A Day for Giving Thanks

Thank you for our two beautiful, healthy babies.
Thank you for the opportunity to share our love with these precious little girls.
Thank you to the nurses and staff at Central DuPage Hospital for taking such wonderful care of Madeline and Elizabeth.
Thank you for the quick and successful recovery for Erica after her surgery.
Thank you to our neighbors and coworkers for their help and well wishes throughout the pregnancy and beyond.
Thank you to our family and friends for their unending support and love during this special time.
Among the things that we are most thankful for is to have our entire family home for the holiday.

Madeline was discharged from the NICU yesterday with a clean bill of health. We brought Elizabeth up to the hospital with us to pick her up. After gathering up all of the odds and ends from Maddie's room we dressed the girls up in cute matching outfits and headed off to take some pictures with the hospital photographer. Then we packed up everyone in the cars and headed for home. It was a great feeling to bring both our girls home and Cody was pretty excited too. He liked the one baby so much that we decided to get him another one.

If you didn't think it could get any crazier around here, you'd be very mistaken. Throw just one more baby into the mix and things get exponentially more complicated. Erica and I are trying to settle into a new routine and catch some sleep whenever we can. Grandma and Grandpa C are preparing a scrumptious Thanksgiving Day dinner as I write this. Maddie and Liz won't be able to have turkey and stuffing this year, but we'll enjoy having them here all the same.

Look Ma! No Tubes!

Grandma and I arrived at the NICU yesterday to a big surprise! Our feisty little Madeline had pulled out her own NG tube during the night. Since she had already started bottle feeding (and was doing pretty well with that), they decided to just leave it out and see what happened. This was pretty much the last hurdle for her to jump before she got to come home, and we got even better news when the nurses told us that as long as things continued to go well, she'd be coming home on Wednesday!

Everything is looking good, and provided things are still going well tomorrow, she'll be home with us! We're very excited to have everyone together at home - something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!

Hectic Day

Visited Madeline a couple times in the NICU and she continues to do well. Erica even breastfed her briefly a couple times. (Breastfeeding is very hard work for babies and she tires out easily). We're always amazed to see how much bigger Maddie is than her sister. Even a half pound makes a huge difference. The NICU staff is feeding her a ton of food to make her healthy and she seems to be outpacing Liz.

Elizabeth had some tummy time today. I laid out a blanket to swaddle her and Cody wandered over and laid down right on top of it. He looked at me when I started to laugh as if to say, "What? This isn't for me?" Cody always seems very concerned for Liz when she begins to fuss or cry, it's so adorable.

Liz tried to eat my finger. I took a picture to prove it! We also broke out the tub and gave Elizabeth her very first bath time. Believe me, she was none too thrilled about it. She even got to try out one of the cute towels. Erica and I have a fondness for things with little ears on them. I'm sure you'll understand when you see the picture.

We have a pediatrician appointment tomorrow morning and then I am going in to work afterward for a half day. Best to ease back into these things. Work has been fantastic about time off since the girls were born and I am looking forward to showing off pictures and telling stories from the best week of our lives.

Keep in mind that I'll be uploading photos whenever I can, so be sure to check the Flickr album even if I haven't gotten around to a blog post. Pictures speak a thousand words anyway. I'm off to get some much needed sleep.

Life at Home

Life at home has been an adventure. While Erica and I wish that we had both of our girls here, we've been sharing wonderful new experiences with Elizabeth.

Our first priority once we had Liz home safe was to introduce Cody to the new member of our family. I've done a lot of research on bringing home a baby to a household with a dog so I had a plan ahead of time. Honestly, we were not too worried about how Cody would react and he really is great around Liz. (Don't worry he isn't secretly plotting to eat her). I'm trying to make sure I still spend some quality time with my baby boy.

Elizabeth was in for a treat while we ate dinner last night. She got to try out the swing and seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. Once we put Liz to bed upstairs in the nursery, she looked like a tiny little doll laying in the middle of her crib. Nighttime went fairly smooth once we established a bit of a rhythm.

