Here is the biggest stroller on earth. Mitch calls it the ATV Assault Twin Vehicle. It is almost the size of a golf cart!
Josselyn and Jaxon are back together again. We got to bring Joss home from the hospital today. She is hooked up to a monitor that tells us how she is breathing, and we have a little blow by oxygen mask to help her breathe when the alarms go off. So far we have been doing great with it. We are just so happy to finally have them home!
Jaxon is a bad ass
In a surprise twist for us, Jaxon beat Josselyn home! He has been eating great, and gaining weight (4lbs 8 oz) and hasn't had the respiratory problems his sister has had. We were so excited to bring him home yesterday. Our night was just like everyone told us it was going to be, we didn't sleep a wink! He likes to squeak and make noise in his sleep. We were up every few hours changing his diaper and feeding him. It is so awesome to have him home! It was very sad for us to leave his sister behind.
Tonight Grammy Betsy and Grandy are going to stay at our house to watch Jaxon while Jason and I spend the night at the hospital with Josselyn. She has been "De-sating" a lot which means she holds her breath and stops breathing. All preemies do it, she just doesn't seem to be growing out of it. We are spending the night at the hospital with Josselyn in our room so that we can learn how to work her monitors and oxygen. If we feel comfortable enough using them then we can possibly take her home tomorrow. I would not want to take her home without the monitors because the only way to tell if she is De-sating without the monitors is to watch her color. She turns purple and gets limp. It is very scary to watch. Usually she pulls herself out of it really quick, but it only takes 20 seconds of her de-sating before we have to intervene with oxygen if shes not pulling out of it. I hope she snaps out of it soon. We will see how tonight goes.
Thanks to everyone for all of your comments, and emails, and prayers. We appreciate it more than you know. When the babies are both home Dr's orders are no visitors for at least 3 months while they continue to build up their immunities and get strong and healthy. I know everyone is excited to come over and see them, but we hope you understand us being really careful and protective of them for the next few months.
More updates to come!
All ready for babies! Hope they can come home soon. This nursery is getting lonely.
Josselyn is now 4lbs 8 oz. Jaxon is 4lbs 6 oz. They are both doing great! Josselyn got her NG tube taken out today, so she is breast feeding or bottle feeding all her meals now. Jaxon is still trying to catch up to his sister. Jaxon is now in an open crib now too, so they are no longer in their Isolettes. We bought them the cutest Halloween costumes yesterday from build a bear of all places. They are so dang cute. You will have to check out the web site on Halloween to find out what they are dressing up as. Our nurse thinks Josselyn might be able to come home as early as next week. It will be hard to have one baby in the NICU and one baby at home, since I obviously can’t be both places at once. As soon as Josselyn is discharged I can’t bring her back into the NICU. So I will have to leave her at home with my mom or Jason’s mom while I am up at the hospital with Jaxon. Hopefully he will be coming home within a week of her. We have a list of things we have to do before the hospital will let the babies come home. We had to watch a movie today called Elijah’s Story about a baby that died from shaken baby syndrome. It was so horrible to watch. We also had to watch a preemie CPR movie. This next week I need to bring in the babies car seats so they can do a “car seat test” to make sure the babies are big enough to be safe in the car seat. We have to take a few more parent group classes too. We posted some new pictures of the twins on under the photos section of the website so be sure to check them out.
The nurse took this photo one night. She was bored and decided she would stack them on top of eachother :)
Josselyn has graduated to a crib! She is no longer in a Isolette. That is considered big progress in the NICU. She also is a whopping 4lbs 2 oz. All the nurses keep saying "I heard you have a little piggy over here:)" It's funny that 4lbs is considered huge in the NICU. She is a level 2 nurser now which means I now have to nurse her twice from 7am-7pm, and twice from 7pm to 7am. but each nursing has to be 6 hours apart. Jaxon is still a level 1 nurser which means he has to be nursed once from 7am-7pm, and once from 7pm to 7am. He is 3lbs 15oz. They are both doing great and gaining weight they are being supplemented with calories and vitamin D on all their NG (nose tube) feedings. Both of their favorite things to do is wait until I have the first diaper off, then mess and wet themselves all over the place. Jaxon did it so bad today that they actually had to bring in a new Isolette for him since the other one was uncleanable! FUN!
A day in the life of Mommy.
Wake up at 600am, get ready, leave for hospital at 7am with Jason. 8am do Josselyn's cares (diaper, temperature, mouth washing, scalp brushing) then nurse her. 9am do Jaxon's cares and nurse him. 11:30 meet Jason for lunch. 1:30 go back to hospital. 2pm do Josselyns cares nurse her, 3pm do Jaxon's cares, nurse him. 5:00pm, hold babies while they get NG tube feedings. 6:30-7:30 Go to a mandatory class, either Baby CPR, Swaddle Bathing, Holding and caring for your preemie.. etc. 8pm do Josselyns cares and nurse her. 9pm do Jaxon's cares and nurse him. 10pm go home throw clothes in pile on the floor, throw dishes in sink, make more of a mess in my house, try to get caught up on tivo'd shows, and get some sleep. Did I mention I am also pumping every 3 hours whether at home, or at the hospital, day or night. Wake up at 600am repeat!
Here is some more pictures of the twins
Twins
Baby updates:
The twins are still working on gaining weight, Josselyn dropped back down to 3lbs 5 oz. Jaxon is still maintaining 3lbs 10 oz. They are still learning how to nurse, Jaxon is usually wide awake, but doesn't seem that interested, he rather sleep and not have to work for his food. Josselyn is very anxious to nurse, but she forgets to swallow sometimes and her heart rate drops and she stops breathing. The first time it happened her alarm monitors started going off, and the nurse grabbed her out of my arms and turned her on her side and all this milk came out of her mouth, it scared me so bad. Now she does it almost every time I feed her. I just have to watch her closely and make sure she doesnt start turning purple and grey around her mouth and eyes. Usually babies dont learn how to nurse until they are about 35- 36 weeks along, they will be 35 on Monday. It makes me glad that they are still in the NICU where they have monitors on so we will know when something is wrong.
