Transfusion Today

The Doctor's have finally decided to give Winter a transfusion today. Hopefully this will do the trick.

Mom is having a rough patch right now, any supportive calls to her would be welcome.

Simone's Homecoming, Winter Delayed

Last Friday was Simone's homecoming. Below is Hazel's first contact, she was so excited. Above is Simone's first bath at home.

Winter was SUPPOSED to come home yesterday but had an "episode" in the morning that required nurse intervention. Now they are saying Tuesday or Wednesday for a possible homecoming. He'll likely come home on an apnea monitor and we'll have nurses visiting periodically. Seems like overkill to me but better safe than sorry I guess.

siMONE is HOME!

Say goodbye to all your wonderful nurses!
Monitor is OFF!
Bye!

A longer stay at the four star hotel | Day 35

Winter's heart rate keeps dropping once or twice a day, which they call a "brady." Technically, he has to be brady-free for five days before he can come home. They are hoping its soon. Keep your fingers crossed.

Feeding both at the same time. A comedy of errors.

I breast fed them both at the same time on Thursday, their "35th week gestational birthday." After some juggling, the event was actually a success. Here are a couple shots taken after the chaos.

Not Today

Hi All, not today for Simone's homecoming, perhaps tomorrow.

Comments

Family & Friends,

I wanted to let you know that if you tried to post a comment (which I love to read!) on this blog (comment link is located under each posting), and could not because you don't have a gmail account, I have changed the settings so ANYONE can post a message. You can even post anonymously if you like. So comment away!

Heide

Possible homecoming for our little girl | Day 30

I don't want to jinx it, but the staff at Pennsylvania Hospital are telling us that Simone may come home this Thursday or Friday! Mr. Winter is struggling with acid reflux which causes his heart rate too dip down. They have him on a special formula that we are hoping will help. Stay tuned on a possible homecoming date for him.

P.S. Happy one month birthday Winter & Simone!

Birthmarks

Winter has a “stork bite” on the back of his neck

Simone has a “strawberry” on the top of her head.

Now we will be able to tell them apart. Ha!

Day 28 photos | Winter

Flippin Daddy the bird (above)

Day 28 photos | Simone

Yawn!

Twin Power | They hit 5 lbs!

The twins are growing quickly, both Simone & Winter cracked the 5 lb mark last night. Winter in the red corner, weighs in at 5 lbs. 2 oz and Simone in the blue corner, 5 lbs. Winter will likely get a blood transfusion today to replace some of the blood lost from constant tests. No worries, very routine. Fingers are crossed to have both come home on Thursday or Friday of this week!

Whispers & Chatter

There is a small amount of hushed chatter that they might be able to go home late next week . . . that is if they pass the sleep study test, car seat test, among some other criteria.

Both have been placed on an "ad lib" feeding plan which means NO feeding schedule. They tell us when they are hungry and that is when they eat. Hooray for the Fraley twins!

Week 4 photos | Happy 34 weeks old (gestational age)

This is Keesha -- one of our favorite nurses!

Starting to fill out | Day 24

It may be hard to tell from the photos, but the wee ones are starting to look less like aliens and more like babies. Its nice to see the meat growing on their bones.

My favorite photo of Winter so far | Day 21

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel | Day 21

Quick update. Both are doing fantastic. Feeding tubes have been removed. Bottle feeding only! We are going to try breast feeding on Monday (they have been fed breastmilk via bottle or tube up to this point).

Both are pushing about 4.5 lbs . . . sometimes gaining well over an ounce a day.

If all goes well, Simone MAY come home in two weeks and Winter will follow soon after.

I'm hoping one of the two double cribs will be available soon so our wee ones can be reunited!

Got some good photos recently. I will post them tonight if I don't poop out early. Stay tuned.

Bottles & Squeaks | Day 18

The babies are doing great. They are both up to 4 lbs 2 oz. Grow Fraley babies!

Both are starting to take breast milk feeds from a bottle instead of the feeding tube. Even if they are proving to be superstars with bottle feeding, they don't do it every time to feed because they get concerned they will use up too much energy, causing them to loose weight. Supposedly, preemies Simone and Winter's age are not supposed to have the suck-swallow-breathe skill down for another week or two, but our two seem to be champs so far!

I have started calling our dear daughter "Squeaks" because that is all she seems to do. Its the cutest little sound.