Ryan & Harper's 4 Month Update

Ryan

Weight: 12lb 5oz
Height: 23 1/2 inches long.
Head: 42cm

Harper
Weight: 15lbs
Height: 24 inches long
Head: 42cm


Sleep: I would say that their sleep cycle is about the same. Ryan has improved some though. They have been going to bed by 7pm each night and usually sleep 4.5-5 hours for the first stretch of the night. With an occasional 6 hour night. ( I love those!) Then every 3-4 from that point on until daylight.

Eat: Ryan is taking 4-5 oz of formula every 3-4 hours. Harper is taking 5-7oz of formula every 3-4 hours. Our pediatrician has given us permission to start solids between 4-6 months! The girls are sitting up really well now and we have their high chairs ready. So tonight is the night that we start trying to introduce eating foods from a spoon. This may take a little practice to get the hang of it but I'm excited! We will be starting off with Squash and then going to sweet potatoes.

Diapers: Same as last month. Harper is in size 2. Ryan is in size 1.

Clothes: Harper & Ryan both jumped to 6 months outfits! The pants are a tad long but we roll them up, not a problem. I can't believe how big they're getting!

Talk: It has become apparant that Harper LOOOVES to talk. It's so much fun to listen too. Ryan talks also but it's so suttle and almost like a purr. adorable.

Other:  The girls expereienced their first snow of the season on Nov 17th!

Milestones:  Ryan has started rolling over from tummy to back this month. She also is on the verge of rolling from her back to tummy. She almost did it last night. She's just a finger tip push away from tipping to her tummy. Exciting! This also makes me nervous because she could start rolling from back to tummy in her crib. I watched her almost do it once on the monitor.

.....and of course I've updated their photos for 4 months. I could juse kiss their little cheeks right off!!!!

 

 

This photo cracks me up!

 

 

 

Reason for lacking in posts...

Hi there! Has another month really slipped by? Here it is November and I didn't post much for October. I had several topics in mind that I wanted to talk about but some changes have have happened in October. B and I have decided to purchase a home for our growing family. Our apartment is just too small for us 4 and our three fur babies. So stay with me if I fall silent... hopefully I get better at this.

So we found a beautiful home in a rural town and it's perfect as our first home. I cannot wait for the girls to start crawling, walking, and discovering their world in the new home. For now we have just started the contract and closing process.. so hopefully come January we will be moving into a more spacious environment!

Also, I wanted to recap on the girls first Halloween. We went to downtown scare on the square with some friends and their 1 year old. It was the perfect day with fall weather! Harper was an adorable pumpkin and Ryan wore a black cat dress. The girls loved being outside and watching the commotion around them. We kept it short and sweet but it was nice to get out as a family and enjoy the evening together. I am looking forward to next Halloween when we have two WALKING toddlers.

I am keeping tonight's post small since the girls have been asleep for an hour now. B works nights and I'm on my own for night duty.. I like to get as much sleep as possible. However, I will leave you with some pictures from Halloween. Enjoy!

Ryan & Harper's 3 Month Update

Ryan
Weight: possibly around 10 1/2 lbs?
Height: we will know at her 4 month appt. She's grown a lot though!
Head: waiting for 4 month appt

Harper
Weight: Our chunky monkey feels like shes close to 12 lbs or more
Height: waiting for 4 month appt
Head: waiting for 4 month appt


Sleep: The girls are starting to sleep in longer stretches. Especially when we've had an active day. Ryan usually sleeps from 3.5-4 hours and Harper goes 4.5-5 hours. They are now on two different sleep cycles which has made our night routine a busy one. Most of the time B and I have one assigned to each of us for the night. Last night I had Ryan and B had Harper.

Eat: They are now on 100% neosure formula. I quit pumping around 7 weeks because of how hectic things were getting. I wasn't able to really enjoy the girls because I knew I had to pump after their feeding and stay on schedule. It was hard to quit since I only want the best for them.. but they deserve a refreshed and happy mom. I don't regret quitting now that I am able to spend quality time with the girls.

Diapers: Harper is in size 2. Ryan is in size 1.

Clothes: Harper is now wearing 0-3 months or 3 months outfits. No more newborns for this girl. Ryan is in between Newborn and 0-3 months. She is long enough for 3 months but still so petite that most of them swallow her.

Talk: Both girls are grunting, cooing, and making tons of noises. They are laughing a lot now a days and I'm enjoying every min. They're small laughs but it's adorable.

Other:  Both girls have been going through a growth spurt these last two weeks. Especially Ryan, who has grown in length the most. As you can see from the comparison of their 8 week photo & 12 week photo

 

 

 

 12 weeks old!

 

 8 weeks old..

 

 

Ryan & Harper's 2 Month Update

Ryan
Weight: 9 lbs
Height: 20 3/4 inches
Head: 39 1/2

Harper
Weight: 10lb 15oz
Height: 21 1/2 inches
Head: 39 1/2


Sleep: We started allowing the girls to eat & sleep on demand at 4-5 weeks. They are waking up every 3 hours on their own. Ryan had a couple nights where she slept 4 to 5 hours straight. Harper slept 5 hours straight on two separate occasions. 

Eat: 25% breastmilk & 75% neosure formula. My supply isn't keeping up with the girls demand so they are becoming more dependent on formula. I started pumping exclusively at 5 weeks when the girls went through a growth spurt. After returning to work at 6 weeks I decided to quit pumping by 7 weeks. Keeping up with feeding the girls, caring for them, and work made pumping difficult. 

