I Love being a MOM...

That is all I have to say for now....even though I am not sleeping because Jaxon is not sleeping, his poor little belly he either has horrible gas or reflux because he just fusses and brings his legs up like evey 5-10min all night unless he is sleeping in my arms then he is fine...Hmmm I really think we will need to break this habit soon or else I am going to have a problem. I wouldn't change it for anything though every time I look at them I am so thankful that they are really here. My little man comes home today too. Ill post after we get his sweet face home with us and reunited with his brother :)  Oh and any suggestions for Jaxons belly problems are welcome!!!

June 27th 2011

So Jaxon is doing well at home, a little fussy after he eats I think he is stuffing himself and then he gets so uncomfortable, other than that he is doing well. he has already gained 8.5 ounces since being home, he is my little porker :) 4lbs 11.8 ounces as of yesterday.  Also more exciting news Chace will finally be coming home with his family tomorrow. he is doing so well eating like a champ and sometimes eating more than his brother even does, he still requires oxygen and will be coming home on that for awhile, they said he would eventually grow out of it usually by their due date. I just cant wait for him to be here where he belongs instead of all alone in his crib in the hospital. I hate leaving him I just hope he knows we love him so much. After tomorrow it may be awhile before I post since I will finally get a dose of what it will be like taking care of twin preemies :) Im a little nervous but so ready for this challenge I wouldnt change it for the world. Called the hospital today and my little Chace is already 4lbz 1/2oz. he has gained alot of weight in the last few days too. I am so glad. I will update pictures after he gets home and settled in. I think I am going to get their pictures done closer to when their due date was so they will be bigger.

Jaxon's 3rd day home and 1st doctors appt

Well so far so good. We had Jaxon first dr appt today and he got a clean bill of health. he is 4lb 10oz already and looking good. He is a bit fussy after he eats, I think he has a little reflux. I had him sleep on his belly on my chest most of the night so I didnt get much sleep but he slept great that way. Found out Chace may come home "very soon" words coming from the NICU nurse, what that means I dont know. I know he still needs to do a car seat test and all that fun stuff. They said he would probably come home on oxygen and a monitor. So that will be a little stressful, but we can handle it...... I hope. Chace will get weighed tonight he has increased his feedings and is doing so good he really only needs oxygen when he eats. Other than that all is well. Will update pictures later :) I love being a mom.

I have been slacking on my posts... but for a very good reason

WELCOME HOME JAXON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They told us Monday that Jaxon may come home Tuesday, then they said they would keep him one more day so he Finally got to come home Wednesday June 22, 2011. We are so happy to have him home and we are hoping Chace will get to come home soon. Chace is doing pretty good they are decreasing his oxygen and only have to turn it up when he eats now. He is starting to fill out in his cheeks. They both passed their hearing tests. Murphy is doing well with Jaxon being home so far. First diaper Daddy changed at home Jaxon pooped and then while daddy was cleaning him he peed all over himself and the wall. LOL...... We practiced the bath yesterday on Jaxon and he had a grip in his dad and would not let go. He is so strong. The nurse on the night shift put Jaxon and Chace in the crib together for the first time and then took some pictures for us.. These are priceless......

Happy First Fathers Day to the most wonderful husband and daddy ever

Yesterday was a very busy day I spent the day in the NICU attempted to breastfeed Chace but he wasn't waking up he practiced well but did not take anything in! Jaxon however is doing better and better each time. Chace oxygen still at 30% and he still desats occasionally it seems that it is more when he is sleeping and right after he eats. The one nurse thinks he may have reflux. They are getting so big already. They weighed the boys over night and Jaxon is at 4 lbs 3oz and Chace is at 3lbs 12oz so he is just now at the weight Jaxon was when he was born. At least they are finally growing, eating and pooping......ALOT!!! I just can't wait for Chace to get bigger and stronger. I had a major meltdown in the NICU today and I think my stress affected Chace while I was holding him because his respirations were so high. I have been very strong through this whole thing but today just broke my heart Chace was having such difficulty breathing and it's so hard to see your one child advancing and the other is still advancing but so slowly and seeing him workk to breathe like that broke my heart and I cried, and cried, and cried some more because there is nothing I can do for him. He does seem to do better when he is skin to skin with one of us though so we are going to do that as much as we can.

