God is good.

Its a great day to be alive..

Its been a few days since my last post.  That will probably be the norm from now on.  Thanks again to everyone for the thoughts, texts, calls, meals and prayers.  Every bit is appreciated.

We got to come home on Friday evening.  More on that later... but for now.  Kangaroo time with daddy!

Cullen and I got to have our first little guy time on.. Wednesday.. or Thursday night?  It is all a blur really.  Days 3-5 are a little rougher on a c-section mother than the first couple days so Mom was resting when I headed up to hold him at 11pm.  Little guy was a champ!  He cried a bit (more like squeaked) at first but then laid there completely content for the next hour.  I think the only person more content than him was me.  Can't wait for more of that.

Holding my thumb

Trying to get comfy

Strong little fingers.. This guy did a few push ups while laying there too.

Grandma was right there watching.

Listen close and you can hear a few squeaks.

 

Part 1 of him being unhappy about Kangaroo time being over.  He is so strong!

Part 2... no wonder they came early.  This guy acted like this since February.  Poor mama!

Mama got to hold Presley on Friday and I got to hold Cullen again.  For some reason they mom's always get first dibs.. go figure?  She/They were absolutely precious.  I can't wait to see this happen more often.

Our first family photo

Happy Mama

I caught them snoozing :)

So we came home on Friday.  Britt hadn't seen sunshine since bedrest ensued the previous Friday.  That in itself was an interesting experience for her.  The ride home was a bit surreal.  Hey mom.. dad.. you just had babies.. oh ya.. they aren't with us right now.. odd.. feeling.  It didn't really get emotional until we walked in the house and turned the corner into the hallway and saw the nursery.  Then it hit home that they weren't quite home yet.  We are okay and at peace.  We know they are where they need to be for the time being.  (I'd be scared to death to bring them home right now anyways!)

The other fraternal twins did their best to comfort their mother when she got home.  We sat her on the couch with a pillow on her stomach before letting Hazel & Delilah back in.  They could not get close enough, smell enough, lick enough.. I really wish I'd have taken a photo or two of that, but I failed.  They are quite funny though.  They know something is going on... they aren't real sure what it is yet, but it is very obvious that they are suspicious :)

Speaking of fraternal twins.. one of my favorite questions to answer so far.. Oh, did you have boys or girls?  One of each.. That is great, are they fraternal or identical....? 

I (Corey) have almost consumed an entire bag of double stuffed oreos in the past 2 days.  And I am not even pregnant with twins any longer. 

Enough about me.. babies are great! 

I have mentioned that they didn't need any caffiene to help them remember to breathe on their own.  Well they both had a few stints of forgetfullness (always resolved on their own though so far) so for the past couple days they have been given caffiene.  Sometimes I wish I had a caffiene drip.. whew.

Presley has dropped down to 2 lbs 5 ounces but is still tolerating food like a champ.  They both went from 3 cc's of breastmilk every 3 hours to 6 cc's on Tuesday or Wednesday.  On Saturday they went up to 9 cc's per feeding and on Sunday they went up to 12 cc's.  They are both tolerating the feedings with very little residual (residual:  they literally pull the milk back out of their stomach through the feeding tube to see how much has been digested and how much remains).  Cullen is sitting at 2 lbs 9 ounces.  We have an updated stat for Presley though.. she measured 15 inches.  I'd like to pretend she grew 1.75 inches in 6 days, but more than likely someone made a mistake when measuring on day 1.  They are both sitting at 15 inches long now.

I hope that cute little blonde hair stays!  Holding onto her feeding tube.

Cullen still squirming

 
Presley just being precious.

Aw c'mon dad.. enough of the flash..

They both had their brain scans this morning.  You medically minded folks may laugh at my description.  Basically they scan the brains to check for and measure any brain bleeds.  It is measured on a scale of 0 to 4.  0 being awesome and 4 being not awesome.  Regardless of how serious the bleeds are, there is nothing that can be done when found.  The more serious the bleeds, the more challenges the kiddos may face growing up.  Cullen came back a 0 which is fantastic!  Halleleuja!  Presley came back with a "0 to 1" which is pretty awesome.  She has a spot that may be 'normal' for her so she may be a 0 as well.  They will rescan them on day 30.  Specific prayer request to praise Cullen's 0 and pray that Presley's "spot" is normal.

We brought them the sock monkey quilts their grandma made for them.  Gotta keep a keen eye out in the NICU... everyone wants to steal them!

..I know the sun is still shining when I close my eyes.