Graduating to a crib

We're hitting milestones over at the hospital with both Noah and Max out of their isolettes (aka bubbles) and into an open air crib.  The hurdle to clear on that was that they needed to be able to maintain their own body temperature in ambient air.

They're also doing great on learning to eat, so that is even better news.  They've been gaining weight steadily through a feeding tube, but are now learning to feed on their own and getting pretty good at it!  Its been so positive, we haven't  been religiously asking about weight, like we did with Cole.  They just keep packing it on.

The boys also got to meet their Aunt Melissa on Thursday night, coming in from Japan!  Unfortunately their cousins Jack and Maggie can't be in the NICU, but we did have a great time with them at the house on Saturday.  More to come on that as soon as Melissa sends her pictures!

Here's Noah in his crib

And here's Max.  Taking full advantage of the additional arm room.

Here's Max and Aunt Melissa meeting for the first time.

He seems to be enjoying it!

And here's Nana and Noah.

We had such good weather today, it was time to don the crimson hoodie (Cole's favorite) and hit up the park.

Peek-a-boo

Easily distracted....  there must have been a dog walking by or an airplane.

Collecting rare pieces of playground bark is another favorite pastime.

Brothers unite!

Things continue to go great at the hospital with Noah and Max.  They had their IV's removed on Sunday since they've been doing so well with feedings.  They're also gaining weight and doing all of the things the boys should be doing at their age, so we couldn't be happier with all of their progress

We also got to take Cole to the hospital to let him take a look at the boys.  He was definitely intrigued but certainly not understanding of the changes that are about to occur in his life!

Here's Cole and I saying hi to Max.

Noah yawning and waving.  

Max really enjoys a pacifier.

Here we are after Max's first bath

And the same for Noah.  He seemed to tolerate the bath a lot better than Max.

Cole and friends

Some long overdue photos of Cole from the past couple of months.  He's been doing so great these days, learning all sorts of new stuff.  He's still not too interested in real words but communicates pretty well through pointing and yelling.  I think he tries to mimic Dad a little too much.

Tacky tourist day at day care.  I have no idea where this outfit came from but can definitely get behind socks and sandals.  Punishment for a long night, I'm sure.

Bath time = best time 

Cole and Maggie S.  I sense love in the air.

Maybe not... good job Cole.  Play hard to get.

Cole and Ethan E.  Ethan came over with a couple of cases of wine and a Coug Hoodie!  Best gifts ever.

Bewilderment.  

Most inefficient spoon user of all time.  But insists on using it.  Oh well.  

Noah and Max photos

For those wondering, everything is going well at the hospital!  The boys are both stable and doing all of the things they should be doing right now.  Their feeding is increasing and we should be gaining weight here pretty soon.

We've been trying to spend as much time at the hospital as possible, while also making sure Cole gets the attention he needs.  So its a bit of a balancing act.  Luckily we have Grandmas to the rescue!

Here are some photos from our first couple of days at the hospital.  More to come later.  For now... bed.

Welcome Noah and Max Hadley!

We are very excited to announce that Noah and Max have officially entered the world!  They were delivered via C section and are doing fantastic in their first day.  Emily did a great job of fighting off labor and has spent the last 4 weeks in the antepartum unit enduring various doses of monitoring, drugs and pep talks.  In the end, the boys were ready to come out and meet the world, after nearly 33 weeks of wombtime.

Here is Noah Smith Hadley, weighing in at 4 lbs 1 oz.  He prefers to lounge as his amniotic sac was quite constricting!

Here is Max Manning Hadley, weighing 4 lbs 3 oz.  Max, who had all the space to explore in the womb, is partial to the fetal position.

Here's a photo of Emily and Noah getting some quality mother son time in.

Emily is doing well, but now understanding why people complain about C section recoveries.  She has great support here though (and some decent painkillers), so we're hoping she'll be back on her feet in no time.  In the meantime, we're in no hurry and are just enjoying getting to know our new sons.  Thanks for everyone's supportive texts, emails, calls, etc.

Recent videos

Here are some videos for those of you that like to see the live footage of what happens when Dad is in charge.  My filming capabilities are admittedly poor, but I figure its better than nothing.

We like to play more than eat at times:

Here is some book reading time, trying to learn new words:

Cole testing out his vocal capabilities:

3 weeks and counting

Well, we've officially been in the hospital for 3 weeks. They say the first two weeks is supposed to be the hardest but I don't agree.  The first two weeks went by relatively quickly for me.  It's this last week that has really been the struggle. 

We had to come off a medication a bit earlier than expected and that has led to a dramatic increase in my contractions.  On Saturday, after the initial spike in contractions, my doctor put me back on an IV with magnesium sulfate to try and get things under control.  For those of you that have never taken magnesium sulfate, be grateful!  My treatments have only been for 2 days at a time so far and that is about all I can handle.  While on mag you feel hotter than you can ever imagine and overall feel like you have a really bad case of the flu - really weak muscles, fatigue, etc.  I seem to have a very dramatic reaction to magnesium - I am unable to focus my eyes on anything and someone asking me my name proves to be a very difficult question for me to answer.  Definitely not the way I wanted to spend my weekend :(  

The great news is I am off the mag again and all our tests are pointing to us at least being here 1 more week (fingers crossed we can go even longer!).  Bad news is for the last couple days I am having contractions every 2-5 minutes.  For any women reading this that have gone through labor, these aren't the full blown level 10 contractions - more like a 2-3 with an occasional 4 or 5 thrown in there.  It's just amazing how one stops and the next one pretty much starts right away.  Most last anywhere from 1-2 minutes but sometimes I'm fortunate enough to get ones lasting from 5-9 minutes!  Those are the ones that make it hard to catch my breath and really make me close my eyes to focus on breathing through them.  Fortunately, those are few and far between so we don't have to deal with them too often.

Today we had some more testing, including a growth ultrasound on the boys, and I'm happy to report they're still packing on the lbs! Baby A is estimated to be 3 lbs 14 ozs, Baby B is estimated to be 4 lbs 7 ozs.  Baby B has taken a liking to parking himself under my rib cage and likes to generously give me what I like to think of as love taps throughout the day.  Although painful, I really do love feeling both boys kick and punch - it makes me smile to know it's us against the world right now - as long as they stay put I can keep them safe.

Here are a couple photos from the last couple days.  Nothing exciting, but hey, that's my life right now, right?!  Not much to see or do when you're confined to a hospital room 24 hours a day :(

32 weeks 1 day - weighed in yesterday at 176 lbs!  Definitely never thought I would be excited to  be reaching that kind of number on a scale :)

Cole practicing feeding himself yogurt.  We're trying to be supportive of his independence but man does it get messy!

A close up look at the mayhem 

Cole drinking from a straw - the only way he likes to drink his water now