he is at full feedings and his IV is out. Now the game is maintaining the progress he has made. His cute little face is that much cuter without the oxygen tubing running across it.
Erik had several darling smiles for me today. Gas or not, they were adorable on his chubby little face.
Ivan and I went for a walk today. We ended up at the school and I thought he might want to play on the playground while I did a lap or two around the track but he trotted right along with me. He is working on his pronouns and mixes them up in the cutest way. He was looking at a family picture of Lance, me and him when he was a baby. He pointed out "Mommy, and Daddy, and Youuuuu!!!"
There is a hint of winter in the air. No snow here but chilly, windy and spatters of rain.

Isaac post op day 3

Just got done visiting and snuggling our sweet third son. He is doing well today and making some progress. His vital signs seem to be much more stable than they were presurgery. Of course, he is still on oxygen but he is slowly weaning off. He got to start his feedings again today. Started slowly with pedialyte this morning, then a 50/50 mixture, now tonight he is on straight breastmilk. The amount has slowly increased and he will be at 40cc during the night. He is hungry and sucks it right down. His weight is 5# 1 oz. tonight. He is a darling boy. He curled his little hand tightly around my finger while I was feeding him. Making sure I didn't leave too soon with that bottle:)

Ivan had fun playing outside today. There is a big pile of gravel dumped at the end of the backyard. To most people it would just be a pile of gravel. To Ivan it was a mountain of fun. We chased each other up and down it several times and he drove it around in his trucks. Doesn't take much to entertain a creative child.

Erik is just being his usual sweet little mild self. I'm keeping my eye on him, though. These twins seem to take turns giving me trouble. If it's not one, it's the other. Scientists keep studying and trying to figure out why people age. I don't wonder anymore:)

Isaac post op day 2

Isaac is doing much better today. He was extubated this morning and is now on nasal cannula oxygen. He is still not allowed any feedings by mouth so he is giving his pacifier a good workout. When I called earlier they said he was awake and looking around. Can't wait to see and snuggle him tomorrow.

Isaac post-op day 1

Isaac stayed on the ventilator through the night. This morning the nurses were still suctioning quite a bit of icky mucous from his lungs so they sent some off for culture and started him on an antibiotic. So that was hard news. Realistically, I suppose it's not unexpected. The whole point of doing the surgery was because he has been aspirating his feedings into his lungs so this just underlines the fact that the surgery was necessary. This evening he is doing much better. He is having less secretions and he is breathing some on his own so they turned the rate down on the ventilator to 20. It was originally 30 and it has been going down slowly as they wean him off. Hopefully they will be able to extubate in the morning. We are very aware at this point in our NICU experience that there is no script for this. It is Isaac's show and he is running it. So he calls the shots and we just take it one day at a time.
We are so encouraged by all those praying for our little one. I know that people we haven't even met are praying for him because they are friends of our friends or friends of our family members. We are touched by the thoughtfulness and love poured out on his behalf.

Isaac's surgery

It has been a long, exhausting day. Lance and I and Erik were at the hospital by 8 to snuggle Isaac before they started getting him ready. We took turns with him since one of us had to stay in the waiting room with Erik. So we held and loved on him and then started the waiting. He went to surgery at 12:15 and was out about an hour later. The surgeon was happy with how the procedure went. The nurse said his vital signs were rock solid the whole time. We went to see him again and he was just resting. They are waking him up slowly so there isn't really anything we can do or much to report. Every 2 hours they are adjusting his medications. He is doing some breathing on his own and will probably be extubated in the morning. He is on IV hyperalimentation as he will not be allowed any feedings by mouth for a couple of days. Then they will start slowly with pedialyte (the neonate version of clear liquids) before going to milk. He weighs 5# now. The incision is from his xyphoid to his umbilicus. Not very long but it takes up a lot of room on him. We are back in Chester tonight.

Isaac is having surgery today.

