Milestones

I went into today thinking it was going to be one of the roughest days of my life.  Being so far away from my little angels for the first time, even if it's only a 35 minute drive.  Luckily through most the day I was keeping myself occupied while it lingered in the back of my mind that as soon as Austin got home we could leave and go see the babes.

I got a call in the middle of the day from the practitioner on the NICU floor evaluating the twins.  She let me know that at 3am Oakley was wide awake from the morphine and they had decided to take her off the oscillator and put her on the CPAP and in fact she was doing so well they only had it turned to setting 7 (10 needing the most help).  She said Kenzington is still on the CPAP but needing a little more help than her sister with her setting being a 9.  We were still happy to hear that they both no longer have the tubes in their mouths and are gradually getting better.  She then let me know that around 2pm they would be doing the echos to check to see if the PDA treatment was successful and if they needed to give them their 3rd dose or not.

Today is our 2 yr anniversary and neither of us planned anything.  When it was time for us to leave I mentioned we should grab some food as an "anniversary dinner" before we went to see the girls.  Our place of choice?  Kneaders, conveniently located right across the street from the Hospital! =D

After a nice relaxing eat and a few laughs at how silly we were for making this our Anniversary dinner spot.  We headed over to the hospital.
Once we got up to the NICU floor we were greeted by the nurse who had been with them the night before.  She was thrilled to see us and tell us the news of the twins day.
Instantly she started chirping "Mom gets to hold her girls today!"--My jaw dropped and I was in awe simply replying "Shut up".  Wide eyed and smile from ear to ear I made her repeat her self.
It was true today Austin and I were going to get to hold our girls for the first time.  What an amazing anniversary gift!

Before we could get to snugglin' they needed a diaper change and guess who got to do it! US! :)  Silly when you get all excited to change a baby's diaper right?

Luckily it was just a wet one and nothing too serious.  It was great watching Austin with Kenzington as he proceeded to ask the nurse, "How do I wipe this?  I've only changed boy diapers".  <3

Then came the best part.  Since they were still on CPAPS we were only able to hold the one so I took Oakley and Austin took Kenzington---

Way too cute I started to cry a bit!  He got to witness first hand how wide eyed Kenzlee likes to be she even worked herself up so much she got the hiccups.

She was trying really hard to get that mask off her face while gripping my finger like she couldn't let go and blew some of the biggest bubbles I've seen!

It truly hit me then and there that these were my girls.  I was holding something that will be a part of us for the rest of our lives.  I just couldn't even wait to be able to do this daily in the comforts of our own home.  Watching them grown and learn new things around them.

We each sat there in awe for what didn't seem like long enough until the nurse said it was time to put them back in their beds to rest up for the night.

Another amazing thing that the nurse told us was that after the girls echos today they found that the PDAs had closed!!!! They no longer would need the treatments!  I cannot believe how blessed we were to have such great changes in the right direction.  She also mentioned that their lungs are looking better and they are hoping to make progression off the CPAPS within the next few days.

So tonight is another night away from them and I'm just as nervous as the last even after such improvement.  I have had such great advice from friends and family that I know we are going to make it through this and soon we will be worrying about what outfit to put them in or how many more diapers we need to get from the store. =D

We have been blessed and are loved by so many it brings me to tears!  <3

Lets hope and pray for another amazing night for the girls.  I cannot wait to see them again tomorrow.