O-Hi-O

What a good week we had! Monday, meme & papa made a trip to Birmingham to pick up AK. They kept her while we were going to Ohio. Jeff & I left Tuesday morning, bright and early, and started our 8 hour trek to Cincy. It wasn't bad weather when we left, but boy did we hit some. At one point we passed a exit and immediately then heard on the radio from the weather service that if you were in that area a tornado had touched down and you needed to seek shelter immediately. ahhh! so scary! Made it to Cincinnati despite bad weather and poop in one piece.
Everyone was very excited to see the Bradley Family. We had missed them so much. So we picked right back up where we left off...talking about those Auburn Tigers. War Eagle!
Wednesday morning we had our appointment for Blakely. We went to the hospital a little early just in case. Ate lunch at the cafeteria and as I sat there feeding Blakely I realized the journey we had just been through. I had sat at those same tables eating that same yummy pizza time after time through pregnancy, post-delivery, and now while holding my precious girls. Wow! I wanted to stand on the tables and shout it to everyone. Miracle in your presence! Everyone oohed and ahhed over how cute the twins were too. Melted my heart. Since we had arrived early we headed on up to Floor 4, Area B to the RCNIC. Kourtney (Blake's primary) and Karen ( a charge nurse) came out to see the girls. We were all so excited. When you spend day in and day out with these people leaving them is like leaving a very close relative behind. Nice to visit with yall! I also felt some sadness for all the parents going in and out because I had one time been that parent who watched people bring in their graduated babies to visit wishing inside that it was me.
After our reunion we went to another part of the hospital to see Dr. Lim. He was excited to see us. A different vibe because now we were out! He checked Blakely over and she got a great report. He was very impressed with her healing and how wonderful she looked. We will have her alpha fetal protein markers checked in December. He anticipates these to be high. They will be checked every 3 months. So again in March. Dr. Lim said if these were the same or higher we will need to head back to Children's Cincinnati, but if they are lower then we will continue care down here in Birmingham. She will come back in August regardless for a 1 year follow up MRI. As much as we are wanting to go back to visit I don't really care to be visiting for a bad report. So everyone pray low markers in March. Sounds like something that should be on a t-shirt. Low Markers in March-ha!
Thursday Laura and I did a little shopping and we visited again with more old and some new friends. Friday was back to Alabama day. Thankfully the weather wasn't so scary. It was cold, but not scary. Arriving back in Birmingham to Ashlyn Kay's smiling face was the cherry on top! Such a great week.
Here is a picture of the twins in their Halloween costumes. They are mini-minnie's. Ashlyn Kay was a big girl Minnie Mouse. She would not cooperate to take a picture with the twins. Shocking I know. Thank you all for your prayers for us this week. As always, grateful!

Back to Cincy

On Tuesday we will load up and head out to Cincinnati for Blake's one month check up with Dr. Lim at Children's Hospital. Jeff & I are both very excited. As much as we wanted to be back in Alabama we have missed the nurses, doctors, and our new friends in Ohio. We have also been a little cooped up since we have been back and this will be a chance to get out and about. Dr. Lim will check her incision to make sure it is still continuing to heal properly. I am also planning on asking him about our question of ovaries or no ovaries. I am hoping he gives us the answer I want to hear, but if he doesn't then that is something we will deal with and not worry about. ON a positive note, her broken down areas have completely healed! We now can use baby wipes on her when changing her diaper and she doesn't scream bloody murder either. This is a relief. We both dreaded the 8 diaper changes, sometimes more, a day we had to do with her. Jeff & I just felt to bad for her. Not exactly sure why they healed up all the sudden but literally one morning we woke up and they were gone. I think it has to do with the fact that we changed her formula to a protein sensitivity formula because I feel confident she is allergic to milk protein. I have in a call for a appointment with a allergist to test her to make sure.
I am so happy that we will get to spend several days with the Bradley family. It's been almost a month since we have seen them and I am having withdrawals-ha! We are hoping the girls can ride a little longer than 3 hours before stopping to eat. It took a really long time to get home last month. If it does take that long to get there then oh well. We are taking the twins and leaving Ashlyn Kay with meme for the week. There is still a issue of car to kid ratio for us. Meaning even our smaller SUV isn't big enough for 3 kids and 2 adults plus luggage. The car seats don't even all fit in the back seat. Hopefully we are going to get a van or larger SUV around Christmas time. We will see though. It is frustrating having to take 2 cars everywhere.
If everyone could pray for our safe travels and a good report from Dr. Lim.
On another note: today we are going to the Fall pumpkin carving social our sunday school class has every year. It is at Homewood Park, so I figured the fresh air would do us all good. I am hoping that the girls do well. I am nervous, but since today is so pretty and a great temperature I think it is the perfect time to say HELLO World we are the Moran Twins (well at least for a hour or so-ha). I will post pictures later!

