It is hard to believe that this week the babies were a month old! During this week we had an ice storm. There are a few pics in the slide show that do not do it justice. I never left the house of course so I cant show the enormity of it. We lost power for half a day and then it went on and off for the next few days. I prayed like crazy that it would stay on, we were worried about the babies getting too cold. Luckily with out gas fireplace, even when the electricity was off, we all stayed warm. My family and some of our friends were without power for days, it was awful! The babies are amazing, they are growing so fast. At this point we were still bathing in the sink and it is not something they like at this point. They do not sleep at the same time. Calla will sleep half the night and then Carter the other half. No sleep for mommy! Small smiles started to appear on occasion but not purposeful yet. The babies both sleep in Calla's crib so if Carter grows up to love the color pink, it will be our fault. :-) The dogs, Tusk and Blu, are adjusting well. They really want to lick the babies all over so it is a challenge not to let them. When one of them cries the dogs are the first ones there and look at us as if to say "hurry up already and make it all better". It is really cute. Tusk will cry along sometimes, its hard not to laugh. The babies do love their pacifiers which is great now, I know it will be a challenge later. Aunt Shelley, Uncle Aaron, Cousin Cade and Austin visited this week to. It was brief for Austin and Aaron due to the ice storm but Shelley and Cade stayed for a while. It was fun.

Three Weeks Old

The babies were now three weeks old and we had a great week. We were finally settled in at home and things were going well. They went to their first doctor's appointment on Monday the 20th. Carter weighed 6lb 6oz and was 19 inches long. Calla weighed 6lb 5oz and was 18.5 inches long. The only issue we had was Calla's eating. She was having trouble with her suck/swallow/breathe coordination. They ordered a speech therapy evaluation. They sleep 3 to 4 hours a night at the most which is great if it were at the same time. They seem to want separate schedules. We had lots of visitors this week. Our friends Katy Seifritz, our Maw-Maw (Hilary's Mom) and her friends Judy and Jeanette, and then Susie Hedrick, Mrs. Logan, and Jenny Meesey stopped by. We had a great time with them all and it was great for them to meet our little ones!

Jan 17th and 18th, 2009

This was our first weekend at home. Jamey worked on Saturday but was off again on Sunday. My first day alone with the babies went really well. We were very tired but it was still so amazing and fun! Our good friends Michelle and Eric came to meet our little ones for the first time and had a great visit. They live across the street and are expecting a baby girl in may named Hannah. We cant wait to meet her! We had a lot of firsts such as first time in the swing and the first baths at home. We bathed them in the sink since they were still so little. The baby bath tub was way too big! Despite the what the picture portrays they did not like their baths at all! But, they sure were cute in the sink!

Home At Last!

January 16, 2009. This was the babies first full day at home. The babies slept a lot and we still had to wake them to eat, so at this point things were still easy. It was a little nerve racking at time because there were no monitors to watch to know that they were OK. (They of course did just fine.) This was Jamey's last day off before heading back to work again so we just enjoyed the day! Our babies were HOME AT LAST and we were finally the family that we had been wanting for so long! It was amazing. I think that we spent at least 80% of the day just looking at them in disbelief that they were here and ours to keep!

At Last!

I called the morning of January 14th to check on how the babies did over night and got the news: The Bowling Twins were FINALLY COMING HOME! We were so excited! Before we could come home two more things had to happen. We had to take infant CPR and room in for a night. The CPR was done in no time and then we moved with the babies to a room on the pediatric hall to spend the night. They just want to make sure that we were all ready to go home and do well. It was great they were finally in our hands to hold and take care of! Dr. Pickhardt stopped by to take a quick photo! He has been an amazing Dr. to me and we have a lot to thank him for! We still had to wake the babies to eat so we set alarms for every three hours and got very little sleep but we didn't care it was great!

January 15, 2009. The next morning we opened the curtains to find that it had snowed and was still snowing. Not only that it was 5 degrees outside. I could not believe that we finally got to take the babies home and it was so cold. Luckily we got home with no trouble and the babies did not freeze into tiny babypops.

Our family had finally come together and how amazing it was to all be home!

Two Weeks Old!

January 12, 2009. Calla and Carter are TWO weeks old! We could not believe how fast the time was flying! They were still in the NICU at this time but doing well. Carter was taking all feedings by mouth and doing well. Before a baby can go home from the NICU they have to pass a car seat test. This is were they put the baby in the car seat for 30 minute and watch the monitors to make sure that they breath properly. Carter did not pass. His oxygen level dropped and he turned a funny color. Thank God we weren't there to see it! They said they would try again in a few days. We still believe that it was because he did not want to leave his sister behind all by herself. Calla was not ready for her test yet. She was only taking 3 out of 4 feeding by mouth and that was a struggle. The babies already had such a bond; if one was fussy all the nurses had to do was face them toward each other and they calmed down. So sweet!

