Update from the home front

Just a quick post here to give an update on both kids at home.  The first 3 nights have been quite a bit harder than our nights with just Austin, but it's still quite a reprieve from the hospital commute.  Instead of alternating feeds, we are both getting up to double team the effort and get it over with quickly.  Both Austin and Malia are feeding well at this point, but usually the whole ordeal has us up about a full hour.  This is bad news when  the interval is every 3 hours, so at best we're sleeping about 2 hours at a time.  

Malia once again was waiting until the 11th hour to have a BM, which always preoccupies us as we see her strain and wiggle to move things along by the 3rd day without a stool.  This morning's first diaper change revealed an impressive load, sending her dad into a fit of watery-eyed retching... much to the amusement of mom.  Either way we were glad to see her move things along, but nonetheless this time the backup seemingly had no effect on her feeding.  Her growth is noticeable especially today, which according to our bathroom scale (error notwithstanding), has her weighing in at approximately 6 lb., 4 oz.  Austin is also packing it on, weighing an estimated 7 lb., 5 oz., and is just expanding in all directions.  As usual, he still has a noticeable pound advantage on his sister, but with Malia's appetite lately it might not stay that way for long.

We took the babies out for the first time since being home, braving the nearby Target for some supplies.  We also took them to the Long Beach concert in the park down at Marina Park, and if sleeping was their show of approval, they enjoyed the hell out of it!

Swaddle buddies

Cheryl couldn't wait to customize their car seats... as if people were having trouble distinguishing their gender!
 

Austin was the victim of a vicious cloth diaper experiment by his daddy

Truckin' the double wide down the aisles of Target

Concerts in the park: what the Jimmy Buffet crowd does on weeknight in Long Beach

Fast asleep

Watching the concert from the boat has to be the best seat in the house

...and 4 made a family!

Miss Malia went ahead and decided it was time to finally come home today, 73 days after her birthday.  As we reported previously, she really was knocking her feedings out with ease, so she managed to string together 2 full days of feedings, and passed her car seat challenge, hearing screening, and ROP eye exams with flying colors.  It was quite the hectic day as Austin also had his followup eye exam, so we didn't exactly have everything together for Malia's arrival, but we'll improvise a little until we all get settled in.  It hasn't really sunk in yet, but between the intensity of having two babies at home and the sudden convenience of not making our daily hospital rounds, I'm sure it will all make sense soon enough.

We're so proud of our kids for making it through such a dangerous journey.  It was an eventful prelude to what should be a very normal upbringing of two very well-loved kids.  We're happy to turn the page on this seemingly endless chapter, and will never forget the support we got from so many people along the way. 

More to come in the days ahead... but for now, some pictures.

NICU Grads, Class of 2012

Malia's headband flower must have tasted good

Happy family

Home with LoLo Manny

Am I seeing double?

38 week update

Tomorrow would have been Austin and Malia's 38th week of gestation, and this just might also be the week that Malia finally gets to come home and complete our family (officially).  She really seems to behave a lot like Austin did just prior to his discharge, and she has really come a long way in terms of her feeding.  Although different in her approach than Austin and often much, much slower in terms of her feeding time, she is knocking out most of her feedings to completion.  Thus far the best streak she's put together has been 6 out of the 8 daily feedings; not far from the whole enchilada really!  Her previous brushes with feeding success seemed to always be interrupted by something, usually by her bowel irregularity - by the third or fourth day, she would become so loaded with poop that her appetite would dwindle.  So with today being her third day since her last poop, yet a good run of consecutive completed feedings, our preoccupation was getting that damn poop out!  And wouldn't you know it?  After a great feeding that she easily completed on her own, she decided to show off and poop for her daddy, of which I narrowly missed the splatter pattern with the old "diaper shield trick!"  Our little girl is growing up and acting like she wants to come home after all.  The big test will be tomorrow when she has her follow-up eye exam, which as I've mentioned before can be a little disruptive to their appetite because of the agitation.  But this feat was no problem back when Austin was nearing discharge, so we're hoping for a similar outcome for Malia.

Grandma and Grandpa Vlasich stopped by for a visit at the hospital today also, so they were lucky enough to witness the diaper prowess of their granddaughter as well.  Austin got plenty of cuddle time with his grandpa, with I'm sure was mutually enjoyed.  We weighed Austin at the hospital, and he was 6 lb., 15 oz., just right on the cusp of 7 lbs!  Malia is hanging not far behind at 5.75 lbs, which is close to the same weight that Austin was at discharge.  Guess we were right, she was just about 2 weeks behind her brother in size and stage...  She'll catch up, no doubt!

Austin and his Grand Pappy

The boys are doing some manly bonding

The porcelain princess showing her bottle skills

Austin hogging all of the crib, just like in the womb

Didn't realize how high they pulled up her pants until after I took the photo

Add caption

Foot comparison

Still working on a decent shot of them together... not happening just yet!

