Over 5 lbs and Brady free (so far)

We had some good news over the last couple of days. Yesterday, Ana Lucia crested 5 lbs. Today she weighed in at a healthy 5 lbs 2.8 ozs. When I hold her you can really tell the difference between what she weighs now and where she was a couple of weeks ago. McKenzie is doing her best to catch her sister. Today she weighed in at 4 lbs 11 ozs. She'll be over 5 lbs in no time.

In other excellent news, neither Ana nor McKenzie has had a bradycardia event since 9 pm on the 29th of September. This is the longest stretch in with neither girl has had a relapse. This is really promising and is a sign of their continued maturing.

There are now three sets of twins in the NICU and two singletons. Of course, McKenzie and Ana are the only girls, so we have our pick of the clothes bin right now.

During my trip to the hospital this morning I decided to take a bunch of pictures in the hopes of getting some good shots. These are a few of the matched sets that I was able to shoot. I was even able to catch Ana with her eyes open. (which has been rare these first few weeks) If you haven't guessed Ana is on the left and McKenzie is on the right. These pictures all but confirm for me that our girls are fraternal.

Tia Idis and another Brady

Tia Idis came to the hospital with Susana and I today. She hadn't been able to make it to see the girls since they were first born. They enjoyed being held my their Tia. In the picture, McKenzie is getting her turn.

Unfortunately, we still had some bad news, on the 28th Ana Lucia had what amounts to the worst bradycardia event of either girl. She didn't recover her heart rate until the nurse actually picked her up. This definitely reset her clock, so the earliest we will see her home is either Saturday the 4th or Sunday the 5th.

And then, not to feel left out McKenzie had another brady this evening. Thankfully, she self corrected quickly but that still means that her clock has reset as well. At this point I would love to see them come home this weekend, but the most important thing is that they come home healthy!

Of Video's and Brady's

Susana took this video earlier this morning and I wanted to post it (even though you can't really hear the purring we were hearing). I think it gives a better perspective to see my hand as a reference to the girls size, even though the girls were pretty still.

On, sadder news, Ana had another Bradycardia event today after eating with Susana and unlike past events, this one lasted long enough that Debbie our nurse had to pick her up to bring her heart rate back up. (it had dipped into the low 40's). This is the first time that either one of the girls has had to be touched to get the heart rate to correct. One thought is that breast feeding followed by the bottle is tiring the girls out. If that is true they may get their feeding tubes back. It sometimes seems that we are on a rollercoaster with our little ones, but I have faith we'll get there.

At this point, however, it is likely that they won't be home before labor day. We'll just have to wait and see.

Look Mom, No tubes!!

Today was a big milestone for Ana Lucia and McKenzie. Overnight the NICU took our the feeding tubes for both of them. Now we can see their beautiful faces without those pesky tubes and tape. This also means that for now, the girls have checked another box on their way to coming home. Without a feeding tube, the nurses will be giving them all of their feedings from a bottle or breast. This had to happen before they could go home.

Over the next few days they will be monitoring the girls to make sure they get enough to eat and continue to grow. Now if only we could get them to stop the Bradycardia's.

Speaking of growing, the girls are now 15 days old and Ana Lucia is about to crest the 5 pound mark. Today she weighed in at 4 pounds 14.8 ozs. McKenzie is trying to keep up with her sister and weighed in at 4 pounds 6.4 ozs today. We are also happy with their growth and hope that it continues at a good pace.

Now that Ana and McKenzie are getting older, both Susana and I believe they are fraternal. Today just added to that because it is getting easier and easier to tell them apart in photos. For those that can't do it, in these pictures today, Ana is on the right and McKenzie is on the left.

Uncle Derek, Dawn, and Lissette come to visit

Today Uncle Derek got up early and met me at the hospital. This was the first time he got the chance to see the girls. When they were born, he was on a fishing trip with Raymond. I told him, that next year, Andy and I may need to join him to get some Men time with all the women that will be running around the house for the next xx years. Here he is pictured with McKenzie. I was feeding Ana at the time.

