One step forward and a few steps back

30 days old
Wow we hit the one month old mark! We can hardly believe its been a month since our precious little girls arrived. They are changing so much and looking more and more like each other and also more like their Dad! We are so blessed to have these two miracles in our life!!

However, as expected with preemies they are on a constant roller coaster. Reagan started having higher heart rates (unusual for her) and she needed more O2 on Sunday. This continued through Monday and today, she's needed between 80-100% O2. This is definitely a step back considering she was around 20-30% just last week. Her Neonatologist figures that she could have an infection, possibly pneumonia or maybe pulmonary hypertension- definitely a mystery. She was started on antibiotics and we will monitor her closely for the next week. She is definitely growing still, but she's a sick baby right now.

Eden is about the same as last week, needing between 40-50% O2, but doing pretty well overall. It's kind of strange, but it seems that when one drops her sats the other does too (needs more 02 and increase in HR), its like they're talking to each other and figuring out how then can conspire to make Mom and Dad worry. I think this behavior will continue well into their teens.

We have had a stressful two days and watching the monitors has been extremely nerve-racking. We've had one call in the middle of the night and lots of tears shed. Its so painful to think that we're taking steps back when things were moving in the right direction. Our hearts are aching wanting these little girls to get off the ventilators and get closer to coming home with us. Please pray that we have patience and peace. We need extra prayers this week for Reagan to get better. And definitely prayers that God will do miracles and they can get off the ventilators very soon. Thank you so much.

Reagan and her new clothes!

One of Reagan's RN's put her in preemie clothes this week! She seems comfortable in them and I think she was trying to show off a little in this picture.

Kangaroo Care

27 days old
Yesterday was another big day, I was able to hold Eden (this skin-to-skin contact is called Kangaroo Care)! She is so "itsy-bitsy" as her RN calls her so it was a short 15 minute visit and Scott was not able to hold her. I feel badly that he wasn't able to, so hopefully this will become more regular and he can hold her soon. We had to keep her warmer than Reagan because she still is so little and has trouble regulating her temperature, so you'll notice her hat and quilt both made by my Grandma! They kept her cozy and warm on my chest. What a wonderful feeling to hold our tiny miracle in my arms. We are looking forward to the day when we can hold both of them together!!

Both babies are doing quite well and their Neonatologist think their progress is going quite smoothly.

Reagan is 2 lbs, 13 oz and is taking 8 mL/hr of breast milk, she's on about 35% O2. She loves to be swaddled, but once she starts wiggling she loves to bust out of her swaddle. She also apparently loves Dr. Seuss books, Scott read her two books today and she kept her eyes open for most of story time!!
Eden is 1 lb, 7 oz and is taking 2.9 mL/hr of breast milk, she's on about 40-50% O2. Eden is doing a little bit better with stimulus, but she's quite the drama queen. If her diaper is even a tiny bit wet she cries for it to be changed immediately. I think we will have our hands full with this little one.

These two are the loves of our lives and we are so excited to bring them home and start our family! God is helping us through each and every day and we are so thankful to have Him in our lives.

We came for the rootbeer floats, but we got something so much better!!

23 days old
It was a bonus to go to the NICU at 1:30pm today because there was a root beer float social. We were pretty excited about this until we met Reagan's primary RN Lynn in the hallway. She said that the plan for today is that we were going to hold Reagan while she switched out her isolettes!! The surprise on our faces was huge and we were way more excited than the root beer float excitement!! For one precious hour we held our little muffin and it was amazing. We asked Lynn to give us a time limit because we wouldn't put her back if she didn't set a limit. We took turns holding her and that was also hard, I told Scott that I didn't want to give her up. He had the best and early birthday present today- to hold one of his little girls.

Her response was fantastic, her heart rate was low and O2 levels stable. She was so warm and comfortable in our arms and against our chests. I'm sure my beating heart was a familiar reminder to her and she seemed to enjoy it.

We are praying everyday that our little Eden grows quickly so that we can hold her too.

3 weeks old today!

