The girls are doing so well!
Evelyn had a checkup last week and weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. This is exactly what I weighed when I was born. Since the most baby I ever had inside me was 5 lbs. 11 oz., it's hard to imagine having an Evelyn inside of me, let alone an Evelyn plus a Sophie! I have to give a lot of credit to mommies of twins who are pregnant a lot longer than I was! Evelyn is doing great healthwise! She passed her hearing test today, her eye exams have been normal, and she's growing like a weed!
Sophie weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. at her checkup this past week. Her weight gain has been a little slower all along, so we're working on that, but the pediatrician was happy with her recent weight gain. Her eye exams have been a little abnormal, but her eyes have been improving. The ophthalmologist thinks that her eyes will heal themselves and not need any treatment. She passed her hearing test today, but she will need to go back for a recheck in eight months because one of the antibiotics she was on in the hospital can cause hearing loss.
Both Evie and Sophie are a little anemic (low blood counts). This is pretty common for preemies, especially since both of them were in the NICU and had their blood drawn frequently. It doesn't seem it, but when you only have a little bit of blood to begin with, a small blood draw can make a big difference. The girls are both on iron supplements and are having their blood drawn weekly or so to monitor their blood counts.
The girls have adjusted well to eating formula. They eat about every three hours, even during the night. The pediatrician told us that they were allowed to go four hours without eating during the night, but it doesn't matter... Evie makes sure we are awake to feed her every three hours on the dot! It turns out that Evie and Sophie did not forget about each other while they were apart for eight weeks (as I had feared)! Neither of them like to sleep in their crib without the other, but they sleep very well together. If you're friends with Nate or me on Facebook, you may have seen the absolutely adorable pictures that we've posted of the girls in their crib together... even if we lay them at least a foot apart, they manage to scooch toward each other to be closer together.
During the day, the girls are awake for a couple hours, but usually sleep unless they're eating. We can't wait until they're more awake and interactive!
Nate went back to work last week Saturday, so I have been getting used to being at home with both girls when he's gone. I'm going back to work on June 25th. It's going to be so hard to leave the girls, but I also feel ready to start our new normal.
Now that we're home, sometimes it's easy for us to forget where we came from. We don't always remember that less than six months ago we were uncertain whether our girls would be born alive, let alone healthy! We are so thankful that we were blessed with two beautiful, healthy, miracle baby girls. Our journey was far from easy, but I think I speak for both Nate and myself when I say that we would do it all over again for our precious babies! God has been SO good to us!
Thank you for your continued prayers and support!
Love,
Nate, Sara, Evie, and Sophie
I'll leave you with some super adorable pictures!
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| Evie's first tub bath at home |
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| Sophie's first tub bath.. ever! They both loved it! |
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| How to get things done when you have a fussy baby... |
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| Tummy time |
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| 2 months old! |
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| Out for a walk downtown Holland. Don't mind Evie's headband slipping off her head! |
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| Yes, the tiny little thing on that chair across the studio is my little Sophie! We had newborn photos done last week. |
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| Snuggling during a nap |
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| Sophie would not go in her crib without Evie, so I had to lay her next to me while I fed Evie. |
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| Snuggles this morning |
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| They both do so well in their car seats! |
