Three Months Old

Yesterday Keagan and CJ were THREE MONTHS OLD!! Things at home have been going really well and both kids have been thriving as promised by the NICU doctors and nurses-WooHoo! 

We are both doing a fantastic job of sticking to our schedule: diaper, EAT, snuggle, sleep every three hours. Mom and Dad are extremely thankful for this :) 

Keagan weighed 5 lb 15 oz this past Friday, so she is probably way over 6 pounds now. Her hair looks pretty red in this pic and yes, both her and her bro have a definite strawberry blond thing happening! 

Working on his dance moves...the hands and arms are always moving when he's awake. 

Both kids are now consistently off their oxygen making for all these great photo ops.   In the last 24 hours, neither baby has needed the oxygen at all. We are now just doing spot checks with the pulse ox to check oxygen saturation. We went for a walk today and didn't bring ANY machines or oxygen-it was very exciting.  

Fat and happy :)
This guy weighed 8 lb 1 oz last week-his average gain right now is 2 ounces a day-it is great "catch up" weight. 

PRETTY IN PINK
Auntie Stef made me my first tutu so we had to have a mini photo shoot on Sunday!


One week from Thursday will be our "actual" due date-June 30th.
We'll post again then or shortly thereafter with their weights that day-it continues to be amazing to see how far they've come in 3 months.

HOME!

The family made it safe and sound to Palatine on Thursday. The babies did so well on the car ride and slept the whole way. We made it through our first two nights at home and are only slightly exhausted :) I know we promised pictures so I wanted to get those posted today!

We also wanted to take a moment to share with all of our friends and family that the doctors gave us strict orders this week in regards to going home:

1. Keagan and CJ are not allowed out in public for 2 months (we'll be going for A LOT of walks)
2. Visitors are going to be extremely limited-the doctor said 2 people at a time and that might be all in a day. The two primary reasons for this are exposure to germs and energy. The germs are an easy one to understand-they've been in limited contact with the outside world since birth. The energy one is a little different than most full term infants-our kids basically get to be held for a half hour after their bottles and then need to lay down to get 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep. If that doesn't happen, we are risking them burning more energy than they have coming in with calories consumed. With people over-it is hard to make that happen. 

We wish we could visit with and see all of you who have been such huge supporters of our family but for now, we are going to let these kiddos grow a little stronger. We will continue with the blog and post lots of pictures so you can continue to watch these awesome kids grow! Thanks for all your love and support and prayers-we are so lucky to have so many amazing friends and family in our lives!

HOORAY!! It is finally time to go home...82 days in the NICU  was enough for me (but loved meeting all the wonderful people along the way)!

BIG brother CJ (tipped the scales today at 7 lb 1 oz :)) getting some good
cuddling from  Keagan (5 lb 5 oz)

The kids were rocking in their new matching car seats-this is pretty much what they looked like the whole way home!

I think he's trying to make a duck face after his first bath at home-I don't know what a duck face would look like but I think this works?!?

A perfect princess

**Be looking for a post shortly that will feature pictures of the REMOVAL of Daddy's beard in ridiculous facial hair stages!! 

The road ahead...

Thursday is a BIG day for our little family.  Keagan will be discharged Thursday morning and we will finally hit the road for the long trek north to Palatine!!! 

Keagan's progress over the last few days has been remarkable and she has joined the ranks of the NICU "graduates."

Every so often it pays to take a look over your shoulder to see the road you've just traveled and the hurdles you've just crossed.  Being born at 25 weeks will not define Keagan or CJ, and it will likely end up just a footnote in their biographies....but it will be a pretty big footnote. 

CJ and Keagan have endured, and overcome, immense challenges. 

The first, and most obvious, they were born extremely premature, 102 days before their "due date."  A random Clayton fact: In 102 days the crew of the sailing yacht Groupama 3 could sail AROUND THE WORLD....TWICE.

We’ve seen dozens of children come and go from the NICU who were in “worse” shape than CJ and Keagan.  Our kids have seemingly avoided the most common causes of concern/medical issues for preemies: serious brain bleeding (CJ's final head scan showed "complete resolution" of his original bleeds and all clots are gone. Keagan's infarction is no longer there!), retina damage/blindness, heart/PDA surgery (Keagan's PDA is still open but still not an issue), gastrointestinal issues and physical deformities (other than the "toaster" heads!!) They will each have their own struggles and the lasting health effects from their battles won't be known for a very long time, but for the most part they’re healthy little kids. 

The reality is that the “odds” were not in CJ and Keagan’s favor 3 months ago.  The road they’ve traveled has not been smooth.  However, along the way, they’ve battled everything that’s been thrown at them and they are THRIVING. 

We will post an update on Friday with some pictures, but keep us in your thoughts and prayers for a safe trip home!