Thursday PM - I'll try to get as much information in as little time/space as possible as tomorrow is a long and early day. Our visits with the boys were early today as I had to work an evening shift and Heidi and her mom were working at our house again this afternoon and evening. I first went to Grant's to drop off his head roll (the thing that corrects his "toaster head"). He was sleeping and being fed through his tube, so I hurried down to Adam's unit. Again, he was wide awake and his nurse insisted that I hold him, although she didn't have to ask more than once if I wanted. I know this is repetitive, but he was more awake, calm, and alert today than since he was born. Not even as long as my forearm from fingertip to elbow, he snuggles in next to my chest and continually looks around. There didn't seem to be any apprehension or fear, even after everything that has happened to him, just a heightened since of curiosity peaked by not having to look through a bunch of tubes in front of his face. Unlike yesterday, there were no "conniption fits", although tonight his nurse reported (via phone) he was having one when I called to check on him. I spent more time with him than I should have, but much less than I wanted.

Since Adam occupied my time I didn't get to spend much with Grant, as he was sleeping when I returned. Heidi had the good fortune of spending quality time with both of them today. Adam was sleeping more with her than he was with me, but he was still more relaxed than she has ever seen him. Grant was just a lot of fun for her, and I'm looking forward to my next quality session with him.

Both are gaining weight, and we are moving towards the date for Adam's surgery next week. As he grows and becomes more alert, it's getting tougher for us to imagine what lies ahead for him. All the doctors and nurses are very reassuring, and we know there is no better place in the world, literally, for his surgery. We'll just be glad when it's all finished and he's back to being the inquisitive little guy that he has become in the last two days.

Lastly, I'm going to ask anyone who lives in the Houston area and reads this to consider donating blood for Adam. He has the type that is most difficult to find (O-negative), and finding that type without the CMV virus is even more difficult. Apparently the CMV can't be detected until after the donation, but your donation will still be put to good use. If you need any further information, leave a comment here or send me an email. I'm not sure if I will post tomorrow night or Saturday, but until then, thanks to everyone for your prayers and support.

Wednesday PM - Another good day for everyone today. We started by going to Grant's unit so as to catch one of his bottle feedings. Since only 2 of us can be there at the same time, I decided to visit Adam while Heidi and her mom stayed with Grant. When I got to Adam's unit, his nurses all looked at me with wide grins, as if they were going to yell "surprise!". It wasn't my birthday but something much better: Adam's CPAP (the assisted breathing device) was gone and replaced by a small tube (nasal canula) in his nose. His eyes were open wide and I haven't seem him look that happy and calm in at least two weeks. I literally jogged from the 3rd floor up the stairs to the 4th floor to get the camera, then jogged downstairs to take pictures before he decided to fall asleep (see Yahoo photos). To top it all off, the nurse allowed me to hold him for an hour via the skin-to-skin method. Except for a few chest hairs being pulled out, it was the highlight of the day. The doctors have increased his feeding again today, and he weighs 3lb 6oz. We still have such a long way to go, but days like this make things easier. For now it looks as if his surgery will still happen sometime next week.

Grant is holding at 6lb 40z but is drinking about 7 times the amount of milk that his brother drinks. He sleeps a lot like his mom (or at least like his mom once did), but is very engaging when he's awake. Today he was none too pleased when she put him back in the isolette. It's becoming very difficult to divide our time between the two, as they are on different floors and we enjoy the time with each one.

Heidi also had her 2nd follow-up appointment with her OB. Her recovery is on pace and she is doing very well from what I can see. She's not at 100% of her pre-pregnancy energy, but that seems to improve week by week. Spending time with the boys definitely charges her batteries. For us the days aren't long enough, and we can't wait to get them home.

This will be a record for me as I'm actually finshing a post before 7:30. Tomorrow I have my appointment to remove my stitches. For those who have asked and sent your well-wishes, everything went well and no further problems are anticipated. Our best to everyone until tomorrow...

Tuesday PM - Quite a long day at the hospital today, interrupted only by a great lunch at a Turkish restaurant. We, including Heidi's mom, also managed to work in an Infant CPR class as well. All the other time was spent with our guys. I've already uploaded some pictures of Grant from this morning, and I will have a few more of Adam after I finish this post. If everyone can forgive a doting father, Grant is becoming very photogenic as he grows and changes. Adam is also photogenic, but it's hard to appreciate under all of his CPAP apparatus. Nevertheless, I did manage to catch a snapshot of him while the nurse was weighing him tonight.