Today, Erica and I set aside some time to drive up and see Madeline at the hospital. We were overjoyed to enter the NICU and discover Maddie in a big girl crib! To top it off, she even had her oxygen tubes removed. These are signs that she is regulating her own temperature and her oxygen levels are stabilized. Maddie does still have her feeding tube in, but the nurses say that they have been feeding her by mouth every other meal and she has been tolerating it fairly well. Although the doctors didn't offer a specific date, we have high hopes that Madeline will be home for Thanksgiving. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for us.

D(ischarge)-Day

Erica and I have made it through our stay at the hospital and are proud to say that we're pretty darn good at this parenting stuff. Apparently the nurses and doctors agree with us since they are letting us go home with one of our babies today! Yes, you read correctly, only Elizabeth is cleared to come home with us. Madeline is still down in the NICU for now.

Madeline's doctor says that they will be attempting to reach three major goals with her over the next few days. Breathing without additional oxygen, feeding from a bottle, and maintaining her own body temperature are all required to be stable before Maddie can come home to us. She's on the right track because they reduced her oxygen flow this morning. If she keeps progressing she'll be released by next week! In the meantime, we'll be shuttling back and forth to the hospital to visit our baby girl.

Grandma and Grandpa C arrived this morning for a week long visit (Grandma is staying for three). They were so happy to hold their granddaughters for the first time. More pictures up on Flickr as usual.

Side by Side

Our beautiful daughters Madeline and Elizabeth at only about 2 days old. A lot has happened in even a short amount of time. I'll try and fill you in as best I can.

We had been down many times to see our babies in the NICU yesterday. Even Grandma White, PopPop Munson and Uncle Troy came for visits. Our girls got all kinds of lovin'.

At some point yesterday the NICU doctors decided that Madeline was working too hard to regulate her own body temperature and was using up all that energy that would be put to better use in helping her tiny lungs develop. She was then placed in an isolette, an enclosed incubator that keeps babies toasty warm. Her oxygen was increased again since her levels would still occasionally drop below what the nurses would like.

The biggest news of the day was that Elizabeth was cleared to come up to the room with us! We were obviously elated and surprised because they didn't let on at all throughout the day how well she was doing. Better to be happily surprised than disappointed I guess. As you can imagine, most of my time not spent taking care of Erica and Liz have been spent sleeping. We're all taking it an hour at a time and doing the best we can.

Uploaded a bunch more pictures for you all to enjoy!

On the Topic of Nicknames

It became apparent to Erica and I that we had never really thought about how we would handle nicknames for the girls. Part of the reason we picked Madeline and Elizabeth we did was because they would have nicknames, a thing Erica and I never had in our lives.

So, in the interest of consistency, we decided on Maddie and Liz. Maddy and Lizzy are also good alternates.

Updates tonight, I promise. Everyone is still doing well. I even uploaded a few more pictures to flickr.

The Morning After...

Not a whole lot of sleep to speak of last night for either of us. Despite the fact that our girls were down in the NICU, the nurses here are still closely monitoring Erica after surgery so there were many visits throughout the night for drugs and blood draws and rolling Erica around in bed. She even started working with the breast pump.

Early this morning I got restless and was eager to see how Madeline and Elizabeth were doing. No news from the NICU is good news and I made my way down there to discover them comfortable and resting peacefully. There was a new shift coming on so I got to meet their daytime nurses. The nurse for Elizabeth invited me to try out bottle feeding and I excitedly agreed. We both did really well and she ate about 17cc of formula. It's going to be a learning process but we hit the ground running. Liz got dressed up in big girl clothes and was placed into a big girl crib! She might even be able to come upstairs into the room with us tonight if everything goes well.

Madeline is still on the CPAP and has had the feeding tube put in. The doctors are still keeping an eye on her elevated rate of breathing, but some more time "making bubbles" should do the trick. The respiratory nurses seem confident that she will continue to improve. Maddie occasionally makes these little grunting noises that are an effect of her condition. She seems to have become accustomed to the tubes and is usually laying in her trademark spread eagle position in the warmer.

Erica is looking forward to visiting our babies in the NICU and it sounds like that might happen very soon. We'll have more pictures and updates soon. Go check out the new pictures in our album.

