Diving Boards and Shavers - Update #23

Life has a way of moving along even if you are not ready and or willing to come along; this is not our situation. We are willing participant yet it seems as if we have taken a little stop at the rest area and indulged in a little 'free coffee'. The stop was necessary for a washroom break, the coffee on the other hand was not, and in hindsight was actually kind of gross. What I am getting at with all of this is our time in the hospital prior to coming home has been necessary for the girls to develop fully, as well as give me time to complete the 'Honey Do' list. The coffee is all the other things that seem important at the time and later clearly reveal themselves as fruitless time wasters. Lesson learned, keep your eyes on the goal ahead, do not get side tracked by burnt, old, cheap coffee. What is your goal? What is your coffee?

Our girls continue to develop well. Both are putting on weight at a torrid pace, not childhood obesity fast, but getting a little chub is good at this point. One thing I learned this week is that a preemie's weight is not completely correlated to development. Example would be a baby born at a gestational age of 35 weeks at a birth weight of 4 lbs could be developmentally ahead of a 33 week baby born at 5.5lbs. This makes sense now as I look at it but is kind of different when you see other babies going home at just over five pounds and ours are basically almost 7lbs. I enjoy the time at the hospital in the evening, my duties include temperature taking, diaper changing, bathing whoevers turn it is that night, we alternate so mom gets some practice nursing the other. Whoever I bath, generally I feed a bottle to after as well.

Marika is now sans wires. Yep, she has been taken off all monitors. What a strange feeling it is. Have grown accustom to the green, yellow and blue lines on the computer screen. It was somewhat unsettling at first, but I knew she was ready. One step closer to home. Kyra is only a little behind, totally expected considering her frantic start to life. She will not be left behind though, we can already see a beautiful yet competitive friendship developing.

We are now at the time where the girls would have been born had Kyra's water not broken some 15 weeks ago. I have to remind myself now that they are still wee ones and not to 'over love' them. Playing patty cake with your 6 week old preemie is not an appropriate activity apparently. Sorry, you didn't buy that did you? I was kidding of course, I never did that, but gosh are they growing fast, it wont be long before I am tickling them so much we all wont be able to stop laughing. One thing I may be asking for for Christmas is a new shaver. Being close to the babies, Jo reminds me 'your rough'. With to which I respond, "I shaved this morning." Shaving twice in a day is not in the cards, so my apologies to my early morning clients as I may be a little scruffy until I can secure a new electric shaver to avoid the scrunchy face from the girls indicating my poikyness. Yes I made that word up so no need to correct me.

The nursery is done, save some cool wall decals that are currently in the design phase. I am excited about those. Otherwise, shelves are up, change table is in, and the cribs longingly await usage. As well I have also started to train our German Shepherd to smell the blankets of the girls and to be 'gentle' with them. He's so smart, I ask him to go and find one of the girls blankets that I have hidden in another room, and when he does he now gently pulls it off the shelf, or off of where it is and shows me it proudly, all without trying to rip it apart. I can see the makings of a fantastic relationship with him and those girls. I would hate to be anyone who was giving them trouble with him around.


Have you ever been up on the high diving board peering over the edge at the seemingly endless space between your shivering blue toes and the water below? It's your first time up to the high one and your scared, but also excited in a way you can't explain. This fear pulls you back a second; enough time to look out and see your friends playing in the pool below awaiting your entrance. Everyone having fun, splashing and yelling, seemingly without a care in the world. Meanwhile there's you, literally inches from diving into the deep end. Then that fear subsides just long enough for you to make one of the craziest jumps you'll ever make. Your falling, that fear its back.... its too late. All the noise disappears, you scramble, why is it taking so long to get back up... You arrive, gasp, and scramble to the side. Then that excitement overwhelms you as you realize you made it and it was probably one of the coolest things you have ever done. There is a strange tug that lures you to the stairs for another go, then we realize that we don't even have these two past their first Christmas yet.

Ryan

More pics in the morning....



MMM Smells good.

Dinner Time...

Chomp!

Back to snuggling.

The Stretch Drive. Update - #22

Ok ok, I haven't updated as often as we all would like. Them's the brakes, I apologize, kind of! I have spent the last week and a bit focusing on my business, with momma back in action I need to make sure there is still a house for the girls to come home to. I will still update, but just less often and probably not as long.