Isaac had an upper GI study on Monday to look at the reflux problems he has been having. The study showed that he is refluxing into his airway, which is why he is having the respiratory problems he has been having. The doctors recommended a 24 hour room air trial (off his oxygen) and see how he did with all the reflux precautions in place (thickened feedings, medications, head of crib elevated). He did okay for most of the day but eventually flunked the test so the next step is to look at an antireflux surgery. This procedure is called a Nissen fundoplication and involves wrapping the upper portion of the stomach (fundus) around the lower segment of the esophagus to create a one way valve. This is a technically simple, permanent procedure that will fix the reflux problem. After talking extensively with both the neonatologist and the general surgeon we have decided to go ahead with this. It is difficult to make this decision for our tiny baby but we have tried all the other alternatives for managing the problem medically and they are not working. If he continues to reflux into his airway he is at risk for aspiration pneumonia and other chronic lung diseases, besides needing to be on oxygen. So there really is no alternative. We drove to Great Falls last night and snuggled with little Isaac this morning before he goes to surgery at 11 a.m. He is 5# now and is so cute and snuggly. The neonatologist believes that he may be home in another week or so without meds, oxygen and most importantly, without reflux. We are cautiously optimistic about this prediction since he was supposed to come home twice already. Mom and Dad Benjamin came to Chester and picked up Ivan last night. Erik is with us.

Laugh or cry moment...

It was getting to be nap time and all so I was feeding Erik and Ivan was entertaining himself at the kitchen sink for the moment. I was changing Erik on my lap-head at my knees when suddenly yellow mustard squirted everywhere. It looked like the bottle had exploded on my shirt and skirt. At that very moment I heard a scream of pain from the kitchen. Ivan had turned the water to hot and burned himself. I scooped up the mustard mess with the baby somewhere in the middle of it and headed for the kitchen. Just as I got there the messy diaper somehow evaded my arms and went skidding across the kitchen floor, spraying mustard as it went. I got the burn victim settled down and taken care of and proceeded to strip both the baby and myself. I wrapped him in a blanket and set him on my bed while I got reorganized. In the mean time he spit up and wet the bed. I got him bathed and both of us in new clothes only to find Ivan with a brand new jar of lotion open in the living room. Luckily I intercepted that one in time. Thankfully they are now both clean and napping, the kitchen mess is taken care of and the washer is running. For a few minutes there I had way too many children-and that's only 2 of them!

Saturday's visit with Isaac.

We went to Great Falls to visit little Isaac on Saturday. He is 1 oz away from being 5#. Probably will hit that mark tonight. They gain an ounce or more every day. He was so cute and sweet. We hadn't seen him since Tuesday. A few days makes a big difference. He is definitely starting to put on a tiny bit of fat. Lance thinks he looks more like Erik as he chubs up a bit. We each went to a care time and I know I had a hard time putting him down when it was my turn. We taped pictures of our family up on his crib for him and gave him a good snuggling. He is still needing some extra attention. I feel like I am describing a nursing home resident when I talk about his treatments. They are thickening his feedings with rice cereal to help with the reflux along with 2 medications-prevacid (acid blocker) and reglan (motility). The "suspicious spot" on the chest x-ray was seemingly inconsequential. He had a borderline low hematocrit and they would not have done anything about it except that in conjuction with his other issues (high heart rate and oxygenation issues) they thought some blood might help him. Red blood cells carry oxygen so that makes sense. So he got some blood Saturday afternoon. He did look a bit pale and the nurses say he is much pinker after the blood. We only saw him before he got it. However, it did not help the tachycardia so the docs are a little stumped. He was also looking a little puffy around his eyes and in his feet so he got Lasix after the blood. Preemies have immature kidneys so I guess that's that. Still on a low dose of oxygen.
Erik is a very good, mild baby. One benefit of having a baby in the NICU is they come home on a very good schedule so he eats every 3 hours and otherwise he looks around or sleeps. At 5 weeks old he is about the size of Ivan when he was born. Ivan is adjusting well. He likes to hold him-I make him wash his hands first.
Ivan has a new sandbox that he got for his birthday. We still haven't gotten any sand in it yet but Lance dumped a couple shovels full of dirt in it last night and that entertained Ivan for hours. He drove his trucks and tractors and scooped and dumped to his little heart's content. You couldn't help but smile watching him. What a happy kid! He's been so happy to be home. He entertains himself very well-playing and singing away...
We are having absolutely beautiful fall weather-my very favorite season.

