Homeward Bound!

Despite the falling rain and the fact that we were leaving Hope and Jack behind in the NICU, it was hard to wipe the smile off my face as I waved goodbye to Bryn Mawr Hospital room 2006, climbed into our new mini-van, and drove home to Havertown (as a passenger, of course). Everything was so green and the azalea bushes are in bloom so there was color everywhere --- a rainy beautiful drive!!!!

Emma has doubled in size in my absence! Addy has spent the evening letting me know that she was not happy about the fact that I've been gone for a month. I hope to repair our relationship before the babies come home and I throw another wrench into things.

The babies' room is gorgeous. I hope to take some pictures tomorrow to post. I've set up a breast milk pumping station by our new glider chair so I can think of the babies during my pumping sessions. It is exhausting work and they have me on a pretty crazy schedule so that I produce enough milk to feed both babies, but things seem to be working and it gives me a lot of happiness to hand over my bottles to the NICU nurses and have them use that to feed the babies in my absence instead of formula.

We found Hope dressed in a purple sleeper today which was exciting. I guess she is regulating her temperature good enough that she can start wearing clothes inside her igloo (that is what Kevin and I call the incubators). She is a pretty good eater and hopefully with a little more time, she will do a better job at remembering to breathe while eating.

Jack is also doing well. Because of his smaller size, he is not as interested in eating as his sister and is more content sprawled out sleeping in his house getting his breast milk or formula through a feeding tube. As he gains weight, the doctors and nurses assure us that he will take a more active role in eating. He had been spending time under a UV light being treated for jaundice, but they stopped that last night and his bloodwork looks good so far - thus no more sunglasses and tanning for our little boy. Jack and I did kangaroo care today where he laid on my chest skin to skin snuggling (they have screens in the NICU for some privacy during such sessions and breast feeding). Kevin joined us and I passed Jack over to him where my sleepy boy suddenly woke up and was quite interactive with his dad.

Due to my c-section recovery, I am not allowed to drive for another week, so we are working on arranging rides for me to visit the NICU. I plan to make it in time for Hope's noon feeding (both babies are on a 3 hour feeding schedule, with Jack's staggered 1 hour after Hope) and hang out there all afternoon until Kevin comes after school.

Here is Hope's igloo with its festive cover down to give her some privacy to nap.

Jack and his sunglasses. Not sure why he wasn't happy in this shot, most of the time he seemed to enjoy the tanning sessions. Jack sprawled out comfy last night.
Hope - being cute
Hope - content after a feeding