Frick Twins: 5 Months

The boys hit 5 months old this last month and they are smiling and giggling more than ever. Their favorite spot is the changing table in the mornings, we think because we have a tall changing table and they have a good view of us. A therapy appointment about a month ago showed us how tight they are, so after weeks of us working with them, stretching their legs and neck, we can tell a huge difference in their movement, flexibility, and strength during tummy time.

Recent health appointments show the boys at 50th percentile in their weight and height, and their eyes are developing on schedule. We couldn't be more happy!  We also learned that Henry has developed Plagiocephaly (flat head in the back) and Jameson has Scaphocephaly (long, narrow head, possibly premature fuses of his soft spots). We are seeing specialists over the next few weeks to learn more about their conditions and recommendations.

We also celebrated their Baptism this last month. Family and friends visited from California, Indiana, Michigan and New Jersey. A friend from high school photographed the day for us:

http://sarahmaizlandblog.com/2014/02/frick-infant-baptism-el-dorado-hills/



Jameson (left) and Henry (right)

Henry (right) and Jameson (left)

Jameson (left) and Henry (right)

Wine tasting at Boeger

Mom juggling twins

Frick Twins: 4 months old

Hard to believe four months have gone by. The boys are sweet chubby guys and are starting to develop their own unique personalities. Henry is a hungry little dude and gets mad if you don't give him a bottle fast enough. He also loves his swing and will giggle and talk to himself until he falls asleep.  Jameson has the most depressing and dramatic cry and I swear he hugs me back when I pick him up. He will definitely be our sensitive little one. They love to smile at the mirror and listen to us sing. We recently picked up two play mats that have pianos at one edge so the boys can kick their feet and listen to the sound. They seem to really enjoy that.  We like to joke they are at music practice. :) They are also starting to sleep longer stretches at night, some nights better than others.

Henry (left) and Jameson (right) playing their pianos

Yesterday we took them to lunch for the first time to one of our favorite restaurants. We found a table in the back corner with lots of room for the double stroller and privacy from the other patrons. The staff was surprised to see two of them - they knew I was pregnant and had delivered already, but didn't know it was twins! As we were leaving a stranger asked me to lift the privacy cover of the stroller to see them. Jameson was asleep and Henry was starting to get fussy - I panicked, she could tell and said nevermind...  Guess we have to get used to it if we are going to take them out. 

Henry (left) and Jameson (right) smiling at mom

Snuggle time with Dad

Happy Henry

Henry at 2 weeks and 4 months

Jameson

Jameson at 2 weeks and 4 months

Jameson and his puppy brother, Frank

Frick Twins: Home Sweet Home

74 days later.  And Henry and Jameson are home. 

Henry actually got his clearance a week ago while Jameson just got his walking papers today.  Surprisingly, having Henry home this week seemed relatively easy, at least compared to our expectations based on our room-in at the hospital.  The biggest challenge was the energy it took to still drive the 45 minutes over to the hospital to visit Jameson.  Henry was getting solid blocks of 3-4 hours of sleep at night and was eating well and without incident.  We’ll see whether it’s twice or exponentially as hard with Jameson at home tonight 

It’s been an amazing journey and it was with a broad swath of feelings that we walked out of the NICU today.  Definitely some misty eyes.  We said goodbye to a couple of our favorite nurses, Christine and Kathleen, took a few photos, and walked out the door for hopefully the last time.  Raechel and I have had a lot of time to process our thoughts and feelings as we’ve gone through the whole experience.  The highs and lows have been as high and as low as any we’ve experienced.  The false starts were mentally traumatic.  The times when they would achieve a first, be it removal of their incubator or NG tube, or when we first got to hold them, were moments we will remember forever.  Ultimately, I think the main point is that it was always in the hands of Henry and Jameson.  You could say it was a lesson in parenting that while we want to protect and do everything for them, we have limited control.  I’m sure we’ll get a few more lessons on that over the years.

