Algo Hearing Test Pictures

Michael trying to get rid of his other hearing test thing.


Jaileigh after her Algo test

Anthony after his Algo

Jakob sleeping peacefully



Michael during his car seat test. Doesn't he look pretty? Little did we know he was taking care of business.


Jaileigh looking pretty

As Lindy would say "Some people just know how to pose!"
Toni (another one of our favorite primary nurses) went to Disneyland and brought us presents. Their first Disney souvenirs.



Anthony, Michael, Jaileigh, and Jakob

New Weights, Algo Test, Car Seats

Anthony is now the biggest. He has stepped up to the plate as the oldest and the biggest. That extra 1/8 tsp of infacare is really packing on the ounces.

Anthony- 4 lbs 15 oz
Michael- 4 lbs 14 oz
Jaileigh- 4 lbs 7 oz
Jakob- 4 lbs 13 oz

All babies passed their Algo test (hearing test).

Michael and Jaileigh passed their car seat test. The other 2 haven't taken their test yet. We have 2 car seats.We had a boy one from Jake and Nichole. When we found out Jaileigh was coming home I ran to the store and bought a pink one for her. Michael did his car seat test in the pink one. This will be a cute picture for his girlfriend in 20 years. He really didn't appreciate all the pink and let us know by pooping all over it. I'm not too sure I am impressed with Huggies.

I have really cute pictures but I left my camera at the NICU. Maybe tonight I will post the pictures.

Someones Coming Home . . . .

Dr. Fargo told us Wednesday that Jaileigh is coming home next week. Hooray! This is only if she behaves the next few days. She just barely hit 1800 grams, the weight needed for her to be able to come out of her isolette and to come home. That was her last milestone to get over and she finally did it.

Jakob is finally off his nasal cannula! Hooray again.



Jakob the night before his cannula was removed - you can see it taped to his cheeks still.



Breaking the rules at Loma Linda. Babies are not allowed to co-bed because of the risk of spreading infection. The quads are too cute to get in trouble though. They are in birth order- Anthony, Michael, Jaileigh, and Jakob


Jaileigh (no feeding tube) and Jakob (no oxygen)


Anthony and Michael

Birth order again- Jaileigh is trying to eat Jakob




The boys- Anthony, Michael, and Jakob







Babies sleeping and making noise

Pictures

Anthony and Michael hanging out.


Anthony and Michael



Anthony's not so happy about the fingers in his face

Jakob

Jakob, Jaileigh and Michael


Jaileigh in her cute outfit from Michelle


Jaileigh and Michael holding hands

Anthony, Jakob, Jaileigh, and Michael- Jakobs arm is resting on Jaileigh. Her head was burrowed down between them and her oxygen levels were still 100%. She loves her brothers.




Jakob's first bath. From the smile on his face I think that he liked it.


More Jakob

Mike had a baby!

I have so much to write but I am going to try and keep it short.

Monday/Tuesday I got home from the hospital at 1:00 am and at 1:25 am Mike called me in excruciating pain in his lower right abdomen. I was at Ronald McDonald and told him I was on my way. I was 10 minutes into the drive and he decided to drive himself to the hospital. SCAAARYYYY. He made it safely, I think because I was praying so hard. I was also praying that it wasn’t his appendix. I did not want him in one hospital and my babies in another. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. By the time I got there, in record time, they have found out what was wrong with him. He decided he wanted to have a baby too- he was passing a kidney stone. Thank goodness! That was much better than the appendix. They did a CAT scan and found that he had already passed it 95%. We spent the night in the ER. Mike was passed out from all the drugs he demanded and I was pumping every 2 hours and listening to all the other crazy patients. I got back to Ronald McDonald at 7:20 am. Just in time for my doctor appointment at 8:00.

Keeping it short isn’t really working so far . . .

Wednesday my Aunt Julie flew in for a visit. Hooray! The babies are at such a fun stage. She was able to hold and feed them. Most people don’t know that preemies do not do well with stimulus. The normal things that you do to babies like rubbing, patting, and holding them really stress preemies out. When the babies were first born we had to be really careful not to over stimulate them. So, no one got to hold them other than Mike and I. Now that they are getting bigger they are more stable and can tolerate a little more stimulus. Jakob still struggles and we have to be really careful not to over stimulate him. He does really well with skin-to-skin holding.

