The latest on the babies

Today was a pretty good day...

My sister had to go home, but I'm glad she had a chance to see the babies and hold them! Here she was holding Jack.

Here was a picture of Daddy holding Aniston.

Jack was really tired most of the day, so he never nursed, but hopefully he'll be more alert at feeding times tomorrow, so we can at least try again.

Aniston was more alert at feeding times, but she still hasn't caught on to the concept of feeding. I will get her to open her mouth, but she will just sit there not knowing what to do next. Hopefully she will get the hang of it soon!

Both babies have been taken off their IV's and they are just waiting overnight to see how they do without the fluids before they take them out completely. It was nice to be able to hold them today with one less cord to worry about. I just hope that they can take them off completely so they don't have to worry about those anymore. Jack has had such a hard time with his IV sites. He's been stuck so many times! I think he was on his 4th site before I even got to see him in the NICU after he was born! When I first saw him he had the one in the middle of his head, then that site went bad and they changed it to the left side of his head, then that one went bad and they put it in his wrist today. It looks so sore! They will be okay for awhile then the fluids will just start building up in their skin and they have to move them. He already had three poke sites in his hands before I saw him and both of the tops of his hands are so blue from bruising!

You can see in this picture how bruised his little hands are from being stuck while trying to find a vein... or three... You might be able to see in this picture how long and skinny his little fingers are! He also has the longest nail beds! His fingernails are almost long enough to cut too!

Aniston has had a little more luck with her IV's. She's had the one in the middle of her head, then on the side, which is still there, but hopefully tomorrow it will be gone! Her main problem right now is getting so much air in her tummy! Poor little girl, she will just gulp air and her little stomach will be FULL of air! Before each feeding they have to suck her stomach out. They'll take a syringe and suck it out through her feeding tube. They will get like 4 oz of air each time, I don't know how anything else would fit in there with that much air in there!!!

Tonight while I was over there I was holding her while she was being fed, then after she was done we decided to dress her (in her first outfit!!!) before I went home, so my mom and I carefully put her little onsie on and I guess from being a little fussy she had gulped a bunch of air again. Well, I put her back in her incubator and just a couple mins later I was standing there looking at her tummy thinking that it was time to suck it out because it was looking bulgy and she threw up all over my hand! So after that the nurse decided that she'd give her a bath to clean her up, so she had me hold Aniston while she got the bed ready to bathe her and she projectile vomited in my face and all down the front of both of us! Poor little thing! I don't think she left much of her feeding in her stomach after that! So until they were ready with the bath stuff I just held her in my lap on her tummy trying to relieve some pressure on her tummy. She got a few good burps out, so I think that made her feel better. They bathed her and sometime during, she grabbed ahold of the feeding tube and pulled it completely out! She was so upset about the bath and then she was going to have to have that tube stuck back in, which I'm sure she wasn't going to be happy about that, when that happened!!! She did make it through her bath and getting dressed again without throwing up anything more, but I'm not sure she had much more to throw up anyway. I bet all that fussing filled her tummy up with air though, but they hadn't put the feeding tube back in before I left, so I'm not sure how much air they had to suck out of her tummy tonight. Hopefully after all the drama tonight she'll sleep a lot during the night and be rested for tomorrow!

She was looking so cute after we got her dressed, this was just before she threw up all over this outfit! Sorry, these pictures aren't very good because they are usually through the incubator, and without a flash so it won't disturb them. You can tell how happy she was about getting dressed! She looks thrilled, huh?

Tonight they will be testing them to see how well they do without the heat on them and how well they do without the fluids from the IV's. If they are tolerating the feedings and their fluids and blood sugars and staying where they are supposed to be, then their IV's will be taken out and they will be done with that... Also, if they are maintaing their temps, if done with the IV's, they will be able to put them in a bigger, open crib together tomorrow and wear clothes and be wrapped in blankets! They will look more like regular little babies without seeing all the cords all over their tummies! I just can't wait to see them tommorow and hopefully they will be together again and be able to snuggle up to each other!