Sunday, 9/4/2011 - Happy one week, boys!!

09:00 Just got a call from Dr. Gladstone - everything looks great! He said the boys have essentially been off their oxygen for awhile, because 1L is hardly anything, so they felt very comfortable with taking them completely off of it.  The plan for today is to GROW! Increasing their feeding volumes! Also potential for moving them into the same apartment (isolette) sometime in the very near future. Bath time tonight, and there was mention of clothing, too! Yay!

Pooh and Aidan, one week



Piglet and Jacob, one week


10:00pm Wow, we finally got some good rest last night! We checked into the guest house yesterday, parked the car last night.... That was a fiasco!! I couldn't find the lot where I was supposed to park! After driving around for 10 minutes, I called the manager on call. She told me to just park in the spots in front of the house and we'll figure it out in the morning. We settled into our twin beds and slept soundly...until Amy's breasts woke us up 3 hours later. :P We didn't get up the next morning until 9:00! We are learning to appreciate these little miracles...

Before going to the nursery, we stopped by Target to check out their sale on baby stuff. At least the babies cane right before a big sale weekend! Stocked up on bottles, liners, and Halloween outfits! Even got the bouncy/rocking swings that we've had our eyes on for a couple months. Originally, we were going to gradually pick things up and prepare for their arrival, but now we want to be ready when they get the green light, without having a lot of scurrying around left to do. That, coupled with the sheer excitement of, Oh my GAWD!! They're here!!!! resulted in a bit of a spree today. 8)

We came to the nursery for the 2pm feeding,changed their diapers and Mommy pumped. Then we continued our spree, hitting up Walmart for a crib mattress and preemie clothes (Who'da thunk it??), Toys R Us for their Twilight Turtle, burp pads, and an ice cream cone for Mommy. Then to Macy's for a HUGE sale on a very very very tiny selection of preemie clothes. (No pun intended.) Tried JC Penney but they let us down. Never knew it could be so hard to find clothes for preemies!

By now, Mommy was getting a bit worn thin (Daddy is way too excited about these little boys), so we headed back to the hospital for the 5pm feeding.

What a surprise was in store for us!! We walked into the NICU to a bit of a buzz of excitement in our boys' rooms. Aidan wasn't in his bed!! We rounded the corner into Jacob's room and there they were! The Shumate boys lying happily in the scale, together! Out came the iPhone! Their leads were off, NG tubes removed - they looked like nothing more than our baby boys. Mommy was so ecstatic to see them together, I wasn't sure if she was going to laugh, cry, or both! They were staring into each other's faces, getting their arms, legs, fingers entangled, sucking on each other's noses - at one point I'm certain they were plotting out their next adventure!

They enjoyed a bath by Mommy and Daddy, followed by a relaxing Vitamin E massage. Then I got the biggest treat of all: Daddy heaven! I got to hold them both while Mommy was pumping! Such a joy. I've heard other people talk about the joy of parenthood, the simple pleasure of just being with your children, the heartful/heartbreak of gazing at them as they sleep...let's just say that before today I thought I understood it. I thought I could relate to that kind of joy. But now, these children bring tears to my eyes, make my heart skip, stop, and beat a double-time, all at the same time. A wave of an arm, the blink of an eye, and I'm giddy as a teenager in love! And I don't care what anyone says anymore - those smiles are NOT "just gas!"

After dinner, Mommy and Daddy came back to the NICU to hold our boys (Mommy's turn for Mommy heaven), read them their first story, and relish our little family.