Friday Mike went in to the NICU and took care of the babies and Julie and I worked on moving more stuff from Crestline, unpacking and organizing the new house. Exhausting! I had a hard time being away from my babies. We went in that night and stayed a looonnnggg time.
Saturday morning Julie and I went back to the house to help Mike some more and when we got there, the people from our church were there. They were busy cleaning, organizing, moving big furniture, lining shelves with liner, fixing things. A couple of women took all the baby clothes home to wash, fold, and organize them. Dana even went and bought us a boxspring, delivered it, and set up our bed. We had to leave our box spring in Crestline because it wouldn’t fit down our stairs. It was amazing! We moved less than a week ago and already the church has welcomed us with open arms. It is such a relief to me. I know that I will have so much support and help. We don’t have any family here and I was worried about getting people to help. I am no longer worried.

Julie went home with promises to come again. I am trying to recover from a week of little sleep, a lot of work (I am wimpy, no muscles), and fun with babies. Here are the pictures and baby stats.


Anthony

He is the worrier. He always has this worried look on his face. He is very alert and just stares. He is more of a night owl. I think that is my fault.

He is working on nippling. He sucks a lot but sometimes not much comes out of the bottle. He needs to work on getting stronger muscles.

He is 1908 grams 4 lb 3 oz He can be taken out of his incubator. We are just waiting for an available open crib. His incubator is turned off and he is keeping his body temp.

He is off oxygen!


Michael

He is the calmest baby. He rarely cries. He is so alert and when you hold him he will just stare at you with his huge eyes. I wish I knew what he was thinking.

He is in an open crib. He is working on nippling still. Sometimes he takes his whole bottle, sometimes he takes less.

He weighs 2020 grams 4 lb 7 oz

Jaileigh

The princess knows that she is the princess. She knows what she wants and is very vocal about it. She does not like her diaper dirty and she does not like to be hungry.

She cries if she doesn't get to nipple. Yesterday she took her whole bottle under 10 minutes. She was acting like she was starving.

She likes to poop and pee all over whom ever is changing her. She projectile pooped all over her bed again and had to get a new one. That is really gross for a little girl.

1769 grams 3 lbs 14 ozs

Daddy gave her a tub bath last night. The nurses are doing a great job of training Mike so that when they get home he will be useful.


Jakob
Little Jakob is no longer the smallest. He passed Jaileigh and left her in the dust. He is now nippling and took his first whole bottle this morning. Toni, his nurse, is a miracle worker! He is tolerating more stimulus and we are able to hold him more. He is still the "stressiest" baby.

He is more alert than he used to be. He will also look at you when he is held. He doesn't stay awake as long as the other three. He has the cutest little bottom. I just want to pinch it.

He is 1840 grams 4 lb 1 oz. He can also be taken out of his incubator!

Michael and Jaileigh cuddling.

"This is my mommy time, go away!" Jakob is telling Jaileigh


Jakob and Jaileigh- "Fine I'll share mommy, I'll even let you suck on my fingers."


Melissa, one of our favorite nurses, with Jakob. She has already promised to come live with us (right Melissa?)


Daddy holding the babies- Jakob, Jaileigh, Anthony, Michael
Aunt Julie, proud parents, and the babies


Aunt Julie and Michael having an intense conversation about life.

Anthony sleeping with his pacifier. He looked so peaceful.

Jaileigh and Daddy- look at her little hands.

Daddy giving his first tub bath to Jaileigh.

Bottle feeding after the bath.

just a teaser

I promise to post more today

quick update

Just so you don't worry, the babies are doing fine. Gaining weight, nippling, and looking cute. I will post a big one soon.

We Are Moving

Call us crazy but we are adding to our stress level. We are moving right now. Mike is actually at our old home moving stuff at this moment. For those of you who know where we live you will understand. We live in the mountains far away from the hospital and doctors. It snows in the winter and you have to chain up your vehicle to get off the mountain. I really didn't want to be doing this every time I had to take the babies to the doctor.

So we are going through the bad (the move) to get to the good (bigger safer house). My family came to visit Labor Day weekend and ended up packing. I went up one day and packed and poor Mike has had to do the rest. Please pray for him that he will stay healthy and sane! Once this is over I hope that it will be smooth sailing. I told Mike he better not change jobs. I think I would go insane if another stressful change was added to our lives.

Oh and I almost forgot- I've never seen the house we are moving too. Mike had to pick it out all by himself. I completely trust his judgement though. He came home with a suburban one day that he bought for a steal and I love it. I feel like I have checked out of life and I just live in the NICU. I am so blessed to have a husband that is willing to pick up the slack.

Good news about the babies- they are growing. We have a new doctor because they have graduated. They are now called growers and feeders. Here are the new weights, as of last night.

