News from Cardiologist

The cardiologist said Whitney still has the holes in her heart but the good news is that they aren't any worse. Dr. Baker even said we should try to forget about the holes until we come back next year for her next check-up when she turns 2. As long as she is growing fine and isn't getting overly tired really easily we don't have to worry about it. Thanks for the prayers!

I will try to post an update after Aubrey has her tubes put in on Wednesday!

1 Year old!!!

Wow! This past year has flown by! Aubrey and Whitney turned 1 today. I still can't believe where the time has gone. In a way things have gotten easier but for the most part things are still as crazy and hectic as ever....as you can tell since I haven't posted on her in a couple of months. October was a whirlwind month for us. All 3 girls had H1N1 (so did their Mommy). I guess the good thing about that was that we didn't have to worry about getting the vaccine after we all got sick. October was also a really sad month because we lost my Grandpa Peach on October 23 after his short battle with cancer. I am so glad he got to meet all 3 of our girls. I just wish he could have made it to Christmas because I can't count the number of times he said, "Christmas sure is going to be fun this year with all of the little ones.".

Aubrey had to go to the ENT yesterday because she keeps having trouble with her ears. She is going to have to have tubes put in next week. I know it will help but I hate having to have one of our girls have surgery. Whitney sees her cardiologist on Friday to see how the 2 holes in her heart are doing. We are praying they have closed on their own...or at least haven't gotten any bigger. Mallory's tubes have fallen out of her ears and now her ears are giving her trouble again. She is on a nasal spray to try to get the fluid cleared out during the next month. If that doesn't work she will have to have tubes in about a month. As you can tell we have a lot of stuff going on....please keep our girls in your prayers!

Jason is in basketball season now which means he has games 2 nights a week. I really want the team to do well (so far they are 3-0) but I am already very excited for March to get here so the girls will have Daddy home more.

I will try to post more updates after all of the doctor's appointments during the next week.

Here are some recent pictures:

Aubrey

Whitney

I couldn't resist posting this one...Whitney was tired of taking pictures!
(That is their cousin Kaleb with the girls.)

Whitney on left, Mallory in middle, Aubrey on right

Our family

9 Months Old

This post is a little bit late but hey...better late than never! Whitney and Aubrey have hit the 9 month mark (a couple of weeks ago). At their 9 month well-child exams Aubrey weighed 16 lbs (7th percentile) and Whitney weighed 17.2 lbs (20th percentile). They are both doing so well. Aubrey has been crawling for a few weeks. All of a sudden Whitney got tired of watching Aubrey and Mallory have all of the fun so she has started crawling too. In fact the weekend was big for Whitney...she started crawling and got her first tooth! Watching Whitney trying to crawl was really entertaining. For a few days you could tell she was really trying but just couldn't get it figured out. Then all of a sudden she saw her Daddy and Mallory playing with Legos on the floor and decided to crawl over there and join them. The tooth count is now Aubrey 2, Whitney 1.

Mallory is doing great too! At her school (daycare) they have have preschool program called Jumpstart. Each week they learn a new letter and all sorts of other things. Mallory's teacher keeps telling me how well Mallory is doing. I figured she was telling all of the parents that until I realized how ahead of the game Mallory really was. Her teacher made flashcards for all of the kids to help them learn a few of the concepts because they were having a tough time. She told me Mallory definitely didn't need the flashcards but she didn't want her to feel left out so she got some too. Apparently Mallory likes to help teach all of the other kids in her class! Maybe she will be a teacher like her Daddy! Oh yeah...one more thing to brag about her on is that she was the first one in her class to get to move her frog to the lily pad for counting to 20! She did it the second day of Jumpstart which started 4 weeks ago and so far only 3 kids in her class have done it.

Okay...enough of me being that Mom that everyone hates to listen to who won't stop bragging about her kids!

Crawling

Aubrey has decided to crawl. Last Sunday (yes it took me almost a week to post this on here) I was feeding Whitney on the couch. Aubrey was playing in the middle of the floor in the living room. All of a sudden I felt someone biting my toe! Her 2 little teeth sure are sharp! I couldn't believe that I missed seeing her crawl over there to me for the first time. She doesn't raise her belly off the ground but she sure is fast at the army crawl. Whitney is starting to scoot backward but isn't actually crawling yet. Whitney doesn't have any teeth yet either.

