How are things going? We are having so much fun!

Shawn has said screw you to the schedule the NICU placed him on--he would eat every three hours there and often had to be woke up to eat. Here, he has decided to want to eat every two hours. The delima is that he will eat no more than two and half ounces no matter how long he waits between feeds. That means that we have to feed him more often so he'll get all the calories he needs for the day! That leaves me like this...

He is still having trouble eating, too. That leaves me like this...

In case you can't tell, I have purple sweat pants on, a blue t-shirt, a grey sweatshirt, and blue slippers. This was all I had left after Shawn projectiled (thankfully only once) onto my last clean pair of good sweats. My hair is in disarray and hadn't been combed yet--at 3:00 pm.

And you know what? WE LOVE IT!!! We still can't wait for Jason to come home!

Sleep

Ahhh...I love not having enough sleep...

No, seriously. I do. :-)

Good news. Jason is off of his oxygen and feeding tube (again). He is back up to taking his feeds on demand again, too. Yeah. They have taken him off of all of his medications except his antibiotic for his bladder infection. He has now gone two days without an apnea or bradycardia alarm (when he either forgets to breathe or his heart rate drops low). The doctor is now saying that his apnea and bradycardia events were most likely related to the medications they gave him, and not something that would have happened otherwise. Double yeah.

Tomorrow is day seven of the antibiotics for his bladder infection. His course of antibiotics will take from 7-14 days, with the expectation of around 10 days being enough. He'll then have a repeat urine culture to make sure that it is gone.

I was so happy to see how much better he looked today when I went to visit him. It was like night and day. Poor baby. His nurse said that he spent a lot of the day smiling, so that just goes to tell you that he feels a lot better, too.

On the Shawn front, we are having a blast finally being parents. He is so much fun. I am even enjoying the not sleeping part of all of this. (remind me that I said that when I complain, okay?)

I can't wait until Jason joins us...

The Nursery

I have had so much fun working on the babies' room. You know me, when I can do something home improvement wise, I am totally excited. The theme and all of the ideas for the room started from two little stuffed giraffes the boys got right after we found out we were pregnant (thanks Kathy Jo). The giraffe theme was cemented when the little isolettes the boys were in had a giraffe on it, too. (They were everywhere--had to be a sign, right?)

This is the paint and chair rail...






The furniture is a natural wood color.

(cribs without the bedding) (the cribs all decked out)


This is what is written above each crib...

This is the changing table we bought from the unfinished wood store...



I found these little paintings at Target. They are perfect and there was even one with two giraffes.



We still want to get a rocking chair for in here, but haven't found one that we like yet.


The room isn't complete yet (I say it is only half way there), but I wanted to show you our favorite part so far...


That's right--Shawn came home on Friday--6:08pm to be exact! We are beyond excited. It is a bittersweet homecoming because Jason is still in the hospital and sick, but we are enjoying having Shawn home with us!


Here are a few more pictures to commemorate the big day...

Putting on his going home outfit.

Proud daddy and his little boy.

Mommy, daddy, and Shawn.

Mommy (notice that I am already tired here--it was a long night and morning) and Shawn.

Here we are again...Shawn was tired of the pictures at this point.

Putting on his jacket...almost done!

Shawn saying "See ya, suckers! Let's get outta here!"

We are having so much fun. Things are going well so far--I hope I didn't just

jinx myself with that. I think we could spend hours just looking at him (our own

little Shawn-o-vision).

We can't wait for Jason to join us!

Jason update:

Things are looking better and better today for Jason. He is back to bottle feedings, to his delight. He is having some apnea episodes, but the doctor feels this is just his body dealing with the anti-seizure medication (which can take anywhere from 40-200 hours to leave his system) and the sedation medication he was given.

It is challenging going to see him, though, because Shawn cannot go back in the NICU. Isaac and I are taking turns staying with Shawn and visiting Jason. I really can't complain, though, as long as he continues to improve and progress toward his own homecoming!