Later, that day, Lissette and Dawn took Susana to the hospital (Susana still isn't allowed to drive). This was also their first time with the girls. Susana told me that our nurse, mentioned that Irving was very liberal with his co-workers. "He gave his friend one of the babies without blinking an eye." Susana then told her that Derk is our Brother in law. I found that humorous.

The girls are both above their birth weight...

Susana has started to go to the hospital twice a day to try to breastfeed the girls. They are slowly getting the hang of it. However, we don't think they are getting enough, so they still end up getting the full bottle feeding afterwards.

Ana is getting 43 ml of fortified breast milk and McKenzie is getting 37 ml of fortified breast milk every 3 hours. The good news is that McKenzie went past her birth weight today as well. So hopefully they are both on their way to 5 lbs, however, the Doctor confirmed that the min weight for them to come home is 1900 grams so both of them have crossed that threshold.

Unfortunately, McKenzie continues to have Bradycardia episodes. Most recently she dropped to 60 beats per minute while Susana was holding her this morning. So McKenzie won't be coming home any earlier than Sept 1 and most likely longer. Ana is doing better and has not had any repeat episodes of Bradycardia or Apnea. It is possible that Ana may come home before McKenzie, but I still hoping that McKenzie will find her legs and really take off.

All in all the girls are doing well and as always we look forward to bringing them home.

Two steps forward, one step back...

We had some good news today, McKenzie is finally back above four pounds! This was a great milestone that I have been looking forward too. Unfortunately, she also had another case of Bradycardia Sunday afternoon (but none on Monday). That means her seven day clock has reset such that she can't come home any earlier than next Sunday.

Susana was able to make it in to see the kids twice today, spending a good amount of time each time. She also talked to the Neonatologist on duty. This doctor gave us mixed signals. On the one hand he said that both girls are doing very well, but then he went on to say that it may be three weeks before they come home.

Unfortunately, I wasn't there to ask him what he meant by that, because up to this point all the docs have been saying probably around 35 weeks. Needless to say we want the girls home, but we also want them to get the 24/7 care that they need...

Susana also got a chance to sit down with the lactation consultant who helped her out today and both girls actually did pretty well breastfeeding and that is another good sign.

As for the pictures, today. I decided to take some closeups of the girls and put them in a collage, as well as get Susana with each of them.

Bradycardia and Birthday Parties

To start the day off, Susana and I went into to the hospital to meet with an occupational therapist who took us through some information on preemies developmental cycles. She also gave us some helpful stretches and exercises that we can use to help the twins sleep and eat better. Unfortunately we also got some not so great news (not terrible, just not so great). That is, last night both Ana and McKenzie had a spat of Bradycardia. Now for those like me, that don't have a clue what Bradycardia is, it is when a heart rate suddenly drops. For preemies a drop is getting down to below 80 beats a min.

What this means to our twins is that each time the NICU sees a case of Bradycardia, they reset a seven day clock. The twins can't come home before seven days passes without a case of Bradycardia. So for us, this means the twins won't be coming home any sooner than next Saturday Aug 28. Hopefully those issues are over, but I guess that is why they are in the NICU.
On a different note, after we got back from the hospital, I got Andy and Rebecca ready to go to a Birthday Party. My friend Kathy's daughter Ally (pictured above) celebrated her first birthday at a local park. We joined the Schumacher's, Bainotti's, Bishop's and others in enjoying cupcakes, banana splits, and the water features the park had to offer.

Of course, being there by myself with two kids, got me thinking of the challenges I would have going to a similar function with all four kids by myself. Wow, this is going to be a challenge!!

Two is much more fun!

It has been a week since they were born and for the first time, I was able to hold my two littlest daughters simultaneously. I must say that it felt great to do so.

While I was at the NICU I found out that overnight McKenzie was also taken out of her isolette and put into a bassinet. So now both of the girls are regulating their temperature without assistance. This is another important milestone on their road to coming home.

Weight wise, they both continue to gain weight. Ana Lucia now weighs 4 lbs 4.6 ozs and McKenzie Rose weighs 3 lbs 15 ozs.