37 week update

The twins would have been at 37 weeks of gestation yesterday, which means they would have delivered sometime this week.  Sounds about right, because they have matured to near-term babies' size; Austin is at 6 lbs, 5 oz. (near the birth weight of his mom), and Malia is at 5 lbs, 5 oz.  So with Austin at home we're all still getting used to his routines, which will serve as a mini-trial for the full throttle parenting rigors that are to kick in when Malia makes it home.  

Austin has been in tow with us for most of our errands, including visits to Hoag to see Malia.  The nurses love seeing him as a NICU visitor rather than a patient.  Overall he's been pretty manageable through the nights, although he was a bit irritable on Saturday night due to his Friday vaccination... poor little guy!  The doctor's visit revealed also has a bit of an inguinal hernia that will likely require a surgery at some point when he's a little bigger, but he's otherwise doing very well and gaining weight steadily.

Malia is still a bit of a slow-go, but she's certainly not losing any ground on Austin.  They have her on a 30 calorie supplement in her feedings, which may be the culprit in stopping her up and not pooping for 4 days.  We were glad to hear that she finally worked it out last night and bombed a 78g load (nearly 3 oz.)!  After Austin's scare we don't like to see them go that long, but it's better that they work it out without intervention. Because of her growth, the nutritionist has approved taking her back down to the 22 calorie supplementation (what Austin is also on).  She's still inconsistent with her feeding stamina, but she's certainly getting better.  Lately she has been stringing together 3 or 4 full feeds, but then peters out on the next one or two.  It's not really a setback, as we don't want her to come home too soon.  But it does seem as though she's edging her way closer to getting out of there soon, although there's no way to say exactly how soon.

Now some pictures...

First bath at home in the Puj tub

Happy boy after his bath

Napping while posed in his stroller bassinet

Malia 36w6d

Malia sleeping in her cocoon

Malia & Mom

Eyes wide open before her bottle time

Malia got a bath on Monday, and it was good to see her filling out  and barely fitting into the tub

All clean and still awake

Always fun posing the kids together, 37w0d

Not sure Malia really cared, but Austin kept looking over at his sister... Enthralled?  Confused?

Love those faces!

Not always a favorable result when they're posed face to face

Austin graduates NICU 7/11/12!

So as we had hoped yesterday, the hospital discharged Austin on his 2 month birthday, a full 2.5 weeks ahead of schedule!  Our first night alone was a bit of trial and error, but overall I'd say it went well and we managed to actually get a little bit of sleep.  Fortunately, Austin loves to eat, so it's not too tedious sitting through the middle of the night feedings.  He's a needy boy, and prefers to be held/cuddled when he's sleeping, so we're going to have to find a way around that when his sister comes home!

The nurses swooned with congratulations and goodbyes (not really goodbye since he'll be back frequently until his sister gets out).  It felt really good to leave the hospital in such a fashion.  Not taking anything away from the elation that all parents feel leaving the hospital... but to emerge from such a long, unpredictable roller coaster as NICU graduates, has to be one of our proudest accomplishments.  Even better is that we'll get to do it twice!

Smiling big on his 2 month birthday

Cheryl has just a little bit of fun staging Austin like a model

Leaving Hoag with a little extra cargo

And we're home!

Touchdown!

Home at last!

Lolo Manny came over to greet Austin in his new abode

Today we also celebrated the lives of our friends' twins who tragically lost their battle with prematurity just a short while ago.  It was quite an emotional ceremony, but we were so glad to be a part of the memorial as so much of their struggles not only reminded us of our own, but also point out how marginally safe Austin and Malia entered the world.  It gives us solace to know that our friends got to meet their precious twins if even for just a short while, and much of their memories will be of the hope they acquired from watching two tiny humans fight so hard.  If you haven't yet hugged your children today, go do it.  And if you already have, go do it again... You are blessed!

Back in the car for a ride up to Claremont to see his Nana

It's the little things, like finally being able to cut off his hospital tag

Austin with his first Nana visit

Austin and Uncle Kurt

 Malia was finally placed in an open crib, like the one Austin had before his discharge.  She has also demonstrated enough consistency in her blood gas saturation levels that they have removed her pulse oximeter, so one more cord has been removed from her monitor.
She's barely shy of 5 pounds still, but doing just awesome.  Her nurse today reported that she had been taking he last 2 feeds entirely, and then took another full one with me this evening.  She seems to have things clicking into place just like Austin before his discharge, although I haven't heard any inference of her impending discharge.  Cheryl and I still think it will be another week, but who knows!

Malia is now in a "big girl" crib

Milk drunk...

So the real fun will start soon, and we get to feel like real twin parents; tired, overwhelmed, cranky, etc...  Boy, this is going to be some fun!  Don't feel sorry for us, this is exactly what we asked for!