I'm Home!

Today was quite a day. Last night, Bob and I split our touch times with the boys. Since each boy gets half an hour of touch time, it takes about an hour and a half to rotate through all of the boys. We realized yesterday that it is just too hard to keep up such a schedule, and so we decided that we would split the time between us. I skipped the 5 pm time in order to pump it up (which is getting better - still no flow, but I'm hopeful), and Bob skipped the 8 pm. He was so exhausted, and when I walked into the room, this is what he was doing.



Poor man is so tired from all of the tours he's been giving - lots of people want to see the kids, and Bob is our most mobile tour guide. I'm having a little trouble walking. My feet are incredibly swollen and my tummy is very sore from the incision. Either way, neither of us want to miss time with the boys nor do we want to deny anyone an opportunity to admire our children. We did the 11 pm shift together and decided to skip the 2 am in favor of sleep. We were up for the 5 am and then slept through the 8 am feed. We got to spend lots of quality time with the boys.

James has had some trouble with jaundice, so he is under the spotlight to increase his biliruben (not sure of the spelling) count. He is so feisty. He hates the little goggles that are taped to his head. He is always trying to take them off. It's kind of cute. He loves his pacifier, and if he loses it, he screams like he might be dying. I love to watch him throw his arms around and try and turn over on his own. He is much too active to be blind all day long. He likes to look around and the goggles interfere with his nosiness. He is still in the isolette, and I'm the only one who has gotten to hold him. I'm hoping that tomorrow Bob can hold him for a few minutes. Maybe we can get a family shot of that.



Michael is doing well. He is not very interested in eating on his own yet. We worked with him today, and he kept giving me this look like "lady, what are you doing, I'm trying to look around here." He is still on the room air flow with the canula, but they have decreased the volume which means that he is doing better getting air into his lungs on his own. He has moved from the warmer into an open crib like Ryan, but tonight, they had to move both of them under the warmer because they are having trouble holding their body temperature.



Ryan is finally pooping. Last night, the nurses and doctors were worried that he had not pooped yet, and they ordered an x-ray for the morning. When we went to the 5 am feeding, I got to change his first poopy diaper. It was kinda gross, but we were so happy. I made a deal with him at 11 pm that I'd poop if he would. We were both successful. Pretty impressive mother/son bonding. Since he open the gate, Ryan has been a poop machine. He is also in the open crib and taking all of his feedings by mouth rather than by tube. As of this moment, he is our best candidate for coming home first. He does need to figure out how to maintain his temperature, but I'm sure he'll figure it out soon. He is very, very nosey. He loves to look around and follow the voices of the people in the NICU. He and Bob have been having lots of bonding time since we have gotten to feed and hold him the most.



When we showed up for the 11 am feeding, the boys were not in their usual spot. Bob very quickly came out front to find out what was going on. As soon as I heard him tell his mom not to let me go in there, I started to freak out and ball. I think my face was the reddest it has ever been, and I wailed "what's wrong with my babies!" It was a comedy of errors, since they moved the kids without telling us, there was a new weekend nursing crew who did not know us, and the guy at the front desk did not ask who we were. I think Jim was about to take someone limb from limb, but very quickly we found out that the boys had been put in a "private" room in the back because they are not in need of the primo machines and such. It was really nice that we were able to all be close to all of the boys for the entire visit. We finally got a picture of all of the kids "together."



The hardest part of today was leaving the hospital. We could have spent another night at Baylor, but after 10 Saturdays in Grapevine, I was ready for a little piece of heaven in Haslet. Leaving the boys behind was pretty traumatic, and I can't even type about it without some tears, so we'll leave it at that. Tomorrow, we'll be back and I know that the kids are in great hands.

We had a little celebration tonight at home with steaks and family. It is so wonderful to be home. To pee in my own toilet, to sit in my spot on the couch, to wander around and touch all of my things. I can't wait to get the boys home, but I am glad to have a couple of days to recover first. This c-section thing kind of takes it out of you. I'll be happy to get back to Baylor tomorrow and see the kids.