21 days old
The girls are making progress and we are so thankful for this. Both are off the Jet ventilators and on conventional ventilators.
Reagan is tolerating her ventilator very well and her O2 needs are going down, at some periods throughout the day she's down to only 25% O2. Her feedings are at a whopping 8 mL/hr or over 3 oz per day! She is currently 2 lbs, 12 oz and 16 inches. She is also on a nutrient supplement similar to a high dose vitamin in liquid form of course. She no longer has her PICC line (iv in her arm). She is a wiggly little girl and loves to have her hands in or by her mouth and she loves to be wrapped tightly in her blankets. So we realize now that she'll need lots of swaddling and probably a favorite blankie to hold.

Eden is still not getting breast milk as we wait for her infection to completely clear up. Hopefully she will start again sometime this week. Her O2 needs fluctuate pretty dramatically, when she's not sedated she gets mad and breathes over the ventilator which causes her 02 needs to increase. When she's sedated, she does very well and is often at room air settings! Now if we could just figure out how to get her to calm down and let the ventilator do its work so that her lungs can get better.... her Neonatologist, RN and Respiratory Therapist are all working to figure this mystery out. She is 1 lb, 8 1/2 oz and 12 inches. Eden opens her eyes much more than her sister and she is catching up with hair growth! It used to be like peach fuzz, but now she's starting to get the mullet look like her sister!

Thank you so much for the prayers, God is working miracles in these little girls and we still have a ways to go.

My Baby Shower and a VERY surprise birthday party

My baby shower was always scheduled for Aug 21st, first we had it booked at Abbott and of course suddenly it changed to being at our house. My sisters, Mom, and friend Heather hosted with help from a few others. It was a wonderful day, everything simply exceeded my expectations. We are so blessed to have so many kind family and friends and even very generous individuals who we don't even know from my sister Lacey's workplace. All of the gifts are wonderful and we are even more excited to use everything with our little girls.

My sisters organized games which they know I'm not a big fan of, so when they turned out to actually be fun I was thrilled. The food was wonderful and showing off the nursery that Scott created was a proud moment for me. Everything was going great until Scott decided to pull me from my shower to go see the babies. We were planning to see the babies but as part of Scott's scheme he said we had to leave sooner than I wanted. I was livid and gave Scott a "talking to" which was similar to the one he gave me 2 years ago as I was crafting his surprise 30th birthday party.

After a wonderful visit with the babies we went home and to my surprise there was another group of party-goers at my house, only this time the decorations were MN Twins with a full stadium style meal! The surprise was so unexpected and wonderful. Scott did a great job of surprising me and absolutely making my day.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Lacey, Emily, Mom, Heather, Tammy and Scott for planning two amazing parties!! I love all of you! And Scott I LOVE YOU so much for making this weekend so special and wonderful and a day I will never forget.

Turning 30

I have not looked forward to this day, but last night made up for it. I have an amazing husband!!!! He had me convinced that he didn't really have anything planned for my birthday, which was OK. Really all I want for my birthday is two healthy baby girls. Since he couldn't do that he gave me something so great I will never forget it. Dinner out at the Melting Pot- which was so yummy, especially the chocolate/peanut butter fondue with rice crispie bars, brownies, pound cake, strawberries, marshmallows and cheesecake! And a very big surprise- tickets to the Twins game!! Most of you know that Scott and I are big fans and we were both pretty disappointed that we probably would not make it to the new Target Field this year because of the complications with my pregnancy. He apparently had to move mountains to get tickets to this hot game (vs White Sox), but he did great. We were directly behind home plate in the lower level!!

Even better than the game was the message that showed up on the jumbotran. Scott has some connections at the Twins and he planned to have a personalized message for me. He was so nervous waiting for the message, but it finally came at the bottom of the 4th inning. It read- Happy 30th Birthday Mommy! Love, Reagan and Eden!!! I get tears in my eyes just typing it! I absolutely LOVE this message. When I read it I looked at Scott and said- that's me! I'm Mommy!! I love our little girls more than life itself and cannot wait to cuddle them both. Scott is already a great Dad to know that this is what I would want to see and what would give me comfort and joy. We are both so excited to take our girls to their first Twins game and many more to follow.