Names

People have been asking about the girl's names, how we came up with them and how we decided which one was which.  So, here it is.

For starters, this pregnancy was so very different from all our other pregnancies for quite a number of reasons.  With such a high mortality rate I had a hard time letting myself get too attached to the girls while I was still pregnant.  People asked me constantly if we had names picked out and even though we had a pretty good idea of the names we would use I couldn't really allow myself to commit to them.  I didn't want to personalize the girls too much as a way to protect myself emotionally if we lost them.  

I thank my Heavenly Father a hundred times a day that we didn't lose them!

Korby and I usually have a very difficult time coming up with names that we both like.  And now we would have to double it?!?

It actually worked out quite easily~ which was a pleasant surprise.

Neither of us are quite sure of where we picked up the names, but I fell in love with the name Colette and Korby really liked the name Naomi.  

Then Korby suggested using Lynn as a middle name (which is my middle name) and I suggested using Ann (which is my mom's middle name).  

And that is how we came up with the names Naomi Lynn and Colette Anna (we liked the extra syllable with Anna instead of just Ann).

How did we figure out which one was which?

While I was pregnant and the girls were on the monitors, one of the babies (Baby A)stayed pretty much in the same spot for at least the last month of the pregnancy.  The other baby (Baby B) moved all over the place.  They would sometimes have to use an ultrasound machine multiple times an hour to find where she had moved to.  In my mind I thought that of the 2 names, Colette sounded like the feistier of the two.  So, I thought that Baby B would be Colette.

When they were born, they were passed through the window into their NICU room.  While the doctors were finishing up with me, we could occasionally hear one of the babies crying through the closed window.  The doctors told us that the baby must be crying pretty loud, since they can't usually hear them through the window.  I knew immediately that the crying baby was Colette.  And it turns out she was Baby B.

It also turns out that we have had multiple nurses (who didn't know about the above story) have used the exact word "feisty" to describe Colette!

We have been asked if we can tell the girls apart yet and the answer is~ No.  The main reason (aside from being identical)  is that we have not been able to see the girls together yet.  They are in separate beds on opposite sides of the room.  As of right now, the girls are not allowed to be by each other because of the risk of transferring an infection or other illness.   The only way I can tell them apart right now is that Naomi has a pink bow in her hair and Colette has a purple bow in hers and that they stay on their own sides of the room.  

Hopefully we can come up with a more permanent way to tell them apart before bringing them home!

The Cord

While I was still pregnant all the doctors and nurses kept telling me to make sure Korby got a picture of the girls umbilical cords.  I even had my nurse offer to take the pictures for me during the operation. 

After the girls were both out, Korby had a chance to take a picture of the cord, but the doctor was holding it up over my open and exposed abdomen.  He didn't quite have the stomach to take a picture of that, and he figured he would have a chance to take a picture of it later.  

Well, that didn't happen.  They started untangling it right away and as they started my doctor made this comment:

"I'm really disappointed with your cords Jennifer."

Apparently it was very unimpressive!  

For how much worry and stress these babies caused us on the monitors, their cords were not the tangled mess that everyone assumed they would be.  They were short and twisted up, but there were no big knots and they weren't wrapped around any part of the babies.  

Sooooo...

No picture of the cord.  

Not a very impressive story.  

Sometimes disappointing is a good thing!    

1 Week Update (a little late)

I know I am a little late for a 1 week update, especially since they are almost 2 weeks old, but just pretend that I am posting this 5 days ago....

The girls are doing GREAT!  And they are certainly acting like identical twins.  The doctors and nurses keep joking about how easy the girls are making their jobs since they are doing everything together.  Here are some of the things that they have done together (without physically being together):

~they both needed a dose of surfactant at the same time (helps stimulate lung development)

~both of their supplemental oxygen levels have gone down from 8 to only 1/2 a liter

~they both came off the CPAP on the same day to a high flow nasal canula

~a couple of days later they both went from the high flow nasal canula to a normal canula

~they both needed to go under the "lights" the same day for the same amount of time (only 24 hours)

~they are both on full feeds (all nutrients coming from fortified breast milk)

~because of the one above, they both got rid of their IV's on the same day

~they both weaned themselves off of the temperature probe at the same rate

~they both started breast feeding on the same day

~they even usually poop at the same time

.  It truly is making it easier for me to keep track of everything.  I am having a hard enough time keeping track of who is who in all the pictures :)  

Speaking of pictures.....

Naomi under the "tanning lights" to help with jaundice.  The nurses called her a sun worshiper this day~ she was loving it!  

Colette extra comfortable while she is getting a full tummy from her feeding tube (in the bottom left hand corner).

Naomi's leg.  If you enlarge the picture you can see how wrinkled her skin is on her thigh.  

Colette's leg~ it is the same width as my thumb!  As you can tell from the picture above, their thighs aren't much bigger.  

