Week One: Somehow We Made It!

Well, it has been a week since the boys were able to come home. Somehow, we have survived it! Emma came home on Saturday evening, and was so happy to be home and to meet her brothers. She is really doing a great job at being the big sister, and loves her brothers a lot.She loves them so much that she decided that she needed to hold William one day. He was laying on the couch while Aaron was getting his bottle ready and when Aaron turned around, Emma was picking William up. I don't know if she just couldn't hold him, or if Aaron's quick movements startled her, but she started to drop him. Aaron ran over to her and caught him right in time! I was taking a nap during all of this and Emma came running up to the bedroom, extremely upset, saying "I'm bad." I felt sad for her but I was really concerned for William at the same time. We had a family home evening that night about the rules of the babies (always wash hands before touching them, only hold them if mom or dad are helping, etc.). She has been very careful since then to follow the rules! Some of you may wonder what our days are like. Mine (or Aaron's) day begins at 2 am, depending on whose turn it is to do the 2 am feeding. They each can eat 50-60 cc's (that is 50-60 mL and I think about 2 ounces) at a time. We wake up Jonathan first, change his diaper, warm his bottle and then feed him. This whole process takes anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how quickly he eats. Then, we put him back to bed and then do the same thing for William. If it is my turn, I take another 10-15 minutes to pump before going back to bed. Then, whoever didn't do the 2 am feeding gets up at 5 am and does that feeding. This way one of us should be getting 5 solid hours of sleep at a time. The boys eat at 2,5,8,and 11 (am and pm). That is one of the pros of them being in the NICU for a week. The nurses did all the work of getting the boys on a schedule, and I didn't have to do any of it! In my spare 2 hours between feedings, I am desperately trying to do laundry, wash bottles, and take care of anything else that needs to be done before the next feeding frenzy begins. So, if you have called or emailed and I have yet to respond, I am sure you understand why! We have had a few requests for side by side pictures of the boys. We don't know yet if they are identical or not (sometimes the only way to know is a DNA test, and I don't want to pay for one-and besides, it doesn't really matter anyway). I can totally tell a difference. Some of their nurses could tell them apart, others couldn't. Can you? Just in case we get confused, we lay them in the same order of their birth. Baby A (William) is always on the left and Baby B (Jonathan) is always on the right. Here they are from the side. I think they look a little more alike here than in the picture with their eyes open.

The boys are two weeks old now, and had a doctor's appointment on Monday. Jonathan is back up to 5 pounds 2 ounces and William was 4 pounds 15 ounces. They had each gained 3 1/2 ounces in the three days since they left the hospital. They have another appointment this coming Monday and we will see how much they have gained over the course of a week.

It sure has been nice to have all my kids home, but I am so tired! Aaron has been such a big help, and takes Emma to do fun things often so that I can catch a nap in the afternoons. I am not sure if we will ever get this figured out and I am really scared to have to do this on my own when Aaron goes back to work! Luckily, he still has another week at home before he has to go back. I guess that when that time comes, I will have to be satisfied if we are all clean, fed and happy, even if the laundry and dishes are piled up and nothing else has been done!

That's about it for now.