So I realized I haven’t posted much about the awesome big brother our babies are blessed with.
Aiden has totally stepped up to his role as big brother. He gets blankets and hats and even wipes off dropped pacifiers. His best quote:
Babies make funny noise!
… At HOME.
Jaina was discharged today!
Val still has some feeding and growing to do, but will hopefully be home soon. Or, at least, they’ve promised they have never had to teach anyone their alphabet 😉
As a forward, there aren’t any baby updates in this post… I apologize and will get a baby update to you later today 🙂
But I felt it necessary to thank each and every one of you for your thoughts and prayers over the last 6 months as we have prepared for this journey and are now going to be living it very soon!
For those of you offering food, we really and truly appreciate it, but as we will be packing out in the next few weeks we need to use up the food we already have in the fridge while we still have a fridge to keep it in. We definitely appreciate all of your generous offers though!
Now that Jacen is out of the NICU and as we prepare to transition home with hopefully all three babies sometime in the next couple weeks, the NICU staff has asked me to share the following with anyone hoping to come by to visit.
While we love visitors, we are going to have to ask you to call/email ahead of time to set up a time to come over to make sure that we won’t already have a visitor and that it fits in well between naps and feeding times. As the babies aren’t yet full term, they spend much of their time sleeping and we need to keep it that way so they can grow healthy and strong.
We are also asked to continue with the NICU’s visitor policies. This includes requesting that children under 12 not visit, and if you or anyone in your family has been sick in the last 10 days that you not visit either to reduce the risk of the babies ending up back in the NICU. We would love to see you once you are well!
We will also have soap and hand sanitizer available if you do come over. We know that you are all hygenic people, but to reduce the risk of illness transmission, we will ask you to rewash your hands and use sanitizer before touching the babies.
Thank you so much for doing everything you can to help us keep the babies home and healthy while they work on growing big and strong! They are very susceptible to any illnesses while their tiny bodies work to mature, and we appreciate your help in keeping them healthy and out of the NICU.
Love,
Steven, Nikki, Aiden, Jacen, Jaina, and Valerie
… in the NICU!
Jacen came home yesterday!
This morning we made our first walk from the Fisher House in the Ergo carrier. First half mile down! It was gorgeous and he seemed to like it.
The girls are co-bedding now which is too cute, and Jace shares when he’s here. I can’t wait till they’re all home together wire free!
Well, Jacen officially reached the 5 pound club! His sisters are still a ways behind him, but they’re catching up fast! Way to go big boy!
Jaina is nippling almost all feeds now. Val is still the smart baby waiting for it to just magically appear in her belly 🙂 She’s not a morning person either – you have to unwrap her 15 minutes before its time to eat for there to be any chance of her waking!
Well, at 2 weeks old we are:
Jacen – 4lbs 10oz, 18.75
Jaina – 4 lbs 5oz, 18
Valerie – 4lbs 3oz, 18
Other than that, we’re enjoying the weather, Mima’s last day here, and a great holiday. Happy 4th to you all!
Well, the babes are 35 weeks now! Crazy to think if it were a single baby I’d still have 5 weeks to go!
Jacen is a nursing champ. In fact he doesn’t want anything to do with his bottle – much like his brother.
Val does well once she wants too, but she takes her sweet little time.
Jaina can’t be forced to work that hard, and takes a bottle instead.
They’re getting big and strong, finally gaining weight instead of staying steady, and hopefully getting closer to coming home!
Aiden is settled in here at the Fisher house, enjoying the new toys and playset outside. He likes his babies much better now that they’re in cribs!
I tandem fed Jace and Val tonight 🙂 It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll get the hang of it!
Otherwise, they’re chugging along! Jace took 6 bottle/breast feeds in a row before taking a break! The girls are doing good on their every other feeds and will hopefully move to 2 bottle/ 1 tube feed soon! No idea on homecoming yet, but we’re getting closer!
Well, this will be short, but exciting… we’re in cribs! Still bottle/nursing every other feed, but its a huge step in the right direction!
Well, the girls have indoctrinated me. They wanted to make sure that I don’t forget them when I go home, I think.
Last night, I got projectile poop all over from Val. This morning Jaina projectile vomited. Awesome. 🙂
They’re doing great though! They are on full feeds, and nipping “on cue” which means they can have a bottle if they are awake and showing signs. The girls are a little sleepier, but they’re getting there. Jacen is a champ, just like his brother!
We tried nursing for the first time today! Jacen is a champ at this as well, and Val did great too! Jaina slept through it so we’ll try her again later. Edit to add: all three nursed their bedtime feed!
They are all also getting ready to come to open air cribs maybe tomorrow! We’ll hopefully get them all in one soon, but they might be in separate for a few days to make sure they don’t have reflux issues. Such big steps for such little babies!