The girls continue to do excellent. Marika has sailed passed the 6lb mark and Kyra is not far behind. Hard to believe they are over a month old already; we have to remember this sometimes, especially when they are still having oxygen de-saturations from shallow breathing, or a tough time feeding on the bottle and breathing/swallowing at the same time. As you can imagine we are super excited for when we can bring them home, on the other hand it is kind of nice to have the nurses around to answer questions. Never having had kids before these unknowns would probably result in phone calls to parents or other more seasoned friends in search of answers. Definitely a time to take advantage of the resources this opportunity has afforded us.

The schedule is good now! I enjoy giving one of the girls a bath every nigh--we alternate nights the girls get a bath...for now that is! They seem to be becoming more and more accustomed to my speed washing techniques. :) I am really enjoying seeing their individual personalities come through. They both seem very tolerant, but this may change with age. Marika is very aware of her sisters whereabouts; and not particularly happy when Kyra is out and about. The same can't be said about Kyra, she enjoys her sleep and is by far the noisier of the two. Marika has a lot of the Jobs traits; skin, face, and eyes. Kyra seems to have some of the Wingfield traits, with her fairer skin tone. Not too sure on the hair yet as it seems to have changed already in the last two weeks.

Our goals over the next couple of weeks are to tie up the loose ends in the baby room, try some new easy prep recipes with the crock pot and pressure cooker, cuddle the girls as much as humanly possible, get a nap here and there, pray that Joanna's disability cheques arrive, see more friends and family, clean the cars out, get the carpets cleaned..... wow, ok; enough writing I have things to get to. Thank you all for your generosity, prayers, thoughts, and encouragement. We will need extra doses of all of it when life changes yet again in the next month. Enjoy the pics.

Ryan

A reunion and the non smoking farse... - Update #21

Is it possible to have a reunion if you only have been apart for less than two weeks. I suppose it is if that time seemed more like years. Joanna lived two years in two weeks. That all being said when she went back to the hospital yesterday it was if those days of separation never existed. She has shaken the flu that she had and is now spending all the hours with our little ones that she can handle and more. It felt a little weird to be catching Jo up on "how to do things with the girls" and sharing with her all the little nuances that I have started to notice. It seemed like such a stereotypical role reversal, but in our case I just call it good teamwork.

Our house has settled somewhat; our pets are back home, our new tenants have moved in and most of the renos are done. I could tell things were moving in the right direction when Jo had baked muffins for the first time in months (the hospital didn't have an oven!)

Abbotsford hospital is a great place to people watch; big lobby, coffee shop, and every walk of life coming through the doors. I think though, the most intriguing thing I have found so far is the 'we are proud to be a no-smoking grounds/facility' placards all over the place. This is pretty much the biggest crock going. Now before I go further let me preface by saying I am a non smoker, I have never even had a toke of a cigarette, so I have no idea what addicts endure, I have nothing against people who do smoke, I just don't understand this situation. Another thing I don't know is why a big organization like the Fraser Health Authority would pronounce this to the world and clearly not even come close to enforcing it. Here's what I mean, as you walk up to the main entrance to the hospital there are several benches that are in the covered area within close proximity to the entrance. Every one of those benches are clearly marked 'no smoking here!' Without fail 7/10 times there is at least one person sitting there with there with a cigarette exhaling it within plain view of the signage and smelling up the entrance to the premier cancer treatment clinic in the lower mainland????? I guess that in a meeting somewhere or during a press conference the idea of smoke free was a good PR move but why basically invite smokers to sit and chimney it up right in front of the building in a covered area where all the smoke wafts over to where I walk in and out three plus times a day?? It's set up completely to fail. If they enforced that like they do the parking regulations..... never mind that's a whole 'nother entry.

The girls are doing very well and behaving as preemies should. They get tired easily and forget to take deep breaths. Mom with reasonable success has started to nurse and I have successfully fed each almost a full bottle. They seem to love being in the same crib together, it will be neat to see them grow and recognise each other more. They are both on the verge of crossing the 5lb barrier, that was last night so they may be over it as I write this. Their gains have been excellent in the last week, docs thought it prudent to add a dose of HMF (human milk fortifier) basically some extra calories and such. It has made a real difference. You can start to see some of their characteristics coming through as they fill out a touch. Kyra had her hemoglobin tested and was a touch low, her skin has been a bit pale for the last little while and subsequently has been put on a small dose of iron to help that perk up a bit. Bathing the girls has been interesting, Kyra doesn't much like the water so we have employed the swaddle while bathing method which seems to help. Marika conversely looks as if she is at the spa, she gently holds the side of the tub as I wash her, only near the end when she is more hungry than anything does she start to fuss.

As our little family comes together we are thankful for the prayers of many. This crazy coaster rolls on and now that I'm on, I never want to get off.

Ryan


Pics as promised.