And the other thing that will stick with us is everyone’s support, through email, phone, text, and in-person.  It has been invaluable to getting us to this point.  So with all sincerity, we say thank you.

We’ve utilized this blog over time to update on major life events.  While I’m certain we’ll post periodically through time, our frequency will certainly decline as we turn all of our energy and time to raising Henry and Jameson.  In our home :)

Henry heading home on December 6th

NICU Graduation!

Dave with his boys, about to leave the NICU

Frick Family! Outside the doors of the NICU

Thanksgiving Week Update

Dave and I spent the night in the NICU Monday night for our official "rooming in" with the boys.  This allowed us to practice being on our own with the boys all night, while they are still hooked up to monitors and the nurses are just outside the door in case of an emergency. 

The family room in the NICU

Daddy and Henry

Henry had a great night - a big feeding followed by a few good breast feeding sessions. He also had a few periods of quietness that allowed us to put him down and get some rest. 

Jameson had two bradycardias during feedings, the second was the most significant brady either of us have witnessed and required nurses assistant to get him breathing again. Probably the scariest moment of my life. He was immediately sent back to his standard NICU bed and was given a nasal cannula to get his oxygen levels back up. By morning, they rearranged the nursing staff so the boys could get dedicated support.


Tuesday morning we met with the neonatologist and she recommended Jameson will likely need another 10+ days to give his system more time to mature and hopefully no more bradies. Given we thought Jameson was developmentally head of Henry, the neonatologist suggested to also hold on to Henry for an extra couple of days for observation. Unfortunately Henry also had a series of bradies on Thursday evening, so he is now under close watch with no ETA of coming home. 

Dave and I are trying to keep positive spirits. We are thankful both boys were still in care of the amazing NICU stuff during these episodes. And we are especially thankful to be surrounded by so much love and support from our friends and family.


The boys 40 week due date was Dec 4th - and that is when the NICU staff initially suggested we should anticipate them coming home.  So hopefully we will be able to bring them home within the next week or so.

Henry: 8 Weeks 

Jameson: 8 Weeks 

With Jameson: Mommy's little turkey

Frick Family

Ask and you shall receive

Well, last update we were talking about playing the waiting game to see when the boys were going to get to come home.  Over the course of the last week or so, Jameson and Henry have picked up their feeding.  Dr. Wertz, the neonatologist on this past week, adjusted their feeding intervals from 3 hours to 4 hours to get their hunger urges going.  It did the trick as the boys were much more voracious in their eating.  This morning, the feedings tubes were removed from both of the boys and they taking all feedings by mouth. (Pictures below) So, fingers crossed, the boys are on their countdown to departure.  We do our overnight stay in the NICU “suite” tomorrow night where we get to experience our first of many nights of limited/no sleep.  Then, if all goes well, the boys should be coming home on Wednesday, just in time for their first thanksgiving. 

Jameson

Henry

Overnight suite in the NICU

We don't know when...

One of the more common questions that we get from folks is when are the boys coming home.  First, we just want to say thank you, it means a lot to us that people reach out and care about how our boys are doing.  We usually share the fact that their original birth date, Dec 4, is the best estimate.  All things considered, they are tracking a bit behind their gestational age, though nothing that has alarmed the doctors.  But to be honest, we don’t know, and it could easily be Day X for one boy and Day Y for the other.  It’s a tough reality to deal with, especially for relatively Type A personalities like ourselves who are used to schedules and metrics and results orientation (Intel shoutout).  We watch the boys each day, and some days are good and other days are setbacks.  And sometimes it’s good for Jameson and not for Henry, or vice versa.  And we’ve read so/too much that we have expectations for what they should do at week 37 when maybe their internal clock says I’m not ready to do that until week 38.  It’s an easy situation to get stressed or cynical, because even the doctors and staff can’t answer the biggest question on our mind each day: when can we bring them home?
You feel out of control and that your kids are in complete control of their development.  I’ve heard from fellow parents that is sometimes a feeling you have to get used over the years :)  Just happening a little bit earlier or in a more exaggerated manner for us.  Fingers crossed, it’s sooner rather than later.

