One week old and doing great!

Hi everyone,

The babies are doing really well. They were all off their ventilators this afternoon and breathing on their own! All still need a little extra oxygen, but now they just need a little tube in their noses. The best part is that once they are off the ventilators and stable, they can be held!!! Jon and I held little Noah for the first time yesterday and little Matilda today. Anna was having a little trouble getting stabilized so I'll have to wait a little longer for her. It is a wonderful feeling, holding your own babies for the first time, just absolutely mind-blowingly incredible. Today, I also got to put Noah right on my chest, skin-to-skin. They call this "kangaroo care," and it is supposed to help the little one grow and be strong. I would have to say that it is also good for mom's blood pressure! We both ended up taking a little nap. :)

We got the results of the brain and heart ultrasounds yesterday, and everyone seems to be just fine. They are amazing little troopers!

They continue to eat well and seem to be much happier getting breastmilk instead of formula. The amount they eat continues to improve rapidly so that just when I start making enough, they race ahead of me. Nothing to do, but keep trying. My schedule now revolves entirely around the pumping schedule--I am trying to pump every 2 hours, and it takes about 30 minutes to go through the entire pumping routine. So I have 1.5 hours in between to eat, dress, visit babies, blog, read, nap, etc. I find that I can get one thing squeezed in before I need to go again! Crazy! It's enough to make one wonder what's going to happen when there are babies, not machines, that need feeding . . . .

And now some pictures . . . .


Noah and Courtney


Noah and Jon


Matilda gives Mom the evil eye


Matilda and Jon


Matilda and Courtney (Do you like my bow?)


Anna, squirming. All of them now have the nose tube for oxygen and a mouth tube for feeding. They still have a variety of monitors and things, but it's nice to see their little faces!

More soon!

Have a great weekend!
Courtney