Thank you for the prayers. They have helped tremendously and Jason has already made a marked recovery. (and they made me tear up when I read them)

Forgive me if this post jumps around quite a bit. Things are still swirling in my head, and I am finding it difficult to put everything in a coherent order.

The call we got this morning was scary. I know the nurse who called was scared. It was clear in her voice while we talked. Both of us were preparing ourselves for whatever was ahead of us.

We got to the hospital at about 8:00. By that time, Jason had already taken it upon himself to expedite his extubation and pulled it out himself. His breathing had improved, so they left him off of the ventilator and put him on an oxygen cannula instead. He is still being supported by cannula right now, and I suspect that he will be for a few more days.

Jason had a head ultrasound, a complete blood work-up, an EEG, and various other tests to try to figure out what happened. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately, not sure which yet), they haven't found anything that may have caused him to have seizures. The theory right now is that Jason was traumatized by several things late yesterday, that led to his body reacting in this way. Here is a run down of what led to the seizures.

• Jason is on an IV for his antibiotics. I told you that the line was placed in his head. Well, the IV had to be replaced yesterday because it was no longer allowing his antibiotics through it. They sedated him with a drug (a slightly higher dose than he has had before) so they could start a new IV. The seizures started about an hour after this drug was given.
• He had started to "twitch", so they gave him another drug, ativan, to help him calm the twitches. This caused him to twitch even more. I informed the doctor that Jason has already had a reaction to ativan after his hernia surgery.
• They tried to re-insert an IV in his head, which didn't work. They moved to his arm, which didn't work, and ended placing an IV in his foot. He was repeatedly poked, of course, and lost blood from each of these IV locations. He had also lost some blood from his original IV in his head. He lost enough blood to lower his hemoglobin levels.
• He is also on an antibiotic that I had a severe reaction to.
• His immune system is still developing and fragile, and was dealing with his bladder infection.

The thought is that all of these factors led to a sort of overload for him.

To help keep him stable, the doctor will keep him on the anti seizure medication for 3-4 months before slowly weaning him off of it. This will let his system stabilize more and prevent anything else like this from happening while he continues to get bigger and stronger.

What does this mean? Well, it means that we just progress as we have been doing. First was to stop the cycle that had started with the seizures by giving him the medication. Second, is to continue to fight the bladder infection with antibiotics. Third, is to get him stable and strong enough to come home. Potentially, even with all that has happened, he could still come home when his course of antibiotics is done.

When we left the hospital a little while ago, we were feeling much better about how he was doing. He wasn't as pale as he had been, the seizing had stopped, and they were going to start him back on formula (which will make him VERY happy).

He is definitely our little healer/warrior.

I think I lost 10 - 15 years off of my life with this little scare!

Both of us are off to take a nap now. We are beyond exhausted, as you can probably understand. I'll update with more information as it comes in...

Thank you again.

Stacie

Jason took a turn for the worse last night. He started having seizures and was "close" to coding. The put him back on the ventilator this morning, and thanfully, now his blood gasses look much better.

We don't know the cause of what is going on. It could be a reaction to some of the medication he was taking, sepsis in his blood, or a host of other things. They will be doing various tests throughout the day to start rulling things out.

We wanted to get this out as soon as we could, so forgive me if I didn't call to tell you in person. Please pray that they find out what is happening and are able to stop his seizures quickly.

Randomness

They removed Shawn's feeding tube yesterday. I am hoping that this will end the temptation to give up while the nurses are feeding him. I don't want to jinx anything, but Isaac had a good night with him last night (with only minor fussing), so maybe things are resolving themselves slowly but surely. There is a catch, though. When Shawn bottles his entire feeding, he burns more calories. This translates into weight loss. He lost an ounce last night. This wasn't unexpected, but he definitely can't come home if he continues to lose weight. And for someone (me) who never had to give calories a second thought, all of this calorie/weight stuff is challenging (and depressing). Sigh.

