Hot Dogs and S'Mores

This weekend we managed to have a fire in our backyard and roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Atticus obliged by being extra cute :)

I bet you want a s'more after looking at that picture, huh?

Atticus ate his s'more in parts.

The dog house is also his personal playhouse.

By the way, his bum is wet because he sat in a puddle, not because he made a puddle.

Marshmallow goo makes an excellent glue for sticking EVERYTHING to a one year old.

Butchart Babies

The girls are getting bigger every day! They're even starting to outgrow their preemie clothes!

Train Wreck Mommy and the 3 Bottomless Pits. Sounds like a band name.

Elizabeth all dolled up in her sheep uniform

Jane after her bath. I love babies in hats.

We've been trying to make sure Atticus gets some special time too, so we've taken him to the splash park and carousel a couple of times! He's indifferent to riding the carousel, but he loves dancing to the carousel music.

He's great at making friends :)

Down the slide with Daddy!

Jane and Elizabeth Come Home!

On Monday the pediatrician told me that Jane would be coming home on Wednesday, but not Elizabeth, and only after rooming in at the hospital on Tuesday night. Elizabeth and the nurses overheard, so Elizabeth picked up her game and started eating more, and the nurses talked the doc out of having us room in (since we're second time NICU veterans). So the pediatrician came back Tuesday morning and said "You want 'em? Take 'em!"

So we did!

...Technically, they still weren't big enough for their carseats yet. Carseats are only for babies who weigh at least 5 pounds, and they were both about 4 pounds 12 ounces when they came home. BUT they passed their "carseat challenge" (where they have to sit in a carseat for an hour while attached to their monitors to make sure they can tolerate it), so our nurse told us "Go directly home and don't go anywhere else until they're 5 pounds. Do not pass GO. Do not collect 200 dollars."

Daddy and Jane. Their Going Home outfits were the cutest preemie clothes I could find. They had little ruffles on the bum and a fuzzy owl on the front.

Atticus has been so good with them! Every now and then as he walks past them, he'll crouch down and gently poke them, and then giggle.

And, of course, we are remembering what it is like to have newborns. We are tired.

We took the girls back to the pediatrician today, and here are the stats, with the growth percentiles (because I think the percentiles are funny). Also, I have no idea why they give us a BMI for newborns.

Jane: 5 lbs 1 oz, 2%
19 in long 34%
12 in head circ 0%
BMI: 9.9

Elizabeth: 5 lbs 1 oz, 2%
19.5 in long 50%
12 in head circ 0%
BMI: 9.5

By comparison, I took Atticus in for a check up on Thursday, and he's 28 pounds (86%) and 33.3 inches (95%). These girls have a lot of catching up to do!

Atticus Meets His Sisters!

Jane and Elizabeth moved out of the isolette and into a regular pediatric crib! We also got to move into the isolation room, which is where they put the healthiest NICU babies! Well, it's where they put the healthiest NICU babies if none of the NICU babies have a contagious disease. And none of them do, so this is a good thing.

Because of this, we could finally bring Atticus up to meet his sisters for the first time. He stood there and looked at Jane for a while, and then got bored and wanted to watch the nurses station. Oh well. He'll get it when they come home and don't leave.

And now, some pictures of the two prettiest preemies!
Elizabeth looks like she's saying "BRING IT."

Jane is the one laying on the white and pink burp cloth, Elizabeth is laying on the purple and white polka dot burp cloth.

All swaddled up in their preemie halo sacks!

A picture of the whole set up.

One Week Old!

Jane and Elizabeth get to sleep in the same isolette! This is the first time they've been back together since they were born. They seem to like it :)

A Little Perspective

Jane, being burped by Trevor

Elizabeth wearing a preemie onesie that's way too big for her

I just wanted to give you a little perspective on just how big 4 pounds is.

The Unexpected Party

As you may (probably) have heard, our twin girls arrived at 33 weeks on Monday, August 2nd. My water broke at 4:30 in the morning, and they were born at 8:51 and 8:56 a.m. The girls tolerated labor very well and I did not have to have a c-section.

Jane Melody Butchart
Born 8:51 a.m August 2, 2010
4 lbs 8 oz 17 in

Elizabeth Ann Butchart
Born 8:56 a.m August 2nd, 2010
4 lbs 11 oz 18 in

Jane and Elizabeth are doing well considering how early they are. It's been confirmed that they did have some Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome at the end, Elizabeth had about twice as much blood at Jane, among other things. They've had PICC lines put in for their IV's, but they're feeding by mouth pretty well. They both need to be gavge fed (through a tube in their noses that goes directly to their stomachs) a few times a day, but it could be a lot worse.

We get to do Kangaroo Care once a day with each of them. Kangaroo care is where you lay the baby skin to skin on your chest and sit quietly and still for 2-3 hours. It has a lot of benefits to the babies, I'd recommended reading about it a little bit. I think it's pretty interesting.

They're both breathing on their own really well (probably due to the steroid shots I received and the lung surfactant they received right after birth), and they're getting better at regulating their own temperature. We have an excellent neonatologist and pediatrician and absolutely wonderful nurses, and we are confident that the girls are getting the best care at Madison Memorial. Thank you guys so much for all of the love and help you've given us!!