Making Progress

Today was a good day in NICU. The girls still have to be there a few more days until they can both maintain body temperature. As it stands now, Sophie may get to come home a day or 2 before Mary since her isolette is at a bit lower temperature. She's also the bigger baby.

Mary is eating a lot better now and is doing well at both breastfeeding and the bottle. Over the weekend one of the nurses could not feed her and put in a feeding tube. They left it in and she's been feeding from that for about 1/3 of her feedings. They finally took it out today and she's eating a lot better. Today our nurse was Sarah, who is also a lactation specialist. She explained that if the girls breastfeed well, then they should not be expected to finish their entire bottle. That was a relief. Mary breastfed twice today for 20 and 15 mins and did a good job. She did not finish her bottle after breastfeeding, but she came pretty close. At the other feedings she just had a bottle and finished it fine. Hopefully she is continuing to do well tonight. Peter was there for the 6:00 PM feeding but we did not go back there tonight - we went out with some friends.

The girls are wearing their own clothes now, which is nice. They got some outfits in the mail from Grandma and Great Aunt Dorothy. We did not have any preemie size clothes. We bought some too though and actually had a few things in "newborn" size that fit them fairly well. Now that we can use our clothes we can dress them a bit warmer too, which will help them get out of those isolettes. Both Mary and Sophie have broken in their new outfits by soiling themselves, but that's OK! When Mary gets dirty she gets very upset - she likes to be clean and fresh.

Here's a picture of Sophie that Peter took yesterday. I just wanted to finally get one of her with her eyes open. It will be a lot easier to capture some Kodak moments when they get home...

Still growing...

We are so ready for our little girls to come home! But all the same, we don't want them to come home too soon - they are still working on getting strong. Peter and I have a little feeding routine now. He checks Sophie's temperature, changes diaper, hands her to me to breastfeed then does the same with Mary. After we try breastfeeding a bit, each girl goes back to Daddy to get fed from a bottle. Sophie is a good eater, she eats pretty steadily and finishes her bottle with no fussing (like her dad). Mary is eating but takes her time and has to burp a lot (I admit - like her mom!). They are both making a little progress with breastfeeding. Sophie seems to have the hang of it lately, in fact, when I've passed her over to Daddy for the bottle she's tried to suck on him a couple of times. :)

The thing with breastfeeding is that you don't know how much milk they are getting, and that's something that's really important right now. But they are both getting mom's milk through the bottles with no formula supplement. So I am proud that I'm able to provide for my girls.

The real reason for this post is that my mom wanted to see a picture we have of Sophie with her little hat. So here's Sophie! We still have to get some pictures of her with her eyes open. We have just been keeping busy during our last few visits and have not taken any new pictures. We'll get on top of that.

The Girls are HERE!

Sophie Elizabeth and Mary Virginia Horanyi were born on Sunday, October 7th, 2007.

Sophie was born at 7:14pm, weighing 4 lbs 5 oz and 44 cm (17.33 in) long. Mary was born at 7:15 pm, weighing 4 lbs and 43 cm (16.93 in) long. They arrived 5 weeks 2 days early but are doing great. They had to be born early because mom got really sick (mom is doing fine now too). They are still in the UVA Children's Hospital being monitored to make sure they are growing and eating well and should be at home in a week. They are just perfect but a little small. They have been breathing, eating and doing everything on their own since they arrived, and we are really proud of them! We can see them as much as we like but cannot get them too tired because they really have to concentrate on getting fatter. In a way it has been a blessing that they are being taken care of there, because we were not prepared to bring our babies home yet! We are learning a lot from the nurses and doctors there and will be much better parents when they are ready to come home.