Chace Michael

Daddy and Jaxon

Daddy with his boys

Chace

Jaxon

Today we visited from 10:30 to 3:30 and will go back up at about 8:00 tonight. The boys did well Jaxon took 30 ml by breast and he also took 50ml by bottle twice, the nurse called him a little piggy :) Chace also did really well this morning he took 32ml by bottle which is alot for him. Both boys were dressed this morning and is was so cute to see them in clothes. They moved Jaxon to an open crib today right before we left this afternoon, the Dr said if he can maintain his weight for at least 48hours and continues to eat and gain weight he will be going home, she said he will most likely go home before Chace which I already knew :( its hard to be excited to take your child home when the other has to stay there and then he will be all by himself and it will be so much more difficult to be up at hospital when I have on ethat I will soley be caring for no help from nurses with Jaxon anymore. But we will figure something out. I just hope Chace kicks it into high gear and comes home shortly after Jaxon, I suspect 2 more weeks at least for Chace but Im thinking Jaxon will be home before this week is over. Here are some pictures we took in the last 2 days. Will update more tomorrow.

Another great day with the boys

Good morning, today is June 18th, 2011 12 days since our precious angels were born. Yesterday we had 2 great visits. Our morning visit I was able to breastfeed Jaxon, he did so well the lactation consultant ( which is amazing) didn't think he would do much and this was just going to be a practice round. Well jaxon had a different plan, he latched right on and took in 10ml for his very first time. It was the best feeling ever to have that closeness and bonding time. Jaxon is up to 4lbs 5oz now and he is pooping on his own so far anyway. We are going to attempt to breastfeed Chace today. Chace respirations were still high so they gave him his food through the tube. He is doing well despite the oxygen :( he is up to 3obs 10oz and you can tell hes putting weight on in his face, so precious. For the evening feeding Jaxon breastfed again without difficulty and daddy fed chace by bottle and he took 17ml very slowly but he did it then we both did skin to skin with the boys for a long time. Daddy did Chace and mommy did Jaxon, and today we will switch!!!  I cannot believe how much skin to skin has such a positive effect on infants. Just sitting there watching the monitors while Justin held Chace on his bare chest was incredible, his oxygen went up to 100% and stayed there and his respirations slowed way down, he did have some times when it would spike up but for the most part he was breathing so well. We are going to start doing this for longer periods of time, they say preemies who are kangarood are discharged sooner, eat better, have less stress, breathe better than babies who are not and that was proven today I couldn't believe it. Justin is such a great dad and it melts my heart to see him so close with is boys like that already. I would have never pictured him taking off his shirt in a hospital and holding a baby to his bare chest, but he did it and he really enjoyed it. It truly is amazing how much love you can have so instantly for your children, I hate leaving them but I know this is where they need to be right now. Didn't get any pictures with the camera today just took some with our phones and as soon as I can find the usb cord for them I will post them with the next update later.

Evening visit 6-16-11

Just got back from our evening visit with the boys, I fed Jaxon and he ate 32ml from the bottle thats the most he has had yet. He also had a large poop today but that was after a suppository so hopefully he will start going on his own now. Justin fed Chace and he did much better than when I fed him at lunch, tried the bottle with him again and he took about 12ml very slowly then tired out again and the rest went in his tube, must be daddy's touch :) The nurse offered to take pictures of us today so we finally got a family picture and a picture with the twins together instead of all of these seperate ones. Chace is still breathing hard at times and his oxygen is still 85 to 93% so I am going to ask the doctor about that tomorrow at rounds. Other than that all is well. and will update tomorrow.

Mommy feeding Jaxon

Mommy and Jaxon

The whole family

Daddy with his boys

Daddy and Chace

Daddy and boys

Mommy with her little peanuts

Aaaaaargh!!