Mallory has been excited because now her sisters can sit up well enough that they can take a bath with her (one baby at a time). Bath time is crazy with all of the splashing that goes on in there!

Football is back in full swing so the girls and I are on our own a lot now that Jason is so busy. I keep reminding myself what doesn't kill me will make me stronger and we will survive football season. I am a little nervous for the first football game....pathetic to admit....I am referring to how things will go in the stands with the 3 girls.

Mallory is about to start Jump Start at daycare again this year. She was so excited to go get her school supplies the other day. It is amazing how exciting pink pencils can be when you are 3 years old! The night we were putting her name on all of her supplies she said, "Mommy it is the best day eber." Yes she said eber instead of ever! It was really hard for me not to laugh when she said that!

Hopefully I can post soon that Whitney is crawling too!

Branson and a tooth!

We just got home tonight from Branson with Jason's mom and dad and his sister and her family. It was the first real trip with all 3 girls. I would not recommend traveling with a 3 year old and 7 month old twins. The girls (all 3 of them) HATED the car ride. (Of course that meant Jason and I were miserable in the car as well!) The trip itself wasn't too bad since luckily the weather cooperated with us.

While we were on our trip Aubrey won the race to see which of the girls would get her first tooth. Whitney better hurry up if she wants to keep up with Aubrey in the chompers department!

Oh yeah...I almost forgot! Mallory is quite the dare devil when it came to the rides at Silver Dollar City. She rode everything they would let her ride. She was barely tall enough to reach the line that showed the minimum height requirement! She is willing to ride more rides than her Mommy! As least she is adventurous at something!

Picture Time!

Here are some pictures we took today. We were able to take Mallory's 3 year pictures and Whitney and Aubrey's 6 month pictures all today. Luckily everyone cooperated and didn't get fussy until we were done....it was a miracle!

Whitney

Mallory

Aubrey

Mallory, Whitney (left), & Aubrey (Right)

Mallory

Whitney

Aubrey

Mallory

Mallory, Aubrey (left), & Whitney (right)

6 Months!

It is so hard to believe that Aubrey & Whitney are 6 months old! It is also hard to believe that Mallory is already 3 years old. Aubrey and Whitney had their 6 month well-child exams on Thursday and they were both right at 13 pounds. The pediatrician said they were doing GREAT for preemies. We did find out that Aubrey had both ears infected. I hate to think how long it had been bothering her without us knowing about it.

Mallory gets to spend the week with her Grammy and Grampy Peach this week so she can go to VBS. She already called to tell me how much she enjoyed the first day. It sure seems quiet around here without her!

I almost forgot....Aubrey has been sleeping through the night for the past couple of nights. Maybe getting the antibiotic for her ears is doing the trick. It has been so great to get to sleep through the night again.

Speaking of sleep...I better go!

Eating Like Champs!

Aubrey and Whitney have both been eating like champs! In fact they have been eating so well that Aubrey only took one bottle all day today at daycare. She would rather get the stuff with flavor! So far the girls have liked everything we have given them. They even liked the peas to their Daddy's disappointment (he hates peas!).

Big sister Mallory has earned some bragging rights too. She has finally got the hang of being potty trained. I think we may have bought our last pack of pull-ups for Mallory. YEAH!!!!

I don't know if it is due to some of these big milestones we have hit with all 3 girls or if it is just that they are 6 months today but things are actually starting to get a little easier. Maybe we are just getting settled into more of a regular routine this summer. I am not sure what it is but I am thankful for whatever has caused things to finally start to turn around. We may survive this after all!

Where has the time gone?

Wow....so much has happened since I last posted on here! I can no longer say I have 3 kids under the age of 3. Mallory turned 3 on May 27. She is such a big girl now! For her birthday last week she got to go spend the day at the zoo with just Mommy and Daddy. That was some quality time she really needed. We have just about officially finished the potty training with her as well since her accidents are few and far between now. (Thank you Lord!!) Our big 3 year old is taking swimming lessons this week and next week and it totally LOVING it. It seems like just yesterday she was the age of Aubrey and Whitney. Where has the time gone?

