Almost home!

I hope that you all enjoyed your Christmas....ours was very busy but we enjoyed every minute of it! This week has flown by!

Grady was increased to full feeds with a bottle, so no more of that feeding tube! He looks so cute with out all of that stuff on his face. As of today he weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. :) Grady is expected to be discharged on Monday or Tuesday! We are so excited!

Adalynn has had a bit of a rough week. We were trying to push her to keep up with her brother, but she just wasn't ready. Today she was put back on oxygen to help her out a little. We were wanting her to take 8 bottles a day and finish them, breathe on her own, gain weight and grow, and it was all just a little too much for her. We are going to be patient with her, and let her get ready to come home on her own time. She did get to try out a bouncy seat though...and she loved it! As of today, she weighed 5 lbs. 9 oz.

I mentioned to the doctor on the 25th that I did not want to bring one baby home without the other, but we were told today that they could not make that happen. Insurance will not cover Grady to stay at Texas Children's when he doesn't need to be there. Which of course is understandable. So as of right now, we are not sure when Adalynn will come home, we are hoping in a week or so. It has been a long journey and we are anxiously awaiting the day when both of our babies will be home with us. Right now, all we can do is keep praying and wait! 

Love,

Jessica and Taylor

First Christmas Pics

Here are some pics from our first Christmas as a family of 4! Taylor and I spent all day Christmas Eve at the hospital snuggling and cuddling with our babies. Instead of driving all the way home, we reserved a hotel room for the night so that we wouldn't have to drive to be close to the babies on Christmas morning. It was so nice to wake up and only have to drive 5 minutes instead of an hour. 

The babies were visited by their Aunt Rachel and Uncle George on Christmas Eve.

Big Moma and Pops visited the babies Christmas morning!

Grady and Adalynn in their Christmas stockings handmade by their Aunt Brenda.

(They actually didn't fit in the stockings but we pretended that they did! I guess it's a good thing they were too big for them!)

Our Christmas picture

And for your viewing pleasure....a picture of them together.

Merry Christmas!

Not much to report on this week. The babies are continuing to grow stronger and gain weight each and every day! As of today, Grady weighs 5 lbs. 10 oz. and Adalynn weighs 5 lbs. 1 oz. They are really starting to fill out in their cheeks and their thighs! ;) 

This week Grady has made leaps and bounds. He is starting to realize that every 3 hours he is hungry. He doesn't cry for his food, but he is definitely wide awake when it comes time to eat. He also turns his head and looks toward people when they talk to him. As far as bottle feeding, he is up to 5 bottles a day out of 8 feedings. He completes all of his bottles that he is given. They gave him a hearing test this week and he passed. He is ready to get home!

Adalynn has also been doing a great job. She is up to 4 bottles a day out of 8 feedings. She isn't completing as many bottles as brother, but she is finishing over half of each bottle. She has reflux so it makes completing her bottles a little bit harder. Adalynn is also responding to people when they talk to her, she turns and looks in their direction. She also passed her hearing exam this week! 

I found a tree for each of them to have at their bed side. I had so much fun decorating the trees for my babies today!

Grady's Tree

Adalynn's Tree

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours! We hope you all have a blessed holiday season! Be on the look out for some first Christmas pics next week!

Much Love,

Jessica and Taylor

Whirlwind Week

What an emotional week it has been! This week started off with both Taylor and I feeling so overjoyed. Our babies were making wonderful progress and we knew that by the end of the week, the babies would be in The Woodlands. As you read in my last post, the babies had an eye exam on Wednesday. This particular exam is made for premature babies and it checks the vessels that are connected to the retina. In premature babies, sometimes the vessels do not fully mature and can cause vision problems for them. Well, the good Lord has delivered once again and our babies had a perfect eye exam. They did even better than what the doctors anticipated and showed to be more mature than their gestational age. Taylor and I were so happy and excited that our babies did so well, and we were ready for the doctors to get our transfer together. I was beyond happy, I could not wait for my babies to be closer to home. I don't want any of you to think that I do not appreciate Texas Children's because I do, but it is very tiresome and stressful driving back and forth to Houston everyday. I know that I could stay in the Ronald McDonald House, but there are other families that live farther away with sicker babies that need it more. So....we began asking the doctors when we could transfer. Then, the doctors squashed my spirits. Come to find out, the babies need a follow up eye exam in 2 weeks....and there is not an eye doctor to do that in the Woodlands. :( So what do you think that means?

You guessed it....we are staying in Houston. There will be no transfer to the Woodlands. We aren't mad about it, disappointed yes, but not mad. I was just so ready for them to be near me. If they can't be home with me, I wanted them to be as close to me as possible. With every disappointment, there seems to always be a positive and here it is. Even though our babies have to stay in the hospital for Christmas and we will not get to enjoy our first Christmas together at home, the doctor says that he has no doubt in his mind that our babies will be coming home around the New Year. He can't pin point a day but he is very happy with their progress and can estimate that they will be home around the first of the year. :) 

Now all the babies have to do is start finishing their bottles...they get 3 bottles a day out of their 8 total feedings...if you are a bit confused, the other 5 go in through their feeding tube. The doctors will gradually increase the number of bottles the babies take a day until they are completely taking their feeds from bottles. They are gaining weight very good....we officially have a 5 pounder! Grady is now weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds, 1 ounce. The premie clothes are getting a bit snug on him. Adalynn is now weighing in at 4 pounds, 9 ounces....so she is getting close to 5 pounds too! I also have to say that they get cuter and cuter each day that I go down there! Today, they got to meet their Auntie for the first time and I think that they were as excited as she was!! 

Much love to all,

Jessica and Taylor

Blessing after blessing!

I have to start out by posting this pic....it is so sweet to see how the babies react to each other when they get near one another. Here are Grady and Adalynn giving kisses to one another!

This past weekend, we had a come and go shower at our home and we got a lot of things that we needed for when the babies get home. It was great to see all of our family and close friends! Of course since we had a shower at our home, I felt very motivated to get their room done and Taylor was very eager to help! ;) Here are some pics of their room....we still have to hang their names above their beds, but that will be done this week!

Monday the babies had their follow up echo test and it showed that the babies heart murmur's were indeed SHRINKING!! Thank The Lord! We were so excited to get this news because it meant that they would be able to start transitioning off of the prolacta to the supplement (HMF) that is available at St. Luke's!

Tuesday Grady and Adalynn were taken off of their oxygen and they have been breathing on their own since then.

Since Tuesday they have been transitioning their food to the new supplement and hopefully after their eye exam this Wednesday, they will move to St. Luke's! The doctor told me today that the earliest they could get to The Woodlands would be Wednesday and the latest would be Friday. It feels so good to have somewhat of a definitive date! 

Many thanks to our Grandmama for our Christmas onesies! 

We are beyond blessed!
Jessica and Taylor