We also wanted to say thank you to our friend, Kathleen, who has been extremely generous with her time in driving Raechel to the hospital those mornings when I have to work.  Countless thank you’s.  It eases Raechel’s burden/energy of driving the ~2 hours a day roundtrip and lets us spend our return drive home together, which is great for our relationship and just shared decompress time post-NICU. 

Some quick stats for those who are interested: the boys are 6 ¾ and 6 ¼ lbs.  Jameson is doing better on his bottle/breast feedings, probably 2/3 of the way there as he’s been pretty good at doing a bottle feeding every other time and getting most/all of it down.  Henry is having a harder time with mastering the suck/swallow/breathe coordination (accompanied by the occasional grunt/poop) and has had a couple Bradys over the past two days during his bottle-feedings.  It’s a tough thing to master given the variables, one of which is us :)  The speech pathologist has printed out recommended instructions on body positions and procedures, but we’re still trying to find that groove where it all goes smoothly.  But so far as we know, that’s the last main hurdle.  Might take days, or weeks, or maybe a month if that’s what they decide.  But regardless of when, there probably won’t be two happier parents on the planet when we’re able to bring them into our home the first time.  Can’t wait to share that update

Jameson (left) and Henry (right)

Dad with Henry (left) and Jameson (right)

Henry, looking suspicious of David's storytelling

Mom and her growing boys

Frick Twins: 6 Weeks!

The boys reached their 6 week birthday today!  It’s been some time since we posted a blog, so just a bit of a health download on the boys.  There was a some back and forth on their dosage of caffeine (off for a while, back on when they had a couple Brady’s, and back off again now).  Henry had a Brady yesterday, but they have largely cleared up for both boys at this point.  Henry has cleared 6lbs and Jameson is at 5 ¾ lbs.  They no longer have the oxygen monitor on their feet, but still have the heart and respiratory monitors on their chest.  And while they are starting to intermittently breast and bottle feed, they still require the NG tubes to their stomachs.  They seem to have the sucking instinct down, but haven’t quite mastered the suck/swallow/breathe coordination just yet.  Their feeding seems to be the long pole in the tent for their coming home, so hopefully that clicks in the next week or two.  Everything about their development seems to be on track according to the doctors and nurses.

Probably the thing that sticks out to us the most now is that instead of preemies, they look like newborn babies.  Their cheeks have filled in, their skin tone is more normalized, and their breathing patterns are more regular than when they first arrived in early October.  They moved up from preemie sized clothes to newborn, though it rests a little big on their frames.  It’s actually a little challenging to fit them in my shirt for skin-to-skin contact as their legs rest on my legs now versus just sitting on my stomach.  I’ve even noticed that their grunting, while still frequent, seems to be more fruitful in its efforts (i.e. more gas and poop and less just frustrating clenching).  That’s a sign that their digestive tract is starting to catch up to a full-term newborns as well.  And their cries seem to be getting louder.  A lot louder.  Which every parent in the world means they have good lungs and that’s a good thing, right?  Well, we are particularly thankful and they are welcome to cry as loud as they want.  At least until we get them home in a couple of weeks and it’s the middle of the night.

So fingers crossed things continue to go well.  There is no set timetable, but we’re still hoping for a Thanksgiving at home with the boys.  To be honest, it seems like it may just depend on the neonatologist on duty that given week.  Referencing back to the caffeine mention in the first bit, one neonatologist thought when they returned on caffeine they may be on it for 1-2 weeks.  4 days later the next neonatologist had taken them off of it.  So who knows.  We’ll just take it as it comes and keep hoping and praying they’ll be home soon.

Henry with his Bunny

Jameson with his Giraffe

Dad and the boys: Henry (left) and Jameson (right)

Mom and Henry