Anthony 1643 grams 3 lb 10 oz

Michael 1781 grams 3 lb 15 oz (at 1800 grams they get to come out of their isolettes)

Jaileigh 1560 grams 3 lbs 7 oz

Jakob 1575 grams 3 lbs 7 oz

Yes, Little Jakob passed Jaileigh in weight. She is nippling once a shift and this is taking a lot of her calories. She is doing so good at the nippling though. She takes half to 3/4 of her milk by bottle. The boys are not doing as well. They really like the easy life of getting the milk poured down their tubes. They are all practicing nippling but no one is as good as she is.

Here are a few pictures.

Jakob- He has a smaller cannula so his nose should start shrinking down to normal size.




The burritoes all lined up. The order is Jakob (smiling), Jaileigh (sucking on her fingers), Michael(sleeping), and Anthony (with his wonderful NICU haircut)


Michael was having a bad dream (see his frown)



Michael doing the one eyed peek


Jaileigh all dressed up for Daddy

Daddy and Jaileigh


Anthony loving his pacifier

Jaileigh trying to suck on my thumb. She was really holding on to my thumb and sucking on hers.

Neon Milk, Nippling, Cannulas

Happy 5 weeks! We now have 33 weekers. I can't believe how time flies! It seems like yesterday when they were born and already they are 5 weeks old.

All babies are over 3 pounds finally!

Michael is 3 lbs 11 oz - Here he is sucking his thumb.

Anthony is 3 lbs 7 oz - Anthony rooting around for food. He has started to be very vocal about what he wants.



Jaileigh is 3 lbs 3 1/2 oz The Princess sleeping- notice there isn't anything in her nose!


Jakob is 3 lbs 3 oz - Little Jake is catching up. Daddy comforting him.



Jaileigh is also off her nasal cannula. On Saturday we took her off and she never looked back. Her face is so pretty without all the tape all over. Anthony is very close to having his taken off. He usually removes it himself and uses it as a pacifier. Jakob is a few days behind but he is getting there.


Our neonatologist gave us permission to start nippling last week. They all suck on pacifiers while they eat and we dip them in breast milk. They also wake up for their feedings and they root when they are hungry. This is typical 35 week stuff they tell us, not 32 week stuff. Maybe our children our smart?! The sucking, tasting, and full tummy feeling helps them figure out the eating process a little. Babies don't get the suck, swallow, breath reflex in utero until they are 35 weeks.

Yesterday we gave Jaileigh and Anthony bottles and started the actual "nippling" process. Jaileigh has a very strong suck and was able to take 12 cc out of 30 cc on her first try. She got tired and fell asleep after that. We gavaged the rest. Anthony has a little bit weaker suck and worked really hard to get 2 cc out of 30cc. I really thought he drank more than her because he was sucking so much more. Neither one of them had desats or bradies and they didn't choke. Today we will try Michael. We had so much company yesterday we only had time for 2 babies to try.


Anthony chowing down. He only bottle fed once. We can try them once a shift (nurse shift) until they catch on.

Jaileigh- she drank from a bottle 2 times yesterday. Once during day shift and once during night shift. Both times she did great.



Mike got to hold all 4 babies too. The nurses all felt sorry for him because he misses out on so much not being able to come in at night. The night nurses got everything ready for him to be able to hold all the babies on day shift. He was so excited. He asked me if I was going to post the pictures of him and they babies or if I was going to "hog all the attention". I should have dedicated a Mike and the babies blog.

The order: Anthony "Mr. Serious", Jakob "deep sleeper", Michael "the ham", and Jaileigh "the Princess" wondering what the boys are doing.

Jaileigh woke up for her picture.




Proud Daddy









Anthony is smiling, Jakob is still sleeping, Michael is probably pooping, and Jaileigh is sleeping




We broke the rules (actually we got permission) and let Grandma Mitzi and Aunt Rori hold the babies.

Grandma and Little Jakob


Rori and Jaileigh



Yesterday I had neon yellow milk for a couple of pumpings. I took a Vitamin B complex and it turned my milk neon yellow! The nurses thought it was quite hilarious. I did not think it was funny at all. It was actually a little embarrassing. Needless to say, I will not be taking that vitamin anymore! and sorry no pictures of that.


And yes, I have been a little under the weather the last couple of days. Life was supposed to get easier the older and more "out of the woods" your babies are, but it hasn't. I am still pumping (sucking the life out of me) every 2 hours in the day and every 3 hours at night. I spend the majority of my time in the NICU. When I'm not there I am doing BABY laundry, trying to nap, or pumping. I tried to slip in some other activities last week and it backfired on me. On Friday I went to the ER, because every doctor decided to take Labor Day weekend off, to figure out what was wrong with me. I had allergy/asthma symptoms but I haven't had either since I was pregnant. The diagnosis is that I am overtired and need to sleep more. So, I have been sleeping a little more, cut out the other activities (picking the dogs up from the groomer), and trying to eat better and I am feeling better.