Cautiously Optimistic...Part Deux

We had another good day today. Both Ella and Emma have eaten their entire bottles for the last 5 bottle feedings in a row. They also did well nursing at the 8:00 am and 2:00 pm feedings. We decided to let them bottle feed at the 8:00 pm feeding and not nurse to see how well they would do with their entire bottle. Ella finished hers off in less than 15 minutes, and Emma finished hers in about 20 minutes. I had a very nice conversation with the night nurse about what happens next. She said she would talk to the practitioners when they made rounds about allowing Ella and Emma to bottle feed at every feeding time. They would only tube feed if the girls would not wake up for a feeding and/or did not finish their bottles. Once they have taken all feedings by bottle/ nursing for about 2 days, we will start looking at going home. So.. the end may be in sight, and we may get to bring our babies home fairly soon. We are hoping and praying that it will be about a week or less. It has been really hard to leave them at the hospital every day.

Ella is wide awake after eating.

Emma fell asleep. Of course, she had also had a bath.

Unfortunately Bryan was not able to be with me to hear this good news today because his throat was pretty sore this morning. He went to the doctor, got a shot, and will be able to go see them tomorrow (24 hours after getting the antibiotic).

Since Bryan could not go in the see the girls, my mom took me to up to the hospital for the 2:00pm feeding. As I was feeding Ella, the nurse was changing Emma. She came up to me and said Emma was going to need a bath. Apparently she had a blow out diaper that was very stinky. It went half way up her back, and I could smell it from about 5 feet away. Needless to say, Bryan was not too sad he missed out on that. If he had been there, he probably would have been the one to discover it. So, Grammie got to give Emma a bath. Emma did NOT enjoy it nearly as much as Grammie did. (Lots of crying and screaming.) She calmed right down when getting her hair washed though.

Grammie washing Emma's hair

Ella and Emma finally meet other grandparents!

My dad left the country on May 18th, one day shy of the birth of his third and fourth grandchildren. My mom waited for him to get back so that they could go together to see them. Well, that day was today. Norman and Connie Mullin got to hold and feed Ella and Emma. Dad looked a bit rusty, but did a good job with Ella. Mom didn't hesitate with Emma, she jumped in there and got'er done. While dad was in Istanbul, Turkey, working on a dairy design, the very same clients who hired him, found out about the birth of our girls and bought us gold bracelets with their names engraved on them (that thank you note is going to have to be translated). Below will be a short video of my parents with the girls and a picture of the bracelets.

The afternoon feeding was a new experience for both Carla and the girls, they got to BREASTFEED for the first time. Momma did a very good job and seemed comfortable with the whole process. The lactation nurse wanted the girls to stay "latched on" for at least five minutes this first time, Ella stayed on for 13 minutes and Emma for 11 minutes. They followed the breastfeeding with formula to make sure that they were full. Both Ella and Emma did excellent with their feedings tonight, there was nothing left, it was all gone. We continue to pray that they make progress everyday.

Milk! It's What's for Dinner.

Wednesday, May 28th, was a pretty good day. Both girls, at different times during the day, ate all of their bottles. Would I be bragging if I said that it happened while I, Bryan, was feeding them? Nah!! The nurses complimented me on my feeding techniques which led Carla to believe that I would get to do the late night feedings (Nah!). Over all, both girls are eating more everyday.

The following video is of nothing important, I was trying to see what quality I could get with the camera. It is of both girls, Ella in bed hiccupping and Emma in mom's arms. Hope you enjoy it and we will shoot better videos soon.

Cautiously Optimistic

Today, Ella and Emma did much better with their feeding from a bottle. Ella ate over half of her bottles at each feeding during the day. Emma actually ate all but 4 oz. at the 8:00 pm feeding.

For those of you who do not know, feeding is the only thing keeping them in NICU. Once they are able to take all of their feedings by bottle and finish the bottle in 30 minutes, we will be able to bring them home. They are currently alternating between bottle and tube feeding. At the bottle feeding times, they are stopped and tube fed the remainder of the bottle after about 25 minutes. Once they finish their bottles at the scheduled bottle feedings, the nurses will begin bottle feeding at the tube feeding times.

So, the fact that they ate so well during the day today, is a very good sign. We are very hopeful that they are beginning to get the hang of eating from a bottle and are even closer to coming home. We don't want to get our hopes up too high, but that sure is hard to do after such a good day. We hope and pray they will continue to do well throughout the night and tomorrow. We can hardly wait to have them home with us.

Bath Time

May 25, 2008

Today was our first bath! The nurse was very helpful in getting us all clean.

Ella didn't like her bath very well.

Emma tolerated it a little better.

We both liked having our hair washed though. Emma did a great job for her Mama.

Here we are, all warm and clean in outfits from Aunt Clora Ann.

Together Again In The Crib

May 23rd, 2008

This is the first time since being in the womb that we are together!

As snug as a bug in a pink rug that mom made.

"Who do you have?"

"I don't know, who do you have?"

We're Here!!! May 19th, 2008

First there was Ella Jean. She weighed 6 pounds even and was 18 inches long.

Then there was Emma Bryann. She weighed 5 pounds, 10 ounces and was 17.25 inches long.