We busted them out!!!

The word on the street is that we are now the proud, and very scared, owners of two brand new babies. That's right, after a LONG...LONG...LONG...sleepless night Harris Methodist Hospital of Fort Worth has deemed us fit parents and let us take our two little angels home. Great thing they started us off as new parents with no sleep, huh? I'm guessing it's not getting much better, though.

So, rooming in wasn't really all that tough. We checked in at 7:15 last night and they gave us instructions. Pretty simple, actually. You keep the two babies in your "room", and take care of them. Take their temperatures, change them, and feed them every three hours. You also have to write down everything you do. They did give us a break from about 2:30-4:30 a.m. when they took Lily to do her car seat test and let Jack come along to sleep. Of course, I still didn't sleep all that well. I'm convinced they had to search long and hard to find a bed that was actually that uncomfortable. I swear my ribs and back are sore from it today! I must admit, though, I thought they were going to give us some sort of massive instruction list or share with us the secrets of raising babies...but they didn't. What a shame, we probably could use a little advice.

Having fun in our luxury hotel suite...

We heard you could fail if you put them on the bed. Too tempting, you know we had to try....

The pulmonologist came by this morning and said that they weren't really candidates for synagist shots, which is the RSV antibody shot. Bittersweet news, I guess. The good side is that they are really healthy and they don't fall into any of the risk factor categories. The bad news is that they don't get the shot. This means we have to be REALLY careful who comes into our house until Easter. RSV is a very serious illness to babies. It's just a bad respiratory infection to you or I, but it could easily land any of our babies in the hospital. She definitely put the fear in us. So bear with us as our little ones come home and know that we can't wait to show them off, but we want to keep them safe as well. Just think how crazy cute they will be by Easter!

"Hey, I remember you!"
So now we just have little Ben left. I sat next to his crib this morning and I'll admit I got really sad. Of course, I was completely overwhelmed with taking the other two home, but it really got to me that we had to leave him behind. I'm actually getting a little teary now. I know he's not ready, but it just feels a little cold hearted to abandon him like this. We will continue to go up to see him twice per day, me in the morning and Brian in the evening. Brian's actually up there right now. On a really good note, he went into an open crib after we left and they started him on all oral feeds. I pray with all my heart he does well. I know how tired he gets while trying to get all 40 ml of his feed down, and I hope that he finds the energy to be able to do it 8 times per day. He's just a little pokey, but we really want him home with us. It sure would be better to be slow at home. We hope it will be just a matter of days. Everyone did such a stellar job sending their good thoughts toward little Lily...say a little prayer for my Bennie Bear tonight.

"I don't want to leave Ben!!!"

"Adios"....(Clearly ready for her own crib...)

"Don't drop him now!"
"Home at last!" (Can you tell it was a rough night?)

So we've had them home for almost 8 hours now with no major catastrophes. They were fussy because they were hungry when we pulled into the driveway, but we got it under control pretty fast. We grabbed a much needed cat nap this afternoon while they slept. And then we were off again. In all honesty they are really easy right now. Change their diapers and feed them every 3 hours. Pretty simple. They are preemies so all they do is sleep right now, thank goodness! At least they are breaking us in fairly easy. Of course, Jack was circumcised yesterday and he's been a tad bit on the fussy side, but not too bad...all things considered. I think we have the new parent jitters. Afraid to leave the room, constantly checking on them, jumping up to every sound. Afraid of our own shadows!

They don't seem too worried, do they?


I am so thankful to have Brian. It's amazing what a wonderful father he is already. Must be some kind of natural instinct...or GREAT role models. We've had a lot of adventures over the years, but this is sure to be our greatest. I can't think of a better person to have on my side, especially when we are ankle-deep in poopy diapers! I have a feeling this little social experiment will show us a lot about ourselves as well as each other. He's taught me a lot along the way. His kindness, patience, and empathy is what endears me so much to him and watching him with his children makes it all the sweeter...

Good night my sweetest Ben, we love you...