8 Months and counting....

Today the boys are 8 month's and 5 days old... I am kind of bad at updating this huh? The boys still have the fear of spoons... Nate more so than Aiden. It turns into an all out scream fest when you put a spoon to Nate's mouth. Poor kid. Their bottle intake has decreased significantly. They were both eating 8 ounces every 3 hours... now Nate eats 6 (if he is lucky) and Aiden eats 4-5 ounces. Not sure if it is the heat or what... but they have plateaued in their growth that is for sure. Amanda, our early intervention lady is amazing! She as well has a set of twins, but they are almost 2. She also has a son who is almost 4 who was born at 27 weeks. So she knows what we have been through on both sides. When she was here last Friday we laughed, we cried, and we shared some great stories. I have to admit, I was a little worried at first about how I would feel about some stranger coming into our home telling me how delayed my boys are. But she has been there, she knows the pain and the hurt you feel when your children are 8 months old, and still can not get around the way a real 8 month old child would. They doesn't scoot, crawl, sit up, hold their own bottle, they can't use his pincer grasp, they don't pull themselves to a standing position, they doesn't roll from back to front, and they surly don't know their names. My children are behind. Some of those "milestones" I have mentioned are 5 month milestones. Gestationally they are 5 months and 4 days old. Our boys are delayed more than we thought. Amanda has referred them to ot, pt, and speech therapy. A relief since we didn't think that they would get referred and we would have to pay for it out of pocket, but in the same sigh... it is depressing. Our boys are delayed, but to us they are perfect to us in every little way.

7 1/2 month update

So yesterday I had to take all 3 boys to the doctors. We thought that the boys had ear infections because the have been repeatedly pulling at their tiny little ears and screaming way more than usual. No ear infections... Doctor said, "Welcome to teething with twins." SO what can ya do? Motrin is going to be our best friend the next few nights to get us through.

The boys are really starting to look alike finally! I have never in my life seen identical twins look so differnt. So everyone has been asking... and yesterday they were weighed.... Aiden is 14lbs 12oz and Nate is 15lbs 8 oz! They are getting so big!!! I guess that protein powder is helping huh?

Nate has found that if he throws his behind in the air and puts his hands under his belly he can keep himself warm....or maybe he is being a typical man?!?! Aiden has found his feet! Last night in the bath he was reaching and then all of a sudden there comes his feet right up to his hands! He was so shocked but so excited at the same time! Our boys are such miracles and they are growing into little men right before our eyes.
So I will leave you with some recent pictures...

Nate being the little ham he is...

This is our A-monster <3 Such a smiley boy

From rail thin to chunky chubby

This is a picture of Aiden when he was only a week old. Note how tiny his leg and arm is. TINY!

This is a picture I took this afternoon while the boys were sleeping. Look at how chubby their legs have gotten! I can not believe how much of a difference there is! My chubby bubbys!

You Know You're The Parent of a Preemie When...

1.You use strange initials (C-PAP, CCs, NICU, NG) when discussing your child.
2.You actually remember how many CCs make up an ounce.
3.You count his weight in grams.
4. The skin on your hands is peeling from washing so often!
5.You hesitate when someone asks his age, but you know exactly how much he weighs!
6. The answer to "How old is your baby?" is a story 30 minutes long!
7. When someone asks his birthday, you reply, "Which one?" or "he's not supposed to be born yet."
8. You start to understand some of the things they say on ER!
9. You turn into Kung-Fu Mom when someone tries to touch your baby.
10. You cry at Maternity Ward and get mad at Baby Story.
11. You see a 7lb newborn and say "Wow! He's so BIG!"
12. Your baby is months old before he can even come home.
13. When someone says how tiny your baby is, you argue that he is huge -- and to demonstrate, you whip out pictures of him in NICU.
14. You do a health check on people when they come to visit.
15. You make people wash their hands before going near your child.
16. You want to scream when someone says that she just wants to have this baby now - at week 28, 32, or 34.
17. You never take your child for granted.
18. You worry about RSV season and it is still weeks away . . .
19. You know what "RSV" stands for.
20. You pick up 2 pounds of ground beef and think that your baby was born smaller than it.
21. You buy "Purell" in bulk
22. You can stare at your baby for hours when he sleeps
23. NICU nurses are your best friends.
24. You no longer blink when an alarm goes off....

7 months

Tomorrow the boys will be 7 months old. We were at the high risk clinic on Thursday the 1st and the doctors are not happy with their growth. Aiden weighs 13.4 lbs. and is 22 inches long and his head is 15.5 inches. Nathaniel is 14.3 lbs, he is 23 inches long and his head is 16.1 inches. They are both less than 3rd percentile for their age. If we go by their gestational age which is 4 months, Aiden is 11th % for weight, less than 3rd % for height and head circumference, and Nate is 25th % for weight, less than 3rd for height, and 10th % for head circumference. Our boys are tiny. Yes they seem big since we know what they started out at, but they are very small. The doctors have started the boys on protein powder in their bottles to help bulk them up. We have the ok to start them on solids. We can feed the solids with a bottle or we can feed them by spoon and then if they are still hungry we can give them a bottle. Aiden's urine sodium is still very very low from having his NEC surgery. He is now on a double dose of his sodium a day to help get that up. On the 13th we will have 3 specialist come in the house to evaluate the boys. They will tell us whether or not they need PT, OT, or speech therapy. I am kind of excited to see the out come of the tests, but in other ways I am kind of scared. I know that they are behind, but I am not too sure how to help them with this. So that is where these people will step in. I will as always keep everyone posted.

Almost 7 months

Where has the time gone? Well as of Monday Aiden is 13 1/2 lbs and Nate is 14 1/2 lbs and they are both 24 inches long. We see the high risk clinic on Thursday next week to see where they want to go from here with their feeds and with their development. Speaking of development... MRDD will be out to do their evaluations May 13th to see if they are behind and what we need to do. We go June 18th to see the plastic surgeon about their helmets. I am not sure why they are waiting so long, but I am going to talk to high risk about it when we go there. The lady on the phone said they didn't have anything sooner. So we will see.

The boys had their first tummy time in the grass yesterday and seemed to like it. They have really found their voices and are not afraid to use them! They really hate eating from a spoon. I have tried working with them for a few days now, and it is just not going well. I think I am going to give them a rest with it and talk to speech therapy when we go to high risk. Well, that is about all for now. I promise I will try to post more.

Seeing Stars

So I have been a total slacker on their blog. So here we go! As of Friday the 4th of April, Nathaniel weighed in at 13 lbs 5 oz, and Aiden weighed in at 12 lbs 6 oz. They are growing like weeds! It looks like Aiden will have to wear a cranial band, and it is very possible that Nate will have to as well. I have to call the neurosurgeon tomorrow to make an appointment to find out for sure. Both of the boys are smiling and giggling like crazy and they sleep from mid-night to 10 a.m. Don't ask me how we did it because I have no idea! They have been pretty down and out these last few days kind of sickish... not too sure if it left over from what Kyle and I had last week or if it is just a small cold. We have moved into a new house. It has 3 extra rooms that we didn't have at the old house. So it is nice to be able to have room to move. I will promise to keep everyone updated more.

The pictures I am posting are from the Team Cincinnati Concert