Life in the NICU

It's been almost two weeks since Abriella and Eva were born.  They have made great progress and continue to do very well.  We are so fortunate and blessed by God to have healthy baby girls.  They still have needs that we could not meet if they were at home, but most of their "issues" are things that are very common for premies.  Ella has now passed the 4 pound mark weighing in at 4 lbs. 2 oz. and Eva is about 3 lbs. 9 oz.  So because Ella is bigger, her lungs are slightly more mature and she can eat more.  Eva still needs some help breathing and is still on a cpap which just gives her the extra puffs of oxygen that she needs to keep her lungs open and functioning.  They say she will hopefully be off of that by early next week.  They are both completely off of the IVs now and are receiving all breast milk through a feeding tube.  We will start trying to breast and bottle feed them early next week (34 weeks).  The suck/swallow/breathe reflex takes a while, but with the little practice they've had, they are doing great!  I think Eva will be our big eater.  Today was a big day too!  They both came out of their isolettes and are now in open cribs, which means they can maintain their body temperature.  Woohoo!

                                                 Eva in her new "crib"

                                               Ms. Abriella WIDE awake!

It's funny how we can kind of see their personalities already!  I think Eva will be our feisty one.  Brett says that I shouldn't think that because if that's what I think, that's how she will be.. but I don't know!  I see it more and more every day.  She is more vocal than Ella and more aggressive with her eating/sucking! :)  She was the donor baby, so maybe she's learned that she has to fight to survive.  I love that they have different personalities.  Even the nurses have noticed!

So after crying the whole ride home the first night we left the hospital, I'm happy to say that I have done a pretty good job holding it together since then.  Yes, it's hard to leave, but I find that if I leave when they are both happy/sleeping, it's not as hard for me.  It's been interesting trying to find a balance of how much time to spend there and doing other things.  During the week, I typically go to the hospital around 1:00 and stay until Brett gets there after work.  We end up going home around 7:00 or 7:30 each night.  On the weekends, it just depends on what we have going on, but at least Brett is able to spend more time with them.  It's hard because we aren't able to do much because the girls sleep most of the day.  Every 3 hours, they have what are called "cares", where we take their temps and change their diapers.  The nurses listen to them and then once or twice a day we can take them out and hold them while we push the breast milk into their bellies with a syringe.  Holding them is perfect! :)  It's my favorite part of the day.  Other than that, they are sleepy girls most of the day.  They can only stay awake for about 30 minutes max.

                           Ella & Eva - What do you think? Do they look like identical twins?

We were able to give the girls baths about a week ago.  This is Brett giving Eva a bath.

Overall, our experience so far in the NICU has been wonderful.  The staff has been great, and we love our team of nurses.  It helps me knowing that when I leave, the girls are in GREAT hands.  I'm not going to lie though.. having some freedom has also been wonderful for me.  I feel like a new person again.  I am feeling really good and have had a lot of "firsts" in the past few days.  I drove yesterday and I took the dog on a walk for for the first time in three months.  I have also been able to go to the store again which is great!  We started putting together the nursery.  Once it's up and running, I will post some pictures!

As always, thank you for your prayers and thoughts!  We are so blessed!