Dad's Ramblings

I am so happy to report that there is nothing of concerning interest to report. Boring days are what we hope for now and are so happy when they come. There have only been slight little changes to the twins, I also think that our threshold for concern has been lowered a little, meaning that we are sort of getting used to the roller coaster ride and things have reached somewhat of a normalcy. But I will give you the most recent update.

Amelia - She is so cute. As you can tell from the pictures she is small and wonderful, full of all kinds of power to woo the socks off anyone who comes near her. She is quite laid back and is taking life as it comes.
They did an ECHO (a test that looks at the heart) because they thought they heard a murmur like Sams and as it turns out they were right. They found a PDA in Amelia too, but it is small and so they will continue to just watch and wait. She had to go under the lights again yesterday because she was a tad jaundiced but her jaundice level was down nicely today but they kept her under the lights through today just to be safe. She broke the 3lb mark last night, can't wait to see what she will weigh tonight. She is still tolerating her feedings well and they will increase her feeding amount by 1ml tonight, hers as well as Sammy's. Other than that she is just sleeping and eating and growing and being as cute as a bug snug in a rug. People that walk by them always comment on how cute they are, we always agree.

Sammy - He's a stud. He continues to wear a look of concern for his sister, wanting to know that everything is okay and that she's fine. We assure him regularly. After all, he was the one looking after her while they were uterine-mates and I think he still feels it his duty to continue his care and concern for her. He still wiggles around and always seems to be doing something funny. He sticks his legs straight out from the little papoose thing they're in or tucks his little hand curiously under his chin or is just 100% sprawled out.
He's still on caffeine (takes after his dad) to help with his breathing. They're going to watch and wait on his PDA as well, I think he will get another ECHO on Monday and Amelia will get one on Tuesday. He too is growing, not as much as his sister but he's catching up. He sleeps and eats and grows and waits for his parents to come and play with him. He's pretty cool. I wish you all could get to experience them with us, they're already amazing little people.

I held Sam last night, well first, Jenny and I both went up there together for the first time in a long while, thanks to school. So, we were ready to hold the twins together, she got Amelia and I got Sam. It was really fun because I got to get Amelia out of the isolette and give her to Jenny, some semblance of an actual family, dad giving daughter to mom. Then I got to hold Sam, both of us were holding them skin-to-skin, side-by-side one another, again like a little family only connected to all kinds of things. But hey, at least we can say we're connected.:-) Most of the time when I've held Sam he kind of noses around and grunts and squeaks and then settles in to take a nap, which held true last night as well. They're so amazing to get to hold, it is such a privilege to be a part of these precious and wonderful beings. They are both starting to visually and audibly respond to Jenny and I and their little heart rate goes up when we're around, which is so nice to know that they recognize us. Up until now it almost has seemed like we've been going to visit anyone's babies, but it is more and more feeling like these are our babies and we are their parents. Each day brings forth a new development and change.

One last thing. At this NICU we are able to choose to have what is called a Primary Nurse (I think that's the name). A Primary Nurse is someone who will work with your babies every time they work and I think there is some level of extra responsibility that goes along with it, kind of like they're the nurse in charge of your baby. We had not picked one yet because we were not sure who to pick, there are so many good ones. However, Jenny learned from her NICU parent meeting that it is important to pick one and we had both talked about one nurse in particular that we both really liked and she had hinted at wanting to be our Primary Nurse before. So, Jenny saw her last night and pounced on the opportunity and the nurse said yes. Her name is Allison and she is probably around 40 years old and very nice and laid back and gentle and good. We are very pleased. We get to choose two more nurses to basically do the same thing as Allison and so we have to try and pick them soon. I am going to talk to the charge nurse tonight about ensuring that one particular nurse does NOT ever get assigned to our little guys EVER again. She has impressed upon me a lack of skill and attention to detail that is so crucial to being an ICU nurse. Anyway, I think the papa bear in me just showed itself on this blog which means it's probably time to go.

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support and e-mails and calls and everything. We have felt so much love through this whole thing; we're so thankful and humbled by the graciousness and selflessness of so many. Thank you so very much.