Happy (Belated) New Year!

Maybe it's the lack of sleep, but this post is very difficult to write!  There's so much to say, and I can hardly put it all together in anything that could be called coherent.  Sorry!

Here goes nothing, as they say...

Kristin and I rang in 2010 much differently this year -- we camped out at Hotel St. Joe's in the maternity ward.  It was quite a party! 

When our babies were born, we expected a long road -- we expected lots of tubes, IV's, procedures and monitors, and we were told to hope to have our babies home by their actual due date -- February 1.  After they were transferred to St. Joe's, we realized that the date would probably be moved up, but we still expected mid-January at best.  Little did we know!

We got about 24 hours notice that we would start our 48-hour 'pajama party' on New Years Eve.  Most parents of children in the NICU are asked to "room in" with their baby (or in our case, babies) to make sure that everything goes well with feeding, changing, etc.  Blood work is completed and the babies are required to pass a car seat test, where they monitor their oxygen to ensure that they will be safe traveling. If everything goes well, the baby (babies) can come home. 

Much to our surprise, we were allowed to bring our babies home about 18 hours into our "test drive" - we had many people scrambling to get things organized - but with a lot of help, we brought our babies home to start 2010 off right - as a family.

It's quite a relief to have them home with us, though hard to put things together here on the blog; I just have so many thoughts floating around, and barely enough time to figure them all out. 

Sometimes it feels like a dream... then I wake up to my alarm quacking (yes, my alarm quacks) at 2am and I'm reminded of how real this is!  We have to feed our little babes every 3 hours, day and night.  Our routine runs smoothly, but takes time.  We start half an hour before they are supposed to eat - we wake them, change them, feed them, burp them, and then it's back to bed.  Working as a team, it still takes over an hour.  It makes for rough sleep - 90 minutes here, 90 minutes there, and cat naps when we can get them. 

But, even with little sleep, it's totally worth every minute, and we're so happy to have them (almost) settled in. 

There are also a lot of adjustments we have to make, having premature babies at home this early.  We've been carefully warned to hibernate as much as possible - to limit visitors (especially other children) and be very vigilant about the health of our helpers and visitors.  Our kid's are very susceptible to illness, and could land back in the NICU in a very short period of time, so we need to be very cautious for a few months, until they grow, build some immunities and strength.  They are still pretty small, after all - barely 5 pounds!  On that note, Teddy now weighs about 5lbs 4oz, Emma weighs 5lbs 1oz, and Joshua 4lbs 14ozs. 

So, while we are thrilled to share this good news with you all, we ask that you please be patient with us - we're still working on getting some family members in to meet our kids, and we're still getting our routine's in order.  Keeping 3 kids on a schedule is a challenge - we also have to sleep, eat, shower and manage our day-to-day stuff.  We appreciate your patience and understanding as we get settled.  Every day gets a little easier as we get used to new schedules and routines.  Next week, I'll have to return to work, which will add another layer of challenge.  We are very thankful for your continued prayers for us - and all of the practical support you've shown!  We have been very blessed! 

On top of it all, after months of carefully avoiding illness, Kristin (of all people) has come down with a bad cold.  The kids have picked it up, and we've been advised to limit visitors as much as possible, and to increase our hand washing and hygiene at home.  The babies are doing alright - we're battling the sneezing and stuffiness, but we certainly don't want them to get any worse!  We'll do our best to make sure that we get everyone in to meet our new additions, but we appreciate your patience!

I'll try to update again with some new pictures - proud papa thinks the babies are getting cuter every day!  I'll try to show off some pictures again soon!  Stay Tuned!