She's Home!

We sprung Periwinkle from the NICU on Friday afternoon! She still is confused about day and night, but she's doing great otherwise. Just wanted to update everyone! I'll try to do a bit more blogging later this week.

Indigo Says "Hi"

Periwinkle Update: She continues to do well, eating as she should, and no more bradycardia episodes. They mentioned yesterday that she might be able to come home Friday! Fingers and toes crossed!

Ten Days Old Already

How did that happen? Indigo is doing well at "home," winning everyone over with his easy-going nature. We only had one night where he was screaming his fool head off, which we decided was caused by gas. He slept like a, well, baby the rest of that night. He makes these little squeaky noises that sound adorable until they turn into velociraptor level shrieks (usually when Grandma is changing him, although he's getting better about that). He's definitely put on weight!

Periwinkle is unfortunately STILL in the NICU. Her blood sugar and eating issues seem to have resolved (no more tube feedings!), but for the past week she's had bradycardia episodes every few days. That is when her heart rate drops below 80. I don't want to know how far below 80... Every time she has an episode, she has to spend five more days there without an episode for them to release her. First we thought Monday, then Thursday, and now we're up to next Saturday. The good news is they think they know why it's happening and will be doing some testing to see if they are right. If it is caused by reflux, they can either give her thickened formula or medication and it should all resolve and we can take her home. Hoping...

She is an absolute doll and we've visited her twice a day for the past few days to do her feedings. She's now in real clothes (yay for a shopping spree at Babies 'R' Us! for tiny clothes), is more alert and "frisky," and just melts my heart. It's never fun leaving her there but we hope she knows we'll always come back for her. Also not fun are the long lines you have to go through to get gas. We were almost out a few days ago and all I could think was "Without gas we can't visit Periwinkle!" We're hoping our tank lasts us long enough to get through the Sandy-related gas problems and/or until we get her home.

So that's the basic update. Now, for some photos!

Indigo before leaving the hospital.

My girl

Indigo believes in Baby Power!

Real clothes!

Also, today we brought Indigo to the hospital, along with my mom, to see if we could orchestrate a little reunion through the NICU window. I'd say we were successful!

First time I've really seen them together.

First family portrait (kind of)

Hurricane Sandy

Sandy has certainly made our week interesting. But compared to the devastation in NYC (only 40 miles from our house) and even around our neighborhood, we have no complaints. We lost some siding on the house, and part of our fence. Easy enough repairs, although a bit frustrating as we just fixed the fence this summer after 2011's Hurricane Irene pulled a tree down on top of it. But we are all healthy and safe.

We lost power Monday and by Wednesday decided it was just getting too cold for Baby Boy, who shall henceforth be known as Indigo. We also ran out of clean clothes for him, so we packed up all our stuff and headed to my sister-in-law's house. So we're hanging out with her and her kids for a bit, enjoying watching them scope out the new baby in the family, showering in hot water, eating hot food, and having heat. So thankful to them for taking us in!

Indigo is doing very well. He's such a mellow baby, and even put himself back to sleep last night after a feeding. Our only problem is he keeps peeing out of his diaper. We are using preemie size but it still seems too big for him so there's leakage. We're working on it, but any tips are appreciated!! That's about the only time he cries, other than being hungry. And when he cries, he sounds a bit like a velociraptor, which is kind of hilarious.

We finally got to visit Baby Girl, henceforth Periwinkle, last night. We got to cuddle her, and my mom even got to hold her for a bit. She just keeps getting more beautiful. She is out of the incubator and into a normal nursery bassinet!! Yesterday she tube fed only a third of one feeding. Everything else was bottles, if a bit slow-going. Go Periwinkle! She needs to go two days of eating from bottles only and they will likely send her home. Hopefully we'll have power back by then...

So that's the update on the babies and the crazy week of the hurricane. I could go on about how nutso it is that there's no power south of 39th Street, that Staten Island has been flattened, that people I know have experienced tragedy, that all this happened when we were just bringing a newborn home, but I'm just grateful he and Periwinkle are safe and warm. What more could a new mama want?

36 Weeks!

And they are here! It's been a crazy couple of days, for sure.

Last Monday I started experiencing crazy itching, including on my palms and feet. Since I couldn't sleep, I Googled. And saw that it could be cholestasis, which would mean my liver wasn't functioning properly, which could be bad for the babies. I made an appointment to see my doctor on Thursday.

At that appointment, my doctor listened to my symptoms. She rechecked my blood pressure. And then she told me to go to labor and delivery, pronto. It was very likely I had pre-eclampsia, in which case they would deliver the baby.

After a bit of monitoring, with my blood pressure near 145/99 (bad), they asked me when the last time I ate was. I got excited, stupidly thinking that meant they would feed me lunch (I tend to end up in L&D at mealtimes). But no, they had to wait six hours from my last meal before they could c-section me. It was happening.

And so began the phone calls. The doctors and nurses had been talkking like it could be several hours before there was a spot in the operating room, since there were a set of triplets and another set of twins also being delivered. And then they had me sign some forms, and said we'd be going in within 20 minutes.

Cue panic attack. Not really. I just went into a surreal zoned out mode as they did the spinal (a very odd feeling but not as painful as expected), attached IVs, and got me prepped. Blue came in all in scrubs, which was kind of adorable. I wish I had a picture of that. He was awesome at distracting me, and our conversation about Star Trek and baseball ended up including the surgeon, who was extremely nice and rather funny. Not what I expected!

I asked when they'd be beginning, and they told me they already had. Then it go weird feeling. Tugging, pulling, but zero pain (phew!).

And then I heard Baby Boy cry, and I totally teared up. He was here! He was okay! Baby Girl soon followed. Blue went to check on them as they stretched out under the heat lights, basking in the warmth.

As soon as they were done stitching me up, Baby Girl was placed in my arms, Baby Boy on my lap, and we got wheeled to recovery. They were both 19 inches long, with Baby Girl weighing 5lbs 1oz, and Baby Boy 5lbs 4oz. Their ultrasound weights from last Monday were accurate!

I got placed on a magnesium drip to help with my blood pressure, which ended up making me feel like I had the flu. Not fun. That was done after 24 hours, at which point I was able to actually focus on people again and really comprehend what people were saying. They had a good time laughing at me.

Unfortunately Baby Girl ended up in the NICU due to low blood sugar. She is still there, working on eating on her own, getting fed through a tube about half the time. Her sugar level is better, but now she is jaundiced, so she spends a lot of time under the bilirubin lamp to help her liver process bilirubin. We've had a great time bonding with Baby Boy, but it's been so sad visiting our daughter in her little incubator. Makes you feel quite helpless. We do get to hold her, and we just soak up that time with her. We can't wait to have her join us and her brother at home, hopefully by the end of the week.

And now, a few photos:

Blue feeds Baby Boy

Little Baby Girl

Baby Boy

I think she looks like me as a baby.

Me as a baby