First Christmas

Well, this Christmas didn't quite turn out how I envisioned the girls first Christmas going...but we managed to fit in a little time with family and survived the madness so I guess it is all good. The pediatrician suggested that we keep the girls in and away from other children as much as possible because if either girl caught even a slight fever then they would be automatically admitted back into the hospital. The threat of a hospital stay was enough to convince us, so I wish I had tons of pictures of the girls first holiday outing and sporting their cute Christmas outfits that Lanie bought them - but instead I have two healthy girls and that's the best Christmas present ever!

I am settling a little bit more into a routine - but not without MAJOR help from others. Taylor's Mom has been our weekend and evening savior and my parents have been over all this week to help out. They are amazing! I even made it out for dinner with our friends, Ruff and Angelia, who drove down to see the girls and got the chance to feel like a human for a little while.

MM and LK are growing like little weeds and went through a little growth spurt last week and have doubled what they are eating. Today is their 4 week birthday! Kennedy's cheeks are chubbing out even more and Morgan is filling into her little wrinkles. They are amazing, happy babies and we are truly blessed. I promise to take more pictures as time allows in the next few days.

My sweet Christmas outfit that Lanie bought me

Papa's belly is the best place to nap!

No one spoils like Nana!

Newborn Pics

My friend Jeanelle spent the day shooting the girls today and she has posted a sneak peek...to die for! Go check it out!

http://gabbygrace.blogspot.com/

First Dr. Appt.

Yesterday we braved the outside world and took the girls to their first pediatrician appt. We had a welcoming party at the front door and these two women came and snatched my babies as soon as we arrived and ran off with them! Just kidding...it was Mrs. Ann (great grandmother) and Aunt Nelly! It was nice to have familiar faces to greet us. We are using Taylor's pediatrician - he insists that we only use the best! I've never been to Dr. Smith before - but I was extremely impressed with how much time she took to talk to us and answer questions and didn't make me feel like she was in a hurry to get to the next patient. Important to a new mother of 2!

The girls are doing great with their weight gain. MM weighs 4 lbs 8 oz and LK weighs 5 lbs 11 oz. The only issue that we've had so far is that the couple of formula bottles that we give the girls each day are usually followed by a series of projectile vomit. Seriously - spewed all over the wall the other night! Dr. Smith gave us a different high calorie formula to try and also gave us a prescrip for Zantac to get filled if the new formula doesn't do the trick. Other than that the girls are in picture perfect health! We are very blessed.

We also tackled our first bath this week - let's just say we haven't heard screams like that since they came out of the womb!

Sweet Daddy...

Taylor's grandmother holding LK today

Merry Christmas!

Weight Check

Just a quick update - we took the girls back to the hospital on Saturday for a weight check. Mary Morgan is now 4lbs 4 oz. and Kennedy is 5 lbs. 6 0z! So, Mommy and Daddy didn't totally freeze them to death or not feed them enough the first day at home :) We make our first trip to the pediatrician this Wednesday so hopefully they'll still be on the right track at that point.

For now, we're just trying to settle into a feeding routine. The girls eat every 3 hours and right now that's any combination of nursing and bottles of breast milk and formula. It takes a good hour to get them both fed, changed, and put back down so we get about an hour and a half break between feedings. My husband is an angel and saint and I'm seriously overwhelmed at the thought of him returning to work! Hopefully by then we'll have our feet under us a little more and will feel a little more settled. Until then we'll just try to keep our head above water. Keep us in your prayers as we walk around like zombies but truly enjoy watching our little girls grow before our eyes.

They are home!!

My tiny little head and body in this big car seat

LK smiling - perfect timing!

MM is an arm waver - finally got a good pic of her sweet face

We love our bouncy seats already!

Taylor took off of work today because being away from the girls while they were in the hospital was killing him...and boy I'm glad he did! The nurse practicioner was doing her assessment when we arrived this morning and told us that she really thought the girls would be ready to home tomorrow. It was too much for my hormones...the tears were just too much to hold back! We were over the moon with the possibility of a weekend home debut and we went to the family room to resume our regular feeding routine. A few minutes later the nurse knocked on the door and said she had confirmed with the neonatologist and they didn't see any reason why they couldn't go home TODAY! Talk about a shock! So about 4 pm today the girls were discharged from the hospital! They go back tomorrow for a weight check to make sure they are maintaining their weights and go to see the pediactrician next week. We are so thrilled to have them home and we're still in disbelief. I guess it will sink in when we don't have nurses to handle our night time feedings anymore - ha!

Thank you all for your prayers, calls and emails!!

Her own crib!

Just a quick update...Mary Morgan was moved to a crib today and out of the isolette! This is a big step toward moving home! MM weighed 4lbs 1 oz. today and they mentioned to us that once she hit the 4 lb mark that they would try and move her to a crib. This means she'll have to regulate her own body temperature instead of having the heated isolette do it for her. Please pray that this won't slow her weight gain now that she'll be burning more calories. We are very excited about this big step for our little girl!

Thanks and Apologies

MM is at 4 lbs today! That is a huge milestone - hopefully tomorrow she will get moved out of her isolette and into a crib. My great sis, Deanna, took these pics on Monday when she was sweet enough to ecort me to the hospital. PS...I think the no driving for two weeks rule is a little excessive but I am complying to please my family.