Naomi's foot with her IV in.  They had to change their IV just about every single day :(  

Naomi's leg with her ID tag.  They are too small for bracelets, so they have a piece of paper taped to their leg with their ID number on them.  It also identifies them as BabyA and BabyB.  We might be keeping these on for a while after they come home to help us not get them mixed up :)

Colette snuggling with a rolled up blanket.  She loves to sleep all tucked in.    

Naomi, unlike Colette, loves to sleep with at least 1 limb sticking out most of the time.  

Naomi's arm~ the same size as my index finger.  

As of Sunday Naomi was 3.1 pounds and 16.1 inches and Colette was 2.15 pounds and 16.5 inches.  They both dropped weight (which is normal for any baby) but are now gaining again.

As of today (Friday) Naomi is at 3.5 pounds and Colette is at 3.2 pounds.  Both girls are starting to get the hang of breastfeeding.  That may be the only way I can tell them apart at the moment.  Naomi will nurse very slow and steady while Colette will nurse in quick strong bursts. 

They have progressed so much in the last week (almost 2 weeks).  Korby and I are so thankful that they are doing as wonderfully as they are.  However, with every improvement or step in the positive direction Korby gets more and more nervous about them coming home too soon.  

We are pretty much past any of the scary or major problems with preemies, but we still have quite a ways to go before these little girls are ready to come home with us.  I have to keep reassuring Korby of this.  It will be crazy busy when they do finally come home, but it will be so wonderful to finally be together as a whole family.  Since Vivian can't come into the NICU, we haven't been all together as a family since the babies have been born~ one of these days...... just not too soon for Korby's piece of mind ;)

Gaining Some Perspective

I have learned so many different things from everything we have experienced so far with the pregnancy and I am continuing to learn during this new phase of life with babies in the NICU.

One thing that I am learning is perspective.  Yes, being in the hospital for almost 7 weeks was a very long time, but when compared to how long I will get to hold, love and treasure these little girls it wasn't very long at all.  It just depends your perspective.  Every day in the hospital, especially the time I was on full bed rest, I would wake up in the morning and tell myself~

 "I can do this for one more day.  It will be good for the babies.  Today will be one less day that we will have to spend in the NICU."

It would have been so easy to mope and groan about being there (which I did do quite a bit), but overall I tried to have a semi-good attitude about the situation and look at things in the right perspective.  

That being said~ it has been hard to convey in pictures just how small and delicate these little girls are.  So, some advice we got from other NICU parents is to take "Perspective Pictures" (which is how I got on a roll of talking about perspective).  Anyway, here are pictures of the girls that will hopefully give you a better perspective of their size.  

And please don't make fun or laugh~ one of these days I will upgrade my 6 year old phone and get something cooler :)  BTW~ my phone is smaller than an i-phone.

Naomi

Colette

Have I mentioned how in love I am with these girls?!?  I will say it again~ I absolutely love and adore these two sweet beautiful girls! (who are doing wonderfully I might add!)

It Was All Worth It

Yesterday was a WONDERFUL day!

I was able to hold my girls for almost an hour each!

They did great!

I was in heaven!!!!

Here I am holding Naomi.  They call it "Kangaroo Care" which is holding the baby skin to skin.  As soon as Naomi was placed on my chest she let out a big sigh and then she didn't move again for the entire hour.  Her breathing has been continuously faster than normal since she was born, but while I was holding her it was the calmest she has ever been.  She just needed some "mommy time."

Later that night I was able to hold Colette.  She stayed awake for a little bit while I was holding her and she had her eyes opened.  Then she settled in~ she and mom both took a little nap together :) 

They can only stay out of their isolette (covered, temp controlled bed) as long as all their stats are stable.  The nurses were surprised that both girls did so well out of their beds for that long.  It was such a special, humbling experience to hold each of these little miracles.  They are sooo..... tiny!  But they are mine!  And being able to hold them made it feel just that much more real that these two little girls are here.  

Here is Colette with her eyes opened.   

Here is Naomi with her eyes opened.  She is holding onto my finger with her left hand :)

Beautiful Faces and Sibblings

For the first few days the girls had CPAP's on.  It was a breathing device that covered most of their face and  their head.  Today both girls were able to be weaned down to high flow nasal canulas.  We are excited for this because it is the first time we have been able to see their beautiful faces but even more excited that their oxygen needs are lowering and they are taking steps towards breathing on their own.  

Say hi to Naomi!!!!

Here's Colette!!!

I love how Naomi has her right hand up by her face and Colette has her left hand in the same position.  

Here are the boys meeting Naomi for the first time with Korby.

Shayden didn't get see the girls for the first couple of days since she had a little sniffle.  But today she was able to come in with the boys to finally meet her new sisters.  Here they are saying hi to Naomi. 