And speaking of weight, Adam has reached a new all-time high of 3Lb 6oz. His feeding continues to go well as he is up to 6cc's of milk every 3 hrs. His weight may fluctuate every day but we are hoping for a steady upward trend as it looks more like his heart surgery will be sometime during the week of the 29th. The doctor is also trying to wean him from the CPAP as he really hates wearing it. They've tried this once before, but this time he seems to be doing better as they slowly cut back on the air pressure. I was able to hold him for an hour today, and he slept the entire time. Everyone has certain things they do where minutes seem like seconds. Holding these kiddos is one of those things for us.

Both of us were able to hold Grant today. He has taken "making a mess" to a whole new level. To spare the squeamish, I will give details via email to anyone who is interested. Otherwise, we had a great day with him as we had two extended visits. I had my first try at feeding him from a bottle tonight. The doctors want him to finish his feeding in 20 to 25 minutes. With me at the helm, it took him an hour. He's rather lazy about the whole thing, and his expressions during the feeding make us laugh outloud.

Lastly, both boys had a requisite eye exam today. Premies are prone to having retinal problems due to the immaturity of the blood vessels in the retina. I'm happy to report that both boys (yes, including Mr. Enigma) passed the exam and will have another in two weeks as their blood vessels are still not fully mature. But so far all is well with their eyes.

Watch for the new pictures. Until tomorrow...

Monday PM - I looked at the last post I made and can't believe it's been since Friday that I posted. Heidi and her mom have been working very hard at home getting things ready for the guys. I've been mostly working and sleeping and slowly recovering from my surgery. Again it's getting close to midnight, so I'll make this short with the promise that I will elaborate more on tomorrow's post as we plan to spend a lot of time with both boys tomorrow. Hopefully both will be in the mood to have a lot of pictures taken, they've both changed so much. And today is their one month birthday. It's something I just can't believe, but there it is on the calendar.

Adam will get most of the press today. He's slowly being reintroduced to his milk, and so far he's tolerating it well. His case was supposed to have been reviewed by the cardiac surgeons today, and hopefully we'll know something by Wednesday. Over the weekend his doctor said he was "doing backflips" trying to get the CPAP equipment off. We're hoping that he will remain stable enough to wait another week or so for his surgery so that he can gain some more weight.

Grant's milk intake is still increasing and he weighs just under 6 1/2 lbs. He's a morning kind of guy, so I'm going to cut this short so we can see him in the morning when he's most active. Sorry for the long delay in posting but tomorrow night's post should be more informative, and there should be more pictures to see as well. ZZZZZZZ........

Friday PM - Another quick post as an early work day tomorrow has me scrambling to get to bed. I managed to survive my outpatient surgery yesterday, just a scar that looks like I had an argument with a tire tool and lost the argument. Or that I was sacking bobcats and ran out of sacks, or... well, you get the picture. Anyway, thanks to my lovely wife I'm having a rapid recovery.

Grant continues his progress and is up to 2 bottle feedings a day and the volume he is given is increasing. Except for a spit-up here and there he is doing really well. Still working on the drinking-swallowing-breathing coordination, but that will come in due time. I added a few more pictures of him that were taken today.

Adam decided he wasn't quite ready to be infection free, or at least to make everyone wonder if he was infection free. No more than 1 1/2 hours after we got a good report on him last night, the PM shift doctor called and said his fever had spiked but was coming down. Another battery of blood, urine, and spinal fluid tests but nothing conclusive. We're thinking of entering him in the Mr. Enigma contest. Some good news today: The cardiologists looked at another scan of his heart and saw some closure in the ventricular wall. It's still too large to hope that it will close on it's own, but it seems to have bought some time (that and the infection marathon he's running) until they have to operate on his heart. According to the cardiologist, he's not critical to the point that they need to rush him in, so we're still hoping to fatten him up a bit. There are actually 20 or so babies with varying degrees of heart defects whose cases will be reviewed next week, and it looks like Adam is not at the top of the list. We're very thankful for that, but our hearts go out to those who are more critical than him.

If you see me in the next few days, please do NOT return me to Dr. Frankenstein. Until tomorrow...

Wednesday PM - Just a quick sidebar - I'm having an outpatient procedure tomorrow to, as one of my very funny co-workers put it, "have a new face put on." Actually, I'm having a little skin tumor removed from my cheek and will probably be out of commission most of the day. The procedure is early in the morning so I'll try to make this short tonight, although I haven't been able to pull that off since starting the blog.

It was another good day for both of our guys. Grant has broken through the 6lb mark and shows no sign of looking back. The two times that I saw him today he was asleep as I managed to catch him after he had his chow. With the steps he is now making, it can't be too long before they dismiss him.

Heidi was able to hold Adam for an hour today, skin to skin. He's still feisty and fighting to get the CPAP off. Pound for pound I believe he's the orneriest kid in the NICU. But it's that kind of attitude that's going to get him through all of this. We can tell the nurses who have him are really getting attached to him, although he's a handful.

