The First Week of Elinor and Matilda

The girls are still doing very well in the NICU. It's funny because it seems like the progress is so slow, but then when you think about all they've accomplished in a little over a week, it's pretty impressive.


Matilda is doing quite well, and is still in an incubator which helps keep her warm. She's been gaining weight for a few days, and hopefully by the weekend she'll be in an isolette (which is what you usually where you see babies in a typical hospital nursery). She's up to two regular feedings a day, and the other 6 given through her feeding tube. It takes more calories for them to eat, so they work up to all regular feedings slowly. She occasionally has these things the nurses call "Brady's" but the doctor has some kind of fancy name for them. It's when they forget to breathe for a second. If it keeps up too much they give them a little caffine, but it's fairly common in babies their size. Speaking of which, she was 4 lbs. 1 1/2 oz. last night, so well on her way to putting her birth weight back on. She loves to be held, but usually just sleeps when we do, except when we're feeding her. She likes to open her eyes just a tiny bit to check and see if we're still there though.


Elinor is also doing well and moving a little bit faster than Miss Matilda. She's in an isolette and is working to keep her temperature within their guidelines. She gets to wear clothes, which are all much too big for her, she's very long and skinny, but she looks very cute in them. She's up to three regular feedings a day (but she hasn't quite finished all of them, so they're waiting to add more). She does have an occasional "Brady," but fewer than Matilda. She's very observant, and always checks out any new noises and people. Last night she was at 4 lbs. 3 oz. which is almost back at her birth weight. The doctors say it usually takes about 2 weeks for babies to get back to their birth weight, so the girls are doing very well with that.


James and I are so thankful for all the cards, emails, and calls of congratulations and encouragement. We are doing well. It's amazing how tired we already are and there are not even babies at home yet. We're hoping to get the girls home in the next few weeks, at the current rate Elinor will probably beat her sister home, but the nurse today said that once the babies come out of the incubator and get eating down well, they can progress very quickly.


I put some pictures up, but the most recent ones are on James' computer which is currently with him at training.

Babies in NICU

Hey, this blog post will officially get us up to date. Currently the baby girls are in the NICU(Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), they'll be there for the next week or two. We're hoping to have them home by early August. There is no weight requirement for them coming home but they need to meet a couple of criteria. 1) They need to be breathing regularly and normally without any aid. 2) They need to be in an open crib regulating their own temp without heated beds or lamps. 3) They need to be able to eat all their meals(all 27 of them per deum) by either bottle or breast. Right now they are breathing great (if you happened to see the the pictures below then you can see that they are breathing, because crying as much as they did is a great sign of working lungs). They temperatures are good and they might be moved to an open crib tomorrow or Tuesday(7-29-08). Matilda had a bottle last Friday and Elinor had her first bottle today, Sunday. This is hard because right now they're in those closed plastic incubators and they're only allowed out once a day for an hour, so as long as they live in those and not in open cribs they'll be eating most of their meals from a feeding tube.

All in all we are so thankful that they are as healthy as they are. The girls are doing great, they just basically need to get a little older and a little bigger to come home. Holding them and feeding them is really fun. They're so tiny and skinny.

ok, that's it for now. i'll up load a bunch of pictures tomorrow because the pictures take so long to post. If you want to see the girls you should call us and we'll try to set up a time that we can meet you at the hospital.

BABIES!!!!!!!!!

Yes! The weight is over. (the weight of pressure of our metaphorical shoulders that is). The wait is over! ha!

Born at 8:15 pm Tuesday, July 22, 2008 weighing 4 pounds and 3 ounces: BABY A, who will be hence forth know to you and the world as Matilda Kate Tiggeman-Morris. You can call Tilly Billy if you'd like. As you can see from the picture Matilda Kate very excited to be part of this world!

Born at 8:17 pm Tuesday, July 22, 2008 weighing 4 pounds and 5 ounces: BABY B, who will be hence forth know to you and the world as Elinor Claire Tiggeman-Morris. You can call Elly Belly if you'd like. As you can see from the picture she is just as excited as her sister! ("Elinor" is the british spelling, FYI)

Corner

Abby Comes Home!

June 24th

Abby was finally taken off bedrest today(well, today is actually late July but i thought i would write this as though i were a competent blogger so forgive me if i switch tenses) and she's so happy to be home. Being in Antepartem for 3 weeks was no fun and boring, but the snacks were good. Thanks to everyone who called or visited or simply emailed their best wishes. We really appreciate the kindness and thoughfullitude of ya'll.

i'll try and ge those pictures of the nursery up.