They are still getting cuter and cuter every day if it is possible. Jaxon is the mellow one, and Josselyn is the fussy one. Sometimes Jaxon will hear Josselyn fussing and it will make him sad. They love eachother so much.
Mommy updates
I am no longer wheelchairing around the hospital as of yesterday. My feet aren't swollen anymore, as long as I try to prop them up most of the time. My incision still hurts but not near as bad. I am just loving every second of being a mommy and try to spend all the time I can with the babies. I am getting used to the fact that they wont be coming home for a while and they are where they need to be. I found out that breastfeeding and stress are the best forms of workout. I lost 27lbs in 10 days! Still have much more to go though.
More updates to come!
We posted some new pages about our scary delivery story and about Preemie care. You'll find them in the menu.
Baby updates
Little Jaxon got Jaundice and had to be put under the biliruben lights. He had to wear these big foam sunglasses that wrapped around his eyes. When we went to visit him, he was laying there in his diaper with his cool sun glasses on with both arms behind his head just chillen out gettin a tan under the lights. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen! He takes after his mommy, and at only 3 days old he was already workin on his tan! His biliruben levels have since dropped and we were able to take him off the lights.
What can you do to help?
Jason is going back to work full time this Monday. Since Mommy just had a C-Section, I can't drive for 2 weeks at least. I also can't drive while I am looped up on narcotics. Jason work in down town past the airport. Since we live in Draper it will be hard for me to get back and forth to the hospital to see my babies. Jason is going to go to LDS hospital every morning before work and drop off my milk that I pumped throughout the night. I need a way to get to the hospital every day around 12:30 so I can do the kangaroo care, and non nutritive feeding practices and just be with my babies. Then Jason will meet me at the hospital after he gets off work so he can spend time with the babies. Then he can take me home.
If anyone is willing to help out and drop me off at the hospital I will need a ride around 12:30 every day. My fabulous aunt and cousins have offered to take me every day next week. I will hopefully be feeling better and be able to drive myself the following week. But if anyone is available please let me know and I will call you if I need a ride the week after next. I really appreciate it!
Mommy updates:
The hardest thing I have ever had to do is drive away from that hospital on Friday when I got discharged and leave my precious babies there. I cried the entire day starting at 6:00 am when I woke up and realized I would be leaving the hospital that day and they wouldn't be. To come home empty handed after all we had been threw that week and see my nursery all set up and decorated with no babies in it just pushed me over the edge. This whole week has been an emotional roller coaster with all the highs and lows. Hopefully my horomones will chill out so I can get some sanity back. I know the twins are at the best hospital and getting the best care by the best Dr's in the best NICU . I know they are where they need to be right now, but these next 5 weeks without them home is going to be really rough on us!
My incision from my C-section is in the worst place. I didn't realize how much I used those muscles until I tried to get out of bed, sit up, go up stairs, bend over to put my pants on etc... It is healing well and it is getting easier to move around every day.
My back is sore from being on bed rest the last 5 weeks, since I am not pregnant anymore I can take pain killers now- YAY! So my back is getting a lot better.
Since I had a emergency C- section they pumped me full of 4 bags of IV fluids really fast which shocked my kidney's and made them decide to stop working for a few days. So- I put on a ton of water weight the 2 days following delivery and my kidney's wouldn't filter the fluids. My feet are so swollen that I can barely walk. My knees are huge and puffy. The swelling was everywhere! I looked bigger after I delivered then I did my entire pregnancy. Finally the swelling has gone down in my face, back, and arms, So I just have elephant legs and feet now but every day it is getting better.
Over all I am feeling great and excited to be a new mommy!
P.S. - We know the updates haven't been coming as fast as you all would like it. It's just been hard catching up on sleep and spending time with our twins. Video soon!
Both babies are doing great but will be vacationing in the LDS Hospital NICU for awhile before coming home. Mom is also doing great after her ambulance ride and emergency C Section. Dad is tired. Mom is up at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is hanging out in room West 448.
Both of us are breathing room air all by ourselves. We both are keeping our temperatures up and feeding on Mommy's milk. The nurses all say that for being born 7 weeks early (33 weeks), that we are little show offs, but that's just how we roll. Although we are a little jaundice, which just makes our tans look nicer, but that is typical of preemies. All in all things couldn't have been going better for us little guys.
Mom on the other hand is finally getting a little better today. She was swollen like a balloon after her surgery. Mom's Kidney's had some hard time during delivery and she is retaining a ton of fluids, but like we said her swelling is finally starting to go away. She still has to sleep with Oxygen at night and is getting help from a respiratory therapist. She is still very sore but as pretty as ever and starting to feel a little better.
We are going to continue to update this site with our progress, especially as we will be kicking it in the NICU for 4-6 weeks. So please keep checking back, we will have a cool video up here tomorrow. Until then, here are some pictures of us below, and we already have a whole album you can see by clicking here. Please leave comments if you think we are cute and if you don't then get off our website!
Josselyn was born at 7:37 AM and weighed 3 pounds 11 ounces. She was 16 inches long. She is very animated and feisty like mom. I wonder if she will be able to talk as fast as Jessica when she grows up?
Jaxon was born at 7:38 AM and weighed 3 pounds 10 1/2 ounces. He is also 16 inches.
Jax is always hungry and is trying to catch up to his 59 second older sister.
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