That's it for tonight. If I don't post tomorrow, I'll try again on Friday. I'll close with what I hope is a good link to the photos. If this doesn't work send me an email or leave a comment here with your email address and I will send you the link from the Yahoo site.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/weastus@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=/1b08re2&.src=ph&.tok=phUzacFB8fR5oCN5

Tuesday PM - For those of you who know me really well, you know that I consider myself an amateur proofreader. Tonight Heidi and I were looking at yesterday's post, and I immediately saw two typos, one that looked like a gross spelling error. It seems to get later each evening as I post, and last night was the latest yet. So tonight, it's an early post with hopefully no typos or errors. And yes, I have gone back and corrected the errors.

Before getting into the day's activities, a word about the photos. I was able to add several more today without getting to my PC at home. (Note: semi-technical explanation follows.) Our digital camera uses a compact flash storage card, which my laptop is unable to read without an adapter. Long story short, adapter purchased, and now I can upload the photos to the Yahoo site more frequently.

As Heidi is telling me over my shoulder, no one really wants to read about all this, so on to the boys. This morning, Grant gave me a first-rate demo on drinking from a bottle. His nurse from yesterday is quite accomplished at getting his drinking engine revved up. She continually encourages him and he responds by slowly but surely drinking. Another premie lesson that we learned is that their suckling reflex is not coordinated with their swallowing and breathing. This is something he has to learn before he leaves the hospital. His doctor says he is doing very well and has increased his intake already. For now he is bottle feeding once a day, but may soon go to twice a day. And just like so many of us after a satisfying lunch, it was time for an afternoon nap. For those keeping score, he now weighs 5lb 13oz.

Our atypical son is maintaining his reputation. The doctors say he wants everyone to remember what a really special person he is. For our money, he can stop anytime he's ready as we are wholly convinced. First, we will know by Monday of next week when his heart surgery will be done. If he can keep his overall act together, it will likely be the middle to latter part of the week. He may be allowed to take small amounts of milk in the meantime. At 3lb 3oz he is growing slowly, but growing just the same. His doctor today said that he's a "very challenging patient" in that his lab tests show different little blips (liver, spleen etc. but none life-threatening). However when they look at him he's active and doesn't seem to be suffering any ill effects. They have to put a stuffed glove on his arm to keep him from ripping off the device in his nose that delivers supplemental oxygen. His eyes seem to get sharper every day, and he will look at whoever is close by as if to ask, "And what is your business here?" He is quick to soften his stance if someone takes him out and gives him to his mom or dad.

Random thoughts:

As we were shopping today, I couldn't help but look at the things the kiddos will be growing into. I guess Heidi was doing the same, because we saw something (can't remember what it was now) and she said, "Oh, this is (x) dollars." I said, "Multiply that by 2. Multiply everything for the next 18 to 22 years by 2." We wouldn't have it any other way.

We're going to need Bekins or Allied to get us out of the apartment as our wonderful family and friends stock us with many of the things we need to get them home safely. And speaking of these things, baby stuff has become extremely sophisticated (and complicated) since Ashlyn and Autumn were born. We chalked this up to 3 things: Marketing, advertising, and lawsuits. The honest truth: The hospital will not release any babies until they inspect and ensure that you have an approved and properly functioning car seat(s).

It's always good to hear from those who left a post and those who have sent emails.

Until tomorrow...

Monday PM - Now it seems that the blog is getting longer and the archive function is kicking in. Now to get back to the Yahoo photos, click on the archives then look for the Intro post and the link is where it always was. I'll try to remember to periodically re-post the link at the end of my posts.

Milestone day for Grant - he had his first taste of milk, this time from a bottle instead of a tube running down his throat into his stomach. I missed the event, but Heidi was there and said he was an eager learner. At first he wasn't sure what was going on, but the nurse was very patient and in just a few minutes he had finished his entire feeding. Now we're one step closer to his being able to leave the hospital. I'm anxious to see him Tuesday morning, but I have to replace the battery in the camera so that all can see him.

One of Adam's cardiologists called today and said they will wait until next week for his surgery. They examined him today and said he looked really good, but they want him to finish the antibiotic regimen and then see how he does. When we visited him tonight he was wide awake, and looking around. I quickly decided it was time for some Dad holding. In the past we've had a nurse take them out of the isolette then hand them to us. But over the past few days, Heidi has become quite adept at manipulating all the wires and tubes as well as wrapping the kids in their blankets. So tonight she took him out and handed him over while I sat in the rocking chair waiting for the handoff. For the next 30 minutes we had a great conversation. It was a little one-sided, I did most of the talking while he listened. About 10 minutes before time to leave, he went back to baby dream land.