They placed Jason's IV line in his head. Thankfully, they didn't shave his head before they put the IV in, which would have made me blow a gasket. We all know that they don't have that much hair to begin with! I guess they get that from me. Anyway, I do have to say that it is odd to see him with the IV there. He doesn't seem to mind, so I guess that is all that matters. It does tether him back to the IV pole, which is sad. We had just got him disconnected from one monitor only to add that. It will be extremely nice to hold the babies without a bunch of wires connected to them!

Isaac pushed the doctor into doing the same tests on Shawn that were done on Jason. Hopefully they won't find anything, but if they do, we want to get it treated now and not wait until he is ready to go home. Neither Isaac or I want to go through the same situation with Shawn that we went through with Jason. You better bet that the next time they say I can take one of the boys home, there will be a baby in the car before they know what hit them.

I was told on Saturday that Jason was coming home on Sunday. I was excited again and began the nesting that I had been putting off for so long. We went in on Sunday, only to be told that he wasn't going home after all. (That was a really hard thing to hear.)

Jason had had a high blood pressure reading, and the doctor on call decided he wanted to find out why. They did ultrasounds on his heart and kidneys, did blood work, and tested his urine. He wasn't showing any symptoms, was eating well, had nothing wrong that they could see but the high blood pressure reading.

Today they got the urine analysis back and it says Jason has a bladder infection. This means that he'll have to have a 10 day course of IV antibiotics in the hospital. No homecoming in the near future for Jason. No stars aligning for us with him.

Needless to say, this has been a difficult turn of events for us. We went from having him home on on the 20th of January to not having him home until February. We had our hopes up and ended up having those hopes crash around us yet again.

You're probably wondering about Shawn. I really have no idea when they'll release Shawn. The only hurdle he has is his bottle feedings. It is a struggle to get him to eat by bottle, and he fusses a lot of the time, especially in the beginning. He will take it, and he wants it, but you must have patience and persistence to get him to finish. I attribute this difficulty to acid reflux. When he eats, a little of the formula and stomach acid slips back up into his esophagus. It burns, and it is painful--hence the fussing.

The problem is that the nurses don't always have the time (or patience) to work Shawn through his entire bottle. Once he starts to fuss, the nurses tend to go for his feeding tube to gavage the rest of his food. So, on paper, Shawn doesn't finish a lot of his bottles. He can (and does when Isaac and I are there to feed him), but he doesn't because when he starts to fuss, they give up on him.

It is a vicious cycle.

I have talked to the doctor about this issue, and he doesn't think that his acid reflux is any worse than that of other babies. I beg to differ, but I can't seem to get them to agree. There is medication to help Shawn deal with this, but again, the doctors are leery of giving it to him.

So, where does that leave us as far as homecoming is concerned? I don't really know exactly. Jason will be on his antibiotics until the start of February. Shawn is still up in the air.

Sometimes it seems like they will never be home. I struggle with the fairness of it all, too. We haven't caught a break at any turn, and it had been a long, hard journey to even get to this point.

Thank you for all of your kind words and support through these long months since their birth and during my less than stellar pregnancy. You all have helped us tremendously. It is nice to know that there are so many people rooting for the boys and for us.

Nothing much is happening. I've been working on the babies' room, and I am just about ready to publish the pictures of it. I think it turned out really cute, but I know that I am probably more than a little biased.

The boys are doing well. They continue to get stronger and fatter day by day. It is so funny to see their little double chins! They still are in the 8 1/2 pound range as far as weights go.

Jason had his feeding tube removed and is getting to eat how much he wants whenever he wants. We have found that if we can get him to take 2 1/2 ounces at a feeding, he'll go 3-4 hours before the next one. Anything less, and he is one cranky little man!

Shawn is also doing much better now that his hernia has been repaired. He still has a few issues with acid reflux, so sometimes feeding him can be challenging, but all in all, there is nothing really to complain about with his eating. He isn't able to eat whenever he wants yet, but he is almost there. I suspect that within the next few days he'll get there.

