One Week Old (and a day)

Olivia Blair Smith - all stretched out





Peyton Lee Smith - smiling at Mommy





Yesterday was Peyton and Olivia's 1 week birthday!

It still feels like a dream sometimes especially since they are not at home with me, but it is the best dream in the world. Tracy and I go to the hospital every night when he gets off work to visit the babies and some days I get to go over earlier in the day - but it is hard because I have to find someone who can give me a ride since I am not allowed to drive yet. I have actually realized that even though I want to be there all day, everyday, I need to stay at home and rest and recover for now because I am exhausted and stressed and an emotional wreck most days. Crying is a daily event for me but most of the time they are happy tears. I can not believe that our babies are finally here and although we want them home more than anything it is kind of nice having them in the NICU because we feel like we are learning so much from all the wonderful nurses who care for Peyton and Olivia. Everyone is so positive and helpful it is like they are part of our family.
Medical Stuff
Olivia is doing good... she continues to have some "spells" (forgetting to breath) but she is off of all breathing devices. She has a feeding tube in her nose still but she is eating only breast milk and Thursday I actually got to nurse her! It was the best feeling in the world. I was worried that it would be weird but it almost made me cry when she immediately latched on. She is, what they call, cue based feeding, which means that if she looks like she is hungry then they will feed her so whenever I go in to visit now I get to get her out and try to feed her. Last night when I tried to feed her she ate a ton. The nurse gave her less than half of her normal feeding after to make sure she got enough but everyone was so surprised and happy that she did so well! She is getting a fat tummy and gaining weight. She now weighs 3 lbs 6 oz which is 1oz more than she was when she was born!
Peyton is also doing good... he has been taken off all breathing devices but may have to go back on the nasal canula because he is having more "spells" and they do not want him to have to work so hard. Today the doctor put in the order for him to start "cue feeding" so hopefully I can nurse him tonight. I think it is going to take a little longer for him to get it because of his breathing, but he is a strong little boy so who knows. He is gaining weight and doing very good digesting his food - since he is eating only breast milk. He weighs 3 lbs 8 oz now and when he was born he weighed 3 lbs 12oz but that is ok he is gaining and getting a fat little belly just like his sister. Thursday night Peyton almost peed on me... I had no idea that little thing could shoot that far!
Both babies are getting more food at every other feeding which is helping them gain weight but they are also adding nutrients to my milk and they think that they will be able to get rid of the IV's soon. It will make holding them sooooo much easier without that bundle of tubes on their arms.
We take tons of pictures and we decided that we would make weekly photo albums from all the pictures we print so we can look at them whenever we can't be at the hospital.

September 14th

It is wild to think that a week ago I was put on bed rest because Olivia was in a position that could cause me to go into early labor. Two days after that a test was done that would predict if the babies could come early and it was negative. The next day we were heading to the hospital and our beautiful babies were born. We have been through so much in the past 4 days that it is hard to believe that it is all real but when we get to look in the eyes of our twins it brings us back to reality.
Today was a good day. Tracy and I took the day to rest and recover and went to the hopsital at 4:00pm to visit the babies. Olivia's nurse told us that she was doing great and that the Doctor was going to remove her nasal canula tomorrow and she will not have any breathing assistance anymore. She will continue to tan in the billy ruben light but it is really cute because they put goggles on her that look like sunglasses. When we go at night we get to help with her care time and we do temperature, diaper, and we get to hold her while she is fed through her feeding tube. Tracy and I take turns on who gets to hold her first (the longest) but it is such a great feeling because she looks at us and smiles and makes the cutest faces. Olivia has a reputation in the NICU - "Fiesty" She wants what she wants and she wants it now! We love her so much. Peyton is the opposite of her... he is very laid back and quiet (or maybe he is lazy- haha). His report today was awesome... They are backing him off of his C-pack - which helps force air into his lungs to keep them open so he does not have to work so hard to breath. The Doctor told us that he hopes to take him off it completely tomorrow. Then he will be put on a nasal canula to assist his breathing for a couple of days. He is also under the billy light and wearing cool sunglasses and will be under that for a couple of days. The NICU doctor came to talk to us about Peyton today which means that there is a little problem... but he is not too worried at this point. There was blood in Peytons belly today and they did x-rays on him to check everything. The Doctor said that he was not worried and that he feels like it is probably due to the tube that was down his throat when they gave him medication the other day. The tube likely scratched his throat and caused it to bleed. He also started taking a little zantac. All and all both babies are making great progress and when Olivia does something we can pretty much expect Peyton to be doing it in a day or two. We asked the nurse if we could see Peytons eyes and face more today because we still had not seen what he really looks like since he was hooked up to so many things. It was so awesome to finally see his eyes that I actually started to cry. He is so cute and perfect! He stayed awake for a long time today looking at Tracy and I while we talked and laughed and oooooed and awwwwwed.
Today gave us so much hope and made us feel so good because Peyton interacted with us a lot and we got to hold Olivia. It is hard with two babies because Olivia usually interacts more with us so we tend to hang out with her and laugh - since she is awake - while Peyton tends to sleep a little more - and we dont get to touch him as much. Things are changing for the better and we really look forward to holding him in a couple of days. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera today so we did not get to take any pictures of Peyton and his beautiful face but that won't happen again!

The Birth Day

Well most of you already know this but.... Our babies have arrived!
Peyton Lee Smith and Olivia Blair Smith decided it was time to join us on Friday morning at 6:53am and 6:54am. Peyton weighed 3 lbs 12 oz and Olivia weighed 3 lbs 5 oz. Both babies and mommy and daddy are doing well although it is hard having them in the NICU when all we want to do is hold them and kiss them.
I wanted to share some pictures and I will share our story later - I am still in the hospital but hoping to go home tomorrow... and I will have plenty of time to share our story with all the wonderful details.


Olivia with her Daddy


Olivia with her Mommy