The Twins: November 4th- 36 weeks gestation

Wow! I can't believe the girls would have been full term as of today but are actually 6 weeks and 3 days old!! They continue to just amaze the pants off me everyday! They are so beautiful and I am so proud of all they have done and continue to do each day! They started taking bottles a week ago and just love it! Anabell totally overdid it the first day and took all of her feeding 3 times in a row but then slept straight through the next couple. They had to cut her off and limit her to once a shift so she wouldn't wipe herself out! On Friday they took that restriction off and she can now do a couple bottles a shift if she is awake and interested. Isabell took right to it also and had to be cut off too! I think they realized now it wasn't a special treat and they will get offered it more often so they don't have to guzzle it everytime they try because now they take about half the feeding by bottle and end up getting the other half by tube. Both of them have been going back and forth between 20-60% of their feedings by mouth each day. Either way, totally wonderful! That is pretty much the last thing they need to do before going home is take all their feedings by mouth! Our goal is to be home by Thanksgiving and most the doctors seem to agree, now we just have to be sure the girls are on board! I had one doctor tell us likely between 36 and 37 weeks but I don't see them coming home this week unless they just start pounding the bottles. They have a little work but we don't want to rush them, we want them to be ready when they do come home!
Both of them are in cribs this week also! Anabell has been in one for a couple weeks but Isabell finally got out of her incubator! Both of them have to have their cribs tilted at about a 45 degree angle to help with their reflux. Due to the angle they each have what is called a johnny sling that holds them at that angle. Otherwise they would slide right down to the bottom of their crib! They both kind of like the sling because it keeps them all bundled up like a cocoon.
Jim and I have both been sick for the last week which has been devastating for me!! I had to miss going to the hospital for the first time one day and it crushed me! Not to mention I spent most the week when I did go to the hospital not even touching the girls because I was so scared to touch them which was just as miserable for all of us! The girls cried quite a few times because they didn't understand why they could hear my voice and see me but I wouldn't hold them! They are such snugglers and they were so disappointed! The only extremely minor plus side was it gave us all a break from breastfeeding which ended up being good for all of us. We finally tried breastfeeding again on Friday and it went better than expected! Isabell, who had pretty much quit even attempting to suck went to town!! I swear she took half her feeding but when we weighed her it only showed up as 4 ml. and even the nurse thought that was pretty low for what it looked like she was getting! Anabell tried but after getting the bottle she was disappointed by not getting immediate results. She didn't end up getting any but she did try a little. Being I'm on the upswing and getting better I hope to work on breastfeeding a little more again this week. Although, I'm not really disappointed if they don't take to it and I just have to pump and give them bottles. I like that if we do it that way I can see how much food they are actually getting. Plus then Jim can help feed them, they will have to do it that way when I go back to work, and I will have to pump after each feeding anyways. I know putting them to breast is huge for bonding but the girls and I are just as happy doing kangaroo care and there is no reason we can't continue that for a couple months. Either way, we will just see how it goes, if they decide they like going to breast I am still completely open to it, I just don't want to stress us all out pushing it too hard.
I have been keeping it a secret for a couple weeks but I was so ecstatic about their Halloween costumes!! I read online and thought it was the most clever thing ever, but we got their costumes from the Build A Bear Workshop!! They were adorable, affordable, and fit perfect!! I knew I wanted them to be Disney Princesses, I mean they are little girls, and I'm a Disney freak so what else would I do?! So I ended up getting Snow White and Cinderella!! The hard part was deciding who would be who! Finally we decided since Anabell loves eating so much she would have obviously eaten the apple, so she must be Snow White!! Everything they have to do Isabell just seems to have to work twice as hard, so Cinderella made sense for her too! Maybe not the best logic, but it worked! They were so cute and all the nurses just gushed over them!! I felt a little like I was torturing them when we got them dressed up though! Plus they both just seemed to hate it!! They kept covering their faces when I was taking pictures and all I could think was they were so embarrassed they didn't want proof!
We had our first baby shower yesterday with Jim's family that was so wonderful! I couldn't believe all the wonderful things we got! Especially his 2 aunts put so much effort into finding them the best car seats you can find! I was so impressed and grateful! We really felt a lot of pressure to put together a registry and didn't have much time to do a lot of research so it meant so much that somebody else was willing to put our girls safety so high on their priority list when they are the most important things in our lives! Everyone was just so wonderful and we feel so blessed to have so many people that care so much about our girls! Jim's family from Iowa that came up and 1 of his other aunts came to the hospital after the shower and got to meet and snuggle with the girls! The girls loved it!! Like I said they are such snugglers, they don't care who it is they are just happy as can be when anyone holds them so they just loved it! I know especially for Jim's family them being twins is pretty sentimental since his grandma was a twin and they are named after her and her sister. I just love that pretty much everyone that meets them starts to tear up and is so in awe of them! Then I ask if they want to hold them and everyone always says no way they are too small I don't want to hurt them! Then I make them hold them anyways!! (Not just Jim's family, EVERYONE does this!) Just so everyone doesn't think I'm crazy, keep in mind they are on so many monitors, if anything happens we will know immediately and we aren't worried about it. When they come home, that will probably change and we won't want anyone to touch them since we won't have the reassurance of the monitors! Along with everyone has to wash their hands and everything, and I absolutely don't want them to get sick, but if they are going to they are in the right place. I also don't want them to come home and immediately be exposed to reality and immediately get sick and us have to try and figure it all out at home. Plus we know everyone wants to see the girls and who doesn't want to hold a baby the second you see one?! Maybe it is just us thinking they are so special we just want to force their specialness on everyone else too?!
Well that's the news! Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween, Deer Opener and weekend in general! As always, God bless!

Love- Heather, Jim, Anabell and Isabell