We're still waiting for the stars to align before the boys get the all clear to come home. At this point, it doesn't look like they both will come home at the same time. That could be good and that could be bad. I haven't fully decided which. It will create a little scheduling problem with one being home (and not able to go back because of RSV risks to the other babies in the NICU) and one in the hospital. We did finally put the car seats in the car, though. I couldn't get myself to do that until it got closer to when they would come home. (Heck, who am I kidding? I couldn't even get myself to decide on a car seat style until not too long ago!)

I keep hoping it will be any day now...

Three Things

Three things happened today.

1. The boys were taken off of their oxygen! Yeah. What could have been a long process ended up taking only a couple of days. (I am so happy I could explode.) They are keeping their oxygen levels steady without support and are doing well. Plus, their heart rates are starting to drop. When they were born, their heart rates were somewhere in the 140-170 range. When they were mad, the number would jump to over 200. Now, their heart rates have dropped to 110-140. This is great! It means that they are getting bigger and stronger. (Term babies have heart rates around 100-120ish.)
2. The boys had their last NICU eye exam. It isn't a pleasant experience for the boys, makes their eyes all puffy, and usually makes them screaming mad. It made Shawn so mad, in fact, that he had to be sedated afterward. He screamed and hollered until his temperature hit nearly 101 degrees, wouldn't calm down, and threw up all over the place. Jason, in contrast, cried while he was being examined then went to sleep afterward. The boys definitely have different personalities. (and I missed the whole thing. darn. yes, that was sarcasm.)
3. And lastly, what you have been waiting for has finally happened. I finally got it. Shawn bathed me with formula. There. It happened. My luck has worn out. Now I suspect it will never stop. :-) Bring it on, I say!

Q & A

Question:

What do you get when you put a preemie diaper on a not so preemie baby (aka Shawn)?

Answer:

All wet! (and lots of laughter, too) Well, not all wet. Just my pants, sweatshirt, and Shawn. I am telling you that diaper was used!

Evidence:



(It is hard to tell that my pants are wet, but trust me when I tell you that they are.)

Discussion points:

1. Why was there a preemie diaper available for us to use when the boys haven't been wearing them for several weeks? (I am sensing a conspiracy, here.)


2. How much pee does it take to flood a diaper, a sleep n' play, two blankets, a sweatshirt, AND a pair of jeans? Can said amount of pee come from an 8 pound baby? (The answer to the second question is an obvious yes!)
   
3. Is this what I get for not getting formula-ed yet?

Hitting the Bottle...Again!

They both have moved back to the bottle (yippee), taking right to it like the pros they are. Even Shawn was sucking with a gusto previously not known--much better than he was nippling before surgery. His hernia must have really been bugging him. Poor baby.

The amount they are getting each feed is still about an ounce (half of what they regularly get), but that amount is being increased 5 ml every 6 hours. They should be bottling the full 2+ ounces by tomorrow night.

Shawn isn't complaining much about getting less food each feeding. Jason, however, is totally NOT digging it. He was being quite dramatic over the issue, too. (We all know he gets that from his daddy.) I bet the nurses will have a rough night with him tonight. Hee Hee--you get 'em, Jason! That's what the nurses get for keeping you there so long!

Good News! Both boys have been extubated already. We are ecstatic about this! Shawn had his vent removed early this morning, while Jason's was removed a few hours later. Both are now on minimal oxygen support through a cannula. WooHoo! Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!

Shawn also had his first feeding through his feeding tube already (he isn't quite ready for a bottle just yet). He took an ounce, or a little under half of his regular amount, and tolerated it well. They will increase his formula each feeding until he is back up to full feeds. Then they will remove his IV. And then, we go back to the bottle!

Jason is still a little sluggish from his anesthesia. The boys had different anesthesiologists, so I suspect (although haven't confirmed) that they got a slightly different dosage of meds. When he shows he is a little more awake, they will start him on formula, too.