Just wanted to send a quick note to everyone and tell you thanks so much for all of your prayers and for checking in on us. We apologize if we haven't returned your calls or emails as of yet. Taylor is working so that he can be at home with us when the girls come home and I am at the NICU all day and go back with Taylor in the evening. If we aren't at the hospital we are either grabbing a quick bite to eat or sleeping. It doesn't leave much time to catch up with everyone so we're relying on this blog as a central way to keep everyone informed. We are truly blessed to have you all as friends and family and appreciate you all! Please keep us in your prayers!!

My Perfect Angels

We are home (Saturday evening)...well Taylor and I are at least. The girls are still in the NICU at the hospital but I was discharged today. Very sad to leave my babies at the hospital, but at least I know they are in good hands and they are being very well taken care of. I guess we'll be burning up the roads between Clinton and Flowood until they're ready to come home! It will be nice to sleep in my own bed and poor Taylor is worn out from taking care of everyone that he can stand a good night's rest, too. We spent the day with the girls in the NICU today. The nurses are letting us do more and more with them. Now when we go in we take them to a private room and get to feed them, change their diapers and outfits, and love on them all we want. We haven't had feeding tubes in days so their feeding is definitely progressing. Now we're just watching the scale and hoping it climbs quickly. MM is back up to her birth weight - 3 lbs 13 oz. and LK is gaining again and is at 4 lbs 15 oz. Here are a few pics:

The cute announcement hangers that Taylor's Aunt Debra painted for us

Mary Morgan saying her prayers (above) and Kennedy's cute chubby cheeks (below)

MM's poor little feeding tube

LK on her first day in the world - I love that face!

Ouch!

Taylor and I just got back from the NICU and talked to the new neonatologist on duty. He said the girls are doing really well and we should be proud. They have moved Kennedy to a crib instead of an incubator which is a step up. He wants to watch her over the weekend and monitor her eating habits and hopes that we should be able to take her home next week. Mary Morgan lost 2 oz. and weight gain is slow so it might be the following week before we are able to take her home. Both girls are as beautiful as they can be and it's killing us not to be able to hold them every minute. But, we're trying to be patient and hopefully they'll both be home in time for our first Christmas together as a family.

Yesterday after our afternoon visit to the NICU I got a really intense headache that just would not let up. After learning that it would resolve itself by my laying flat on my back, we learned that it was a spinal headache which is caused by spinal fluid leaking out through my spinal block injection site. Therefore, whenever I sat up there wasn't enough spinal fluid around my brain and that was causing my headache. So, this morning I had what they call a blood patch where they draw blood from your arm and inject it into your spine to clot around that injection site. The spinal block was my biggest fear of the whole C-section and I can't believe I had to do it twice!! It certainly wasn't fun, but the headache relief was almost instant so I'm feeling TONS better now.

Hope to post some new pics of the girls soon. They are sporting cute little bows in their hair today :)

Update

Wow...the past 48 hours have flown by! The girls are both still in the NICU but they are doing GREAT. They don't have IVs or oxygen - they are mainly just in the NICU until they can prove that they are mature eaters (sucking and swallowing) and of course, putting on some weight for MM. She will have to be between 4.5-5 lbs before they'll release her. Today has been so crazy running back and forth to the NICU every 3 hours for feedings - it's amazing how little time there ends up being in between to accomplish much else - like showering much less resting!

Last night they moved us to a postpartum room about 10. I told Taylor that I felt like I had been con'd into buying one of those really crappy timeshares where they show you the luxurious condo with all the amenities and then when you actually show up at the door it's a roach motel. We were both too exhausted to complain last night but the room was seriously the size of a closet and felt just plain dirty. Good thing the girls were in the NICU because I can't imagine where in the world we would have put them! Thank goodness my fabulous doctor dropped by today to do her rounds and got us moved to a larger, newer and MUCH nicer room. I feel like I'm at the Ritz after last night! I should be here until Saturday morning and we're taking the girls day by day - we have no accurate estimate of how long they'll be here. I just know I can't wait to get them home and snuggle them all I want!! (I'll post some new pics soon - we learned today we can take the camera into the NICU)

They're Here

Well, Krisa's water broke about 1:30 last night sending us to the hospital pretty early this morning. After waiting around for the sun to rise we had a section at 9am. Laura Kennedy(5 lbs 2 0z) was born at 9:01am with Mary Morgan(3 lbs 13 oz) right behind at 9:02am. Both babies are doing well, but are staying in the NICU to regulate their body temp and eat well. Krisa is also doing great post op. Will keep you posted on any development.

Mary Morgan
Kennedy

Both

Kennedy

1 down...3 to go!

Doctor's appointments that is. After today I have 3 appointments left and then it's delivery day! We confirmed that we're on for December 15 and should have babies by 8:30 am that day! Does anyone else hate it that they have to tell you every possible thing that could possibly go wrong when they make you sign those consent forms? My appointment today was pretty uneventful - she didn't even examine me. I had my sonogram and both of the girls were breathing well, hearts beating strong, and they were moving around like crazy (like I needed a sonogram to tell me that). My BP was TOO good - I meant to do some jumping jacks or something so that it would be up and she'd be motivated to move my date up...just kidding! Nothing exciting to report which I guess is the way we want it even though I've been tinkering on the edge of insanity trying to figure out how I'm going to make it 2 whole weeks!