NICU Days With the Quads!

I arrived here yesterday morning making the trip in near record time - for ME!

4 hours 16 minutes!

Amber and I spent the afternoon at the NICU and I held Trystan Lee for the very first time! She is a wise little owl. Trystan was the 'gatekeeper' - the baby at the very BOTTOM - holding that 'gate' closed! And a GOOD one she was TOO!

"Now just WHOOOOOO did you say you are? My GRANDma???"

I had thought - we all thought - a baby may be coming home while I am down here but, alas, it will not be for another week or so. Little Miss Trystan had been taking all 8 of her feeds by bottle but this simply WORE HER OUT!!

You will notice the feeding tube is back in. Plus both Trystan and Logan had a 'Bradys.' This is where there heart rate drops really low. While this is common in preemies, they do NOT want to send babies home when they are still doing that!

The baby must go 7 days without a Brady so the count started over.

This is Miss Kailey - the baby that looks most like Amber.

Next time I come down I will bring Amber's baby book so she can see for herself.

Kailey ripped HER feeding tube out the other day but they replaced it yesterday.

The formula they don't take from a bottle is then given to them through the tube.

Harrison also had a feeding tube put back in. I took pictures of them BEFORE so you can see their pretty faces! Amber is certainly looking pretty these days!

Sweet little boy!

Logan Lee - born the 'Peanut' of the four weighing only 2 lb 6 oz - is no longer the smallest! She alone of all the babies has NO feeding tube and gobbles all her feeds down in 10 minutes flat!

These pics are from yesterday. I admit to being a tired Grandma when we got home last night! Amber had put some delicious short ribs in the crock pot so we came in and ate while we watched the Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. We missed this when it came out during the quad pregnancy and vowed we would see it after the babies arrived and so we did!

Today was another busy day. Let's face it! With the quads EVERY day is going to be a busy day!!

We started the day with a trip to the hair salon - for Amber.

There were several classy little boutiques nearby - but I had spied a GOODWILL so I trotted myself down there and found several great finds! From Bill Blass white pants to several Ann Taylor tops and a Liz Claiborne chambray shirt - I was super pleased with my shopping expedition!

Back in the days when Amber was covering a lot of openings and events she and her friend, Lisa, would stop in at this Japanese Sushi Bar and have lunch.

They liked it because it had easy parking and a peaceful relaxing atmosphere - not to mention good food! She was telling me about it and since we were headed to the hospital to eat in the cafeteria anyway - she decided to whip right in and that's where we had lunch! Perhaps the LAST quiet lunch out together for some time!

I'm not big on sushi so I had a Kobe hamburger and sweet potato fries.

It all TASTED as good as it LOOKED!!

And I ate every single solitary BITE!!

Then we headed to the NICU where we spent the remainder of the day and stayed until nearly 10:00 pm. A volunteer group had brought a dinner of roasted chicken, green beans and macaroni and cheese in for the NICU families. That made it easy to stay later tonight! Next visit I will bring a cake to share with the ones at the Ronald McDonald House. This place has been such a blessing to us!

NICU days are busy days and I have been busy learning how to feed, burp, hold, and bathe preemies. 

I even needed to learn how to wrap these babies up like burritos!

I have fed all four babies - Logan is the easiest!

Harrison is the hardest!

I gave Trystan and Kailey baths tonight.

It is the evening shift that weighs, measures, bathes and changes their clothes.

Amber and Mike have 2 closets chock full of cute outfits and soft cuddly blankets.

The nurses enjoy dressing the babies up!

I can't tell you how grateful I am to get all this 'Traing Time!'

I have learned SO much and will be more comfortable caring for the quads now.

The nurses and staff are wonderful at sharing all the tips they know and since several of them have had the quads since they arrived - SIX weeks ago now! - they even share the specifics that work for THAT particular baby!

We got home late this evening and I am bone tired.

But I will be ready to do it all again in the morning!