Little Blessings

Kangaroo Care with Nik

I am trying to remember all the things that have happened today! First off, if you don’t want to hear about anything regarding breastfeeding/pumping, then skip ahead a paragraph. I am pretty excited about how much milk I’m getting already! I have been pumping fairly religiously every 3 hours, and the boys are getting a good amount to start them off. They are only taking 1 cc every 3 hours now (bumped up today, they were doing it every 6 hours earlier in the day but they are tolerating more now, so that’s great!). Little guys like Nik and Rowan tend to have ‘gut issues’, so we are hoping they keep taking it and increasing the amount they can have each day. Also, hands-free breast pump bra = BEST GIFT EVER. I am going to go out and get at least one more of those, it is wonderful!!!!

Again, I am sad to admit that there are a lot of technical things that are going on with the boys that I don’t quite understand yet. Casey has a good grasp of them, and I’m sure I could have him tell me in layman’s terms, but I can’t wrap my head around numbers and statistics and things like that right now. Who knows if I ever really will, actually. My brain is pretty fried right now. But from what I understand, the boys are both improving in their own ways, and that’s all I can hope for. I believe they are both weaned down to room air (21% oxygen, I think?) so that’s a nice improvement, especially for Rowan. They both like to pull out their tubes (especially Nik, who is shocked??) and Rowan gets pretty upset when he’s not put in his ‘nest’ very well. He kicks his little feet everywhere and squeals like a little bird when he’s mad. Both of the boys remind me of Woodstock from Peanuts with their unruly blond hair… it is probably my favorite thing about them right now. Or maybe the little hands and feet. Or maybe when they hear our voices and peek their little blue eyes open. Rowan will turn his head whenever he hears Daddy. Nik practically did push ups earlier while doing his bilirubin treatment on his tummy- he is so strong! He also calms down when I say shhhh; I got to do Kangaroo Care (when you hold the baby skin-to-skin) today with Nik, which was wonderful. He calmed down quickly, and anytime he would start crying I could shush him and he would almost instantly stop.  They are both having bowel movements and taking in more milk (which, if you measure it, is not much.) They will have to learn how to eat eventually.  We have a long road ahead, but they are both feisty and I think they will do just fine. The NICU roller coaster is probably just as crazy as the bed rest coaster was… this is the ride of our lives. I just can’t wait for the days when we can hold them, feed them, introduce them to their big brother, and take them home. 

Casey and I spent almost 3 hours in the NICU today when we got to hold Nik. Casey got to hold him, too, which was very sweet. I will post more of those pictures soon. I have finally let my guard down and have started going to the NICU on my own. I was really intimidated to go there. I felt guilty because I wanted to be there, but I’m also terrified, in a way. It is so hard to see your babies connected to so many machines, with tubes coming out everywhere, alarms going off all the time, etc. We haven’t gotten to see their faces without tubes and tape all over them since they were born. They are so tiny, I always feel like I’m going to hurt them if I touch them, so I tend to stand back and just peek into the isolette. I have tried giving both of them their pacifiers (Nik loves his!) and it seems like Rowan is going to start taking to his soon, possibly. He started clicking his tongue a bit tonight, and Nik has been doing that the whole time. I thought Nik was rooting a little bit, but he was luckily satisfied by his pacifier. Nursing won’t happen for at least a few weeks, I’m sure.

Keaton got to come visit me tonight! He gave me ‘ice cream kisses’ (where he would eat ice cream and then kiss me and get some on my face). Casey’s coworker Jake came up to visit us tonight, and he got to go in and see the boys. We found out that we can have visitors that aren’t family! We thought it was only family, age 16+. I’m happy to know that others can come in too. I know more visitors means more chance for germs to spread, but even if they just come in the room and don’t touch the boys, it’s better than not having anyone around to see them. I know people are anxious, so we’ve tried taking pictures and sharing when we can. We also want to ensure they are safe, so we don’t post everything. (I’m sure someone out there is shocked that I’d hold anything back!)

I think that’s about it for now… my 11:00 pumping fest is set to begin now. I am sure I’m leaving out plenty of things from today, but I need some good sleep tonight. I look forward to being released tomorrow, but I’m also sad I won’t be as close to the boys. I’ll take whatever I can get, though, and I’m super happy I don’t have to recover from any kind of surgery right now. Counting all my blessings, for sure. *Like getting back my license to eat!!! It's been glorious!!!*

Oh, one more thing!! The Hetricks are heading here tomorrow afternoon, so I’m excited for them to be here soon! I know they are ready to see the boys. I am anxious for that, too. :-D Hopefully Snowmageddon 2013 will be good to them as they travel… Kansas got slammed with snow, and while it’s snowing here right now, I hope we don’t get as much as they said we might. But if we do, maybe I can go out and play with Keaton in it. :-D That would make it worthwhile! 

-Ash