Diapers: Both girls are in size newborn diapers.

Clothes: officially in newborn onesies! We were not prepared to have our daughters in preemie clothes so the NICU gave up bags full of preemie outfits for them. So to pay it forward we donated the outfits and new preemie clothes back to the NICU.

Talk: Both girls are grunting, cooing, and making tons of noises.

Other:  
Harper: Started giggling, smiles, a lot, loves the activity mat and swing, follows you with her head when you walk by, and is a great snuggler.

Ryan: Smiles a lot, responds to her name most of the time, loves the bounder, pee'd on mom once, loves pacifiers, and loves watching mom & dad when laying on their chest. 

Together: Started Daycare, they like to out scream one another, they have started focusing on each other when on the mat. 

5 Weeks Old

 

6 Weeks Old

 

 

7 Weeks Old

 

8 Weeks Old

Ryan & Harpers 1 Month Update

Ryan
Weight: 5 lbs 11oz 
Height: posting later
Head: posting later

Harper
Weight: 6lb 11oz
Height: posting later
Head: posting later


Sleep: Due to their low birth weight they are woken up every 3 hours to eat. They do sleep up until it's time to be woken up though. B & I sleep and nap anytime the girls are asleep.

Eat: 50% breastmilk & 50% neosure formula. Neosure formula is a high carolorie formula made to help preemies put on weight. They will stay on this until they catch up on the growth chart. Plus I'm having difficulty with my supply so it's good that they're on formula.

Diapers: We are using Preemie diapers. Harper is close to newborn size.

Clothes: Still wearing preemie outfits. Harper can wear a few newborn onesies but they're big.


Talk: No talking yet. However, Harper loves to make noises when eating.

Other: Both girls have been gaining weight as they should and catching up quickly. In 4 weeks both girls gained over 2 lbs since leaving the hospital. Their pediatrician is amazed at how well they are doing. The girls never required NICU time despite being born at 36 weeks and being very small. Harper tends to smile the most. Ryan loves snuggling with Harper any chance she gets.

1 Week Old

2 Weeks Old 

3 Weeks Old

4 Weeks Old 

Let the Adventure Begin

I have decided to create a blog for the purpose of documenting the struggles, milestones, and adventures that are ahead of us now that our girls have arrived. My husband B and I have been together for 10 years and married 7 of that. We TTC our family from 2007-2012 on our own with no success. In 2010 we discovered that we were suffering from male factor infertility but did not have the financial means to pursue IVF treatment. After two years of prayers for God to provide the avenue we were supposed to take. B got a new position at a hospital which provided insurance coverage up to $15,000.00 on IVF/IUI treatment. Praise GOD!

In 2012 we decided to start treatment and we straight to IVF. Our first try at IVF resulted in a singleton pregnancy. Unfortunately I suffered a miscarriage at 13 weeks after a difficult first trimester that was filled with delayed development. I opted to not do testing on our child because I knew I wouldn't have been able to handle a normal result finding. During our grieving B and I went to Hawaii to recover and find ourselves again. I convinced our RE to test me for MTHFR which came back positive for a mutation of both the C677t and A1298c gene. I knew in my heart that this was the reason we had delayed development in our angel. So, if we decided to do another round of IVF we would have a new protocol to follow in a pregnancy. We spent the next year going to school, enjoying friends, family, and the summer together.

In 2013 God placed it on my heart that we needed to try IVF #2 again. I spent several months listening and trying to decide if this was God's calling or if I was speaking. The thought of IVF was full of anxiety for me. Especially because our insurance would only cover one more try. What if we lose our child? I wasn't ready to face the fact that if it didn't work we wouldn't be able to afford IVF again. During the last month of our Fall semester we decided to go for it. We started IVF #2 in November 2013. This time we left it to go to give us how many embryos we were to transfer. On the day of transfer we had two beautiful embryos to transfer. Twin pregnancy fears aside, we transferred both. 4 weeks later we discovered that we were pregnant with TWINS!

My pregnancy turned out to be more difficult to manage than I thought. I suffered a SCH from 6 to 15 weeks. My incredible OBGYN Dr. V placed me on blood thinners from 7 weeks until delivery to prevent MTHFR from causing issues with the pregnancy. I was also on baby aspirin, folic acid, and double prenatal/DHA's. After the SCH passed I started to relax and accept that my pregnancy was here to stay. Then at 18 weeks I began having what I thought were braxton hicks. Over the next week they became more regular and patterned. April 1st, I woke up and before getting out of bed my braxton hicks/contractions were every 20 mins. I decided to go to work but I knew I didn't feel right. I called my OB and went into the Dr to get checked. We discovered I was in preterm labor at 19 weeks. TOO EARLY! I was placed on strict bed rest and prescribed procardia every 6 hours. I managed to stay on bed rest at home until May 1st. At a routine Dr appt we discovered my cervix was beginning to shorten and funnel. I was placed on hospital bedrest on May 1st 2014. I remained for 6 very long weeks. I managed to convince my Dr to let me go home and finish my pregnancy in the comfort of my home.

During this pregnancy the girls remained small but strong. They weren't growing at the rate that the Dr's wanted but the continued gaining allowed them to stay put. At 35 weeks baby B (Ryan) didn't gain much over a week. It was decided to deliver at 36weeks exact. We welcomed our lovely ladies via natural delivery in the OR in July 2014. This blog is to document the adventures that are to come now that God has granted them to us.

 

 

Ryan: 3lb 14oz 

 

Harper: 4lb 14oz