Briley Kate...3 weeks old!!

                                             BK with Momma

                  Haha...Grandma Ju Ju hates this hat, but I think its cute!

            I have my daddy's wedding band on my arm!

Briley was 3 weeks old on monday...big girl!!  Today, I would be 31 weeks pregnant.  Can you believe that?  Most women are no where near thinking about having a baby at that gestational age, and my little darling is 3 weeks old.  She is still taking the same amount of breastmilk (20cc's) and now weighs 2 pounds 9 ounces, anyone care to guess what she will weigh next monday? Hopefully 3 pounds!!  So far we have no had any major setbacks.  The oxygen has been taken off and put back on, but that is a very minor thing; however, yesterday we were informed that she needed a blood transfusion.  Apparently, this is a very common thing for preemies but as a mother nothing is common.  Unfortunately, Layla had a blood transfusion immediately prior to her passing...while I know in my head that the circumstances are completely different between the two girls, I still couldn't tell my heart that.  I prayed over her knowing that this was a decision that only we could make.  The symptoms she was having pushed us to go ahead and consent to the transfusion.  She finished it last night around 11, and tolerated everything fine!  Praise the Lord!!  I could never imagine how much I would love my little girl and how hard it would be to make decisions that would effect her life.  Please keep her in your prayers...that we keep growing and that her immune system would keep infections far away.  

Look Momma and Daddy...no oxygen!!

Briley Kate and I got to snuggle for 2 hours today!  When I got there they had decided to take her oxygen off and see how she did.  So far she had had a good day and I was interested to see if she could keep her sats up when I held her...and she did!!  Oxygen sats for a healthy newborn should be around 94-100%, Briley's usually stay around 90-100%.  Snuggle time had her sats at 97% pretty steadily which is fantastic!  Here's a picture of her without her oxygen in her nose.  I brought a preemie hat up for her to wear, and you can see how big it is still.  But we're trying to grow!  

Growing Baby Girl

So Brian and I have been out of town for a few days while he coached his tournament team.  We knew our little girl was in good hands, but it was very hard leaving town.  Luckily, Briley Kate took that time to do some serious growing!!  She now weighs in at 2 pounds 7 ounces.  It probably doesn't sound like much, but it warms my heart to see her "chubby" little cheeks!  Every ounce at this point is crucial.  She weighed 2 pounds 2 ounces at birth, and lost down to 1 pound 14 ounces...so go girl...keep that tummy full!  We're up to 20cc's every two hours on  her feedings, and she has even shown some interest in sucking.  The pacifier looks HUGE compared to her little mouth, but i'm proud of her.  One of the requirements of going home is learning how to suck on a bottle.  It's funny the little things you take for granted when you see a healthy full term baby...so many obstacles ahead, but so many that we've already overcome!  Praise the Lord for His mighty hand in all of this.  Will post 3 week pictures soon!

Briley Kate...2 weeks old!

                                             Tiny Little Feet!

                                           Briley Kate "Snoodle Head"

                                                     At one glance

                                                     I love you

                                                     with a thousand hearts

                                                         ~ Mihri Hatun

Here's a few updated pictures of our growing baby girl!  She weighs about 2 pounds 2 ounces in these pictures.  As of today, they are adding some calories and vitamin fortifiers to the breastmilk so that she can start to gain some weight.  (yay!)  She is up to 18cc's/every 2 hours on her feeds and is still on oxygen...1/2L by nasal cannula which you can see in the pictures.  She's a peanut but a fighter!  They do developmental care in the Neonatal ICU...they use what is called a Snoodle.  They send the snoodles home with the mother so I can wash it and sleep with it (that gets my scent on the blanket)...then they place the snoodle over her head in the incubator so that she get's used to how i smell and it makes for an easier transition.  We have all become very fond of the snoodle (you'll see it in some of the pictures) and it seems to be very therapeutic for her.  Our biggest hurdle right now is that Briley Kate remains free from infection while her body and immune system are so fragile.  We will try to keep this updated as much as possible.  Thanks everyone for the support that you have given our family over the past two weeks.  We really are blessed to have each of you in our lives. 

Growing Babies

23 Weeks!! and every bit of it.  This was the day of the baby shower (shout out to Katie, Lin, and Lauren!)  Proud daddy is excited about his baby girls!


16 weeks! 3 weeks after finding out that we were having twins.  We barely knew at this point what the Lord had in store for us.

Almost 28 weeks!!

I will be 28 weeks this coming wednesday...praise the Lord!!  As many of you know this has been a very long and difficult pregnancy for Brian and I.  The babies have been trying to make a weekly debut since 23 weeks.  We're so blessed that we have been given as much time as we have and hope to give these little girls even more.  For every bit of time we give them, gives them the world.  We love them even though we have not met them!!  We are SO grateful for all of the prayers...God holds our family in the palm of His hand and we have complete trust in Him.