Hopefully I'll be able to take some pictures tomorrow and have them posted by Friday morning. In the meantime here's the Yahoo link again:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/weastus@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=1b08re2&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.sbc.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Sunday PM - The mornings continue to be Grant's time of the day. We can always expect to see him wide awake and generally in a good mood. The only exception is just before feeding time, and that is quickly resolved with milk. Feeding is now done through a tube that passes through his nose into his stomach. As bad as this sounds it's actually a "promotion" from the tube that passed through his mouth. I try to imagine both for myself, and I just can't. But he seems fairly oblivious to the thing and probably enjoys not having tape all around his lips. He can actually take a pacifier without any problems. Bottle feeding is not too far away according to the doctor. One last thing about Grant: Tonight Heidi had her first "hands on" experience with changing a diaper that was more than just wet. Grant decided it was time for a full-blown demonstration of what a dirty diaper is and how he makes it dirty. Without getting too detailed, let's just say he gave a live demo of how a diaper gets filled - while she was changing it. To spare all the blog readers, email me or Heidi if further clarification is needed.

Adam remains unchanged, but he looked better today to me than he did yesterday, despite his "bad hair" after he's bathed. His breathing is not as fast and he seems more relaxed. The CPAP is still a major irritant to him and his nurses say he is not hesitiant to complain. We're waiting to see when the blood cultures are negative for the infection he has and then hope that he can tolerate some milk. Being held by Mom is still his favorite time of day, but he still doesn't want to have anything else done. We think he's tired of all the poking and prodding. I forgot to mention yesterday that he was given some blood because his red blood cells were low. Otherwise everything is wait-and-see for him. There are two big hills for him to climb - getting his digestive tract to tolerate milk and correcting his cardiac problems. We enjoy our time with both boys. Heidi summed it up best: We can't get enough of them now, but we know a lot more is coming soon.

That's all for now, more tomorrow.

Sunday PM - The mornings continue to be Grant's time of the day. We can always expect to see him wide awake and generally in a good mood. The only exception is just before feeding time, and that is quickly resolved with milk. Feeding is now done through a tube that passes through his nose into his stomach. As bad as this sounds it's actually a "promotion" from the tube that passed through his mouth. I try to imagine both for myself, and I just can't. But he seems fairly oblivious to the thing and probably enjoys not having tape all around his lips. He can actually take a pacifier without any problems. Bottle feeding is not too far away according to the doctor. One last thing about Grant: Tonight Heidi had her first "hands on" experience with changing a diaper that was more than just wet. Grant decided it was time for a full-blown demonstration of what a dirty diaper is and how he makes it dirty. Without getting too detailed, let's just say he gave a live demo of how a diaper gets filled - while she was changing it. To spare all the blog readers, email me or Heidi if further clarification is needed.

Adam remains unchanged, but he looked better today to me than he did yesterday, despite his "bad hair" after he's bathed. His breathing is not as fast and he seems more relaxed. The CPAP is still a major irritant to him and his nurses say he is not hesitiant to complain. We're waiting to see when the blood cultures are negative for the infection he has and then hope that he can tolerate some milk. Being held by Mom is still his favorite time of day, but he still doesn't want to have anything else done. We think he's tired of all the poking and prodding. I forgot to mention yesterday that he was given some blood because his red blood cells were low. Otherwise everything is wait-and-see for him. There are two big hills for him to climb - getting his digestive tract to tolerate milk and correcting his cardiac problems. We enjoy our time with both boys. Heidi summed it up best: We can't get enough of them now, but we know a lot more is coming soon.

That's all for now, more tomorrow.

Saturday PM - Very likely I will not post on Friday's as I have a crazy work schedule that precludes any blogging. First things first - new pictures are on the link but I haven't labeled them yet. If you look before I label, Adam is the one with the snorkel apparatus on his nose. Grant is the one with a little strip of tape across his mouth. I may not get to the labeling tonight but if you're not sure, email me or leave a post on the blog.

Speaking of the photos, several people have lost track of the Yahoo link. It took a minute for me to figure, but if you look to the left of the page the older posts are listed there. Click on the very first one and the link is at the bottom where it always was. I guess I've been posting so much the archive function has kicked in.

Grant continues to do well. They have increased the amount of his milk intake and it's easy to tell he's doing better as he gets less attention from the nursing staff. We're not sure when he'll be released but it will likely be a matter of weeks.