January 13th, 2009

Yeah! They passed the test! It had been two days since Carter's failed car seat test, so they tried again with both babies and they passed! I was there for Carter's and he was so cute in that car seat. He looked so tiny! It really made me want to take them home even more! Other than that milestone the day was more of the same. The only obstacle was getting Calla to eat all of her feedings by mouth.

No more tubes for Carter!

Jan 11th, 2009. And again the tube was pulled out. This time they left it out!

January 9th and 10th, 2009

Volunteers make these tiny little hats for the babies in the NICU. They also recieved quilts that were made by a different organization and donated, called the Linus project I think (like charlie brown). The quilts cover the isolette/baby warmer. I loved their little hats and thought it made for cute pictures together. In some of the pictures it looks as if Carter is kissing her head. We think that this just means in the years to come that he will love and protect his sister everday. (Very Sweet!) Carter AGAIN pulled out his feeding tube. At the end of the slide show he has it back in with some very large heavy duty white tape so that it would stay put (0r so they thought).

Yes the babies are still in the NICU. Small steps every day get them closer to coming home. They are wearing their own clothes now which is really fun. The nurses started letting us do more for them such as diaper changes and bathing. Jamey dressed Calla for the first time, he did very well and is an amazing daddy! On this day we also took our first family portrait as you can see in the slide show. Holding both babies also gave us a glimpse of what it was really like to have two babies, lots of fun!

Starting Week Two

I can not believe that we went a whole day on the 6th with no picture taking. At this point we were settling into a routine. We or I went to every feeding during the day which was every three hours and encouraged our little ones to eat by mouth so that we could get rid of the feeding tubes. They were also at this time trying to wean them off of the warmer. Slowly but surely we were making progress. Carter was doing a little better with the feedings than Calla, both taking about two or three feedings by mouth per day at the most and tube feeding the rest.

The Twin Connection

The twins are officially one week old on this day. We walked into the NICU to find them in the exact same position (the first picture). The twin connection begins! It was so sweet! Then when Calla started to wake she leaned her arm over his, even sweeter! Maw Maw came to visit again also.

Together Again!

Big day! This was Sunday, almost one full week after they were born and Calla and Carter are together again! It was truely the sweetest thing that we had ever seen. Our sweet babies back together in the same isolette were they could keep each other warm and cozy. Also, no more oxygen! This day was awesome! They got to wear clothes for the first time so they finally were like real babies. The only hurdles left were to eat on their own and maintain their own temperature. We continued kangaroo care. These are also the first pictures of Carter without any tubes. He pulled his feeding tube out (wouldnt be the last time either) so we snapped some pictures before they had to put it back down. We even got a tiny smile out of him.

January 3rd, 2009

Day six. This was a very exciting day. Carter now had no umbilical lines. They both still had IVs but nothing going through them. Oxygen still in place and both with tube feeding. Today we finally got to hold Carter. They both got to do Kangaroo with mommy. This is were they put them down into my shirt so that they had skin to skin contact. It was amazing to finally hold them close. Carter was done with the lights and his poor little face had broken out because of them. Tiny steps are being made to get them home!

Day five. Carter now had jaundice and had to be under the billi lights. I started calling him batman with his little foam glasses on, it was adorable. He loved them too, I think he took a two day nap; he was so peaceful when before he had been a little cranky. Calla was off the oxygen tent and now trying to wean off the oxygen. Both still had the IV's only Carter had one less umbilical line (one to go). Calla might already be a daddy's girl, she loved to hold daddy's hand.

Day Four was New Years Day. Not the best way to spend the holiday (in the hospital) but at least we spent it with our sweet babies! Today when they did their daily chest xray of the babies lungs they found that Calla had a pneumothorax. She had been breathing really fast and they were a little worried, this was why. They put her in an oxygen tent as you can see in the pictures at 100% oxygen to fix it and luckily it was fixed in one day! Nothing new with Carter today, slowly trying to wean oxygen and get him off the IVs. Calla continued her tube feeding but the pneumothorax set her back a little. Granddad (Hilary's Dad) met his newest grandchildren on this day.

December 31st, 2008

Day three was a good day. Carter was removed from the cpap and now just required oxygen. This allowed us to see his tiny face much better. Calla was still on oxygen also. They both still had lines or IVs. Calla was being tube fed while I believe that Carter was still on the IV nutrition.

December 30th, 2008

Day two we got to hold Calla for the first time. She was so tiny and beautiful. Carter was still on the cpap and we would not get to hold him until his umbilical lines came out. He was stable and doing well. Maw Maw (Hilary's Mom) and Granddaddy and Grandmommy (Jamey's Parents) got to meet their newest grandchildren also on that day.