Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas! Ok so its a little late, things have been a little busy around here ;) We are 1 week at home and so far everyone is doing great.

Kirk and I are a little short on sleep, but happy to be doing it!! We've split up the night feedings are are each getting about 4-6 hours a night. This is a great set up for me, when Alyssa was born I was exclusively breastfeeding her and did all the night feedings for a year! I am happy to share the duty with Kirk, once he goes back to work next week though we will have to switch things up a bit.
The babies eat every 3 hours, all day and night. It takes 1/2 hour per baby for changing, eating and burping which is 1 hour total...this leaves 2 hours in between for sleeping, that is if both babies don't fuss at all in that time, and of course pumping, bathing, making the next round of bottles,eating etc...Eating take a good chunk of time around here...We are also going through an insane amount of diapers, a diaper change at each feed plus big blowouts in between, we are using about 20-25 diapers per day, hopefully once they stop pooping so much we'll cut that down quite a bit.
Leah is weighing in at 5 pounds 2 oz and Blake is 4 pounds 13 oz

Alyssa is doing wonderful and seems extra cute these days, maybe its because she seems like such a big kid and the things she says sometimes just crack us up...All in all I'd say she's adjusting perfectly!

Christmas was lovely, we spent some time with Kris and Jane on Christmas Eve, Mom and Dad Swinton in the morning opening gifts and Mom brought us breakfast. Joyce and Erv came over with Christmas dinner in the evening...Boxing day was just the 5 of us (and 3 dogs!) at home..duh where else would we be...

Its hard to believe a whole week has flown by already, these hours and days just all blend together. I did get out of the house yesterday to get some diapers that were on sale, and some bottle supplies.

Anyways, we are all doing great..here are some pictures from the last week...I'll try my best to keep posting regularily so don't give up on us yet! I'm sure the updates won't be as often as they were but keep checking back!!

This picture is actually from before Christmas but so cute I had to include it. Kirk took Alyssa to the Flames game, I'm not sure who was more excited!! They had a great time!

Mama and Lissy opening presents!

Oscar even got some presents, not from us though! I forgot...bad mommy

Blake in his big truck from Big cousin Gabe...They are determined already not to be over run by Barbies and Princesses

Our family :)

Alyssa and Blake, she usually asks to hold "The girl", I think because she is quieter!

A bounce house from Mama and Papa Slone, a HUGE hit! Alyssa kept chanting "Set it up, Set it up", here she is in action!

Being a big helper, always putting Blakes soother back in

Leah having a bath. Blake had one too but he went 2nd and there wasn't any spare hands to take a picture...next time he can go first
Little Buddies
Aww so cute!!!
Blake being Blake and Leah being Leah...

5 seconds of fame

We had 5 seconds of fame on the day we were released from the hospital. Just as we were packing up and getting ready to go a lady came in and asked if she could bring the babies a gift and take their picture. Then before I knew it a whole swack of people came in with a TV camera interviewing me, which was just fantastic after maybe 2 hours of sleep..not to mention that I hadn't even brushed my hair or my teeth yet!! Yikes!!

We ended up on the 6:00pm news, Kirk took a video of the TV so excuse the poor quality!! Here is the babies in their television debut!

We're Home!

Merry Christmas to us!! Our twins are home, and we are tired already! It was a loooooong night at the hospital and its only day 1 we managed to get 2 hours of sleep, 1 hour at a time, but we are home and we are happy!!

Alyssa LOVED seeing the babies today, then we had both set of parents and siblings over with our nephews and niece. It was a great celebration!!

7 weeks later!!!!!!

7 weeks later they are coming home!! Yes today I pled my case for Blake to be with his mommy and they agreed, thankfully I was there for rounds otherwise they would have kept him in longer. They are being released tonight from the NICU and we will be moving over to pediatrics for the night...Babies will be home tomorrow :)

Wish us luck!!

Ok tomorrow should be the day that they babies are released from the NICU...I know for sure that Leah will be, infact she could have been a week ago.

Mr.Blake has been a bit fussy the past few days as he is still a little uncomfortable and sore. If he has a rough night they were talking about keeping him in a little longer...What I think he needs is some TLC from his mommy and I think he would do WAY better if he could come home. He is so happy and content when I hold him and I think he just craves some lovin...medically they have said he is fine and they would only keep him so they didn't send him home cranky...Send him home cranky I don't care!!

Anyways, I am going with the plan that tomorrow we are rooming in and home Tuesday...If you don't here from me tomorrow night we are at the hospital getting ready to bring our babies home...If you do, well I'll be sad...

