Well folks, we've got some "big" boys on our hands! We currently have two babies over the 3 LB mark! Wooo hooo! When they got weighed on Friday night, both Stokes and Ryan have made it to the 3 lb milestone. Ryan has taken the lead and weighs 3 lb, 0.6 oz and Stokes is right behind him at 3 lb, 0.5 oz. William hasn't quite made it to 3 lb yet, but he is working on "bulking up" and will be there soon.
Guess what we got to do this weekend! HOLD babies. Not kangaroo care, but actually holding them. Like the same way you would hold a full term baby. :) I love kangaroo care because they are so close to you and you get the skin-to-skin benefit, but when you kangaroo them you can't really see their faces because they are right under your chin. We have handheld mirrors there and can use those to look at their faces but it isn't quite the same. When I got to hold them this weekend, it was amazing to look down and just stare at that gorgeous face. I could observe their facial expressions and all the characteristics of their faces. I got to hold Stokes for 2 hours on Friday and held Ryan for about an hour and a half on Saturday. When I was done holding Ryan, Thomas got to take a turn. Thomas is wearing a mask because he felt like he may have some sort of a sinus infection and wanted to be extra careful that he didn't pass along any germs to the babies. Here are some pictures of our big boys being held.
STOKES:
I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of William this weekend. Sorry to the William fans out there (I am talking to you, Virginia Van Pelt, Stephanie Mays & Matt Hammond!). I'm sure I will get a chance to hold him today or tomorrow though and will dedicate a post just to him! His nurse yesterday said that the doctors talked about repeating an echo on him on Monday, so we'll see if that happens. I was under the impression that it would be a few more weeks before they did another echo. There are also rumors of moving William to high flow vs CPAP so stay tuned!
You may be wondering about what is going on with our other "babies", our dogs, General and Esso. Well, they have been missing their parents over the last few weeks since we've been spending time at the NICU and are always so glad to see us when we walk in the door. We've tried to talk to the dogs about their new baby brothers but we aren't quite sure what they will think when they boys actually come home. Yesterday, Ryan's nurse gave us a few blankets with his scent on them and encouraged us to let the dogs smell the blanket and get used to the new smell. We brought the blankets home and let the dogs smell them and put them on the dog beds. Both General and Esso were very interested and took advantage of the chance to smell something new! General even took both blankets with him and didn't want to share with Esso. How sweet. :)
Now that I am 4 weeks post-op, I'm feeling much better and starting to feel more like myself. I still walk around slower than I used to and am having back pain (is that normal?!?!? maybe from pumping?!?! or maybe from losing all muscle from laying in a bed for 5 weeks?!?!) but it feels good to begin feeling "normal" again. I still look pregnant but am trying to be patient with that! :)
That's all for now. I hope you had a great weekend. A dedicated William post will be coming soon!
So precious! I am glad you finally got to hold Stokes and Ryan and look down on these sweet faces. You, by the way, look just amazing. So very proud of you and Thomas. You made three beautiful children. I will message you the post baby yoga which may help w/ your back. I think you can start six weeks postoperative.
ReplyDeleteSo excited to hear how well those precious boys are doing and as for you Katie, you look beautiful.
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