Only 24 hours in a day...are you sure??

I have decided that 24 hours in a day is just not enough time to get everything done. I think if I could add on about four to five more hours of daylight it would be perfect and I say daylight because once the sun goes down this momma struggles to do much more than sit on the couch and do laundry. Thus the reason that it has taken me a week to post again because updating falls as one of the daylight activities.

When I brought Tate home this is what Paul gave me. We already had the mom & dad and two babies from when the girls were born but Paul added the twin girls, the boy, and two more babies. Our completed family! Thank you Honey...I love it.

We are loving having Tate and Kenzie home. The girls still insist that it's Isabella that is home and for some reason can't get it straight so often they just say "the girl". I guess adding four babies at once may be a bit confusing to a four year old! For the most part we have as much of a routine we can have with five kids at home, two in the hospital, a dad that's working, two kids that eat every three hours and need diaper changes with each feed, another three kids that seem to want to eat as often and also yell out for their bottoms to be wiped throughout the day, and a mom and dad that try and get some sleep from time to time. Thankfully one of the perks of the nicu is having kids that come home on a schedule. Kenzie and Tate for the most part sleep 3.5 hour stretches at night. We did have a couple rough nights with Tate and we finally figured out he was miserable from reflux. This came after an incident on Wednesday night. We took the babies out to celebrate my sisters birthday and as we were leaving the restaurant I covered the car seats and we walked to the car. I put Tate in the car and lifted up his cover and right away I knew something wasn't right. His eyes were rolled back and I could tell he was not breathing. I quickly got him out of his car seat while calmly asking Paul to get the bulb syringe out of the diaper bag. I then  got his mouth cleaned out with my finger and started getting him stimulated to breath but he would not stop holding his breath and milk just kept coming out of his mouth. Paul was so panicked he could not even find the syringe so I grabbed it and started suctioning his mouth and nose. He finally started breathing but after a breath would go back to holding it because he was refluxing so bad. He finally started breathing normal but the poor kiddo was so worked up. Daddy was ready to call an ambulance and take him back to the hospital. Talk about getting your heart rate going. That night Paul went out and bought a rock in play sleeper that keeps him slightly elevated when sleeping and it has helped Tate so much. He sleeps soundly in it and we wake him at night to feed him. A scary episode has lead to a much happier Tate. We are not going to start him on meds yet for relux if we can control it with good burping, keeping him upright after eating and his inclined rocker. Hoping he grows out of it quickly. He takes about 2 ounces at each feed and he now weighs 6lbs9oz. He is such a chunky monkey!

Tate

Kenzie

Kenzie is still so small!

Floor time for all.

Don't think they are enjoying floor time that much.

Kenzie has done wonderfully since coming home. She doesn't always enjoy starting her feeds since she tends to bite on her tongue while we try and get the bottle in but once she decides that she wants to join the eating party she takes over and wins the race. She takes 45ml consistently except for her two bottles a day of formula. She despises those two feeds and will often leave some for her little brother Tate to finish! The kids get all breastmilk except for two feeds in which they get a formula called Neosure which has extra calories and also extra minerals and vitamins that they need since they were born early.  Kenzie has been pretty laid back since coming home. It is hilarious though when she teams up with her brother. Tate will be screaming, usually to eat, and he decides he needs a break so Kenzie takes over and then as soon as Tate starts up again she quiets down. Such awesome partners in crime! When Kenzie was being discharged we found out that Kenzie had developed a Grade II head bleed sometime between week one and week four of her hospital stay. Thankfully  Grade I and II head bleeds should not cause any lasting developmental delays. We do not know when Kenzie's bleed occurred but we knew this was a risk we took when we choose to have four babies at one time and knowing they would be preemies. The blood vessels in preemies are very fragile and these babies are at increased risk for brain bleeds. We praise God that none of the other kiddos developed any bleeds and Kenzie's was only a Grade II.

Love seeing them snuggled up together

Tummy Time

Rylan and Isabella are continuing to do well and are making big steps in the right direction to come home. Rylan's follow up head ultrasound came back totally normal. We were so happy after we had gotten some concerning news after his one week ultrasound. For having four babies born at 31 weeks we can not believe how well they have all done. It is amazing what prayers can do! We thank God everyday for choosing us to be the parents to these amazing little babies. Paul and I look at these four and wonder which two were non viable per the fertility clinic? 

I'm just as bored with this place as you are Rylan

Isabella

 We want to thank the wonderful families that have brought us meals. It has been so fabulous being able sit down as a family and have a yummy dinner in the evenings. We appreciate these meals so very much. And a very special thank you to Mary who has become the kids new "grandma". We thank you for everything you have done for our family and thank you for loving our kids and Paul & I too!