Their room is all ready, I have their clothes picked out and ready to take tomorrow, car seats are installed...Kirks parents are going to drop Alyssa off on Tuesday so she can help bring our babies home, and the 5 of us can come home together as a family...I am so freaking excited its ridiculous...think I'll be able to sleep tonight?!?! My guess is NO!!!

Ok everyone, Wish us luck!!!!!!!!!!

A much better day

Well today was a MUCH MUCH better day with the babies. Blake was leaps and bounds better today. He seemed more comfortable and wasn't screaming like yesterday. I think he was still sore and he's still taking tylenol but overall a completely different boy than yesterday. He even managed to gain 40 grams overnight which is amazing!!! His 2 incision spots are pretty red and sore looking and his poor little man parts looks all black and blue which is quite normal I guess...

Here is the boy on his big day..before we left for Childrens all strapped into his isolette..

Oblivious to the torture he was about to endure. He's got a bad case of baby acne right now and some stork bites forming on his eyelids, Alyssa also had stork bites and actually still has one between her eyes.

The horribly bumpy ambulance van on the way there.

The even more bumpy Neonatal intensive care ambulance for the ride back

Coming back after it was over..The ambulance bays were full so they had to roll him through the snowy parking lot while screaming at the top of his lungs.

Leah our little princess is always good and never asks for attention or fusses over anything...she is such a good girl she's been getting a little over looked the past few days...She eats a 1/2 hour before him so when she is done she gets put down because Blake is always ready for his food...he usually gets a good snuggle in afterwards. Daddy came by today and gave her some extra love...


I don't want to jinx it but we were told that Babies will be discharged on MONDAY!!!!!!!! Can you believe it!!! Now they have this rooming in thing if you want, they will take you to a different part of the hospital and let you have a room to yourself without monitors and 24/7 nurses so that you can take of them yourself yet if you had questions, problems etc they are just around the corner... We can do that or just take them home Monday but I think we are going to room in just to give us one last night of reassurance so really we will be home on Tuesday...Woohoooo and holy smokes all at the same time I can't believe it!!! It will be 7 weeks when they come home, its gone by slow and fast all at the same time.

Both babies have really bad diaper rashes...This is how I was greeted the other day when I walked in..haha they were letting their bums air out! Alyssa has always had aweful diaper rashes and it looks like these 2 will also.

These are some cute pictures of Alyssa over the past 3 Christmas. She loves this snowman, we'll have to keep it for years to see how everyone grows!

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

My Grandma has been readmitted back to the hospital through the night and could really use some extra prayers today...Thinking of you always Grandma! XOXO

Booo on Today!

First thank you so much for all the nice messages and well wishes that everyone sent us today.

My day started at 1:30am to pump, followed by Alyssa waking up at about 2am with an aweful croupy cough. She spent about and hour crying and trying to get her resettled then up at 5 am to pump and get to the hospital...

All in all today was shit, just plain old no good very bad day :(

I was told over and over that this surgery was no big deal, and Oh thank goodness its not something more major and he'll feel so much better...I was prepared for a simple procedure and that really it would be no big deal.

Well it was a big deal, infact it was a huge deal. We got to childrens after an aweful bumpy ambulance ride, we were a little late getting there so they took him right away for his surgery.

They then said it would be about an hour and a half, which I was surprised at. We waited in a waiting room with a TV monitor similar to an Airport screen, all the kids names and their status; waiting for OR, In OR, In recovery etc.

Finally after close to 2 hours of surgery the surgeon came out to talk to us.

They tried to do a spinal but it didn't really work so they gave him a local anaesethic while he was awake and sucking on his soother...

Turns out he had 2 Massive hernias, one on each side and it was a much bigger thing than they thought and WAY more that we thought. It ended up taking close to 2 hours and they even had to repair his muscle wall on the left side that was the worst. There was no bowel damage and he thinks the testicle will be ok but they wont know for about a year on that.

We went back to see him in recovery and he was just screaming at the top of his lungs...I just cried seeing him in so much pain, Kirk agreed it was aweful. It was so heart breaking I have never heard him cry like that. It was the kind of cry where they start out screaming and end up holding their breath and not making a sound. He hadnt eaten in almost 12 hours so we gave him a tiny bit of milk to calm him down and it did a little.