We were anxious to find out if the girls were identical or fraternal. Though we figured they were probably fraternal, there was a small chance they were identical - I thought that would be cool since it is a rarer occurrence. Well, they are very different! It is like Peter and I each have a little image of us. Sophie is the spitting image of her daddy and Mary looks more like I did as a baby. Here's Sophie getting a little tan. She has been lounging under the lights some because her bilirubin count has been a bit high and they are preventing her from getting jaundice. Peter actually had similar issues when he was a baby. But of course he was fine, and Sophie is doing well, too.

Mary is a little smaller than Sophie but she is doing well and will be able to catch up soon. She has been eating well for Daddy but some of the nurses are not able to get her to eat as well. They are all good but each have their different ways of handling the babies. She is very curious and likes to see what's going on while she's awake. This picture was taken after she got a new little hat. They have lots of knitted caps that are donated by volunteers. Their nurse Donna found these 2 hats earlier and thought they were nice and set them aside for Mary and Sophie to wear.

Getting there...

Our girls are doing great, but it was not an easy road for either of us - it took a lot longer than expected with several detours. I was in the hospital for a week. I was admitted on Thursday afternoon, October 4th, after stopping by the OB clinic for what I thought was a stomach bug. Though I had been retaining fluid and swelling a lot, I never had any other issues and the pregnancy was going pretty well. Each time I had an appointment, I asked about the swelling, but my blood pressure was always low and the doctors had no reason for concern. It had gone up a bit when I stopped by the clinic but was 118/70 so still on the low side. I got a prescription for a nausea pill but was told to go up to Labor and Delivery for some blood tests as there was a trace amount of protein in the urine they tested at the clinic. Just as a precaution - it would probably take a couple of hours then we'd be on our way.

Peter went with me to Labor and Delivery then went back to work for a while (he just has to walk through the hospital link to get over to his lab in the next building). He came back and walked in as they were telling me that we may not have the babies that night or the next day but I had to be admitted immediately. I had severe preclampsia. From the time we left the OB clinic and went up to the 8th floor, my blood pressure had skyrocketed. I also had issues with my liver and blood platelet count. During the time between being admitted and having the girls, I swelled up beyond recognition. You can tell in this picture of me and Mary during my first visit to NICU that I had been through a lot. Who's arm is that? It's not my arm, my arm is maybe half that size!

They tried to induce labor at the UVA Hospital for three days, which sounds just ridiculous. But they were hesitant to do the surgery because it would take longer to recover from all the complications. And the girls were in position for delivery, so I really wanted to avoid a cesarean. They finally did the surgery on Sunday night after I had not had much success dilating and by that time had other issues like a swollen cervix. Yeah, everything was swollen.

Looking back, all that craziness did give the girls more time to grow in the womb. And they did great through the whole thing - they were monitored the whole time - and were in much better shape than their mom when it was all over with. I am doing well now and am feeling better every day. I look like myself now too, though it will be a couple of weeks before all the swelling goes down completely. Now we are just enjoying our beautiful girls and can't wait for them to come home. We are so proud of them!

We will all be home together soon and the next chapter begins. More to come!

Babies' Shower in Forsyth, GA

Here are some pictures from our shower in Forsyth, Georgia last Saturday. It was a great visit - we enjoyed seeing all of our family and friends and of course, got some great loot for the girls!



My Aunt Dorothy had the idea to host the shower and we really appreciate all of her work. Her daughter Sheila and my Aunts Janis and Marilyn (my mom's sisters) co-hosted the shower. We had a great brunch and had a great time opening all the gifts for our girls.

I don't know if any of you have a Mema and Papa but they are good to have - as usual they outdid themselves and amazed us all w/ their generous gifts. We are not actually related but consider ourselves family. I think they already have 10 great-grandchildren, so I guess ours will be the unofficial # 11 and 12. One of them, Lydia, came along to the shower - shown in the pictures.

There were 2 babies there - unfortunately I don't have a picture of my cousin Brent's baby Kadie. (Maybe someone else took one and can forward to us?) But I wish I could put pictures of both her and Lydia along w/ their dads b/c the resemblance is eerie. They say babies look more like their dads at first. Maybe since we will have 2 one of them will look more like me! I have to admit Peter and I were both cute babies, so I am not too worried. :) Maybe we will post some pictures for comparison once the girls arrive.