Home in Chester with Erik.

Thought I better update. We are home in Chester with Ivan and Erik. Erik is doing great-had his first appt with his new family doctor and she said he was perfect. He is right around 6# now. Ivan is adjusting quite well-esp. considering all he has had to adjust to in the last month! My Mom came and helped us yesterday and he was so glad to see Grama Jewell! They played outside for 1 1/2 hours while I took a lovely nap. The neighbor kids have been over to look at him-I held him up in the window for them. I put a big sheet of freezer paper on the front door so they wrote him messages.

Isaac is still in the NICU. He is on antibiotics for 48 hours for a "suspicious spot" on his lungs that may be pneumonia. They just treat right away instead of waiting for him to get really sick so that's good. Last night's report was that he is doing well. He is on oxygen at a very low dose and his O2 saturation is good. We are planning to go down to visit tomorrow. Lance and I will take turns with the other 2 so we can each go to a care time. He is about 4 1/2 pounds now.

Erik is sleeping and Ivan is wanting some attention so better run along.

Isaac hits 4#!

Isaac weighed in at 4# 4oz. tonight. He is doing fine and expected to be discharged Tuesday. The plan changed a bit as they reviewed the situation a bit more. He is off the caffeine and oxygen and on prevacid (for reflux) instead. The thought process is that at his gestation (37 wks) he really shouldn't be needing the caffeine, he has never needed oxygen so that didn't really make sense, and the fact that caffeine can cause reflux, plus the fact that his incident was feeding related made them think that his problem could just be a weak sphincter leading to reflux-which will resolve in time. He's been off the oxygen for 36 hours and doing great. He will still go home on an apnea monitor.
Erik is home with Lance and me in Chester for the night. He has his first appointment at the clinic here tomorrow to meet his new doctor and establish care.
Ivan is at Grampa and Grama Wickums for a few days. By the end of this week we should all be under one roof again. And Ivan may be wondering if we're ever going to stop introducing new babies!

Erik's homecoming!!

Yesterday Erik was discharged from the hospital. My Mom and Ivan came down to stay with me and Erik at the apartment so I can keep coming to the hospital to take care of Isaac. So it was bittersweet to take one baby home and leave the other one. Poor little Isaac looks kind of lonely in there all by himself. He had a little setback with his breathing two days before they were supposed to both be discharged so he needed some oxygen and will be a couple more days. They ran a bunch of tests to see what the deal was since it seemed to come on rather suddenly but the consensus is that he is just acting like a preemie. Chest x-ray, blood tests, urine culture all negative. He had been off caffeine for several days and seemingly was doing fine but apparently just ran out of reserve. So they are talking of starting the caffeine again and going home with it and an apnea monitor. It was unnerving for him to be having problems again but I am thankful that they happened here. In Chester, it would have been way more involved.

Erik is doing very well at home. Bummer-now I have to do the night shift:) Ivan was very impressed with his new brother at first but now is starting to wonder why he doesn't get all of Mom's attention. Wait until the other one comes home! He was very sweet and gentle with him and said, "He's so cute." And he's great about washing his hands before touching him. He was 5# 8oz. the day of discharge. Isaac is 3# 15oz. So close to the 4# mark!

New pictures of the fam.

Ivan and Lance playing with play doh. Good thing they make those little tiny chairs sturdy! Isaac picking at his feeding tube. He finally got it!

Grama Jewell with her little sidekick. Does he look like a bundle of energy or what?!

Two tuckered out babies.

Lance with an armful of babes. They are both in cribs now. Hopefully we will be taking them home the end of this week! (Yikes! But we can't wait!).

Ivan baking "cookies." He was very busy scooping and dumping and I think coffee grounds was one of the ingredients. Grampa Warren and Grama Marcia looking on. Erik sucking his thumb.

Little Isaac snoozing peacefully.

Erik with his bright little eyeballs.

