Worth the Wait!

Life is good, busy ofcourse but good!!! The boys are growing very well. They are the adjusted age of 7 weeks. Even though they have been in this world for four months, the clock that most people refer to is still by their original due date of July 23rd. It was explained to us that just because the boys were taken out three months early does not mean that they will develop any quicker than if they were still in the womb, and actually they may be a little more delayed for awhile than if they had simply come into the world in July without all of the stresses of lifesaving treatments they had to face. We use the current milestones just as a loose guideline as to what to look forward to. For instance, we know that typically babies will purposefully smile around 6-8 weeks. We are not stressing about whether that happens this week or even three or four weeks from now, just looking forward to it soon!!!

Nicholas is still plagued by digestive woes and seems to "work" all day on keeping things going, if you know what I mean. This is even with all the prune juice and meds. He still has feedings where he just fights you and seems very uncomfortable but the visiting nurse and doctor all reassure us that he's growing very well despite this and as he grows and matures, these issues will quiet down. He is seven pounds, 7 ounces!!!

Alex has broke the eight pound mark and is eight pounds, 2 ounces. He has surprisingly even been less interested in feedings the last few days, and has been a bit sleepier as well. This ofcourse has made mommy paranoid that the shunt may not be working as well because this is my usually very good eater but when I call the nurse about it, she reminds me that days may vary where he takes less but as long as he is still eating, and having alert periods, enjoy the extra sleep when we can. Which is where I think a big "ha,ha" because even when Alex is sleeping a bit more, his brother is simply not in agreement yet.

At night we are still averaging about two hour blocks of sleep at a time and I don't care what mathematicians say, 2+2 does not equal a 4 hour stretch as all parents have learned. Mark is amazing and is still doing at least one of the middle of the night feedings but with the two babies, it is still a busy night when they need their medications around the clock, and having to wait 15-20 minutes after their medications before we can let them eat, usually its a good hour from start to finish with diaper changes, meds, feeding before sleep time comes again, and sometimes its only an hour or so before the other baby wants his turn. We look forward to the time that medications are weaned away and that they are able to start sleeping a bit more consistently at night and are able to be a little closer to similar schedules but I don't want to wish this time away either because it is so precious.

The boys and I enjoyed a wonderful visit with many of our friends from the church home last week. I haven't seen many of them since I was still pregnant and the last time I was there it was the baby shower and then shockingly into the hospital for bed rest just three days later. Being there for the first time again was another reminder of how blessed we are, between the wonderful friends we have made along with how incredible the boys are doing now after such a traumatic start. Mark and I continue to count our blessings every single day and even sleepless nights!!!

Here are some photos to share:

Alex contemplating what to do with his brother

One of Alex's favorite spots

Nicholas being sweet

The boys looking in the mirror and thinking Yikes, we DO look alike....

well, as long as you understand that I'm the cuter one....there won't be any trouble.

Alex doing his push ups...one....

phew, well thats enough of that.

Oh and the shirts above were given by one of my best friends that say it the best: "worth the wait." When we were trying to get pregnant I went to the specialist that had many success stories pictured on her wall. One of the pictures I seemed to always look at while I was there was a picture of twins believe it or not and they were wearing "worth the wait" t-shirts. It gave me hope and inspired me and I told my friend about it after one of the visits. Shortly after we learned I was pregnant and then with twins, my friend surprised me with these t-shirts for our boys and I'll be sending in a copy to the specialist with our own success photo!!!!! Thank You Julie!!!