No Creative Titles Tonight...

This has been an exciting weekend for our family! Our kids no longer need Level 3 care at Mac, so they were transferred to Level 2 at St. Joe's. St. Joe's is a much different hospital and the whole NICU functions differently. I suppose that is to be expected - different hospital, different level of care, etc., but it still threw us off a little.

It does put a little pressure on us to be a little more "hand's on", which is really good for me - I learn best when I'm put in situations where I have to do it on my own. 3 days in, I'm feeling very comfortable - I've got pretty good bundling, bathing, burping and diapering skills. I anticipate it getting a little more challenging as they grow - at least in some respects - but I'm getting a good handle on things, and Kristin has been very encouraging!

Yesterday, both sets of Grandparents got to finally meet and snuggle the new additions! Everyone was very excited, and it was an emotional time for all of us, I think. Pictures to come! Hopefully some of the Great-Grandparents will be able to visit soon!

Teddy, Joshua and Emma continue to do very well - they had the heat turned off in their isolette's today, and are holding their body temperatures well. If they can maintain good body heat for another day or two, they'll be transferred into little cots - another step closer to coming home!

Another big milestone was the introduction of bottle and breast feeding today! For most parents this happens almost immediately, but because our little one's are so little, we weren't sure they would be able to master the suck/swallow/breathe technique. Our nurses told us that premature babies don't usually get that skill until 34/35 weeks (gestational age). Our trips hit 34 weeks today, and the charge nurse was immediately encouraging us to give it a shot - and wouldn't you know it - our babies went right for it! All 3 took pretty well - we'll see how they manage over the next few days - sometimes there is a little regression because it takes a lot of effort for a 4lb baby to drink all that fluid so many times a day - but so far they're doing wonderfully!

There are only a few more hurdles before we'll be able to bring our family home, and we're sooooo excited! They're still so little - each have gained about 4oz or so above their birth weight (babies tend to lose some weight after birth, and then begin to gain again) - but they are steadily climbing. How blessed we are; God is SO GOOD!

I'll try to update again tomorrow with some new pictures! We're busy getting the nursery ready, so it's back to work!

Thanks for checking in (by the way, is the comment function working again?)