Growing babies

The kids are still continuing to grow faster than we can keep up with! Last night, Fin was 5 lbs 9.6 oz and Maggie is just behind at 5 lbs 7.1 oz. They are growing like little weeds!

Fin took 3 full bottles during the night last night and slept through 1. Maggie tried 3. She drank 1 full one and about half of the other two. This is about where Fin was a couple of days ago, so I think she's getting there too. I think both of them are about ready to take off on this bottle business. Hopefully, they will start chugging 4 per shift soon :)

Fin had his follow up head ultrasound yesterday. The spot is still there, but it is even smaller than before. The doctor is not at all concerned about it. Yay for continued progress there!

Here are a couple pictures of the kiddos. Fin was considering something in the first picture. It makes me think of Mel's pose in the 1987 Christmas pageant video we have of when I was born (hmmm, a sleeper?!). The other is when I was holding both of them yesterday. This was right after Maggie hit Fin in the face. He didn't get mad, but did grunt at her a few times. It's a good thing he is so chill!

Bottles on bottles

We are continuing to work on bottles for both kiddos. Maggie officially can try whenever she wants as of this morning. Hopefully she will start to catch up with her brother. Fin is still trying about 3 times a shift. He is typically finishing about 5 of the 8 every day. Sometimes he squeezes in a half bottle as well. It will take some time for them to build up their muscles, but hopefully by the end of next week, or the beginning of the following week, we will have these kiddos home.

I think John and I are both realizing how exhausted we will once we have these kids home. We have been staying at the hospital and getting up for feedings that they look like they want a bottle. It's hard here because you walk down brightly lit hallways to get to their room and then to go back to bed. We are ready for controlling how bright the lights are and being in our own bed!

Last night, I installed the carseats in my car. We want to get them inspected before we bring the kids home and there is one nurse that is certified here that will do it for us. I figured if we can have them installed already we can work around her schedule. My neighbor Nino noticed that I was installing them and came running over asking if I was going to get them to bring them home :) I chatted with him and his wife Marilyn for about 30 minutes. She said whenever we need someone to hold a baby, to let her know! :) I think she will be a great help for us if we need a quick break or a babysitter when we get more comfortable.

The kids do have to pass a carseat test before we can take them home as well. Basically we put them in their carseat and let them hang out for an hour. We just need to make sure they can continue to breathe and keep up their oxygen levels for an hour so we don't have any issues on the drive home or around town. I had John help me bring the carseats up so we can potentially try that today. It's good to be checking these things off the list! Hooray for the light at the end of the tunnel!!

Rocking the bottles!

We are still working on bottles with the kids and they continue to do really well! Fin can now take a bottle whenever he wants and typically tries 3 times per shift. He doesn't do as great of a job at finishing them, because he is getting worn out. It is a lot of work to build up those muscles! We are loving being able to feed him whenever he is awake.

Maggie is still at 2 bottles per shift. I think I picked the wrong time to try to feed her yesterday because she was just pooped about halfway through. Otherwise, she has been doing a great job with finishing bottles. Hopefully she will continue to finish them and then she can move on to feeding whenever she wants.

The stage that Fin is at is the last stage before they can come home! They have a volume that they have to reach each day, but have a little more flexibility on how much they take at each feeding. He would have to take all feedings by bottle for 2 days straight before we could take him home, so we are a little ways off. We are so excited for the continued progress! Hopefully they just keep rocking it.

Today was bath day and they seem to continue to enjoy that. Here are some pictures of freshly bathed babies. Fin's I took after his bottle, so he is in a bit of a milk coma ;)

Two bottles a shift x2!

I think the kiddos have really figured out this whole eating thing! Both kiddos have graduated to trying 2 bottles per shift and haven't slowed on eating full bottles. Maggie just got permission to try 2 per shift this morning. Fin got permission yesterday and has downed all of them since. I think we need to hustle to get everything ready to take them home! (ie figure out how to install their carseats) I'm sure we still have at least a week or so left, but I'm optimistically thinking it will be sooner rather than later.

Last night, I washed up all of our cloth diapers so they will be ready for the kiddos. John made fun of me for wanting lots of colors and patterns, but look how fun this looks! (OK it might be a little crazy, but it's all about the little things :) )

Two 5 pounders (barely)!

