Twins Update

Hard to believe almost a week has gone by since the twins were born. Time goes by very fast with daily trips back and forth to Johnstown, lots of pumping sessions while I'm at home, trying to squeeze in a little time with our big kids.... Without a doubt this time around the NICU experience has been easier because we basically know what to expect, but that doesn't exactly make it easy. I'm sooo glad to be off bed rest and yet I hardly have time to do a thing; we're still relying on my mom to keep the house running and the big kids fed and clothed. I am getting very anxious to have those babies home. Life will still be crazy but craziness in one location is better than craziness in two towns 45 minutes apart.

The boys are doing better each day. Joshua stayed on oxygen through a nasal cannula for only a day or two and has been breathing room air since. Jude needed to go on CPAP for a few days but is now getting O2 through a nasal cannula; hopefully that will disappear in a day or two. Joshua was allowed to start nursing on Wednesday and has done a bit better each day; he latched on for about 15 minutes continuously last night, practically a normal newborn feeding! So nice. Jude nursed for the first time yesterday and is still figuring things out, but the nurses seem to think it's quite normal for his gestational age. The boys get the rest of their nutrition through breastmilk delivered via a nasal tube; their IVs were removed this morning. Zach and I are actually staying overnight at the hospital this evening to give them extra practice breastfeeding because being able to nurse and gain weight is probably the biggest hurdle they'll face before coming home. Hopefully my milk supply will pick up in the next day or two. With last night and tonight's increase in feeding amounts, I am no longer pumping as much as they need. They may need to be supplemented with formula (hopefully only temporarily), which is really tough for me to accept. I am sure all the stress I am putting on myself about not pumping enough is not helping matters. Sigh. Like I said, this is not an easy experience.

Now that Jude's CPAP mask is gone, we've had more opportunities to look the boys full in the face and get to know them. We think they look more alike than a few days ago. Their hair is darker than we first thought; maybe dark blonde like Esther and me. But otherwise we've had comments that they look like Austin and we're inclined to agree. Let's see:

Joshua
(sorry, we don't have a good picture of Jude by himself
up close--all the extra tubes and wires have kept us
from holding him as much as we hold Joshua)

Jude and Joshua
(When we put them next to each other this
evening we started getting nervous about telling them apart
once all the medical apparatus is gone--they look pretty
similar, huh?)

Austin
(Boy, he looks chubby compared to the twins! And he was
less than seven pounds.)