Sorry we haven't posted anything in a few days. It has been a very busy time for us- and we are pretty worn out (especially me). I was released from the hospital today and we are spending one night at home before we return tomorrow to our new room at the Ronald McDonald House across the street from the hospital. They offer free lodging and meals to families whose children are at the hospital. It looks like a great place. I will stay there most of the time, Chris will come up several times a week, and Alex will stay between us and his grandparents.
We hope the time will go by fast until the girls can come home. The doctors at this time say 3-4 weeks and they may come home at different times. The babies have to be able to do several main things before they are released- they have to be at least 4 1/2 lbs, they have to be able to feed from a bottle or breast, they have to be able to breathe on their own, and they have to be able to maintain their body temperature on their own. They doctor say they are all healthy it is just a matter of them developing to reach each of these goals.
Anna is doing great. She is the biggest has not had any breathing problems. She is doing so great they were even trying her out without her bed warmer and just swaddled up one night. She wasn't able to do it that night, but she is getting close. She is fun because she is also the most active. She has her eyes open more and will look at you! She is also the bigger complainer.
Natalie still has a few times where she forgets to breathe and so, of all things, they give her caffeine! She started that last night and has not had an episode yet so hopefully she will soon grow out of that! She has the cutest cry!
Elisabeth is our smallest one, but she is gaining the most weight now! Soon she will get out of her incubator and into a bed. She had a little jaundice so was sunbathing under the blue lights for a few days, but they took her out of their today. We were so glad- she just looked like she was cooking under there.
They are on a rotation every 3 hours for diaper change, checking vitals, etc.. so we can be with them at that time and do those things for them. That is the hands-on time a the NICU- otherwise they discourage you from touching them too much because of the stimulation. We have also finally been able to hold them a little more lately which has been wonderful. That was the hardest thing for me.
Here are some pictures:





changing Natalie's diaper for the first time



















Here is our little Anna looking at us
Isn't that a big pacifier?














Grammy got to hold Natalie's pacifier






Here are several pictures of Elisabeth






Sunbathing














Holding Mommy's hand













Mommy and Daddy both have a hand on her














Elisabeth with her eyes open