As far as the twins go....we are just trying to get and keep everyone healthy. It never fails, one of them gets sick and a couple of days later the other one comes down with the same thing. We actually had to take Aubrey to the emergency room on Mother's Day. She was obviously really sick. (Side note....I would not recommend the Mercy ER for babies!) Yes by the end of the week Whitney had it too. Since then we just can't seem to shake that upper respiratory stuff for them. Normally it wouldn't be too big of a deal but with the girls being premature everything is a big deal. It is really kind of scary!

Whitney has been sleeping through the night for quite a little while now. During one of Aubrey's doctor visits he asked me how she was sleeping and I told him not well because she coughs all night. He told me I can give her some Benadryl at night to help her with her cough so she can sleep. So now with the help of the Benadryl they are both sleeping through the night. Of course they both still sleep with their swaddle blankets. I know the real test of sleeping through the night is when they can do it unswaddled!

We have been trying cereal with the babies. Sometimes they get the hang of it and sometimes they don't. I hope they start getting the hang of it better soon so they can stretch their feedings out a little more than 2 hours. (Yes they eat every 2 hours. The joys of prematurity!!)

The girls will be 6 months on June 16. I really do wonder where the time has gone. I need to take all 3 girls to get pictures taken again soon. I hope to post some on here in the next couple of weeks!

Sleeping through the night...not me though!

Well the bad news is the cereal in the bottle trick didn't work for me. Actually it totally backfired. Aubrey was up almost all night. I am assuming she had a tummy ache from the cereal! Whitney woke up a couple of times as well. I guess I just should have waited a couple of days. Jason finally convinced me to quit waking up the other to feed when one of the girls gets up. I did that and sure enough Whitney has been sleeping through the night for the past 3 nights. Now if she could just mentor her sister! If we can get Aubrey to sleep through the night I can start getting some sleep too. I can't wait!!

4 Months Old

I can't believe the twins are 4 months old already. I also can't believe Mallory will be 3 next month. Where has the time gone? Whitney and Aubrey went for their 4 month well child exams last week and they are growing like weeds. Whitney was 10.8 lbs and Aubrey was 11 lbs. That didn't quite put them on the growth chart yet but the doctor said he would round up and say they were in the 3rd percentile for weight to make me feel better! Whitney had a little popping in her hip when the doctor checked it so we had to take her to a pediatric orthopedic doctor today. Everything looked good. The doctor said her hip sockets are just a little slow to fill in which is not surprising since they were 2 months premature. He wants to see her back in 5 months to make sure everything still looks good. He said he is 99% sure everything will be fine. YEAH!! Other than that the girls are smiling and cooing a lot now so that is fun. Whitney loves to look at herself in the mirror. I think she must get that from her Daddy! Aubrey was having a tough time with acid reflux but the doctor adjusted her meds for that last week so she is doing better now too. The girls still aren't sleeping through the night so tonight I decided to cheat and put some rice cereal in their bottles before bed. I am keeping my fingers crossed that today will be the first day I get to sleep through the night since November 10 (the day I was admitted to the hospital). I will let you know if it worked!

No Monitors!

Great news....Aubrey doesn't have to wear her monitor anymore! Yeah!!!

Update

It has been a little while since I have had a chance to post on here. Being back at work really has things going crazy for us. It seems as if I have no "free" time. That is ok though. We are definitely surviving! Yesterday the girls had a home health nurse come to our house to give them their next Synigis shots (to prevent RSV). The nurse weighed them while she was here. Aubrey is now the bigger of the 2 girls. She weighed 9 lb 11 oz according to the scale the nurse had. Whitney weighed in at 9 lb 7 oz. They are both doing so well considering everything we went through to get them home with us.

Whitney is now smiling a lot and cooing more frequently. She even giggles occasionally! Aubrey is a little behind in that department. When you adjust their age like you are supposed to with preemies they are only around 7 weeks old so they are really both right where "the experts" say they should be. Whitney just seems to be a little ahead of schedule.