Then the transport guys came to pick him up and transfer him back to the PLC...The ambulance ride was SO aweful and bumpy, why don't they have better shocks in those things??? The snow on the roads certainly didn' t help matters...He screamed at he top of his lungs the whole way being strapped to the little travel cot incubator. I had my hands in there trying to hold in his soother and rest my hand on his head to calm him...it didn't really help...He is only on tylenol every 4-6 hours...I can sure tell you that he went through WAY more than I did with my C-section and I was given a whole heck of a lot more drugs than tylenol...poor baby.

For the rest of the day he was in a lot of pain, every time he moved he would scream at the top of his lungs. He did seem to calm down when I was holding him, I did hold him most of the day and he did manage to fall asleep for while, but again everytime he moved he just screamed...

I left him tonight after being there for 12 hours in the care of an older nurse who was cuddling him. I am going to call in a bit to see how he is...

All in all that was a horredous horrible experience that we completely under estimated, and I sure as heck hope I don't EVER have to go through that with any of our kids again...

I hope tomorrow he is a little better but I am prepared now for him to be the same.

On a brighter note the have tentively said we can bring them home next Wednesday...I'm too tired to be excited right now maybe once I know he's feeling better I'll start to believe it....

Booooooo for today...Goodnight.........

Quick update

Just off to bed to be leave for the hospital for 6:00am tomorrow. I am going with the little Blake by ambulance over to the the Childrens hospital for his 7:40am surgery, Kirk will meet us there.

They were doing fine today, I bathed Blake (and Leah) today so he was nice and clean for his surgery and so we won't have it to it for awhile after. I left him clean with full tummy and sleeping, he won't be able to eat now until after his surgery. His transfusion went fine the other day, nothing exciting to report about that...

Prayers please for the little man that everything goes smoothly with no complications and no damage to his bowels or his little manliness...I will update tomorrow...

xoxo to my baby son...you be a brave boy...I know you'll do great!

Surgery Consult & Blood Transfusion

I met with the surgeon who will be performing Blake's hernia surgery today. He was great, very informative and detailed about what is going to happen.

I guess when babies are in the womb, boy baby testicles are formed inside of the abdomen and at around 7 or 8 months gestation they drop down through a tube into the scrotum, after that happens the tube is suppose to seal off closing the abdomen from the male anatomy. Since Blake was born before that tube was sealed shut his bowels over time have fallen down that tube and are being compressed. This is a very common thing happening in 30% of preemies and not limited to males. We are told to keep an extra close eye on Leah now, it apparently can be a family thing.

The reason why it is so important for him to have his surgery right away is that the tube can start to close around the bowel and cutting off blood flow to that area, which would be not good. They will check the other side while there are there and if it needs to be done they will also do that at the same time. There is also a 30% chance that his testicle could be damaged, but we won't know that for 1 year depending on its growth.

So surgery is first thing Thursday morning and it shouldn't take that long. The total hospital stay is 3 hours and the surgeon told me it should not impact his hospital stay at all, however the dr's over at the PLC are not willing to agree to that at this point...We will have to re-evaluate that Friday after we have a better idea of how he is feeling..

After all of that was over I went over to the Peter Lougheed to see them and was told that Blake requires a blood transfusion before his surgery...Gahhhhhhh great something else to think about...I guess they did his routine before surgery bloodwork today that revealed he doesn't have enough volume of blood and would need the blood transfusion before he can have his surgery...

So he is right now as I type this having his transfusion...I have some mixed emotions about this..I'm not sure why...perhaps its because its just making me emotional to have just one more thing, or maybe because its blood from another human being pumped into my tiny boy. I know these blood donors are wonderful, generous people but you can't help but think of those stories of tainted blood etc...blahhhh...They are checking his blood pressure and vital signs every 15 minutes over the course of the 4 hours that it takes for the blood to be transfused intervenously. I know this is a necessary thing for him in order to have his surgery which we know he needs...I'm sure it will all be fine...

Thats its, the story of the day..Oh and he had a brady last night and today :( 1 more week for sure!!

Twin time...

Well we had a nice evening away in Banff, other than the -30c weather (that is -22f for the Americans! YIKES!)The Christmas party was great, the food was wonderful. Of course I had to take my Breast friend with me and pump every 3 hours, I'm getting rather fond of my new appendage so it wasn't too much of a bother (except the running back to the hotel freezing my butt off)

Babies are GREAT!!! I stuck around the hospital an extra 45 minutes yesterday to hear the Dr's rounds where 5 or 6 at one time come over and discuss the health of your babies and any changes that need to be made etc. They got to us and one of them said "Slone babies, no concerns..moving on" Bahhh what a waste of 45 mintues, but I guess that's the best kind of rounds to have...no news is good news right!!