Adam is Adam. Another infection has reared it's ugly head, but the antibiotics were already being given. There is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the ifs and whens of his heart surgery. If he is not infection-free, they won't do the surgery. A decision won't be made before Tuesday or Wednesday. Meanwhile he is still active and he enjoys being held. One of the things he hates is his snorkel, or CPAP. As long as he's awake he tries to rub it off, and is sometimes successful. Only problem with that is it supplies his supplemental oxygen. It's good to see him active and trying to make himself comfortable, but the snorkel has to stay on. One thing for sure, his nurse is never bored.

As we get closer to Thursday, I'll do my best to keep everyone up to date on the status of the surgery, as well as everything else. Thanks to all for reading...

Thursdsay PM - Today I had to tear myself away from the hospital as life goes on outside. I believe this was the first day since they were born that I didn't visit with the boys. The reasons for this are boring and not worth mentioning here, but Heidi was more than able to take up the slack. She was able to hold both of them for about 45 minutes and they both were having a good day. Well mostly a good day except when Grant barfed his milk. No one seemed concerned except for having to cut off his t-shirt that was soaked. OK, I promise no more "baby threw up" stories as this is and will likely be a common occurrence.

One of the many amazing things about the hospital is the "division of labor" within the ranks. Two of the more intersting jobs are lactation specialist and child development specialist. Lactation specialist is pretty self-explanatory. Child development specialist is also but entails a wider range of duties. These specialists, among other things, monitor each baby in the NICU for proper physical development. Thankfully, this includes correcting the dreaded condition known as "toaster head". Grant now has a roll that goes around his head to keep him from lying on his side.

Adam passed all of his tests today, but there was a slight disagreement between the radiologist and the neonatologist about his abdominal x-ray. The neo thought everything looked fine and that Adam looked fine, but the radiologist said there may have been somthing that should be watched. So one more day before he gets to take milk as the neo wants to play it safe, though she did not agree with the radiologist.

I hope to have more pictures posted this Saturday afternoon. Until next time...

Tuesday PM - The big event of the day didn't involve the twins directly. Every Wednesday the hospital hosts a meeting for parents who have one or more children in the NICU's. We made our plans around today's presentation by one of our favorite neonatologists, Dr. Dorothy Thompson. Her topic was about what happens after dismissal from the hospital. Suffice it to say, the the prospects are sobering. It's challenging to bring home a newborn, more so to bring home newborn multiples, but to bring home newborn premie multiples is going to be our biggest undertaking ever. Our confidence in their current caretakers is great, our confidence in ourselves is somewhat less than great. CPR classes and other learning experiences, along with a bevy of electronic contraptions to monitor heart rates, breathing rates, etc., should lessen our anxiety.

Those who know us well know of our mini-menagerie of 2 dogs and 2 cats. I know that everyone is lining up to volunteer to take one or more of these fine animals off our hands. Sorry to disappoint, but the doctor says that as long as the cats don't sleep in the crib, and the dogs don't lick them in the face for the first year or so, the animals can stay. Seems that slow and/or gradual exposure to certain things actually toughens up the kids' little immune systems. For the first few months we're supposed to limit visitors and use hand sanitizers (better because you don't have to wipe your hands with germy towels). As they start to grow they can start to crawl around on the floor, play with non-sterilized toys, and clean the cat box (OK, I just threw that last one in. They have to be a year old for that).

Heidi held both boys today, and I held Grant. Since Adam had been suspected of having an infection, we mistakenly thought that we couldn't hold him while they were checking his cultures. That proved not to be the case, and he and his Mom spent 45 minutes of unmitigated bliss this afternoon. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, but it was probably a tie.

Tomorrow, both boys will have their abdomen's x-rayed. If all is clear, Grant will go back to having his milk through a tube every 3 hours. Adam has to pass the x-ray exam as well as continue to have all three of his cultures remain negative before he can start taking milk again. But both could start feeding tomorrow, so Heidi has to get busy. By the way, both continue to gain weight even though they aren't taking in milk.

For once I'm wrapping a post before midnight. It's an early day tomorrow and I hope to have a good visit with both boys before going to work in the afternoon. Thanks for reading.

Tuesday PM - It's getting close to midnight and we're finishing our nightly routine after visiting the boys. The nurses have shift change several times during the day for about an hour, which means that all visitation is stopped. One of those times is from 10:45 PM til 11:30 PM, so we try to get a good bonding session with both before getting kicked out. Then it's home to rest and start the day over. Tonight we dropped in on Adam first. He was sleeping very soundly so we decided not to disturb him. Sleeping means growing and he needs all he can get before the 21st. When we don't hold or touch them we stare a lot. So that's what we did tonight with Adam - stared. It's amazing how long you can stare at a newborn, especially when they're so small. He moves every now and then and opens his eyes, but we're glad he's conserving his calories for growth. He's still getting antibiotics for the possible infection, but so far all cultures are negative.