The girls are starting to sleep better at night. They usually get up around 3 am to eat and then make it until we get them up in the morning around 7:30. The daycare is awesome because they let me bring the girls in their PJs. I just get them out of bed and put them in their carseats. Then when we get to daycare I help their teacher feed and change them. That saves me from having to do it all by myself in the mornings since Jason and Mallory leave for school before we get the girls out of bed. Last night they didn't wake up until 5 am! Then they slept until 8:30. This is the most rested I have felt since November 9 (the day before I went into the hospital)!

Mallory is still doing great. She is the best big sister ever! She is getting to be such a big girl. She is even doing much better in the potty training department.

Thursday (March 26) is the day we transmit the data for Aubrey's apnea monitor. As long as she doesn't have another apnea episode between now and then we should be able to get rid of that monitor. That would make it over a month since her last episode. Things will be so much easier when we get rid of that thing. We will be able to carry her around like "a normal baby"! I can't wait!

I will try to not go so long between posts next time!

Back to Work

I went back to work on Monday. I wasn't looking forward to it but luckily it hasn't been too bad. The hardest part is trying to get everyone ready in the mornings! We have finally figured out it works best if Jason takes Mallory when he goes to school and then I take Aubrey and Whitney when I go to work a few minutes later. Mallory is so excited that her sisters are going to school with her! Now if I can just get past my "baby brain" and start remembering what I need to for work!

Cardiology Appointment

Today was the day we took Whitney to the Pediatric Cardiologist to check on the holes in her heart. The holes are still there, however, the doctor said they are very small and in the muscular part of the heart so they should still close on their own. The doctor was really good about explaining things and going over the results of the tests they did today. Dr. Baker said we don't even need to bring her back until she is 1 year old. They don't anticipate any problems with her but she needs to be followed by a doctor until the holes have closed. Thank goodness we now have one less thing to worry about!

Picture Time!

We finally got to go take some pictures. Here are a few of them.

Mallory

Aubrey



Whitney

Aubrey (left) & Whitney (right)

Mallory, Aubrey (left) & Whitney (right)

2 months old!

The twins are now 2 months old. Today we went for their 2 month check ups. Boy have they grown! They actually weighed the exact same. They were both 7 lb 12.8 oz. They are finally on the charts....3rd percentile! The best news of all is that Whitney no longer needs her sleep apnea monitor. Aubrey may get to discontinue hers after the doctor gets the new monthly report that we transmit next week. I sure hope so! It has been so great these past couple of hours we have been home...I have carried Whitney around the house with ease. I don't have to unplug and carry around a bag the entire time. I can even change her diaper in the nursery using the changing pad instead of the living room floor since I don't have to carry around that silly bag. We will be so excited when we can do normal things with both babies without those darn monitors.

The doctor said the girls are doing great. We have to take the girls back on Friday so they can get their RSV prevention shots. They will also need another RSV shot at the end of March. Then we don't have to take them back until they are 4 months old.

Several people keep asking me for new pictures. I will try to get those posted soon. I know I keep saying that but I really mean it!

Growing, Growing, Growing!

Things have been so busy for us! The girls are all doing so well. Mallory is being a GREAT big sister! Whitney and Aubrey are growing like little weeds. They are officially out of preemie diapers. This is a big accomplishment considering how small they were when they were born. They have just about grown out of all of their preemie clothes as well. Newborn size here we come! The girls have hit a growth spurt because they now want to eat every 2.5-3 hours. The good news is that they have been sleeping better at night. The past few nights we put them in bed around 9:30 (after they finish their 9 pm bottle) and Aubrey doesn't wake up until around 2:45 am! I feed her and then I have to wake up Whitney so I can feed her. Who knows how long Whitney would sleep if we would let her! When one eats they both eat or I wouldn't get any sleep! After that 3 am feeding Aubrey is back up at 5:30-6 am to eat again. The problem being that by the time I get both girls fed at 3 and I pump it is usually at least 4 am before I get back in bed! At least I get some good sleep in during that first block in the night!

Today is technically the day that Novartis has me down to go back to work. I saw my doctor last week for my 6 week check up and she said my incision still had some healing to do so she extended my time off work until February 16. After that I will use my carry-over vacation from last year. That puts me going back to work on March 2. Hopefully I can get some sleep before then! That allows me to be home until after we take Whitney to the cardiologist on February 27.

