Our progress and new pictures below...

Well, I finally got discharged from the hospital last Friday night. If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago how I would react when I finally got to go home, I probably would have said that I would be so happy and relieved to get out of prison. Much to my surprise, my reaction was quite different!! Before the boys arrived, I was counting down the minutes until I could get out of that crazy place!! But, once they got here, I loved being so close to them, so leaving was a devastating experience!! We went to eat at Outback and I just cried!! I felt guilty for being away from them!! When we got home, we went to bed and I just cried myself to sleep!! I was so worried that something might happen and I wouldn't be there!! Slowly, I have adjusted to being away from them!! No one can visit them except us and grandparents and I can't drive for 2 weeks, so this makes it quite difficult for me to visit them!! Mom is taking off from school 1/2 a day all this week, so she can take to see them. It is so frustrating not being able to drive because I could go visit in the morning as well!! It's wierd just sitting around all morning when I could be there, but I know it's just temporary!! Anyways, Parker is now up to 2 lbs. 8 oz. on his one week birthday which is really really good!! Mitchell weighs 2 lbs. 12 oz. so he still has a couple of ounces before he makes it back to his birth weight. Parker is finished with his photo-therapy (for jaundice) but Mitchell is still laying on a little mat that has lights on it (it looks like he's in the tanning bed-ha!). Parker had an x-ray today of his head to check for bleeding in his brain and he passed!! Mitchell will have the x-ray done tomorrow. Parker is eating 13 ml of breast milk through a feeding tube and Mitchell is eating 10 ml through his feeding tube. They are just doing so good and we know it's because they have been surrounded in prayer!! God is so good and we have been abundantly blessed!! For those of you who know about Brian Ray's twin babies, you might have already seen this on his website, but I just thought it was such a neat story that I wanted to share it with everyone because it definitely applies to us as well...

There was a group of women in a Bible study on the book of Malachi. As they were studying chapter three they came across verse three which says, "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled the women and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study. That week the woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that, in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest so as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot - then she thought again about the verse, that He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver. She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. For if the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's the easy part -- when I see my image reflected in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep His hand on you and watch over you until He sees His image in you.

Please continue to keep our little boys in your prayers as they work so hard to get big enough and healthy enough to come home!!

New Pictures

Parker's photo-therapy for jaundice...he loves his first pair of sunglasses!!

Mommy's first time to cuddle with Mitchell!!

Mommy loves her sweet Mitchell!!

Mommy is so happy when she gets to hold her baby boys!!

Mommy & Daddy's first time to "kangaroo" (hold the babies in our shirts so they hear our heart beating and stay warm!!~I thought this was a little weird at first, but it's really precious!!) with Mitchell (in mommy's hands) and Parker (in daddy's hands)!!

Mitchell has opened his little eyes to see what is going on around him!!

Mitchell is so comfy sleeping on his Daddy's chest!!

Daddy loves Mitchell so much!!

Parker loves sleeping on his belly just like Mommy!!

Parker loves holding his Daddy's hand!!

Daddy's first time to hold Mitchell and snuggle with him!!

Our Progress...

As Kyle said earlier, the boys both started out on a c-pap machine, to help them with their breathing. Today, they were able to step down to a canula (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly), but anyway, it is just those little tube things that go in their noses. They look much more comfortable with it!! Mitchell is under a little light for jaundice which is normal for preemie babies. Parker was able to get this thing put in his arm instead of having an IV which allowed us to hold him for the first time tonight!! It was absolutely amazing!! He is just precious!! It was so neat, when Kyle was holding him, I leaned down and said, "hey buddy, your mommy and daddy are here and we love you" and he opened his little eyes for a second and calmly went back to sleep!! Of coarse, I cried and I think Kyle even got a little teary!! Anyways, they are making huge progress every day!! The nurses and doctors taking care of them are absolutely wonderful!! In fact, the day time nurse said she thought Leann (the nurse who took care of them at night) would be back tonight and she requested to have them again!! That made us feel so good that they love them too!! Anyways...they are doing great and we will continue to give you updates!! Hopefully, tomorrow Mitchell will be able to have that same thing in his arm that Parker did today, so that we can hold him too!!

Well, I guess I can update you on my recovery as well. Monday night they gave me a morphine drip which is a major pain reliever, but it also slows your pulse rate. Well, apparently every time I fell asleep my pulse rate dropped so low it set off this really loud/annoying alarm. And, as paranoid as I am, I was totally freaked out!! I was awake the whole night worried that I was going to just quit ticking!! So, Tuesday was a really bad day for me!! Dr. Blake made her rounds and I was really weepy when she came by. She thought I needed some anxiety medicine when I told her about the morphine thing!! Really, I think I just needed some serious sleep!! I was so freekin tired I didn't know what to do with myself!! I ended up just going going going all day, then I crashed late in the afternoon and pretty much slept until this morning, only waking up to pump. Today, however, I felt like a whole new person!! So, I imagine as time goes by we will all recover!!

I wanted to thank everyone for the flowers, balloons, games, gifts, food, books, and visits to the hospital!! We feel very loved and are glad you all could share this experience with us!! We love you all and can't wait for you to meet little Mitchell and Parker!!

I survived!!

As most of you know, I was scared to death of having these precious little boys, but as it turns out, I am now a big advocate of cesarean sections!! Boy was it a piece of cake!! I got into the OR at 4:27 and the boys were both out by 4:37 and I was back in the recovery room by 5:15!! Isn't that amazing? It was actually really nice~they had Christmas music playing the whole time we were in the OR. The guy who administered the spinal was wonderful!! He stood right by me and Kyle the whole time talking to us and explaining everything!! I felt absolutely no pain, which was great!! At one point I felt like the breath had been knocked out of me and I was like, "huh, what is that I feel?" (but it didn't hurt or anything, it was just strange) and Kyle said, "oh nothing, you're fine." Then when we were in recovery he told me that one of the nurses was actually on top of the table pouncing my belly to get Mitchell in the right position so that Dr. Blake didn't have to make an additional incision. Isn't that crazy that all of that was going on, I didn't feel anything?? Thank goodness for that spinal~which also was a piece of cake...getting the IV was more painful than the spinal~kinda crazy, huh?? Anyways...it was music to our ears when both boys were screaming their little heads off, as the doctors had prepared us for them to come out limp and not crying at all!! Our hearts melted as we were introduced to our children!! Though they look like tiny little raisins, they are absolutely PERFECT in every way!! As some of you know, I was a little nervous that they would have big cone heads like their poor mother did, but God even took care of that as they are perfectly round!! We feel so absolutely blessed...as Kyle said this whole experience has been~"indescribable"!!!

Thank you for all your love and support!!