We are slowly becoming more accustomed to the routines and language of the NICU.  They are so good to answer all of our questions and explain things to us.  Our little girls are getting excellent care and we are so thankful for all the nurses and doctors who are doing everything to keep these little ones growing and developing!

Birth Story and Pictures

Here's how it happened~

Saturday night around 9 pm the girls heart rates started showing a pattern of mild distress.  Nothing to rush me off to the OR, but they figured that I was close enough that it wasn't worth waiting another 1 1/2 days.  So, they started prepping me for surgery and everything was ready to go when they realized that I had just eaten about 4 hours ago.  Since it wasn't an emergency to get the girls out and it would have been more risky for me to undergo surgery with a full stomach, my doctor decided to wait until the morning to deliver the girls.  Needless to say, I was so worked up and anxious that I was up literally all night long!

Sunday morning around 8am they started re-prepping me for surgery.  They came and got me at 9:30 and we went back to the OR.  Korby had given me a blessing the night before.  I was anxious and nervous all night and morning, but as soon as I got into the OR I had a complete feeling of peace, joy and happiness~ my girls were almost here.  

I was given a mix of a spinal block and an epidural, hooked up to a couple of other things and then the sheet went up.  I couldn't see a thing that was going on and Korby didn't do very well to watch any of it.  Mostly he would just hold the camera up over the sheet and try to get shots of what was going on.

Naomi Lynn was born at 9:47.  She weighed 3.3 pounds and was 15.4 inches.

Colette Anna was born at 9:48.  She weighed 3.1 pounds and was 16.1 inches.

They were passed immediately from the doctor through a window directly into their NICU room.  They pulled down the sheet so that I could see the babies for the quick seconds before they were passed on.  I wasn't able to see Naomi at all, but I did get to see Colette be delivered.  They were so small and purple, but beautiful at the same time.  While they were finishing up my surgery we could hear the babies crying on the other side of the window~ it was so wonderful to hear them!   

The surgery lasted almost exactly 1 hour.  They took me back to my Labor and Delivery room to recover while Korby was able to go into the NICU to see the babies.  I think it was a little overwhelming for him to see them for the first time.  We had seen other babies in the NICU before, but never that small.  About 1 hour after the surgery they took me back to the NICU (in my bed) to see the girls.  I couldn't see them very well since I couldn't sit up or move much, but I did get to be by them for a little while.

Then they took me upstairs to my new room where I will be for the next few days before going home.  I am right next door to my previous room.  Needless to say, I was exhausted!  Korby and I both took a nap and spent the rest of the afternoon just resting and waiting for my epidural to wear off enough for me to be able to at least handle sitting in a wheel chair to go downstairs to see the babies again.  

Korby's mom and dad came that afternoon to see that babies.  Korby took them to see the girls while I was still resting.  Later that night my mom came to see the girls.  I was feeling well enough to sit up, so I got to be wheeled down to see the girls with my mom.  It was such a special experience.  They are definitely tiny, hooked up to a lot of different monitors, and it is overwhelming to have all of that doubled.  At the same time it was so humbling to see how precious they are and to feel their sweet spirits.  

So far my recovery has gone extremely well.  I think Heavenly Father knew that after what I have gone through the last 6 weeks that I wouldn't be able to handle much else.

The girls are doing well~ all things considered.  The nurses keep saying that they are "acting appropriate for their gestational age."  For being born at 32 weeks they are developmentally exactly where they would expect them to be and having the issues that most babies that early experience.  So far, they haven't had any major issues.  There are so many different monitors, and so much information to take in that we haven't had a chance to figure it all out yet.  As time goes on I will be able to give more specific information about their situation, but for the moment we are trusting all the doctors and nurses and we are very confident that our girls are getting the very best care possible.    

Here is Colette being born!   

Here is a picture of me after the babies were both out~ I literally couldn't stop smiling.  It felt so wonderful to know that everything we went through with this pregnancy was worth it to have both of our little girls finally here!

Here is a picture of Colette on her "birth" day.  I love how relaxed she looks with her arm out to the side.

Here is Colette this morning with her eyes opened.  The nurse was doing her "cares."

Here is Naomi on her "birth" day.  It looks to me like she is already practicing some yoga/ mediation .  That's my girl!

Here is Naomi with Korby's hand.  She is so tiny and precious!

It still doesn't feel quite real that these girls are ours and that eventually we will be taking them both home and adding them to our already busy household.  But we are so thankful to our Heavenly Father who kept them safe and protected to get them here.  We also want to thank and acknowledge how grateful we are to all our friends and family for all the prayers and well wishes that we have received on behalf of these little miracles.  You have made it much easier to endure the last 6 weeks and have boosted our spirits to hopefully be able to endure the next 6 or so weeks before these little girls are ready to come home.  

More updates and pictures to come!