Other good news....Mallory has made great progress in potty training. She is just about there. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks she will completely have it down. It is really funny what we are using for rewards for her when she goes on the potty. We started off with M&Ms and stickers and those worked OK for a little while. Now the magic reward is Little Debbie Snacks! Mallory will do anything for a good snack! I wonder where she gets that from...could it be her Grampy Peach?

I will try to get some new pictures posted on here this weekend.

4 Hours

We finally got the girls on a 4 hour feeding schedule. YEAH!! They had been on a 3 hour schedule which was totally crazy because we would just finish with one complete feeding and have to get ready to start again. Now it is really nice because I only have to get up at 2 am and then again at 6 am. (We are feeding at 10, 2, 6 am and pm.) The girls are both eating like champions!

Here are a couple of pictures I finally got uploaded.

Our Family!

Whitney is on the left and Aubrey is on the right.

The Girls Have Grown...so has our family!

The twins got to go to the doctor on Wednesday for their first well-child exam and they have grown quite a bit in the week that they had been home. Aubrey was up to 4 lb 6 oz and Whitney was up to 5 lb 2 oz. We no longer have a baby under 4 lb in our house!! The pediatrician said the girls are doing very well considering how early they were born. The one bit of news he told me that I didn't like is that the latest recommendations state to use the sleep apnea monitors until there has not been an episode for 2 months. UGH!! I hope we don't have to use those monitors for 2 more months!! He said he didn't want us to come back until the girls are 2 months old because he wants to keep us out of public places during flu/RSV season. Hopefully when we go back to see him in about 5 weeks he will say we can lose those monitors.

My mom went with me to take the girls to the doctor. Thank goodness is all I can say! It was such an ordeal to load up newborn twins with their monitors and go to the doctor. Things should get easier once those monitors are gone. Until then we won't be leaving the house much. Of course we aren't supposed to be leaving anyway so we can avoid germs. (Sorry if we have to be over the top about hand washing and making sure you aren't sick if you come to see the girls!) We have to be so careful to make sure they don't get sick since they are preemies.

Mallory still loves her sisters. She tells us she loves them all of the time. It is still so cute! Mallory is still being a trooper through all of this. She hasn't really had too much of a jealous spell, but I am sure that will come. We try to find little jobs for her to do to help and I think that has made a world of difference.

As far as our family growing....Derek and Rhonda had their baby on Tuesday. My new little nephew is VERY CUTE. He looks so big compared to our little girls. He was 8 lb 12 oz when he was born! He seriously makes 2 of our girls! There were a few complications and he had to stay in the critical care unit for a little while but Kaleb is doing very well now. When I talked to Derek this morning he was hoping they would get to come home tomorrow. My mom took Mallory to see Kaleb last night and mom said she looked at him really funny. I guess she was afraid she would have to bring another baby home! Mom said she seemed better about it when she said Kaleb will be living with Derek and Rhonda.

Well it is time to get ready for the next feeding!

Still Doing well....just tired!

I thought I better check in while I have 20 minutes before I have to start the 11:00 feeding. We are doing really well staying on the schedule the girls were on at the NICU. The feeding is going pretty well. Aubrey (the little one) is actually eating more than Whitney. They will probably be the same size before too long. Then we will see how good I am at telling them apart! The feeding is a process! By the time we get both girls fed, I pump, and get the bottles ready for the next feeding it takes about and hour and 15 minutes. That means we have 1 hour and 45 minutes before we have to start it all over again. During the day that isn't too bad but at night I don't know why I even bother going back to bed! I am really tired already. I can't imagine how tired I will be in a few more weeks!

Mallory is being a GREAT big sister. We weren't really sure how things would be once the girls came home but Mallory has really shocked us. She helps get diapers and bottles, gives her sisters lots of kisses, and of course tells us when they are crying. She tells us all of the time that she loves her baby sisters. I am sure the newness of it all will wear off soon and she will be ready to send them back. We go see the pediatrician on Wednesday so I am really excited to see how big the girls have gotten. I will try to post an update after that appointment.

Happy New Year!!