Out and about

Tonight Ashlyn Kay had her mother's day out Open House at Hunter Street Baptist Church. I asked her when she left school today if she wanted to come back tonight. Of course, she said yes..." Play coys (toys)". So of course we had to go. I convinced Jeff that we all needed to get out as a family. We are really supp. to be out with the twins since they are still tiny bits. We were all geared up for a day out anyway. This morning I was going to the doctor for a checkup and everyone at the office requested a visit from the twins since no one has met them yet. We all got up, got dressed, fed, car ready...oh the process it is to get 3 under 3 plus 2 ready to go anywhere and look presentable. They called at the last minute and needed me to change my appointment. Ahhhh! What effort we made. So I was bound and a determined to go somewhere and the Open House was perfect!
The 5 of us loaded up in our seperate cars because yes we still don't have a car big enough for 3 carseats. It will happen and when it does...Praise will it be. Ashlyn Kay cried of course because she wanted to be in the car with her baby sisters. So sweet to know she absolutely loves those little ladies. I sure hope that her love for them carries on when they are 15 and she is 17. We will see I guess. Anyway...we loaded up and off we went. Arrived at the church and started to unload. Pulled out the double snap and go (life saver). We were greeted by some friends and of course everyone was so excited the babies were out. A couple of stares and comments of "oh twins" later we were inside AK's classroom admiring her art. We chatted with some friends for a bit, her teacher, and watched her play, then out we went. It was a quick 30 minute trip but so nice to be out as a whole family of 5. I loved every minute of it! Can't wait for more outtings.

Game Day

I thought that most everyone would enjoy this pic of the girls in their game day outfits. Laura picked these up for the twins a while back and 9 weeks later they finally fit. Ha! Felt this was photo opp necessary. For all you Bamers I promise to do a photo session of the girls in their Bama gear later. Their Bama onesies are still a little big.
Our update for the week: Palmer is a much happier baby now that we switched her formula. She is eating better and sleeping better. Thankfully. Blake on the other hand, we are still working on her. After adding the rice cereal she is keeping it down thankfully but now isn't eating as much because she gets full quicker. She seems happier. We are still testing out which formula is best for her. I am pretty convinced that she has a slight allergy to milk protein, so we will see.
Early Intervention came on Friday to do their intial evaluation of the twins. The PT's said they looked great for being 5 days old-ha! Yes, my due date was Monday so "technically" by the State's standards they were only 5 days old on Friday. Insane, right, seeing as they have been in this world for 9 weeks on Monday. They are actually the size of a typical full term baby which is great. The PT's said they have appropriate reflexes. They are going to work with Blake more since she is a SCT baby and needs special attention. Their first goal is to get her to straighten those legs out. So we will see them again in a couple of weeks to work on that. They are also sending out a OT to work with the girls on their eating, especially Palmer. She is so messy.
The physicial therapist put the girls together to see how they react to each other. Blake who absolutely LOVES her sis wiggled her way closer and closer to Palmer. P on the other hand wiggled herself away from Blake. Blake seems to be very co-dependent and likes being close to Palmer. Palmer on the other hand wants to have her own space and doesn't care for Blake getting "all up in it". It is very interesting to see a twin dynamic. I am excited to watch them grow.
Also, Blakes bottom is starting to improve. Her broken down areas are looking much better and we are actually getting to use baby wipes every now and then. Hooray! She doesn't seem to fuss as much either. This is a big step and something I am very greatful for. So thank you for all keeping us in her prayers.
Ashlyn Kay was of course very helpful while early intervention was here. Making sure that they were aware that these were her "qu baby sistas"! So cute!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone and War Eagle.