This has turned into a WONDERFUL day! Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. I do believe they are working!

Today We Are Due

January 16, 2008. Our due date.

Wow. It seems like a lifetime away from October 27, 2007--the day you came into our lives. A lifetime filled with joy, wonder, and utter amazement. We are so happy you are here and can't wait to see what the future holds for us all.

Keep getting stronger every day, boys. Homecoming is right around the corner. We'll be here waiting...

We love you Shawn and Jason.

Operation Hernia Is Complete!

Did you hear that? That loud noise? That was us breathing a sigh of relief!

Whew. The surgeries went very well, thank goodness. Both Isaac and I were more than a little nervous about the whole thing. We're glad it is done, though, because that makes us one step closer to home...and we can't wait for that!

Jason went first at about 3:35 and was pretty much finished at 4:30. Everything went smoothly. Interestingly, they actually did his operation in the NICU, with us about 30 feet away in the parent room. That was a little strange.

It took a little over an hour for them to prep the operating room for Shawn, so he didn't get in for his operation until about 5:45. They had to do his surgery in an actual operating room because they needed to be able to use a camera to see if he had two hernias instead of only one. As expected (because the boys tend to do things the same--they are twins you know) Shawn had a hernia on each side just like Jason, and they both were repaired. His surgery also went smoothly.

When we left the hospital, both boys were soundly sleeping off their anesthesia. There was talk of trying to wean them off their ventilators tonight if at all possible. (That makes us extremely happy! We are also happy that their night nurses are really good about being proactive with the boys.) It will, of course, ultimately depend on how each boy reacts to the anesthesia and the stress of the operation itself as to whether or not that happens.

Now we are off to bed for a much needed rest, too...

We've Got a Time

We are set for 3:00 pm tomorrow--one right after the other. Think positive thoughts that all goes well and they make a speedy recovery...

Both boys are officially over 8 pounds now, too!

These are the latest pictures of the boys. Keep in mind that I am holding them in my arms while I take the picture, so that is why they are always so up close and personal.

This is Jason just after finishing his bottle. There is nothing like a formula induced sleep...

This is Shawn sucking on his pacifier. He absolutely loves that thing!

The boys in their crib. Shawn is on the left. Jason is on the right.

Jason...

Shawn...

Daddy feeding Jason...

These two pictures were from a few days ago.

Jason...

Shawn...

What I Know So Far

Here is what I know about the surgery and the days to come...

• The surgery is scheduled for Tues. the 15th. The time has not been nailed down yet, but it is believed that it will be in the afternoon. (That is at least something because we all know I am not at my best in the morning.)
• Jason's surgery time will be approximately an hour. Shawn's surgery will last 1/2 an hour plus some time to evaluate (with a camera) whether he has a hernia on his left side, too. If it does turn out that he has the second hernia, he will have it corrected while he is on the operating table.
• It will take up to an hour to prep each boy for surgery. They will both have tubes (ventilators) placed down their throats to help them breath during the surgery. This is called intubation.
• The recovery time after the surgery will be up to each boy. It will take 24 hours + before their ventilation tubes are removed. Most likely, they will be intubated for several days because their lungs are still on the immature side. After the ventilation tubes, they will go back on oxygen cannulas for several days. The doctors will need to ensure that the boys can maintain their oxygen saturation levels on their own before they will be removed from the cannulas.
• They will stop bottle feedings starting the night before the surgeries. They cannot bottle feed while they are intubated because they cannot suck with the tubes down their throats. This will setback the progress they have made bottle feeding. Any time you stop the bottle feedings, they have to relearn sucking/swallowing/breathing coordination. (The ventilators do hurt their throats, so we will have that to contend with as well.) The hope is that they will relearn bottle feeding quickly, but it may take a few days before they get back to where they were.
• So what does this ultimately mean? We are looking at a week after surgery before they might be ready to come home, and that is only if everything lines up perfectly after the surgeries. We haven't always done the best with things going perfectly, so we will be surprised if a week is long enough.