These little ones are like magnets to each other its just so sweet to see! No matter how you put them in their bed they always roll right over to each other. When one is taken out, the other starts to stir. They do this back and forth talking that the nurses call twin talk...They have even started dressing them the same over there...Matching pink and blue outfits or the same sleepers...So cute!

Babies are doing fantastic at breast feeding and bottling. Leah has started refusing the tubes feeds and insists on being bottled now. Blake also does really great and infact is a much more efficienct breast feeder than Leah. He still gets a bit lazy at times and is getting about 1 out of 8 feeds with the tube, so still VERY good! This week coming up I might even bring in my twin nursing pillow and see if I can try out this tandem nursing bit. I figure if I can shave some time off of feedings in a day it will be a bonus! Might as well try right!

Blake is officially over 4 pounds now, you can tell in his cheeks he is filling out more. Leah is 4lbs5oz and is definitely starting to look just like Alyssa did when she was born...I think I noticed that Blakes eyes looked brown today. Leah's I didn't get a good look at but I think are mostly still blue. Blake is looking a little yellowish these days and is having his Biliruben levels checked again for jaundice, he may need a few more days under the lights...

Surgery is still a go for Thursday this week. I am meeting with the surgeon at Childrens hospital tomorrow to get final details and sign the consents. It sounds like I'll be able to go with him in the ambulance and stay with him right before and right after his surgery and be transported back to PLC after his surgery. The nurses are starting to call him Grunty Grumperson and we believe now that a lot of his grunting whining is actually discomfort from his hernia and not that he is a cranky kid. Yesterday we put a warm blanket over it and it seemed to really help...(PS if you go back to the pictures of his first bath you can see the bulge where his hernia is right above his little manhood on the right side as you are looking at it...I never noticed it then though!) Poor baby, they seem to think that the hernia is cause him more pain than the actual surgery will so he should get some relief after its all over.

We are still hoping to have them home for Christmas, but its going to be close!! It literally might be Christmas Eveish now...Fingers crossed!!

Chunky Monkey in the making!!!

Out cold after a big dinner...

I had to throw this one is because it made me laugh...Here is Alyssa with a big stack of money she refused to give back...she ended up sleeping with it under her pillow...she's no dumby!!

Mom and her babes...see how much yellower Blake is...

"We was like peas and carrots"

Notice Blakes ear stuck to his head, they don't have any cartilage in their ears yet and its like a floppy piece of skin that always gets stuck to their heads and bent in half.

Their new home, the babies have moved yet again....Always a good thing to be moved!!!

So done..

Wow, am I ever done...done with the travelling back and forth to the hospital, done with pumping, done with never being done any my housework or laundry...blaahhh...to make matters worse I think I've ruptured my c-section incision, not on the outside but inside, I have been picking up Alyssa and doing way to many heavy duty things I shouldn't have been doing for 6 weeks. Problem is I was feeling too good. Now I have a giant pianful lump on one side...I hope a few days of nothing super strenuous and some advil will make it go away..I'm sure if I went to the dr they would say Hmm take it easy and hopefully it goes away, so we'll see how it feels next week.

Kirk and I are just exhausted with it all...I think its mostly emotionally draining stuff and just never being able to keep up.I think that when the babies come home it will be a different kind of crazy but a good crazy so we can all be together in one spot..at least that is my hope...None the less on we forge, no other option right!

Blake's surgery has been booked for next Thursday which sucks because that means next weekend might not happen and it will literally be Christmas Eveish that they come home...We are meeting with the surgeon on Monday and hopefully he will give us more specific details on the actual procedure itself and the recovery time.

The little stinker had a brady today..BOOOO for that, if he went the whole week without a brady he would be de-classfied as having apnea and bradicardia, he blew it by about 3 hours, now he has to go another full week without having one before he can be released..Every time he has one from now on it adds a week to his stay...Gahh at this rate he might never be home (kidding!)

They are both doing well Leah has been gaining weight at a great rate, she is now 1893 grams which about 4 pounds 3oz, Blake is growing but at a slower rate he is now 1766 which is 3 pounds 14.5oz...They have been doing really well at the bottles the past few days, they are starting to do more bottle feedings in a day than tube feeding which is great seeing they won't have the magic tube when they come home. Leah prefers the bottle for now over breast feeding and the little man does better at breastfeeding followed by a bottle.

My grandma is in the hospital to right now with some breathing and heart problems, she is doing a better but could use some extra prayers and good thoughts...

