Two weeks old!!!

Well, it seems like time flies as fast after giving birth as it did before. I can't believe the girls are two weeks old!! I want time to SLOW down!!! Each and every day the girls grow and change and meet new milestones. They are beating all odds and progressing much faster and better than any of the staff at Maine Med predicted. And each and every day I fall more and more in love with them. Each day I spend with them in the hospital makes it harder and harder to leave them and head for home at the end of the day. Nobody ever tells you about the feelings that you have for your own children the second they come into your life. That is probably because it's an emotion that simply can't be explained... it just has to be experienced. I am so grateful that I finally found that emotion and will cherish it forever.

Onto the girls and how they are doing!! As I said in my last post, after 5 1/2 days in the NICU, the girls graduated to the Continuing Care Unit. Over the past 9 days, LOTS has happened. All

three girls are gaining weight at a great rate! They were born at about 3 lb 14oz and now they are weighing in at 4lb 5oz(Charlie & Reese) and 4lb 3oz (Maizie). All three girls have moved out of their isolettes and are now in bassinets. It's so great to have them out of those incubators because it's much easier to give fly by kisses as you walk by. :) They have all been put to my breast, but are still not quite strong enough to transfer any significant quantity of milk. My milk production is still a little behind as well, which makes it hard. I am pumping every 2-3 hours and am slowly seeing an increase. Hopefully that will continue.

Over the last few days, Charlie(pictured above) has taken all her meals via bottle and had

her feeding tube pulled. She is a little piggy! Reese(pictured below) happened to pull her tube

out last night on her own, but since she took her full meals from a bottle today, they didn't replace it. Hopefully she can keep up with her sister and not have to return to the tube feedings.

Maizie(pictured to the right) is slowly but surely catching up to her sisters. She continued to have some digestive issues after moving out of the NICU. Due to having to slow down her feeding progression, she fell a little behind her sisters. She tried her first bottle today and did really well! Hopefully she will have that tube pulled in no time!

Our neonatologist is absolutely wonderful and has taken such good care of our girls. I was chatting with her yesterday morning and said very casually... "so, how much warning are you going to give us before these girls are going to come home?" She looked at me and said, "well, I g

uess I should probably give you a warning about Charlie... she could go home tomorrow or the next day." What?!?!? That sure isn't much of a warning! I mean, we have been waiting for this moment for years and it's finally here and I wasn't sure if I was ready! I have had 24 hours to take it in and realize that we ARE ready and are so excited to welcome the girls home. It's not set in stone, but there is a real possibility that Charlie will be coming home with us tomorrow afternoon. If not tomorrow, then likely Friday. What a New Year's celebration we will have! As for the others, Reese is likely only a few days behind Charlie and Maizie is maybe another week after that. She is only behind because of her feeding schedule. She needs time to prove that she can take all her meals via bottle. Our doctor said she is

10-14 days out, but I tell you, with the way all three of them have blown the time lines recently, I bet she is home in a week.

So, there you have it! The Savage girls are getting ready to come home!!! Nathan and I are thrilled to finally welcome them into our home. The adventure is about to take on a whole new meaning! Love to you all...