Welcome to the World!

Madeline Grace (left)
Born: November 17, 2008
Time: 7:06 pm
Weight: 5 lbs 13 oz
Height: 17 1/4 inches

Elizabeth Claire (Right)
Born: November 17, 2008
Time: 7:07 pm
Weight: 5 lbs 3 oz
Height: 17 3/4 inches

Finally getting a minute to sit down and get everyone updated. Mommy and babies are doing well. Erica delivered at 35 weeks and 3 days into the pregnancy (by official count). Erica and I are resting comfortably in the Mother and Baby Unit. Our precious little girls are spending at least tonight in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). It sounds worse than it is so don't worry. Because of their gestational age it is very common for babies to visit the NICU for a period of time. Madeline is showing some signs of respiratory distress, so they have put her on a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) to help her lungs mature and assist her in breathing. While right next to her, Elizabeth is doing well and even took her first feeding from one of the NICU nurses with a bottle of formula. A whole ounce!

Words will never be able to explain the overwhelming joy that we feel every time we look at our beautiful daughters. Madeline and Elizabeth, we love you with all our hearts!

P.S. Bunch more pictures over in our Flickr Album.

Hurry Up and Wait!

Here we are sitting in one of the Labor and Delivery rooms anxiously awaiting a spot to open up in surgery so our babies can be delivered.



But let's take a step back in time and begin with this morning...

It was a day like any other day. I went off to work and Erica went off to one of her many doctor appointments. We were aware of the growing concerns about Erica's blood pressure and the other signs of pre-eclampsia. However, as recently as friday we were told that the pregnancy could potentially go through Thanksgiving. So, it was with little hesitation that we went about our normal routines.

While at work (around 10am) I commented to my cubemate that I had this nagging feeling that I was supposed to do something today. Naturally I assumed it was something job related, but after reviewing my files I just couldn't put my finger on it. Not 15 minutes later Erica calls me on my cell phone at work. Immediately I'm on high alert! To put this in perspective, Erica never calls me at work (we just chat online). Turns out the OBGYN made the call to deliver the babies today. Not an emergency, but they would like us into the hospital by noon.... YIKES!

I said a couple quick good-byes to my coworkers and they shouted congratulations at my back. I calmly drove home and made all the family phone calls on the way.

"I'm going to be a daddy!" My hands are shaking.

Erica and I get to the hospital a little after noon. We're directed to the Labor and Delivery floor where we are shown to a comfortable room. Our nurse explains everything to us as she hooks up Erica and the babies to the monitors. Since we are an unscheduled delivery, the next spot they can fit us in will not be until 3:30pm. Naturally, we break out the laptops to help pass the time. At around 3:15 our doctor comes in to give us an update on the situation. It seems that things are a bit behind schedule and we're now looking to prep for surgery at around 5pm. Talk about hurry up and wait!

Our girls will be arriving in the world very soon.

In the Home Stretch!

So I am now 35 weeks! Yesterday, we had what will likely be our last ultrasound. Right now, the girls are both head down (finally!), which is very good news. They're also getting SO big. Baby on the right (they keep switching positions so the A and B gets confusing - I always think of the right baby as Elizabeth) is 5 lbs and 13 oz! Baby on the left (Madeline) is 6 pounds and 2 ounces! At this rate, they're both going to be bigger than I was at birth! I don't think they'll make Gary's birth weight though! (If they do, I'm in trouble - Gary was over 8 pounds!)

So, if the estimated weights are correct, just about everybody is under in our poll! I've locked the game at this point, so no trying to update your answers!

I have the full timeline, plus the 33 week pictures in the Flickr Album

Things are going pretty well. My diabetes is under control with diet, but now my blood pressure is getting a bit high. It's not pre-eclampsia, fortunately, and not high enough to need to do anything yet, but if it gets much higher than it is right now, and they'll want to deliver the girls right away! We're shooting for after Thanksgiving at this point - probably that next Monday. Despite our plans, the girls could arrive at any time, so we're spending these next few weeks getting everything ready - well, Gary is doing the work, I'm sitting on the couch to keep my blood pressure down!

Almost there...