Mom's temptation was getting to be too much to handle so we said goodnight and went to visit Grant. For what we believe was no extra charge, his nurse was not only competent but very entertaining. She has taken on the daunting task of ensuring that Grant does not develop "toaster head." We learned tonight that toaster-head is what babies get when they don't lie on their backs for a certain amount of time. For tonight he is to lie on his back for 3 hours every 3 hours so as to "round things out." He doesn't particularly care for it, and lets his feelings be known. But it's music to our ears after seeing him so lethargic when he was sick last week. Heidi was able to calm him with a pacifier, and his manners leave something to be desired as you can hear him sucking outside the isolette. He seems to be getting stronger every day, and I thoroughly enjoyed holding him for an hour this morning.

We're looking forward to the day when we don't have to look at these guys through portholes any longer. If you've seen the isolettes (I think people used to call them incubators, but to me that's what chickens are hatched in), they have these doors on the sides that when opened are just big enough to stick your arm through. When we don't hold the kids, the portholes are what we stare through. We probably shouldn't complain though, as being in the isolette means the medical staff aren't as concerned with having to get to them right away, and that the kids are able to better regulate their body temperature. The next move up is the "bucket", which is nothing more than the clear plastic rectangular thing that healthy babies get.

I've written before about the staff in the NICU and what amazing people they are. There is another group of people who also deserve some space in our blog. Heidi's doctor and the nurses in the antepartum unit of The Woman's Hospital share just as much credit for getting our guys here. Dr. Adam (yes, her last name was part, but not all, of the influence for Adam's name) is...well, it's impossible to find adequate words to describe her skill and compassion. We were told that she was the only doctor for us, and she proved this to be true every day. We truly believe that if it were not for her, our boys would not be here, and Heidi would not be recovering the way she has been.

Some of the blog readers may not be aware that Heidi was on bedrest from the middle of May until delivery on August 25th. On July 8th she was admitted to the hospital where she stayed, on bedrest, until August 29th. The medication given to her had horrible side effects, and this was probably one of the most difficult times of her life. There were several nurses in the antepartum unit who did so much more than basic care, taking time to listen to her and let her cry on their shoulder, and encouraging her all the way to the end. Without them and their kindness, her stay would have been more difficult than it was. I'll close tonight by giving Dr. Adam and these nurses our heartfelt thanks and gratitude for all that they did up until Adam and Grant's arrival.

Good night for now...

Monday PM - I unintentionally took two days off from posting, and it was a fairly uneventful weekend. Wish I could say that about today, but more on that in a moment. I held Grant for the first time ever, and got the whole euphoria thing going again. He continues to improve and we're looking forward to his being able to take milk again. Adam was tolerating his milk as well, and is hovering around the 3lb mark, 2lb 15oz to be exact.

Whenever the cell phone rings and the hospital number comes up, there's a range of emotion from slight apprehension to outright panic. That's why I have the doctors call me, then I call Heidi if we're not together. This morning the neonatologist called with concerns that Adam was possibly developing an infection. The white blood cell count was high, so they started him on antibiotics, took spinal fluid via a spinal tap, and began cultures on the fluid as well as his urine and blood. These take up to 3 days to look for the offending bugs. As a precaution they also stopped his feeding, just until tomorrow for now.

The cardioligists also told us today that they are looking at September 21 for his surgery. They still have the no-big-deal-all-is-routine approach, which is fine with us. Obvioiusly we're having mixed emotions about it all. It's tough to imagine him going through the surgery, but the alternative is not an option. Better yet, his overall condition will improve once he recovers since he won't be using all his calories for breathing and other life activities. If he'll stop trying to make things more "interesting" for us and the medical staff, we should get through this.

Grant is behaving, more or less. Heidi held him this morning and he was awake about half the time. For me last night, he slept all the time. But the nurses say that when he's sleeping, he's growing. The doctors are giving him Lasix to help with the water retention, but they still don't seem to be too concerned.

Before posting this I wanted to acknowledge the posts (5 at last count!!) to the last entry. We are very fortunate to have family and friends literally from all parts of the world giving us support. Knowing that you're reading keeps us going, and when the boys are old enough they will see all of the love that was sent their way.

Friday PM - for those who are following the pictures closely, I just uploaded a few more. In my extremely humble opinion these are the best yet of the boys (well, one is a little out of focus but it still looks pretty good to me). I visited both boys on the way to the airport today, and I haven't seen both of them this active since they were born. They both seem to be feeling better and we hope that this trend will continue. Both are making small gains in the weight department, although Grant's doctor said today that some of his weight (4lb 8oz) is fluid which isn't really a good thing. They don't seem to be overly concerned at this point, so we'll try to wait and be concerned when they are. Otherwise our visit was the best I've had with him yet. He never closed his eyes the entire time I was there, which made it almost impossible for me to leave.

