1 Month Birthday!

I can't believe it's been 1 month since I gave birth to the most beautiful babies in the world! Ok, maybe I'm just a little bit biased. As much as I would have liked to skip this whole NICU thing and just had 2 healthy full term babies, I would do it all over again to have my wonderful babies.

Here's a quick look at where they started...

 

And today...

Jackson
Length-40cm (15 3/4inches)
Head-27cm
Weight-1308grams (2lb 14oz)

Amelia
Length-39cm (15 1/3inches)
Head-27.5inches...she would get my big head. Sorry baby girl!
Weight-1367 grams (3lb 0oz)

What big babies they're becoming! Slowly but surely :)

A lot of people have asked me how big they have to be to go home. They don't have to be a certain size as much as meet certain criteria. Obviously, they have to be able to breathe on their own with no help at all (so Mr. Jackson needs to get rid of that CPAP). They also have to be eating on their own, either at breast or by bottle, and gaining weight while doing so. The minimum size is around 3 1/2 pounds and gestation is 35 weeks. They also have to be able to keep their body temperature while out of the incubator and keep their heart rate up while sitting in a car seat for over an hour.

When they meet all of these simple little tasks, we can discuss discharge. They meet 0 of them right now. But I'll keep you posted as we check things off the list and get closer to discussing the big "D".  Obviously, we have at minimum, about 3 1/2 weeks to go since they are currently 31 weeks and 4 days...or would have been had they stayed in my belly. Their development is similar to being in my belly though, their sucking skills, alertness, and certain other development areas follow along so that's why the 35 weeks date is still important. Their growth and other development, like their lungs, are slowed or changed because of their early birth though. So they still follow along with my gestation, even though, technically, it's over.

So that's the basic idea...and here are some funny pictures on their 1 month birthday! They might hate me for these when they get older...at least Amelia will. Bahahaha I love being a mom! Wait til I get out the matching outfits! :)

 

"Look what I can do!" He's such a little show off ;)

 

haha she made cuter faces while posing but this one is too funny to pass up on. I love you Amelia darling :)