We now have 2 five pound babies! Maggie just barely reached 5 lbs tonight at 5 lbs 0.1 oz. Fin continues to gain as well and is at 5 lbs 3.4 oz. They will be regular sized babes by the time we take them home!

Both kids continue to do really well on bottles. Fin has taken 3 full bottles in a row now! Maggie had 2 in a row, then took half of one and just finished hers tonight. They are really starting to figure this eating on their own thing out! Hopefully we will be able to go to 2 bottle tries per shift soon. The nurse we had today said they will be going home shortly. She said it will just click and they will take off, so we should make sure we are ready :)

We have started to work through some of the things we need to do before discharge. The CCHD test was one of them. They also have a heart test where they take their blood pressure on both their arm and leg to be sure it is similar. Both kids did great with that today. Last night they did a hearing test for both kids. To do this they just stick electrodes on them and hook them up to a computer. That was also a successful test for both kiddos.

John and I have homework of getting our carseats installed and watching a few videos. We hope to get that done this week. The kids have a carseat test as well. They basically get strapped in and the nurses make sure it is done right. Then you leave them sit in it for an hour. I guess it makes sure they can tolerate being in a carseat for that amount of time without any episodes. Lots more to do before we get to go home, but I love that we are starting to work on things :)

A special granparents visit

The kids had a special visit today. My mom and dad got to hold them for the first time! They have the same rules as us: hold them for a feeding and for 30 minutes after so they don't spit up. Maggie and Fin even tolerated dad's loud voice. I think mom and dad were in baby heaven because they didn't even have to share :) Fin and Maggie thought it was pretty great too.

In other big news, both kids finished their bottles tonight! That makes two in a row for Maggie!! Hooray for the big news. Hopefully they can keep it up.

5 pound baby

Fin has officially hit the 5 pound mark! He weighed in at 5 lbs 1.7 oz last night. Maggie is almost to 5 pounds at 4 lbs 14.3 oz. It's hard to believe they are nearly double the size they were when we first got up here!

Yesterday both kids had their critical congenital heart defect (CCHD) test. This just involves putting an oximeter on their right hand and one of their legs and making sure their pulse and oxygen saturation are similar both before and after their heart. Each kiddo passed with flying colors, This means the tolerances for oxygen saturation are lowered to 92% and each kid is much less dingy with alarms! The doctors also haven't heard Fin's murmur for a few days in a row now. It has been coming and going, but we are hoping it is now gone for good.

Maggie just finished her bottle this morning! Yay for 2 finished bottles in the books!! Fin still has only finished 1. They are typically getting mid to high 20s during each feeding. The nurses keep saying at some point it will just click. We are so ready for that!

Here are some tiny baby grunts for your enjoyment :)

Catching up

Each twin is working on catching up with the other in some way today. Last night, Fin thought he had to catch up with Maggie. He finished his first bottle! Both kids struggled for the first two bottles with a preemie nipple, but after they figured out the faster flow, they are doing great! They are consistently getting more than half a bottle now. I think we are on the right track!

Maggie is trying her hardest to catch up with Fin on weights. Fin is at 4 lbs 15.5 oz (so close buddy!) and Maggie is at 4 lbs 12.2 oz. We are going to have 5 pound babies in no time. How crazy is that!?

Here are a couple pictures of both kids being rowdy during their diaper changes last night :)

Eye exams round 2

Maggie and Fin had their 2nd eye exam last night. Both are still looking good. John kangarooed with both of them afterward and so far Fin has been behaving. Hopefully, he just had to grow out of having those spells with his eye exams!

Our babies are getting so big! Last night, Fin was at 4 pounds 11.7 oz. They did lengths on Monday night and he is now 42 cm (16.5 inches). Maggie was 4 pounds 9.7 oz. She is 43 cm (16.9 inches). We are going to have 5 pound babies in no time! It's a good thing I didn't go out and buy a bunch of preemie clothes, because they likely won't fit into them by the time we get these kiddos home.

In feeding news, we are going to transition both kids from the ultra preemie nipple to the preemie nipple. We are thinking they are having to work too hard to get their food and they wear out too quickly. We will see how they like this minor change.