Nobody said anything about Adam's weight other than that he's up to 2lb 14oz, so we take that as all good. They actually started feeding him a small amount of milk today. Another moment of apprehension - premies' gastrointestinal tracts are also "premie" and sometimes don't tolerate feedings well. But they eventually have to start weening them away from IV nourishment because of issues with the liver. Plus he will start fattening up for things to come. The first feeding didn't set too well, but the evening nurse said he was doing OK with the ones that followed.

Thanks to all who've posted comments, or sent them back to my email. We read each and every one of them. And if you're silently following along, that's OK too.

I thought I had posted an entry this morning but apparently I made a blank entry and then posted it. Fortunately I am able to delete my mistakes, which technially means I still have a perfect blog. ;-) Worse yet, I can't remember what I posted except that both boys are beginning to become more active again. Heidi's mom and I visited them this morning while Heidi stayed behind to rest. Tonight Heidi and I returned to see both boys mostly active and able to hold their eyes open. Grant seems to be recovering from his bacterial infection, but will be on antibiotics for a while. Moreover, he won't be able to take milk for at least another week until the doctors are sure his g/i tract is completely healed. His weight as of today is 4lb 8oz.

Last night I was able to hold Adam for about 25 minutes. As silly as this sounds, I left with a mild case of euphoria. It was Heidi's turn tonight, and he seemed more alert than ever. He opened his eyes several times and put his hand on top of hers. He's also starting to pack on the weight at 2lb 14oz

We heard from the cardiologist today about Adam. Without getting into minute details, he's going to have to have heart surgery in 2 - 4 weeks. If anyone wants to look it up, he has patent ductus arteriosus, which has to be corrected. At that time the surgeon will also look at his ventricular septum to see if that can be repaired at the same time. We're very apprehensive about it, but at the same time we know it needs to be done. The doctors who do this sort of thing are fairly matter-of-fact about everything. According to them, nothing Adam has is new to them. Their approach is actually comforting. They are already planning his recovery time, and are telling us he will have the surgery at Texas Children's Hospital, then return to The Woman's Hospital to be with his brother. We truly believe thath the best of the best will be working with Adam.

For now we are going to enjoy visiting with both boys as they grow and change. It's amazing how much they have changed already. Adam may start taking milk in the next day or so, and Grant hopefully won't be far behind. I hope to have some new pictures added to the Yahoo folder by Saturday. Keep checking both sites and let us hear from you all.

Wednesday AM - Last night we visited both guys. The way my blog is going, it seems the sickest kid gets the most press. So today that will be Grant. First, some good news. As with Adam, the ultrasound for brain bleeds came back negative for him also. This was one of the premie risks the doctors worried about, and it's good to have this behind us. (That is, I think it's behind us.) We spoke with the neonatologist last night, and they have found some bacteria in his blood which they are now trying to identify. As they narrow down the strain, they can reduce the number and amount of antibiotics. She believes the bacteria is coming from his intestinal tract, but there is no perforation. Apparently when the intestine swells and the wall becomes thin, the bacteria is able to pass through the wall, into the abdominal cavity and into the bloodstream. He's still lethargic but was moving a little bit more last night. Now that he's being still (not necessarily a good thing), the difference in size between he and Adam is fairly striking. Grant is long and lanky, and Adam is more of a fire plug, a very skinny fire plug.

Speaking of Adam, he continues to do well despite his gastrointestinal and his cardiac complications. He's starting to move around and complaing when he gets a bath like he did before his surgery. We are allowed to hold him once per day and he will open his eyes to look at us. He has a good grip around our pinkie (for a 2 1/2 lb baby), and he's starting to enjoy his pacifier.

One thing that's rather frustrating with both kids is trying to take their pictures inside the isolettes. If you've ever tried to take a picture of someone behind a window or piece of plexiglass, that's what it's like. Both boys are changing every day, but it's hard to document with pictures when we can't get them out of their condo. Oh well, just another parental complaint. As I said before the isolette is a promotion so we'll just deal with it.

It seems our kids want to be noticed as being "not typical" with regard to the medical issues they present. Every time we speak to one of the neonatologists about a new challenge, they always say, "This is very atypical." It's very atypical that both twins would have gastrointestinal problems, it's very atypical to have such a large hole in the ventricular septum, and so on. So we've asked the doctors to speak with our guys and tell them there is nothing special or great about being "atypical". We are ready to join the ranks of the typical.

