From: JT & Writergrl
Hi everyone,
Our girls are home!
16 weeks ago today the girls were born. Cricket and Pumpkin are now both home and every room in the house is filled with the sounds of their squeals. The girls are each eating like crazy and and seem to grow even as we look at them.
We now count ourselves lucky if we have both showered and had more than 4 hours of sleep in the past 24. In between naps we mumble to each other about meds, feeds, stools and if someone's in the "quiet alert" stage and needs tummy time.
So - here's the summary by the numbers:
Born: March 23 at 26 weeks gestation. Pumpkin arrived at 2:46 p.m. and Cricket at 2:47 p.m.
Weight at birth: Pumpkin - 1 lb 11 oz (760 grams), Cricket - 1 lb 7 oz (600 grams)
Home: Cricket on Saturday June 21 ( 90 days in the NICU) and Pumpkin on Monday June 30(99 days in the NICU)
Gestational week at discharge: Cricket 39 weeks, Pumpkin 40 weeks
Weight at discharge: Cricket - 5 lbs 6 oz, Pumpkin - 4 lbs 12 oz
Weight after 1 week of being home: Cricket - 5 lbs 10 oz, Pumpkin - 5 lbs 2 oz
With the two of them combined we now change 16 diapers a day, 12 feedings a day (which take a total of six hours of (wo)manpower), 5-6 clean receiving blankets per day, 4 changes of clothes on a good day and hours of love and attention, We are sleepy but happy.
In the attached picture, Cricket is on the left and Pumpkin is on the right. Despite nearly a pound in weight difference they are almost the same length (18 inches for C and 17 inches for P) and when their bright, shiny eyes are open and looking right at you they really live up to their identical billing.
Our girls are home!
16 weeks ago today the girls were born. Cricket and Pumpkin are now both home and every room in the house is filled with the sounds of their squeals. The girls are each eating like crazy and and seem to grow even as we look at them.
We now count ourselves lucky if we have both showered and had more than 4 hours of sleep in the past 24. In between naps we mumble to each other about meds, feeds, stools and if someone's in the "quiet alert" stage and needs tummy time.
So - here's the summary by the numbers:
Born: March 23 at 26 weeks gestation. Pumpkin arrived at 2:46 p.m. and Cricket at 2:47 p.m.
Weight at birth: Pumpkin - 1 lb 11 oz (760 grams), Cricket - 1 lb 7 oz (600 grams)
Home: Cricket on Saturday June 21 ( 90 days in the NICU) and Pumpkin on Monday June 30(99 days in the NICU)
Gestational week at discharge: Cricket 39 weeks, Pumpkin 40 weeks
Weight at discharge: Cricket - 5 lbs 6 oz, Pumpkin - 4 lbs 12 oz
Weight after 1 week of being home: Cricket - 5 lbs 10 oz, Pumpkin - 5 lbs 2 oz
With the two of them combined we now change 16 diapers a day, 12 feedings a day (which take a total of six hours of (wo)manpower), 5-6 clean receiving blankets per day, 4 changes of clothes on a good day and hours of love and attention, We are sleepy but happy.
In the attached picture, Cricket is on the left and Pumpkin is on the right. Despite nearly a pound in weight difference they are almost the same length (18 inches for C and 17 inches for P) and when their bright, shiny eyes are open and looking right at you they really live up to their identical billing.
We found two stories told by parents of preemie twins that painted a much more complete picture of the experience than we're able to. Here is a link to the story of a Canadian mom and writer who's twin girls were born at 28 weeks. We read this story almost immediately after the girls were born and it helped to have a funny perspective so early on: http://www.todaysparent.com/baby/youandnewborn/article.jsp?content=20051202_133921_5384&page=1
And here is a very recent story of an MSNBC sportswriter dad who's twin boys were born even earlier than our girls. Get out the kleenex: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25063903/ and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25063900/
This will conclude our blast email updates to everyone. If you missed one or want to see the progression of photos again, they're all posted at Writergrl's blog: http://writergrlsramblings.blogspot.com/
We want to thank all of you for the outpouring of support and best wishes over the past four months. We - and our girls - couldn't have done it without you. Thanks for hanging in there with us.
With all our love and best wishes,
JT, Writergrl, Pumpkin and Cricket
And here is a very recent story of an MSNBC sportswriter dad who's twin boys were born even earlier than our girls. Get out the kleenex: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25063903/ and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25063900/
This will conclude our blast email updates to everyone. If you missed one or want to see the progression of photos again, they're all posted at Writergrl's blog: http://writergrlsramblings.blogspot.com/
We want to thank all of you for the outpouring of support and best wishes over the past four months. We - and our girls - couldn't have done it without you. Thanks for hanging in there with us.
With all our love and best wishes,
JT, Writergrl, Pumpkin and Cricket
1 comment:
We're so happy for you all! They both look adorable. We can't wait to meet them!
Love and Hugs,
Mike and Joan
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