Got lucky with twins.

Connor David. A collection of pictures.

Chloe Joy. A collection of pictures.

Three months old.

It's so hard to believe C&C are over three months old already. They are developing their distinct little personalities! Chloe is our high needs/high strung baby, while Connor is laid back and usually very easy going. They are both wearing at least three month clothes, with a few 3-6 or 6 months items being worn at times. It's very hard to believe they were preemies! I know I've said that before, but when you see their chubby baby bodies.......

We are working on increasing their feeding amounts and length between feedings. They are able to take three ounces...but not consistently. Sometimes they go three hours between feedings, sometimes more and sometimes less. Yesterday, they were both piggies....each had twelve feedings and almost a liter of breast milk or formula. Luckily, they both slept from about 8pm to midnight, giving us a nice break. After the midnight feeding, they were up about every two hours....they can improve their work in that area!

I'm still pumping breast milk, but it's wearing me out. Before delivery, I planned to exclusively breast feed and not use formula. My how plans change! With their fifteen day NICU stay, they were supplemented with formula and bottle fed. Chloe gave up on breast feeding before leaving the NICU, Connor shortly after returning home. Last night, I've given up on the hope of being able to breast feed either. I've accepted that. I've also decided to cut back on the amount I'm pumping with the breast pump. I had been pumping seven to eight times a day...but am going to cut back to five or six times a day. Last night I only pumped after the 3am feeding. Not pumping after the midnight feeding allowed me to return to bed within twenty minutes of starting both of their feedings. It was heavenly! When I do pump after feeding, it's at least an hour from getting out of bed to returning to bed. My goal is to continue to provide breast milk until the end of flu/RSV season, which would bring us to March. The amount of formula C&C receive will increase, yet they will still be receiving my antibodies through the breast milk I'm able to provide. My hope is that they will have a healthy winter and if they do get sick, it will be mild. Best case I would have loved to be able to nurse both babies....but I'm accepting of how things are turning out. Obviously, the babies are thriving!

Ok, enough of this post....
later,
Jennie

Then and Now.

My how we have grown!

We're not antisocial, we're trying to prevent RSV.

	Respiratory Syncytial Virus Clinical features: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia among infants and children under 1 year of age. Illness begins most frequently with fever, runny nose, cough, and sometimes wheezing. During their first RSV infection, between 25% and 40% of infants and young children have signs or symptoms of bronchiolitis or pneumonia, and 0.5% to 2% require hospitalization. Most children recover from illness in 8 to 15 days. The majority of children hospitalized for RSV infection are under 6 months of age. RSV also causes repeated infections throughout life, usually associated with moderate-to-severe cold-like symptoms; however, severe lower respiratory tract disease may occur at any age, especially among the elderly or among those with compromised cardiac, pulmonary, or immune systems.

Above info from Centers for Disease Control

The following info was provided by a preemie mom.

Some facts about RSV and prevention:

The Season:
In the northern hemisphere RSV outbreaks begin in November, peak in January or February and end at the end of March but may last through April
In the Midwest US, the RSV season tends to last through April

The infection:
RSV is highly contagious
After RSV infection, many children will have recurrent wheezing which usually diminishes in later years
Almost all children are infected at least once by age 2 and re-infected throughout life
RSV infection in older children and adults manifests as an upper respiratory tract illness such as the common cold, runny nose, etc
In high-risk infants and immunocompromised patients, or elderly in can be a much more serious infection involving the lower respiratory tract

The epidemiology:
It is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children worldwide
It is the most common cause of hospitalization in the US in children 1 yrs of age
Majority of children requiring hospitalization are 6 months of age leading to almost 2,500 deaths per year
National hospital costs annually from RSV are $400 million

Risk of infecting others:
RSV can persist on environmental surfaces such as furniture for many hours and for a half-hour or longer on hands
The incubation period ranges from 2-8 days (so if you caught it and don’t have symptoms yet, you don’t realize you have it, but can still pass it on especially to high-risk infants)
Viral shedding may continue for 3-4 weeks especially in young infants and immunocompromised patients

Prevention:
Careful hand hygiene, avoiding sick contacts, avoiding crowds, avoiding public places such as grocery stores, limiting visitors and avoiding school aged children are the most effective methods in preventing infection
All high-risk infants and ALL CONTACTS should be immunized against influenza (don’t forget to get your flu shots)
Synagis does not prevent infection, but it reduces the severity of infection

Yikes!

Forgot to mention that C&C are THREE months old today. Time flies!

I need to do a three month photo session....but I don't think I'll be doing it until I catch up on sleep and can be an effective photographer! I'll share once I've taken them.

Video share.

The quality isn't the best...but here area few videos I took of C&C. Turn off volume to spare yourself of my monotone voice!

Chloe smiling

Tummy time on the bed

Tummy time

I'll try to share pictures later. I'm pooped. Chad has been out of town for work since Monday and today I'll be running on autopilot. His plane can't land soon enough. He should be home in about twelve hours.....wish us luck.

later, Jennie

It was a {grand} visit, great, even!

I have lots of pictures to post....thought I'd start with a quick post tonight. Our trips went well. Both C&C were wonderful during the drive, fussing when hungry only, for the most part.

Part of our trip to visit family included a stop at both great-grandmother's residence. My grandmother lives in a nursing home and Chad's grandmother lives at home, after a stay in the nursing home recovering from illness. Chloe was the perfect great-grandma baby, sleeping the entire time during each visit, allowing both grandmas to throughly enjoy holding their little bundle of love!

Our first visit was to my grandmother. We almost missed her, as she was heading out the door with my aunt....luckily I looked over at just the right time to see them heading out of the nursing home. My mom was upstairs to get grandma and was in a bit of panic when they told her she left! Luckily things worked out and we got a nice visit in, along with pictures.

We were also able to visit with Chad's grandmother. She was also tickled at being able to hold both babies and enjoyed doting on C&C.

We are grateful to have C&C meet their great-grandmothers! Now I need to order prints for each of them and mail photos of the visit out to them.

C&C are TWELVE weeks old today. When did that happen? They will be three months old on the 15th......yikes! They are both turning into such nice, solid little people! I love this picture of them. Connor has such a funny look on his face...he's such a little man! And sweet Chloe, bright as can be! We just arrived to the hotel after a long drive...it's surprising they were both so alert! It's so fun to watch them grow. I've been taking tons of pictures lately and will share some as time allows.

Later, Jennie