Monday evening 8:00 PM - Today Adam and Grant decided to switch roles, somewhat. Adam was moved to an isolette, or a "condo" as the nurses call it. This is a promotion in the NICU and means that he is continuing to improve. He had a brain ultrasound today, a routine check for intracranial bleeding, which came back completely negative. This was a HUGE hurdle to clear. Grant, on the other hand, decided to throw us a curve, by developing what appears to be some sort of infection. He is usually very active, but since last night he has become somewhat lethargic. The doctor suspects an infection and is doing a blood culture as well as a culture on his spinal fluid to rule out meningitis. They have started IV antibiotics in advance and have stopped his milk feeding for now. No news is good news from the lab, as it means there have been no "bugs" develop in the petri dish. It will likely be 2 - 3 days before he starts to stir again, and that is also how long the lab gives for the "bugs" to grow. The doctors don't seem to concerned, but we are rather frustrated that he has taken a small step back as his brother is taking small steps forward. We probably shouldn't complain too much about him though, as he has had a good run without any problems.
By the way, both boys are gaining weight, at least up to today. Adam is at 2lb 10oz, and Grant is at 4lb 6oz.
Lastly for tonight, I have to say something about the doctors and nurses who work with the premies. To say that these people are unbelievable is an understatement. The doctors work with the smallest and sickest children imagineable, and are always trying to stay ahead of the problem. Proactive, not reactive. You get a different sense from these doctors than you get when you go to a GP. They seem to be just a little bit more "dialed in" to their patients, but I guess that's because the stakes are so high. There is at least one of these doctors in the unit at all times, and most of the time there are 2 or 3. The nurses are also a special group. They are the ones who have to change IV's, which is a monumental task when you consider the size of the veins in a premie. They tend to get attached to the babies in their care after some time. I think it takes a special person to attend to these babies, but they don't seem to think so. I'm just very thankful that they are here.

Intro and Their First Week

First, this is my first attempt ever at a blog, so I'm sort of feeling my way along. As I get better (?) at this I hope to make it a little more eye-catching, eye-pleasing, and just generally entertaining to those who want to follow Adam's and Grant's development. I will try to post at least every 2 or 3 days but can't make any promises as each day brings it's own surprises.

The first page of this will probably repeat things that most of you have already read or heard but this is, after all, a blog of their lives so I will start from the beginning. Grant was born on August 25, 2006, at 9:00 AM CDT, with Adam close behind at 9:01. Actually, Adam was supposed to be first but his head was literally trapped underneath Grant's feet, which we hope is not a sign of things to come. Grant tipped the scales at 4lbs even, while Adam was a trim 2lbs 6oz. They were immediately examined by the neonatal team, and Adam was found to be breathing on his own and in decent condition considering his size and gestational age. Grant required some breathing assistance but was otherwise in good condition.

On Monday Adam took a turn for the worse. The doctors noted that his abdomen was swelling and his breathing was rapid. They decided to do emergency surgery and found a perforated large intestine and an obstructed small intestine. The surgery was successful, but now Adam had the dubious disctinction of being the sickest baby in neonatal intensive care (NICU) and was on a breathing tube as well as medication to support his blood pressure. He literally had a tube coming out of every limb. To add to the list, the doctors also detected a heart murmur that was caused by a rather large missing portion of the wall between the ventricles in his heart. The next two days were scary but on Thursday the little fighter began to make small improvements. Today (Sunday 9/3) he is breathing on his own and holding his own blood pressure without medications. We are allowed to hold him for about 15 minutes per day, and he looks at us with his small but piercing eyes. Although we appear rather blurry to him, he seems to know that he is being held by someone who loves and cares for him. Over the next several months he will have several hills to climb, and every day without another "surprise" is another victory. Our friends and family from coast to coast, as well as people overseas, have been offering prayers and support and I know that this has made a difference for Adam.

On the lighter side, the nurses tell us that he does not like to be "messed with" and prefers to be left alone while lying on his stomach. Only yesterday were they able to let him sleep that way. When they move him for any reason, he protests rather loudly. But they seem to be getting attached to him, as we all are.

Compared to Adam, Grant has been a model citizen with regard to medical issues. His breathing has always been unassisted, and he was just recently "promoted" to a less-intensive care unit where he will stay until he is dismissed. We are allowed to hold him for 1 hr once each day, but we are pressing for more time. The doctor has increased his milk intake daily and he is beginning to gain weight. He loves to lie on his mom's chest as much as she loves having him there. He sleeps quite a bit especially after feeding. I've already offered him a new sports car when he turns 16 if he will continue this behavior.

That's it for now. If you don't have it but are still interested I'll post the Yahoo link to the photo album below. I'm trying to add pictures about once per week, but that's hit and miss. Check back often and feel free to comment.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/weastus@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=/1b08re2&.src=ph&.tok=phUzacFB8fR5oCN5