Doctors Visit

So things have been going pretty well around the "Big Top". Its obviously hectic, with crying, diapering, feeding, and all the other items around the house that need to be done, but with good help aka Daddy, things are moving right along. If only we could even get some rest-ha! Blake and Palmer both started having tummy and spit up issues. The doctor changed their formula and it did great for Palmer. She stopped her what seemed like constant crying and hasn't been miss gassy pants. Now Blake is another story. Bless her heart she is spitting up way more, well we could say vomitting which was normally all over me (amazing) and choking and just having a seriously hard time eating. So after a all nighter with her constant crying and a little scare of choking I gave in and decided to take her to the pediatrician today. We were sent for a upper GI today. She did great. They gave her a bottle with formula mixed with dye. She drank it like a champ. She was starving. I actually watched the images and it was pretty crazy. She would drink a little and it would try to go down her esophagus but then it would come right back up. So her belly filled up and then she exploded formula. Poor girl. The pediatricians office called and said she had level 4 reflux. The plan is to keep her on her reflux medicine, put rice cereal in her bottle, and change her formula. I am crossing my fingers this works. If not then the pediatrician feels she might have a milk issue and we will need to change formulas again, maybe soy. Ugh! I would normally get irriated and stressed by our situation today but one thing that I have learned is to just roll with the punches. Jeff stayed home and played the daddy role well while we were gone. While we were at the pediatricians office they weighed ol Blakester. She weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces-amazing! I can't believe she is getting so big. Ashlyn Kay was 6 pounds 7 ounces when she was born....strange to imagine Blake is 9 weeks old and she just now reached a full term babies weight and that it was so close to her big sisters. I am very excited that the girls are starting to gain weight and move on up. Tomorrow Palmer has her eye exam because for some reason she never had one when she was in the NICU. Friday early intervention is coming to work with the girls,mainly Blake. I am excited to see what they are going to do!
We are slowly moving our self into some type of a routine. Still have a long way to go.

Nursery

My friend Lynlee & her mother decorated the twins nursery while I was gone. Thank Goodness. It was so amazing to come home to this!

2 months old!

Monday the twins turned 2 months old! So they felt the need to tell everyone! So cute!

We are home!

As we headed out of the Bradley's driveway on Thursday I was excited but sad all in the same emotion. I couldn't wrap my head around it that we were actually leaving. My grandmother flew up Wednesday morning to she could ride in the car with me and the twins on the way back. Jeff had to drive our other car with Ashlyn Kay in it.
The ride was actually not that bad and we only had to stop three times to feed and diaper the girls. Finally made it back to my driveway around 5 p.m. I actually just could not believe that I was home. My house looked strange to me, so different, so un lived in. Ashlyn Kay and Jeff had already made it home and she was so excited to be back with some of her old toys. My amazing friend Lynlee and her mother ( love yall ) had put together and completely decorated the nursery and Ashlyn Kay's new big girl bedroom. Jeff covered my eyes and did a "reveal". They were both amazing. I will post pictures soon.
We settled in and tried to get a little sleep which is very little these days. Friday I spent the majority of the day unpacking and getting reorganized. I just couldn't stand all that stuff sitting around. I am still working on a little of it but its pretty much done. The first complete day at home was not that bad. We fed, diapered, played, ate, and repeated all day long. We were both exhausted though from having made the drive and then running on fumes.
Saturday I took a little time to myself while Jeff and my grandmother watched the girls. Then a friend came over while he took some time for himself at Bryant Denny Stadium.
Sunday I was dying to get to church to see all my long lost friends. I was so happy to finally see familiar faces. Ashlyn Kay was excited too. She was very concerned though because when we left her "baby sista" was crying so she made sure to tell everyone at church. So cute!
Today was the girls 2 month well baby visit and to get established with our pediatrician here. Oh my Lord at the chaos that was. Two babies equals two of everything. Plus filling him in on all the drama of the past weeks. We were there for almost 2 and a half hours. I was exhausted by the time we left. Palmer weighed 7 pounds and 2 oz. Blake weighed 5 pounds 14 ounces. I was out of the room when they did their lengths though so I don't know those stats. The doctor said they looked amazing especially to be preemies. Blake thought she was a grown up and tried to crawl off the table. He was amazed at their journey as we still are too.
By the time we put Ashlyn Kay to bed each night and the twins are sleeping we are exhausted. Jeff is still home from work thank goodness but when he leaves I will cry. Having twins is hard but its all about organization and I'm trying really hard to stay on top of it.
We recently discovered that Blake might not have ovaries. We have asked for a repeat ultrasound so we will see. This would mean much more management once she hits puberty. We are praying this is not the case. She is doing so well and her incision sight looks wonderful. It is still broken down in areas but we hope that starts to heal. She seems to not cry as much when we change her diaper so that is great.
I am so happy to be home with all three of my girls!