It is absolutely astonishing to me all that these boys (my boys) have accomplished so far. Now they are both striding confidently towards 5 pounds if you can believe it. Their personalities and voices are starting to emerge. They look like normal babies . . . just a little smaller (but not much). When I go to the hospital the aprehension and anxiety are still there. . . wondering if I will get bad news of a setback, but it is in the backround preceded by anticipation and excitement of seeing my babies and getting to touch their soft skin or hold them against me.
Owen is heavier than Liam by less than an ounce for the first time in many many weigh ins. He is starting to get cheeks and an extra chin. He still doesn't completely fill out his preemie onsies, but is getting closer to moving into newborn clothes. Liam is a little shorter than Owen, so he looks a lot rounder. We call him our little cherub, becuase he's round and full of rolls and puckers his little mouth all the time. Liam is more of a true crier when he is upset, but in general much more laid back smiling in his sleep a lot. Owen grunts like one of the munchkins from the Lollipop Gang in The Wizard of Oz.
Both boys have started their physical and occupational therapy to help them learn the fetal position that full term babies have practiced in utero, but our boys came out so small that they didn't have to curl up in a flexed position at all so they like to arch their backs and get very "disorganized" easily. They can push out their arms and legs and flail around and then not know how to get everything back close to their bodies (normally my uterus would do this job for them). So we work with the therapists to teach them how to stay curled and start to soothe themselves by sucking on their fingers and clasping their hands. They love being "played" with, and it feels so good to get to "handle" my babies after 7 weeks of barely being able to touch them.
The best thing in the world is Kangaroo Care. Then I get to hold them one at a time skin to skin on my chest under my shirt. I feel their heartbeats, and breaths, and they nuzzle their faces into me. I could do that all day, and encourage everyone to "wear" their baby when they are newborns!
Both of the boys are well over 4 pounds and in open air cribs (no more plastic cages!!!) Now we can hear them all the time, and they get to wear clothes and hats like regular babies:-)
I know that Owen and Liam are not yet out of the woods and that they are still very fragile preemies, but I can't help but be excited about bringing them home in about a month. Liam still needs to be "put back together", and that is not an easy surgery by any means, but I remain hopeful and continue to pray every minute that for all he's been through so far he gets a break when it comes to this surgery and it goes smoothly with out any complications, and without too much bowel having to be removed. Owen struggles intermittently with reflux which is very common in all babies and especially in preemies (at 34 weeks gestation he still wouldn't be eating yet), but I hope that he will be able to stay on full feeds and not have to resort again to IV nutrition.
Both boys are much more awake now, looking around at their worlds and locking eyes with me or their Dad. I can't tell yet what color their eyes are going to be, probably brown, but right now they are a deep saphire blue/grey. They are growing up right before my eyes.
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