Slow, sleepy days

It has really been quiet here for the past few days. The kiddos continue to try to take a bottle once every shift. They are typically eating between 12-26 mL per try. Maggie generally takes more than her brother does, but sometimes he gets a solid 20 something in as well. The past few feedings, they have both wanted to try their bottle at the same time. Let the juggling begin :)

Otherwise, we are just hanging out and growing. I did file down both sets of fingernails because they were getting a bit sharp. Hopefully this will help with cuddling. I think John was getting some scratches from the littles.

Here are a few pictures from last night and this morning. We changed Maggie's tube, so I got a quick shot while she has nothing on her face.

No more bunny rabbit house

The kids have done well with their bottles in the last 24 hours. Typically, they get around half of it down during their feeding. However, last night, Maggie downed the whole thing! Good work Dad for making that happen :) Now we just need to string a bunch of those together!! (and get brother on board)

They continue to compete on weights. Last night Magnolia was 4 lbs 4.1 oz and Finley was 4 pounds 4.6 oz. They are really starting to fill out and look like real babies!

Both kiddos got the OK to transition to cribs again. We are hoping they transition better this time and can stay in cribs for good. So far they are just trying to figure out their new environment. Maggie hasn't slept, stopped sucking on her pacifier or stopped looking around since she went into her crib (that was 45 minutes ago). Fin just keeps giving me concerned faces. Hopefully they will settle in over night.

Hilarious findings

This is what I came into this morning after sleeping in the Ronald McDonald room last night. Fin was apparently unimpressed with something. Maggie was trying to find her way out of her isolette! Good thing the door was closed :)

Fin and Maggie both tried another bottle today. Fin took 12 mL and Maggie took 17 mL. We will keep working on it! The kids also got their first round of hepatitis B vaccines. Needless to say, they weren't impressed.

Bottles for all

Fin and Maggie got the go ahead to try a bottle yesterday. Both kids did great! Maggie tried first and took 17 mL in 20 minutes. After that, she was tired. They fed the rest through her feeding tube.

Fin must have thought that he needed to make it a competition! He took 21 mLs in 12 minutes for his first feeding. The nurses were very impressed! They said sometimes kiddos will only take a few mLs during their first bottle feed while they are trying to figure out how to suck, swallow and breathe at the same time.

Maggie took her second bottle last night and had to one up her brother. She took 22 mLs in about 15 minutes. I'm excited about the competition they have going :) Fin was a bit too tuckered out to try a second bottle last night. Hopefully he will want to give it a go this morning.

One month old!

I can't believe our littles are 1 month old already! Yesterday was a big day for them. They had baths, visitors, and the nurses let me do a little photo session with the cuties. Fin wasn't too excited about the photo session, but Maggie was all sorts of awake and ready for her picture to be taken.

The kids had a great weekend. Fin's respiratory rate slowed down after they gave him the diuretic. He has also slowed down on the Bradys and has been able to self recover from all of them. I think the little man just really didn't like his eyes being checked! Hopefully, we will have it down for his next eye check up and maybe we just give him a diuretic ahead of time.

Both Maggie and Fin weighed in at exactly 4 pounds last night. Fin lost 70 grams the first day he had a diuretic, so he had to catch back up to get back at 4. Maggie actually weighed a few grams heavier than him for a night. Fin is now measuring 16.3 inches and Maggie is 16.5 inches long. They are getting so big!

Today was a much slower day than yesterday. Fin's urine culture came back negative, so nothing pointing us to the direction of having an infection. The doctor decided to give him a diuretic to see if that would help at all. It seems like his breathing has slowed a bit from this morning. Fingers crossed that will help the little man out. Otherwise, we have just had some cuddle time today. I laughed at Fin's pose this morning. I think he is working on his pose for the ladies :)

In other baby news, I have started to work on our cloth diaper stash. How cute are these little things!?

4 pound baby!

It was quite an eventful day today! When I got to the hospital this morning. I found Maggie spitting up most of her 6 am feeding at 8 am. She has had a little spit up in the past, but this was more than I had seen before. I called the nurse in and we let the doctor know. He adjusted her feeding volume back down to 28 mL to see if that would help. The nurse also noticed later in the day that her feeding tube may be a bit too shallow. She pushed the tube a little further in. With those two things combined, she hasn't spit up yet. Hopefully, that will do it for her!

