Monday, December 12, 2005

Homecoming


No steel crib, no beeping monitors, no wires coming out of their blankets, it's the next big thing: wireless babies at home! We went in to the hospital today to visit Natalie, bringing Thomason along, and asked how close she was to coming home. We knew she was pretty close but didn't know what day it would happen. They checked with the doctor and, sure enough, today was Natalie's day.

So there they are, Natalie on the left, Thomason on the right (already finding the papparazzi tiresome).

We're going to take a nap now and enjoy not going in to the hospital tomorrow, the first time since October 18th that that has happened.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Half way there




Here are a couple new pictures of the bambinos. We just wanted to post a note to say that we brought Thomason home yesterday. He's doing great, though none of us slept very well his first night home, totally expected, what with my (Phil's) mostly irrational worry every few minutes that he might not be breathing and, when he wasn't silent, his general grunting and not sleeping.

Julie and I are doing ok now, but with a few more nights like that we may hit the wall. We were warned that a baby's first night home from the nursery, at least the special care nusery, can be more restless than in the nursery so hopefully he will get used to the sounds and smells of the house soon.

More pictures to come before long.

Phil

Friday, December 02, 2005

A Step Closer to Home















Thomason and Natalie are doing very well and are just one milestone away from being sprung from the hospital. They're eating fully by mouth (note there are no feeding tubes up the nose in these new pictures), they're gaining weight steadily, and they're regulating their body temperature and are now in a real baby crib together. We even had a little hope that Thomason would be coming home today, but he had a bad breathing spell which knocked him back to going another 5 days with no apnea and bradycardia episodes.

As of now Natalie's favorite thing is eating - she can knock back a bottle of milk like there's no tomorrow and still suck her fingers afterward. Thomason's favorite thing is gaze around the room with a furrowed brow, possibly critiquing the poor lighting in the special care nursery. They both hate being naked and REALLY hate it when the wipes are cold during a diaper change (can you blame them?).

We have the house stocked with diapers and bottles, the baby furniture is all set up, and the dog and cats have had ample warning about what is to come. Now we just wait for the kids to mature a bit more and they'll be home before we know it.