So, if everything goes extremely well, the boys may come home somewhere around the 22nd of January. The hope is that they will definitely be home by the end of the month.

I sure hope so. I don't want them to be able to drive themselves home when they finally get released from the hospital!

Set Back...

Although I hadn't really said anything here, every indication was that this weekend would be a homecoming day for at least Jason. I was getting so excited and was in high gear trying to get as "ready" as possible. Unfortunately, today we found out there is yet another set back, and homecoming will not be this weekend.

Both boys have inguinal hernias and will need surgery. Here is a quick definition from babycenter.com (the page is linked below)...

"During gestation, a boy's testicles develop inside his abdomen, and then, sometime before birth, they push through a tunnel in the tissue between the groin and the abdomen (called the inguinal canal) and descend into the scrotal sac.

In girls, the ovaries descend through the tunnel and into the pelvis. At that point, the passage through the abdominal wall should close up.

In about 5 percent of babies (mostly boys, and especially those who were premature), the opening remains large enough to allow a loop of the intestine to poke down into the tunnel.

Inguinal hernias do not improve on their own."

Shawn's hernia is on his right side and is more severe. His hernia has protruded into his scrotum, causing him a lot of discomfort and pain. His hernia is easily felt and was the tip-off to the doctors that they needed to be checked by the pediatric surgeon.

Jason, however, has hernias on both sides of his groin. While they don't seem to be causing him much, if any, discomfort, they still need to be repaired to ensure that they don't get to that point.

(They both also have umbilical hernias from all of the IV's they had placed in their cords right after they were born, but they will not need surgery for them. The expectation is that the umbilical hernias will clear on their own by the time they reach 2-4 years old.)

Surgery is scheduled for both boys on Tuesday at some point in the afternoon. I am told that this type of surgery is very common, lasts about 1/2 an hour per hernia, and that this pediatric surgeon is very good. The only thing that really worries me, outside of them being sedated, is that the boys will need to be put back on a ventilator for the surgery. Pray that they are able to be taken off their vents quickly.

For right now, that is all I know. I'll keep you updated as we find out more information.

Mush

I think I got my first real smiles from Jason! I had just finished feeding him, and he was sitting on my lap. He was looking at me and making some fussing noises. I asked him what he was doing, and he just lit up in the biggest grin! Not really believing this was the real thing (it had to be gas or something, right?), I asked him if he just grinned at me, and he did it again--looked right at me a grinned so much his cheeks hit his eyes. He smiled three times total...and my heart is one big pile of mush. :-) Don't know when I'll recover, either!

Letter to the Best Product in the World

Dear Mylicon,

We heart you very, very much!

Sincerely,
Team Lopez

- - - - - - - - - -

The feeding thing might be starting to "click" with Shawn. I don't want to jinx anything, but we have been getting him to take half of his bottle without spitting up! That is a huge improvement! The only thing we did different was to add Mylicon to his formula every other feeding. Now he has gas coming out of both ends and seems so much happier. Who would have guessed it would have been so simple? Keep your fingers crossed that this continues...

This is a short post kind of day. Nothing too terribly new to report except that the new weights are in... (from Friday night)

Jason - 3422 grams = 7 pounds 8.7 ounces
Shawn - 3340 grams = 7 pounds 5.8 ounces

And I am still formula free! I am a very good spit-up catcher I guess. Hee Hee! Man, when I do finally get it, I'll probably be drenched!

One More Step...

What a difference a day makes. Thursday was a little hard, and I was feeling discouraged. But today. Today was a wonderful day.

Are you ready for this?
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No, really. Are you sitting down?
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If not, I think you should go get a chair because this is big.
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Drum roll, please...
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Jason was taken off of his oxygen!

We had no idea this was going to happen, either.


I am still in shock...and incredibly happy! Here are the pictures showing off his new look. (This is the first time Jason has EVER been off of his oxygen, too!)