Isaac's first bath (a couple weeks ago). The little dots on his head were to hold the eye protection on when he was under the bili lights. They are long gone now.

3 weeks old and Erik hits 5#!

The twins were 3 weeks old yesterday. Can't believe it. Erik is now 5# 2 oz. and Isaac is 3# 10 oz. They can eat as much as they are interested in now and Isaac is eating more than Erik so he is doing his best to catch up. I am home for a day to get ready for babies. I washed and put away tiny things today. I don't know if I'll ever really feel ready but here we go anyway. Babies should be able to come home in about a week or so if they continue their current progress. The doctors' advice is to be extremely restricted with visitors for the first year and especially during the winter with the risk for swine flu and any other bugs that happen to be out and about. So we are planning to heed that advice and be very careful. We hate to turn away visitors who would love to see our babies but they are very fragile and we would hate it even more if they were to get sick. It was homecoming week in Chester so Ivan and I enjoyed the beautiful weather and watched the parade this afternoon. The parades aren't very long here but the kids don't go short on candy.

Feeding tubes out.

Isaac pulled out his own. He still had it clenched in his tight little fist. So the pressure is on to keep eating good. Must continue to consistently gain weight. Erik failed the crib test for the 4th time. I guess he likes his little cozy isolette. I don't blame him-some of those babies are crying and carrying on all the time. I'd stay in the nice little quiet isolette too. Better to be warm and gaining weight than using all their calories to stay warm. I'm off to give them baths and tuck them in.

The little men.

Erik is 4# 14 oz., Isaac is 3 # 6 oz. Isaac is off caffeine again for a trial period. It has a half life of 5 days so hard to tell for a bit if he will have to go back on. So far so good. Erik is nearly ready for a crib. He easily overheats in the isolette at the lowest setting but when they turn it off he gets too cold. Just have to fatten them both up a bit more. They are both chugging down their bottles and gaining weight consistently. They have the greatest expressions.

2 weeks old.

I was sick for a few days and out of commission so will try to catch up. Let's see-weights are always a hot topic. Erik was 4# 10 oz. at last weigh-in. Isaac was 3# 3 oz. So they were both up 7 oz from their birth weights. I think I even detected a little sliver of fat under Isaac's chin:) Erik already had an extra chin. While I was gone for a couple days they made some progress on their feedings. The nurses fed them with a bottle every other feeding and both of them chugged it right down. Now we are back to bottle 1x/day and breastfeeding 2x/day. I tried feeding them both at once today-that was a dog-pile! Their feedings are increased to 30cc (1 oz) for Isaac and 40cc for Erik. They are both in their isolettes at the lowest temp setting. They have bright little eyes and they are so sweet:) While I was home we had Ivan with us and it was great to see him. He is growing too I think-every time I see him! And learning new words. I'll try to update some pics on here soon. Seems like my day goes by pretty fast between trips to the NICU.

Back to work and back on the joe.

Lance is back to work today so I am holding down the NICU. Isaac started having apneic spells again so he is back on caffeine-guess he needs his joe. He will be on it for 5-7 days and they will try to wean him off it again before he goes home. If he still needs it, he will just need to go home on an apnea monitor. Both babies are at their full feeds and have their PICC lines out. Erik is maintaining his temperature so they turned off the warmer in his isolette. If he continues to maintain he goes to a bassinet tomorrow. We started breastfeeding last night and both did pretty well. Will do that once/day for now as they need to get the hang of it but the nursing/medical staff need to have a good idea of how much they are getting. It's amazing how many of the nurses have connections either to Chester or Shelby or know people we know. It's a small world. And they are doing a great job of taking care of our little men.

Isaac hits 3#!!

Here are some little pics of Ivan before the twins were born. His great grandparents Wickum gave him the tractor for his 2nd birthday. He said, "Drive it to field" and off he went. He is having a great time with his Benjamin grandparents while we are with the babies and I think keeping them very busy.