It was great to be in Georgia! Hopefully the girls will travel well and we will be back soon.

Babies' First Shower

My friend Gwen hosted a shower for our girls this weekend at West Main Restaurant in C'ville. Just a small group of friends and co-workers but it was really nice - and the brunch there is delicious. I highly recommend the blueberry pancakes.

The girls got a lot of great gifts too! So that was fun, and Peter and I had a good time playing with the toys after I got back home. Our server took this shot of us. Going clockwise, these folks are Donna Shaunessey, Ann Whitham, Billie Campbell, Stacy Cooper, me, Gwen Miller and Rochelle Garwood. Most are co-workers except Donna, who is kind of a co-worker or maybe I should say "colleague," our friend Stacy, and Gwen (who used to be a co-worker too).

And I know I'm supposed to keep up w/ this for a baby book, so here's all the prizes I got for the girls:

Lots of onesies from 6-12 mos. - Donna
Burp cloths - Ann (she is also knitting a gift that will be here soon!)
Baby monitor - Billie
Bouncy seat - Stacy
Big box of baby supplies (or the "motherload" - lots of great stuff!) - Gwen
Baby Einstein sea turtle crib toy - Rochelle

Gwen really outdid herself w/ the shower and the great gifts. She's also busy these days b/c she just got married (soon to be Mrs. Goulder if she has not changed her name already), bought a house and started a new job. She's now an aide for special ed middle school kids and today's the first day of school. So we really appreciate her thinking of us. Wonder how she's doing today...

A book was in our big box of baby supplies - I think it's called "Worst Case Scenario" baby book or something. Gwen got it especially for Peter. I think he liked the book (well maybe not as much as the toys) but he said that it assumes he's a big idiot. I wonder where she got that idea?? I think we'll be OK, though. Now that we have the book, we know not to use a shoe as a pacifier or wash the babies in the toilet, for example. Really, we'll be fine.

28 weeks 3 days

It was hot today - I rarely say that here in Virginia. It's actually just 88 deg. but the heat index is 99. A great day to sit outside at an elementary school. Well that's what I was doing today, signing up parents to carpool. It wasn't that bad though since we were under a tent and I had my big water bottle. I brought the camera along and had one of the secretaries take my picture at the end of the event, since someone reminded me it's been a while since I've posted a picture of myself. :) Maybe next time I'll have a pic w/ Peter or a friend. I feel silly just posing for a picture w/ just me and my big belly. It's just whenever I think about it there's only one person around to take the picture.

She took a picture from both sides so she could get each twin in the picture. (It kind of looks like I have a twin - a big pregnant one...) But she's about right - they've each settled in on their own side now, although sometimes they kind of move over to one side and make me lopsided.



The other day I was walking to work and a lady pulled over and offered me a ride - I guess she thought I looked too big to be walking around. Nice gesture but a bit sad all the same. I'm ready for some pictures where I have a waist again!! They say breastfeeding burns 500 calories a day - maybe since I'll have 2 I'll get a jump start?? Oh well, I still have a couple of more months to grow and waddle around so not to get ahead of myself. I know... it will all be worth it!

The girls at 26 weeks 6 days

We're in the 3rd trimester now and starting out week 28 today. Yesterday we had another ultrasound and the girls weigh about 2 lbs each, which is right on track. I thought they would be bigger - not that they should be, just feels like they have been growing a lot lately.

You would think that you can see more detail on the ultrasounds as we go along, and you can, but they are more crowded so it is harder to get good pictures. Baby B was facing my back so we could not get a picture of her face. Peter said that Baby A's profile looks like him. Maybe he's right - what do you think?

Everything is going well and we are due for another ultrasound on Sept. 10.