Holding High

Yep, I'm still on a holding babies high! We just got back from NICU where I was able to hold both Lily AND Eve! We got to the unit and saw Eve first. She was sleeping rather soundly. Her nurse, Lee, told us to go see Lily and find out what her schedule was and he would come and get us when Eve was ready to hold. So we did just that. Lily was JUST about to get her five o'clock feed. The nurse let me change her pee-pee diaper, which was awesome. *I say that now of course...* The Pampers they use in NICU are SOOOOO tiny. But I was surprised, Lily was SO very cooperative. She just LAID there really. This was the first time she was in an isolette and the first time she had CLOTHES on. The nurse said we could bring in clothing and blankets for the girls! So we are hoping to do that maybe tomorrow. Lily was awake the whole time I held her and she was SO attentive, it was amazing. She has a little weight to her, though not much at just over 4 pounds.

Her sister, on the other hand, was a heck of a squirmer! She just did NOT want to be bothered with when Lee was unhooked/readjusting monitors to give her to me to hold. She squirmed, turned herself red and whined, and it was so cute. As soon as she was in my arms and I wrapped her up, she calmed down and sort of fell asleep. Eric eventually managed to get her first cry video. But he had to wait until Lee put her back on the bed. We got some CUTE video of her there. But we didn't get anymore Lily video and all her pictures when I'm holding her are of her face scrunched, eyes closed etc. She was really very cute most of the time I was holding her, the pictures don't do her justice! But I think we will be posting them nonetheless. I have to set up a photo slideshow page or something off of this one. I'm going to work on that a little tonight while I allow my VERY swollen ankles to try to rest and go down a bit!

Both girls are still on CPAP. Lily's is VERY low. Eve is set on like 33 or 30 and we normally breath 21 percent oxygen. So she is getting there. I'm hoping she gets closer and closer each day! Lee said her lung scan looked like her lungs were definitely improving. He is an awesome nurse. He said he would answer anything we had questions about, even if he had to answer it hypothetically if it concerned Lily. And Lily's nurse, I can't for the life of me remember her name, said next time I come in I can do "kangaroo care" with Lily. They undress her, put her in my shirt *a button up something* and then pull the shirt over her. My body temperature helps her maintain hers and it is supposed to be an excellent thing for preemies especially to have that skin-to-skin contact.

Well, I'm about to run to eat, but I'll try to update tomorrow when we go see the girls again. And I think we are going to go through the clothes and find the SMALLEST outfits we have and bring them to the NICU for the girls. Lily can probably be put into it right away. Eve probably not until they find an isolette available for her. And we can bring our own blankets too. We have Winnie the Pooh receiving blankets! And onsies! I hate leaving the girls, but I know I need the rest and really can't be overdoing it otherwise I am going to be setting myself back. And Eric has to hold the girls too! Maybe tomorrow.

Now I'm off to try to get the pictures and video up.