I know that 3# is still small but we think it's great:) Both babies are over their birth weights now. Isaac is 3#2oz and 16" (he grew over an inch!) and Erik is 4#5oz and 17 3/4". Their feedings are increasing every 3 hours. Isaac is actually at his full feeding now. Erik is bigger so he will reach his full feeding by tomorrow. Then we will start working on bottle/breast feeding. They are turning down their little warmers every day and they're doing great with maintaining their temperatures. Should soon be able to move to a crib. Isaac is off caffeine and not having any apneic spells. The ones he had at first he self recovered. So they are making progress every day:) Lance and I are holding them every care time now-every 3 hours.

Mom brought Ivan down to see us yesterday. It was so fun to see him and he looks so huge after taking care of these tiny babies! I do think he has grown in the week and a half that we've been down here.

So many people have asked what they can do to help or what we need. We really have everything we need at the moment for preemie things and for boys. We are staying in a Gift of Life apartment for free that is available to us for as long as we need it. We are so thankful to be able to stay here with our babies. So for those of you who have asked, we would like to suggest a donation to the foundation. The address is:

Benefis Healthcare Foundation

PO BOX 7008

Great Falls, MT 59406-7008

Thank you all for your care for us and your prayers. It means so much!

One week old!

Erik and Isaac are 1 week old today! Not much new to report-both still doing well. Lance and I are holding them 2x/day now. They are getting 8ml of milk or formula every 3 hours. They are very close to being back to their birth weights.

In our Gift of Life apartment

I was discharged yesterday. Lance and I picked up Ivan and went to our very own house for the night. It was hard to leave my little guys but, of course, they are in great hands. Today we dropped Ivan back off at his grandparents and got moved into our Gift of Life apartment. We are so fortunate to be able to stay in this free apartment while our babies are in NICU. It is funded by the foundation.
The babies are doing well. Isaac's got his PICC line now and is done with the bili light. Now Erik is under the light. I was glad to hold my sweet little babies again. They are both doing great with their feedings and as long as they keep tolerating it they will increase by 1 ml every 12 hours until they are up to the amount needed for their weights.
Ivan is having a great time at Grampa and Grama's. He is playing in the sandbox, running through the sprinkler, and loving every minute of farm life with the trucks, tractors, and combines. We miss him and look forward to having our new family all together someday. But for now, we are just very thankful for our babies doing well.

NICU news

The news on Erik and Isaac for the day: Erik got a PICC line yesterday-which means he won't have to get poked for a new IV every couple days. They attempted one on Isaac but weren't able to get it so a surgeon will put it in tomorrow. We had lots of visitors today-Grampa Cliff and Grama Jewell brought Ivan down to see us. He is having a great time with his grandparents and was full of words about the sandbox and John Deeres. Uncle Roy and Aunt Kaylee came to visit as well. Only grandparents are allowed in the NICU so they had to peek from a window. We did "kangaroo care" with the babies this evening. We do this about once/day and it is wonderful to hold them close against my skin and love on them. Isaac is under the bili light for jaundice, which is pretty expected. Erik's bilirubin level is actually slightly higher but since he is bigger, he can handle it for now. They are both doing better with their feedings. I had enough breast milk for both of them to have it for most feedings today. All in all, they are doing very well. Lance and I feel and appreciate all your loving thoughts and prayers. We feel so blessed by the support of our wonderful families and friends! God is taking wonderful care of our little family.

Happy Birthday Erik and Isaac!!

Our little twins were born on Thursday, August 20th at 32wk/6days. Isaac was running out of placenta and Erik was running out of amniotic fluid so the decision was made that it was time. We waited for Lance to get to Great Falls from Chester and then went to surgery. I felt right at home in the OR until they told me to get on the table:) They both cried right away and got great Apgar scores .(9/9, 9/10). We got to peek at them and touch them quickly, then off they went to the NICU. Both boys are doing very well. They're breathing on their own and haven't needed any supplemental oxygen or respiratory support. Feeding is going slowly. They are sweet and perfect. Their skin is so soft you can't even imagine. The medical staff here have been awesome. Isaac is the little Ethiopian with the white hat. Erik is the little peanut in the green hat.

The children

Sweet baby B~

Sweet baby A~

The double take!!