Update

I know it has been a while since we updated everyone, but as you can imagine things have been a little busy. On January 16th Emily and Michael had their 4 month check up. Emily was 9 pounds,15 ounces and 22 inches long. She is in the 95% in everything on the preemie chart. Michael was 9 pounds, 9 ounces and 21 inches long. He is in the 90% in weight and 95% in length and head. I am sure they have each gained a pound and half since their appointment.

Emily went to the cardiologist on January 20th. Her PDA has closed but they are still watching her atrial septal defect. The doctor is confident it will close on its on though. Michael went to the urologist and will have day surgery on May 13th.

The doctors appointments are finally slowing down. The babies are still being seen by a few specialists but we don't have to go as often any more. Their adjusted age is still only 8 weeks so they are behaving like 8 week olds and keeping us very busy. We should be able to get out and about by the end of March. Thank you for yuor continued thoughts and prayers!

Finally some good news!

I took Michael to the eye doctor and his eyes are fully developed and the ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) is gone! I don't have to take him back for a whole year! This is the first time we have gone to a doctor's appointment and not been given a condition or instructions for a follow up appointment. For those of you who don't know the babies currently have seven doctors. We are hoping after January we will be down to four or so. As nice as it is to get out of the house, sitting in the waiting room at a doctor's office is not exactly a getaway. Emily goes back to the eye doctor January 9th and will probably be cleared for a year as well. For now, we are celebrating today's results!

Finally some pictures of the babies!

Michael is home!

A quote from the Special Care nurses, "Look who is finally going home!" Michael came home today at 5:30 p.m. after being in the hospital for 12 weeks. He weighs 6 pounds and 9 ounces. So far we are all busy but doing well. We will take some pictures of the babies and try and post them tomorrow. Thank you to everyone for your continued support and prayers; we know prayer had a lot to do with the health of our precious little ones.

Hernia surgeries successful!

On Tuesday afternoon Michael and Emily both had their hernias repaired. It turns out they had both started to develop a second hernia so they each have two incisions. Emily spent the night in the NICU and came yesterday afternoon. Michael spent the night in the NICU and then went back to the Special Care Nursery. We are not sure when he will get to come home, but he will stay there at least until Monday. Hopefully we will all be together soon!

Emily is home!

Emily came home Saturday! We were thrilled to be able to bring her home after 9 1/2 LONG weeks. It was a bittersweet day though because we had to leave Michael at the hospital. He will probably be there another two weeks. He had another eye exam today and there is no change which is good. We are hoping his eyes correct on their own. He will have to have surgery on his hernia sometime soon but the doctors want him to get bigger first. Hopefully he will be healthy and home very soon. Emily is doing well adjusting to being at home. She has an appointment with the surgeon about her hernia on December 9th to find out when her surgery is going to be. She should only have to be in the NICU for 24 hours for the surgery. We know there will be a lot of doctors appointments over the next year, but we couldn't be happier with how well the babies are doing. Thank you for everyone's continued support!

8 weeks old!

Emily and Michael turned 8 weeks old today (36 weeks gestational age). They are both up to four bottles a day and continue to look bigger each time we see them. Tonight Emily weighed 5 pounds and 5 ounces. Michael hadn't been weighed yet for the evening, however last night he weighed 4 pounds and 9 ounces. Emily sucked her thumb for the first time today (see video). The ocupational therapist told us Michael has such a strong sucking reflex that he collapes the nipples on his bottles. We are relieved that Michael's problem may be that he is too strong for his own good rather than him being too weak. The doctors are very positive about their progress and think they may get to come home in a few weeks.