We Miss Our Visitors!

Aunt Molly and Aunt Courtney were here from Friday night until Monday morning and we absolutely loved having them here. They were such a big help too (aside from keeping me up chatting until 4am on Friday night...) ;) with cleaning bottles, changing diapers, feeding the boys and cooking for us. We didn't want them to leave! Molly, Court and I went shopping and to lunch on Saturday afternoon while Andy stayed at home with the boys and studied. As if he doesn't have enough going on right now, Andy is taking the 4th and final part of his CPA exam on Friday (a 4 hour exam that is far from fun or easy). He has been staying up late every night and spent much of the weekend studying too. Yuck! Molly and Court made us dinner on Saturday night and Andy made me a birthday cake. Having Max and Tyler home definitely made this the best birthday I could imagine.

Sunday was a gorgeous day and perfect for the March for Babies in downtown Nashville. The 3 mile walk started at Centennial park near Vanderbilt's campus and continued past Music Row and Baptist Hospital. It was the first time I'd been back to Baptist since we left with the boys 10 days earlier - and man was it weird. As much as we miss our NICU doctors and nurses, it sure is nice not to have to go there every day. We had a great time at the walk and thanks to our friends who joined us!

Yesterday Max and Tyler had an appointment at the Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD) Clinic at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. BPD is a temporary form of chronic lung disease, which the boys currently have due to their extremely early arrival. The BPD clinic will monitor the boys' progress and wean them off of their oxygen assistance. The doctor said both boys are doing really well and gaining weight easily, which shows that they are not using extra energy to breathe. (Tyler is now 5 lbs 4 ozs and Max is just under 5 lbs). They like to see babies gain between 25 and 30 grams per day and both boys have averaged a 33 gram gain per day since they were discharged from the hospital, which is obviously great. We return to the clinic in 3 weeks and, assuming everything is still going well, they will gradually start weaning the boys from the oxygen. They will first take them off oxygen for a few hours every day, and then all day long, and then all day and night. The doctors are big advocates of taking their time with the weaning process as oxygen can only help at this point. It typically takes between 2 and 6 months to come completely off oxygen, depending on the individual baby's progress. Everything looks good at this point though, so we are happy and proud of our little guys.

Grandma Linda and Aunt Kelly are coming to visit tomorrow and we can't wait! Kelly is staying until Saturday and Linda until next Tuesday, so we are lucky to have some great help. Here are some pictures from the weekend!

Courtney and Molly on diaper duty

And feeding duty

Molly with the boys

Courtney with the boys

At the March for Babies

Max sucking his thumb