1 home, 2 to go!

Emily

Emily  got to come home yesterday, 9 days after they were born.  It was so exciting!  She was discharged after noon but we stayed until 3 o'clock to feed the other babies before we left.  The ride home was kind of nerve racking because we had to take freeways, but I sat in the back seat with her and watched her the whole time.  She did great and slept the whole way home.  Once we got home the dogs were very curious but we kept her out of their reach.  Bella has not given up on trying to see her and lick her.  Edward lost interest pretty quickly and Misha never showed any interest!  

We had her set up in a pack n play next to our bed during the night and she did ok in it.  At one point I woke up and she had rotated 45 degrees.  Since she moved so much, we are trying to figure out something else for when they're all 3 home.  We thought we could keep them all in the pack n play for a few weeks, but now it looks like we will need to keep them separate at night.  We kept the same feeding schedule that the hospital had her on so we woke up every 3 hours to feed her. It was pretty tough!  Mark and I are both really tired this morning, but I expected that after the first night home with her.  I think tonight will be better since we know what to expect.  Once we get all 3 home it will be a different story, but we can handle just one!

Ella

On Saturday all 3 babies were taken out of their isolettes and put into cribs.  It was very exciting to see them in cribs!  On Monday evening Ella was put back into the isolette because her body temperature was too low.  As of this morning her isolette is open and she will be put back into her crib today to see how she maintains her temperature.  If she does ok for 48 hours, she should be discharged on Saturday.  She gained weight while in the isolette so hopefully that helps her with her temperature.  Last night she weighed 5 pounds 1 ounce.

Mark

Baby Mark is doing awesome with his feedings.  They said the light bulb turned on and he started taking the whole bottle yesterday.  They took his feeding tube out yesterday and he has been doing great ever since.  He gained 4 ounces yesterday which is awesome since he wasn't gaining much in the last week.  Last night he weighed 5 pounds 1 ounce.  The doctor said yesterday that they would try to get him discharged on Saturday, too so that he and Ella come home together, but he might be ready tomorrow.  I will talk to the doctor today about what we want to do.  I wanted them to come home together so that we weren't leaving 1 there alone, but they will discharge each one when they are ready.

Before we left the hospital with Emily yesterday the nurse asked if we wanted to take pictures with all 3 of the babies.  Since birth they haven't been together at all, so of course we wanted to!  We got to take one of us with the babies and then some of just the 3 babies.  If we would have known we would be able to take these pictures, we would've been a little more presentable, but we didn't know, so our first family picture is pretty rough looking.

Then we put all of the babies together in one crib to take pictures of them.  It was so fun seeing them together.  Emily was passed out so she just slept the whole time.  Mark was awake but wouldn't look at the camera because he was staring at Ella the whole time.  Ella was wide awake and making the funniest faces like she always does (we are pretty sure she is going to be our funny baby).  It seemed like Mark and Ella remembered each other.  They were the 2 that were very close to each other in the womb and kicked each other constantly.  

This one is blurry but I love it because I'm pretty sure Mark is kissing Ella :)

Today we are staying home with Emily all day and my mom is helping with feedings at the hospital.  We are just so tired and are trying to get into a routine, but oh my gosh I miss Ella and Mark so much!  I've only cried twice today while looking at their pictures.  We have an appointment with the pediatrician for Emily tomorrow morning and then we are going to take her with us to the hospital to visit the other 2.  Hopefully my next update will be that all 3 babies are home!