32 WEEKS is here!

Well...... Last night at 2:11 & 2:12am marked 32wks gestation or 8wks old for the twins. Around half way in our quest to escape the NICU. ;)

The kids are doing pretty good today. They didn't gain much weight (30 grams) at their nightly weigh in last night. But, they would like to see at least 30grams a day, so they are still truckin along.
We spent almost the entire day with them yesterday. Kim was up there most of the day, then I dropped by on my way home from work. After holding both of them for a while, we went to dinner while the NICU closed for shift change.
We told ourselves that "we'll only stop by for 30min or so" before we go home, but that turned into 2hrs. haha It seems like time just flies by when we are visiting the kids. It's something that we actually have to keep an eye on, or before we know it, it's midnight. I'm not complaining though. ;)

The whole thin bone/susceptible to fractures thing was still fresh in my mind, so I talked to Beth about it at length. She said that unfortunately it's really not all that uncommon for preemies to get a fracture or two while they are in the NICU. Not because they are rough with the kids (they are Very gentle), more that there are some sick lil ones in there and when they are sick or aren't getting good nutrition (momma's milk) their bones can get very thin and fracture easily. Talking with Beth settled my nerves and helped us understand the situation a lil better.

haha Speaking of Beth..... So Beth and Rhonda have watched Blake (aka Lil B Dawg) since he made his grand entrance into the NICU. Both of them are also team/shift leaders, so unfortunately they sometimes have to work the team lead role instead of watch after Blake (as they would both prefer to do). The other night, both Beth & Rhonda had to work the lead positions, so neither of them could watch Blake, so they made the decision to do the next best thing. Have their friend & carpool buddy Dawn watch him. While we were sitting around talking to her & Melissa, Dawn told us that Beth and Rhonda are Very protective of lil Blake. Even when they aren't taking care of him, they always come by a couple times a night to check on him. Talking a lil more she told us that there are several people that check on them often.
I guess they've really grabbed a lot of hearts, both outside and inside the hospital. They certainly have ours!

As we were leaving for the night, we got an unexpected treat. We got to meet Beth's Father, as well as her sister & brother-in law. The nurses care for our lil ones 12hrs at a time, several days a week, so as you can imagine, they've become a big part of our lives. It was really nice to be able to meet and talk with her family for a lil bit.

It's really amazing for us to see how much the twins have effected peoples lives and how much love people have for them. I've been working on a post to this effect, but need to sort out my thoughts before I put type to web. It's probably going to be a long post as there are some profound realizations in there.

Hope everyone has a good day.
Take care.
-J