Isaac and Jason...

Here is Isaac and Shawn...

These are of the two boys together. Shawn is on the left and Jason is on the right (the tube in Shawn's nose is his feeding tube. you can't see Jason's tube in this picture.)...

Coming home is in the air. It is getting so close I can almost taste it! I can't wait!

I am starting to think that Shawn may have colic or acid reflux. He just seems so uncomfortable so much of the time. I spoke to the nurse about it today, and she said she thought the same thing.

I bottled Shawn yesterday, and he had one of his better attempts. He managed to swallow about 18 mls, or just over 1/4 of an ounce, with no spit up. He wanted that bottle so much, but as soon as the formula hit his lips, he would choke, gag, cry, and arch his back. Once the formula was in his belly, he had a hard time getting comfortable and seemed so gassy. And of course he wouldn't burp. He was only consoled if I continually bounced or rocked him. I felt so bad for him.

He is now down to one bottle attempt per nurse shift. That means 1 bottle every 12 hours. That definitely worries me because I know he can't come home until he can eat from that stinking bottle.

The nurses all say that sometimes things will just "click" for babies. One day they won't be able to do the sucking/swallowing thing and the next day they can. I sure hope that Shawn has it "click" soon.

I plan on talking to the doctor about this when I see him next. I want to ask what his take on this situation is. I also want to ask if there is a different formula we could try (although I doubt that there will be one) or if there is anything that he can suggest we do to help Shawn. I suspect he'll just say that this is a developmental thing and that some babies take longer to master this skill than others. I have to ask anyway.

I need my babies to come home for goodness sake!

The boys had their eye tests yesterday. Their little eyes were swollen and red. Poor guys. I am not sure how they did on the test because I missed the doctor, but I'll let you know when I find something out. I expect that they did fine, though. From what I understand, they will only have one more eye test for awhile. I bet the boys will be happy to hear that!

Jason finally took a full bottle from me. Yeah. We had a little projectile spit up too, but all in all it went well (still nothing on me). I even managed to get the smallest, tiniest hint of a burp from him. And don't ask me how I did it, because I couldn't tell you! I think it had something to do with rubbing his back in a circular motion, but I wouldn't swear to it.

We have our first pediatrician appointment set. We go in on January 17th. Surely we'll be out of the hospital by then, right? Man, I hope so!

My maternity leave ends on Friday. (Where did the time go?) I am taking a leave of absence until the end of spring break (April 18th) so I can stay home with the babies. When it gets closer to then, we'll reevaluate whether I will be able to go back to work this year. It is possible to take the rest of the school year off. We'll be poorer, but we could do it if needed. It is great that we have some options about all of that.

He Did It!

He did it! Jason did it! He finished two full bottles today! He also took 2/3 of his bottle for the rest of the feedings. I am so proud of him! Now, if I can just get him to burp, we'll be all set. (Seriously. Why can't I get this kid to burp? I mean, it shouldn't be that hard to get a baby to burp, right? Even the nurses are having problems with it. Jason doesn't seem to care, though, so I guess it's okay. One of these days the boy is just going to explode. It's like Isaac and I are now playing Russian Roulette on who will get that one fateful burp! Any bets on who will end up the loser there?)

Here are some pictures to commemorate the big day...








Did you notice the not so happy look on his face? It cracks me up because he loves to eat, but wears that look while he is doing it. It is probably because he won't let me burp him!

Here is Isaac with Jason...





Stacie and Shawn...




And Isaac figuring out how to take care of both of them when they are crying at the same time...




In other news, it is finally official that the boys are out of preemie clothes. Yeah!

Spit up report -- I am now 0 for 9 (HeeHee)

Isaac got formula'ed today! Ha. (He requested I say that the top of the bottle was not securely attached, but it still counts. He had it all over him. Hee Hee. He is still talking about it being a technicality and all. Just accept defeat already!)

Me - 0 for 8!