Visit to our old Stomping Ground

On the 19th, we had to take Will and Kate to Phoenix for an appointment with the pulmonologist. We are still working to try and get them off of their oxygen. Not definite, but the pulmonologist hopes that our last appointment with him will be in March. Amazing, maybe only a month or 2 more of oxygen. Once that is gone, we will think life with twins will be pretty easy. At the least, we will be able to get out a little more often, which will help to get Ben away from the TV.

Also, when we went to Phoenix we were able to go by St. Joseph's and we saw our primary nurses (well, most of them). Even Edith and Josephine (my nurses in antenatal when I was on bedrest) were working that day. Marina was working and Lisa drove over to meet us at the hospital. We also saw Sarah, who was a primary for another child in Will and Kate's pod, that helped us a lot and ironically her name is Sarah Kate (the two names we were thinking of for Kate). Of course, we were not able to see our night primaries (sorry we missed you, Janeen and Jeannie). We also weren't able to see our neonatalogist, Dr. Fortunov, because she was on leave since she had her first baby - it is a girl!! Congratulations Regine!! Everyone was of course impressed how big they had gotten. Josh and I thought it felt like we had never left there., and Ben wanted to immediately go to the snack machine and the waiting room - his two favorite places there. Enjoy the pictures.

Pictures

If you join Facebook.com, you can see some more pictures of the babies and Ben.  They are under Mary Hampton Lovekamp.  We will probably be putting more pictures on Facebook because of the ease of use.  Keep checking back though, because we will update this blog once in a while.  Thanks to everyone for your support.

4 Months Old!

Well, we're still here but as most of you might imagine, finding time to update the blog has been somewhat difficult.  Above is a sampling of recent images with a few taken on the first day or two after they were born to provide some perspective.  As you I'm sure can tell, they have both been doing a lot of growing, although of the two of them, Kate is definitely the better eater and it shows.  At their last doctor's appointment on Monday we learned that she had finally surpassed Will, weighing in at 9 pounds 7 ounces.  Will was just behind her at 9 pounds 6 ounces.  Tomorrow we are heading to Phoenix to return Kay to the airport (she has been here for 2 weeks to visit and help out - THANKS!) and to visit the pulmonologist for a second time.

Although they are both still on oxygen and apnea monitors, they appear to be progressing and we expect that in the next week or so we'll be able to wean their oxygen back slightly, although I think it will probably be another month or so before they're off completely.  The same will most likely go for the apnea monitors unless the doctor feels especially generous tomorrow....we'll see.

Well, that's all for now.  I hope that everyone out there is doing well and if any of you get a wild hair and want to make a trip to Flagstaff to pull some all-nighters you are more than welcome!  I can't promise it will be as much fun as some all-nighters we might have had before but I'm sure you'll remember it!

Love -

Josh, MH, Ben, Will, and Kate