Family pictures on their 1 week "birthday" 2-7-08

We had an incredible surprise yesterday (their 1 week old "birthday")....the nurse let us hold all three babies at once. This is the first time we have seen them side-by-side and the first time they have been together since before birth. It was SO special. They slept through the whole thing, but we were happy to have them in our arms at one time. We took a lot of pictures, but will only be able to post a few here. For the record, I'm in a hospital gown because of nursing and "kangaroo care" (skin-to-skin contact with the babies is suggested) and I look like poo because I was feeling pretty emotional....but no one is looking at me anyway. :)
A little info on the pics: Baby in pink hat is Kendall. Baby in purple checked blanket is Emma. Baby with blue plastic near his face is Clark.
Kendall is now also in an open crib, so all three are in the open, which is really nice. Troy and I are able to pick them up and put them down on our own and it's much easier to change a diaper in the open than through two "portholes" in an isolette.
So, back to Kendall....she was just shy of her original birthweight, so we expect her to be there today. She is doing well and was maintaining her body temp in the new crib. She is still the one who makes the most "noises". She gurgles, coos and hiccups more than the other two. I haven't witnessed too many crying spells with her, but that might just be our timing. I think Troy is calling her Cinderella. We were surprised when they were together that it appears that the two girls do look pretty similar, although Kendall's hair is lighter than Emma's. I'm sure that could still change though.
Emma has actually passed her birthweight up by just a very tiny amount. She is still the most active and also the most "feisty" according to the nurses. Our day nurse, Angie, yesterday had her out of the crib visiting the nurses station. She thought Emma was feeling lonely in the room all by herself and that was probably why she tends to be a little more fussy at times. We have seen a crying outburst once or twice, but they are always short-lived and usually are directly related to having her diaper changed. I think that Daddy is calling her Snow White, but I could have that wrong. She has so many cute little expressive looks and she has those eyes that just make both of us melt.
Clark is still the little peanut of the group. Yesterday, they had him wrapped up pretty tightly, including the use of a pee-pee pad, in order to keep his body temp up. If you see the blue plastic sticking up out of the blankets in the pics, that's the pee pee pad. We said he looks like a little mini-burrito. He is just so tiny and has the sweetest, most peaceful look on his face - most of the time. When he gets upset though, he gets super-red and belts it out. But again, these crying spells are very short-lived (thankfully). Usually he just sleeps when you hold him, or looks up at you and he also seems to listen intently to Daddy's stories. He too is getting close to his original birthweight. We are hoping that he can maintain his temp a little better on his own and without all of those blankets as I think it tends to make it hard for him to gain weight with all of the energy he uses trying to keep warm. He's had a couple of spells where his heart rate drops, but always bounces right back on his own and they tell us that is normal for babies who are at 35 weeks gestational age.
We have had some really wonderful nurses tending to our little precious bundles. While they have really weird schedules so it's hard to know who will be there, it does seem that the same ones request to be with the babies when they are there. So we've been getting to know them while we visit. One of our favs is Angie. She is so helpful and seems to really care about the babies. She likes to be sure that they are in baby outfits and not just white onesies, etc (the hospital receives many donated preemie outfits that they put on the babies - something we will be doing once they outgrow the outfits we have). She is the one who was able to let us get our first family pictures all together and we are so grateful for that. She also has a great sense of humor. For those of you who know Troy, that is a good thing. He keeps us laughing in there.
He'll probably kill me for this example and I hope I don't offend anyone, but I have to share a funny. Keep in mind that you just have to find humor in some of all of this or you will go crazy. Anyway, he has been really helpful with our decision to breastfeed/pump. He feels very strongly that they should get as much breast milk as possible because the babies will benefit greatly, especially since they are preemies. So, he helps me with the pumping. Since I'm new to it, it can be awkward and time-consuming, so having the help makes it go faster.
Anyway, we are pumping at the hospital during visits also. Troy and I have made sort of a "competition" in the breast pumping to see who's "side" can get more milk....I know, sounds weird, but it's helping us get through it. So, nurse Angie was in the room and we were getting started and he starts singing the song...Kung Fu Fighting (not sure about the name). But he says..."Everybody was breast pump fighting. Those teats were fast as lightning"...and Angie just starts cracking up. I'm laughing and he's encouraged. I know that there will be more breast pumping theme songs to come. He's just cute and fun like that.
Again, I hope no one is offended and realizes that we are just doing what we can to make this time a little less stressful and bring in some laughter. And I hope he doesn't kill me for sharing that little story. He's just too funny sometimes that I have to tell people about it. :)
We will be heading back later today. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. For those of you who know us personally, you might be able to get a better perspective of their size since you can see Troy holding them together. They are tiny, but definitely doing really well and should be coming home in the next couple of weeks....maybe sooner....and it couldn't be soon enough for us.