So we went for our morning visit and Im sure you can tell by the title of this blog, we had just a small setback this morning. Jaxon had to go back under the phototherapy because he is still not pooping, but he is eating like a champ :) 30ml at his lunch feeding. Chace had to get put back on his forced air because his oxygen kept going really low and he was breathing hard. The nurse said he is probably tuckered out from trying to eat through a bottle since he is so much smaller than Jaxon it is a lot of work for him. So he will only get bottle fed once per day and the rest will go back through the tube, good news is he is pooping on his own and he is still digesting food so that means he will get bigger and stronger and eventually be able to take the bottle everytime. He just likes to do things a couple days after Jaxon and thats okay. Just hard to have a great few days and then come back to see your baby on oxygen again and him working harder to breathe then your other little guy is suntanning under the lights with his goggles on ( which he hates and keeps ripping off) I know we are going to have days like this, and they really are doing well now that they are eating they will grow. So just going to say our prayers as we do many times a day. The twins also got moved to stepdown instead of ICU status so that is good and today they moved them so now their beds are next to eachother which will be so much nicer. No updated pictures today as we just concentrated on feeding today.

Amazing what can happen in 1 day

Well today is Wednesday June 15th, 2011. We went for our normal morning visit to change diapers and watch feeding. The boys nurse Barb who was great told us that the boys still had a lot of food left in their stomach but they were eating well from a bottle. The dr ordered some medicine to see if that would work to help stimulate their bowels. They got their first dose of medicine with the 1200 feeding and I was able to feed Jaxon and Justin fed Chace with a bottle. They did so good, Chace got a little tired but he is still so small. They are both off of oxygen now and doing well maintaining their temperatures. Still no stools though although how do you poop when you arent digesting food? So anyway we had a great day with the boys. We came home and got some things taken care of and getting ready to leave for our evening /night visit and decided to call just to see how they did. The nurse said they had both taken the bottle well with no problems and there was little to no residual left in their belly and the dr was increasing their feeds from 4ml every 3 hours to 10ml every 3 hours. It was the greatest feeling ever, finally some progress, we are very positive however also know that sometimes it can go back and forth with the feeding. But seriously what a difference one day can make and how neat that they both decided to start digesting on the same day and same feeding even. We got to do the kangaroo care again after Daddy fed both boys. Chace was a little tuckered out from eating 10ml so he was breathing a little bit harder but still doing well. By the time we left at 1130pm they had already increased Jaxon's feed to 15ml because he was really awake and looking for food he kept sucking on his IV in his hand and his pacifier he knew it was feeding time. I called at about 300 in the mornng just as I always do and Jaxon had tolerated his 15ml bottle feed with none left in his belly and they fed Chace through his tube since he was still so tired from the last feeding but he still had none left in his belly so hopefully he can start getting strong enough to feed from a bottle everytime! What a relief now we just need them to poop so they dont have to go under the phototherapy lights again.... We just love these boys, everyday they amaze us with how strong they are!

Happy 34 week birthday to our boys!!

Well I thought I would skip to the boys 34 weeks birthday and start from here. I will post some pictures of the progress in between this time as well. Today was a great day, daddy got to feed jaxon his first bottle and mommy got to do what is called kangaroo care for the first time for 1 hour each. Have to say that was the best thing ever considering it is very difficult to bond with the babies in the NICU. Jaxon is completely off his oxygen and Chace is only on one liter, however he is our fiesty one and hates anything in his nose or mouth so he pulls it out most of the time. Tracey, the Nurse Practitioner who is great by the way, said just to keep it off of him and see how he does. The boys are still not digesting their food or pooping on their own so that is our next big hurdle. Justin and I had a long talk with both boys today about what they need to do, we will see how well they listen...lol. Nurse today said boys may need a PICC line which is an IV they thread very close to the heart and there is risk of infection with that so we are just praying they start eating so they dont need that! Chace had to get an IV in his head today :( he's such a champ! Its neat how they already are starting to develop personalities. Jaxon is our laid back boy doesnt fuss much and sleeps alot, Chace is the trouble maker ripping out his oxygen and feeding tubes and anything else he can get his hands on. They are both so beautiful and i just cant get enough. Below are some pictures of all the days in between and up to their 34 week or 7th day in the NICU.

June 7th 2011.....Delivery day!

Today is the day the Twins came. After days of monitoring and being on the dreaded Mag Sulfate, which made me feel like I was dying. They finally arrived at 33 weeks gestation. Jaxon Bates Grochowski (top photo) born at 8:36 am 3lbs 13oz and 17 1/4 inches long and Chace Michael Grochowski (bottom photo) born at 8:38am 3lbs 4oz and 17 1/2 inches long. They were both put on CPAP oxygen, IV's placed, and feeding tubes put in their mouths, but they were both stable :)