We are now waiting for them to eat consistently and fully before they will be allowed to come home. Keep up the good work little ladies...

Back to School!

Since everything isn't about our youngest two, I wanted to post about a significant day in the life of our oldest daughter.

Rebecca had her first day of four year old Pre-school today. Tita got her all ready and then Andy and her put their shades on got ready to walk to school.


Across the street, Rebecca met up with the Berner's. Their oldest, Coen, is in Rebecca's class again this year. Aislyn watched on as her big brother and Rebecca got some of their first day of school energy out by running down the sidewalk to school.

Once at school, Rebecca quickly got with some of her old friends and got back into the swing of things. This year, Rebecca is going to school three days a week. M-W-F. As she continues to prepare for Kindergarten.

The school year got off to a good start as one of Rebecca's classmates brought in goodies to help celebrate their birthday. We think this will be a great year for Rebeccca...

Ana gets out of her isolette

Ana Lucia (4 lbs 2 ozs), made more progress in the night. She is now regulating her temperature well enough that the NICU took her out of her Isolette and put her in a simple basinet. Her space in the room looks so empty now that the big monstronsity of a warmer is out of the way.

McKenzie Rose (3lbs 12 ozs), is slowly making her way to that same milestone, but for now she is still in the Isolette. Dr Sosas came by and talked to me at lunch. He let me know that he was very happy with both of the girls progress. Unfortunately, when I asked if that means they would be able to come home earlier, he replied probably not because most Preemies don't make it home until after 35 weeks to do feeding issues.

We will see how it goes with the girls.

Four days old

Susana was discharged today and is now at home where she will continue to recover from the surgery. In addition to recovering she is providing much needed breast milk for the girls.

Speaking of Ana Lucia and McKenzie, today for the first time since they were born, we were able to get them together. In the top picture, McKenzie is on the left and Ana Lucia is on the right. I'm holding McKenzie and Susana is holding Ana Lucia.

They gained weight for the first time at this morning's weigh in and we hope to get them back to their birth weight by the weekend. They have also been able to remove most of the extra wires they had. Now all they have is a feeding tube (shown in the picture) that is used if they don't finish their meals by nipple and the heart and respitory rate monitor cables. We are really excited that are doing so well and look forward to bringing them home.

Back on the home front, Rebecca starts another year of Preschool tomorrow, and Andy is trying to get over a cold, hopefully before the twins come home.

Rebecca's Artwork

Rebecca showed me her artwork this morning. She drew this one on Thursday or Friday after Mom and Dad went to the hospital. This morning when I asked her who was in the picture, she said, Mommy and the two babies. I asked her who was who and she said the little one is McKenzie Rose and the bigger one is Ana Lucia.

It is really good that Rebecca is enjoying the concept of having two little sisters. Hopefully that attitude continues when we get them home and they start taking more time away from her.

Granny comes and goes

Granny flew in from Cleveland on Friday. (where she was helping to celebrate her mother's 90th birthday on Thursday 12 Aug) That first day she was able to hold Ana Lucia (on right) as she has been doing the best of the two girls. Today she got the chance to hold McKenzie (on left). McKenzie took the opportunity to open her eyes and try to find out who was holding her.


Unfortunately, Granny had to leave this evening headed back to Memphis so she could work in Missouri this coming week, but she promised to be back!

Twin Girls!!!!!

Wow so we are now a family of 6. Ana Lucia (shown in the picture on the right) was born at 1:36 am on August 13, 2010 and McKenzie Rose (shown in the picture on the left) was born at 1:37 am.

Ana weighed in at 4 lbs 8 ozs and 16" long and McKenzie weighed in at 4 lbs 3 ozs and 17 1/4" long. They have put the girls in adjoining rooms right now in the NICU. And they each have a nurse looking after them. So we are really happy so far. McKenzie had to be put on CPAP (forced Air) initially but she is now doing well enough on her own that she doesn't need it anymore.

We are expecting them to be in the hospital for a couple weeks at this point, but we will know more as time goes on. Susana is still recovering from the c-section will be in the hosptial for the next few days. Soon enough we will have all of the girls home and then the fun will really start.