As you know, i've been in NC visiting Mel and Mike and meeting the twins. If you've been following along you already know that Matthew is doing well, but it has been a tough week for James as he's battling his second bout of NEC. I spent quite a bit of time in the NICU and it wasn't at all what i expected. Having spent more than my fair share of time in hospitals with my mom i find them to be depressing, antiseptic places that suck the vitality right out of your eyeballs. Not this place. I mean, yes, there was a low level of terror the whole time waiting to see how James was doing, but generally i found Pod F to be a bright and hopeful place. The nurses were amazing and the equipment was astonishing. People were friendly and genuinely interested and concerned by the twins' progress. The only really hard part for me was that i couldn't touch the boys as they are keeping contaminants to a minimum, which is perfectly understandable, but it took a force of will to not tuck Matthew's perfect little hands back into his swaddling or stroke James' head so that he would know he's not in this battle alone.
We did spend a lot of time talking to both boys and one of my favorite moments was when i heard Mike singing the theme from
I Dream of Jeannie to James.
It was also nice to see Matthew come out of his isolette and be held by both mom and dad. I was also around for some of the breastfeeding practice, but needless to say there are no pics of that. To give you an idea of size, here is Matthew in relation to Mike's arm
He's small, but both boys are bigger than what i was expecting. Neither one seems to be a big crier though Matthew does scream at diaper changes.
It was a bit tough to get pictures in NICU (
sorry for the blurriness, people) cause you shouldn't use a flash and it was generally dim in there. However, here -making their first Nikiverse appearance- are the Barr Twins
Matthew, sometimes called Mattie, is pictured here inside his isolette sporting his cowboy footie pajamas. At 3 pounds, 11 ounces he likes being swaddled, mommy's milk (
he is up to 30mL every 3 hours) and pooping. He hates the degradation of the ozone layer and tubes in his nose.
James, never ever called Jim, Jimmie or the Jimster, is bulking up at 3 pounds, 9 ounces and goes for a more daring diaper-only look. He enjoys his heat lamp, transfusions and his daddy's singing. His turn-offs include mean people and incompetent X-ray techs.
If you haven't been keeping up with the newest, tiniest members of the Nikiverse they can be found at their own blog, Raising the Barrs, which i added to my sidebar.
Next time, i'm cuddling the heck out of them to make up for this time!
It was also nice to see Matthew come out of his isolette and be held by both mom and dad. I was also around for some of the breastfeeding practice, but needless to say there are no pics of that. To give you an idea of size, here is Matthew in relation to Mike's arm 
He's small, but both boys are bigger than what i was expecting. Neither one seems to be a big crier though Matthew does scream at diaper changes.
It was a bit tough to get pictures in NICU (sorry for the blurriness, people) cause you shouldn't use a flash and it was generally dim in there. However, here -making their first Nikiverse appearance- are the Barr Twins
Matthew, sometimes called Mattie, is pictured here inside his isolette sporting his cowboy footie pajamas. At 3 pounds, 11 ounces he likes being swaddled, mommy's milk (he is up to 30mL every 3 hours) and pooping. He hates the degradation of the ozone layer and tubes in his nose.
James, never ever called Jim, Jimmie or the Jimster, is bulking up at 3 pounds, 9 ounces and goes for a more daring diaper-only look. He enjoys his heat lamp, transfusions and his daddy's singing. His turn-offs include mean people and incompetent X-ray techs.
If you haven't been keeping up with the newest, tiniest members of the Nikiverse they can be found at their own blog, Raising the Barrs, which i added to my sidebar.
Next time, i'm cuddling the heck out of them to make up for this time!
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