Good night!

Surgery Update...

I met with the Dr today and little Blake will for sure be having his surgery, probably Monday or Tuesday of next week. He will be transported to the Childrens Hospital for the day and if all goes well he will be transported back that same day, if things don't run on time or he ends up being groggy or to sleepy they will keep him there overnight.

They are going to be doing both sides at the same time to prevent a future problem on the other side. They are hoping that they will be able to sedate him and give him a spinal rather than general anesthetic, but if they can't for some reason they will end up putting him right under. They assured us again that this is a very simple, standard and safe procedure...none the less its a little nerve wracking to have my little 3 pound boy going under the knife...

Also talking with the dr today, I was trying to get an idea of when they will be able to come home and the Dr said casually Oh you can take Leah home on Monday!!!!! CRAZY!!! Its seemed like it was forever away and now its really almost here!!! Now we want to keep her with Blake, they are little buddies and I don't want to seperate them, not to mention convenience. Seeing that Blakes surgery will be Monday or Tuesday plus they said about 3 or 4 days recovery time for him, we are looking at next weekend or so to bring the babies home!!! If it wasn't for the surgery we could have been bringing them home next Monday!!!

I'm so excited and now feeling a last minute frenzy to finish getting stuff ready. I have some baby shopping to do, things I realized I needed now...plus some other Christmas shopping...Kirk and I are going to Banff this weekend for Kirks Christmas party, next week will be busy with the surgery etc...So really the time is almost here to PANIC!!! MUST GO NEST!!!

ARGHHH

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....ok I just had to get that out...It seems as though I jinxed us in my post that said we had finished our last hurdle and were now on the home stretch...Today one more hurdle got thrown our way..Turns out Blake has an Inguinal Hernia and needs surgery to repair it...In the grand scheme of things its a minor problem, but its just one more freaking thing to worry about...I felt on the verge of a meltdown today, I was able to keep it together and after having a nice dinner out with Kirk I feel a little better. It requires him to be put under general anesthetic to have it repaired. We are meeting with the pediatric surgeon tomorrow to discuss this further.

It apparently doesn't cause a whole lots of discomfort for him right now, and when you touch it (now that I know where it is you can see it bulging out) he doesn't grimace in pain or anything so thats good...The surgery is fairly simple from what I'm told, and sometimes they do both sides just incase. I guess this is a fairly common thing in boy preemies, I still could have done without it...I think the hardest part will be him not being able to eat before the surgery...We should find out when the surgery will be tomorrow, we are hoping sooner than later so it doesn't impede his potenial discharge date...So that is that, I will update tomorrow once we get some more info from the surgeon...

In other news, babies are gestational age of 35 weeks right now...Weight gains are great..Little Leah is now 4 pounds 1.2 oz!!!! WOOHOOO for 4 pounds!!! Blake is 3 pounds 12oz, 1 full pound above his birth weight.

Blakes brady's have continued to improved, he hasn't had one since Dec.3rd...another woohoo!! They even lowered his caffeine today. Leah's caffeine has been discontinued and she is no longer listed as having apnea. They also changed her over to the Neosure suppliment instead of the human milk fortifier, which is one step closer to coming home. They wanted her on something we could actually buy when they come home. Now her and Blake are eating the same thing. They are both around 35mls per feeding every 3 hours...

The nurse today who I don't consider to carry much weight on the desicision, indicated that Leah could be ready to come home in a week or so...We would prefer her to stay with Blake until they both come home. First they keep each other company and second, once she is discharged she can't come back in which would make visiting Blake rather difficult...I think having them in one place is the better way to go...Now hopefully he can continue to be Brady free for a whole week AND his surgery will happen sooner than later and he will bounce back really quickly from that..

Snuggles with Daddy after dinner

Leah is starting to get a chubby face!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Alyssa!!!!

Happy 3rd birthday to our darling Alyssa. Hard to believe it has been 3 years since our little Princess was born. It was a cold day much like today...After 24 long ours at 8:15 pm our little angel was born. She was so precious...a much different birth story than the twins. She weighed 7 pounds and was 19.5" long and she roomed in with me that night and 20 hours later we were home...

Alyssa has such a sweet dimeanor, she has been such an easy child to raise..so far that is!! Sure she has her moments but it has been a joy to be able to stay home with her the past 3 years and watch her grow. I think she is going to be a huge help when Blake and Leah come home, she is very nurturing and motherly and keeps saying she just wants them home...

Happy Birthday my love!!