After the spit up, we decided to give her a bath. It was bath day for them anyway and since she was a mess, it made sense to just get that done. We did Fin while we were at it too and got all that done before the 9 am feeding.

I held both Fin and Maggie at 9 am and Fin decided he forgot how to breathe and the nurse had to come stimulate him from the Brady he was having. Talk about a stressful start to the day! With him continuing to have episodes, they ordered a urine culture. Turns out, the only way to get that is by inserting a catheter. Poor buddy! He did well with that and we should have results within 48 hours. The doctor said if he continues to have episodes, we will just go ahead and put him on antibiotics to start working on any potential infection he might have.

In the middle of all that fun, Grandma Bouska and Mom came down to see the kids. It was great to have a little break from the madness and was so great to catch up with them. Mom hadn't seen them in their outfits yet, so I think she was impressed. Grandma thought they were pretty cute littles!

We had family rounds today at 2 pm. Our goals are basically to keep growing and try to get ready for a bottle. I really hope that we can try a bottle in the next week, but we will see how the kiddos do.

In other big news, we now have a 4 lb baby! Fin officially broke the 4 lb mark tonight when he was weighed (we are excited even if Fin doesn't look like he was). Maggie is not far behind at all at 3 lbs 14.4 oz.

Don't let the hiccups get you down

It was an uneventful day today. Fin seems to have leveled out and hasn't had any bradys. I wish I could say the same for the little guy last night. He did have one episode last night that they had to hold some oxygen over him because he was hanging out in the 75% range. I'm hoping with him having such a great day, he will hang in there overnight tonight as well. I think the little guy just doesn't like people messing with his eyes!

The occupational therapist came around yesterday to check for feeding readiness. Neither kiddo is ready quite yet because they aren't awake enough before their feeding time. We may get them checked again on Friday, otherwise it will be next Tuesday. I am so ready to hold them and feed them like a grown up baby!

Other than that, there haven't been a lot of changes. I did laugh at Maggie while I was holding her this morning. She was determined to continue to suck on her pacifier while she had the hiccups. Here is a quick clip of her determination :)

Eye exams and worn out kids

The kids had their eye exams late last night. John stuck around for it. Both kids' eyes looked great. There was nothing to be concerned about.

After exams last night, Fin had a bit of a rough night. He had to have some oxygen held above his mouth at 10:30 and again at 2:30. He also had more Bradys than he normally does. They checked him for inflammation and checked his blood count. Both were good. The nurses are thinking that he was just worn out from his eye exam, but the doctor said this was more episodes than they would expect to see. He said this could be normal for the little guy after an eye exam, so if he doesn't have any more than normal today, we will know to expect it next time. For now, we will just keep our eye on him.

We should see the feeding readiness group sometime today. Hopefully they will tell us we can start trying to bottle feed. If they do, we will just have to wait for the kids to tell us they are ready during one of the feeding times!

Maggie is catching up with Fin on weight. Last night she was at 3 lbs 10.6 oz and he was at 3 lbs 10.8 oz. Yesterday we got growth charts for both of them that show head circumference, length and weight. Both are sitting between the 20th percentile and the 50th percentile on all 3 measurements. The doctor said she would like to see them a little higher, but isn't overly concerned at this point. This is something they will continue to monitor (are you starting to notice a trend on that phrase?).

It takes a team

It has been another uneventful day so far. Fin is now at 29 mL feedings and Maggie stayed the same. It has been 3 days since their last bath, so it is bath day again. I gave Maggie a bath because she was wide awake and looking around. Fin was passed out, so John will get to give him a bath later today.

This evening, the eye doctor comes down from Waterloo. I think he only comes like once every 3 weeks or so. The nurses will take care of dilating the kids eyes before he gets here. It will be interesting to see what he has to say.

Tomorrow, the feeding readiness team will come in to watch Fin and Maggie. They will determine if they are ready to start trying to bottle feed yet or not. If they decide they are ready to try it, they will get 1 bottle every 12 hour shift to start with (and get the rest of the food through the nose tube). They have to 'master' that one bottle before they will be allowed to try more bottles. This means staying awake for the whole thing and being able to finish it in 30 minutes. From there, they will slowly increase bottles as they are strong enough for it. Here's to hoping they will get the go ahead soon!