Joshua 24:15b
"But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
We are home after spending 32 days in the St. Francis hospital. We were surprised at how quickly things happened when the doctor told us to start getting ready. The girls had their nose tubes taken out and had a trial day of only feedings with a bottle. They did good and the next day Doctor Boone said that they would be going home the next day. We were excited but very scared. We left on Tuesday night when Clay got back from school and basketball practice. Clay came upstairs and the girls were taken off of the monitors for the first time as we put them in their car seats to bring them home. I am learning to be prepared for things as we left the hospital with girls screaming until half way out of town when I found their binkies. I squeezed in the backseat with the girls just to make sure they were alright.
Grandma Jones, my mom, stayed with us from Tuesday night through Saturday morning. It was great to have her with us especially when Clay was at school. Grandma Mankin came Saturday afternoon and was planning on today but the roads are not good with the snow. I still haven't had to feed them by myself yet but it is quickly coming! This is currently what I am most anxious about. The girls are fed every 3 hours: 12:30 am, 3:30 am, 6:30 am, 9:30 am, 12:30 pm, 3:30 pm, 6:30 pm, 9:30 pm..... Unfortunately the girls seem to have their days and nights mixed up. Last night we had at least one girl up from 9:30 pm till 2 am straight! It has been great to have dad help with the feedings that he can. His schedule only permits the 9:30 pm, 12:30 am, 3:30 am, and 6:30 am- great for him considering he is super busy with school and basketball! He is a great dad and I hope he doesn't get too burned out with all of his extra duties!
It was hard to get both girls to eat all their feedings at first. There was a lot of strategy and working with them, but they are doing much better and eating faster. We have had trouble with the girls outfits because most of their preemie clothing are still too big. We currently have about 4 outfits each for them to wear until they get bigger. There has been a lot of washing clothing, burp rags, changing table clothes, sheets....
We took the girls out for the first time yesterday to have their pictures taken with one of our friends. It was stressful and I am glad they are done, even though Erin our friend did a great job and I think we got some great pictures! We are supposed to have their first doctor appointment tomorrow in GI but with Clay having a teacher work day and my mom snowed in at home, I think we will postpone it for a week. The girls have a doctor appointment on Friday in GI because they were premature and grandma Mankin will be going along for that one.
Clay had 2 games this week and went 1-1. The rest of his games are going to be really hard but he is still excited to see how his team does again them and to keep improving.
We have been blessed with people from the school and church who have been bringing food over. We wish we could bring the girls out more and share them with people but the doctors say that we need to keep them away from people until April and not to take them out. We are going to have cabin fever here! It will be worth being stuck inside by ourselves if the girls continue to stay healthy.
Please continue to pray for health for the girls and wisdom for us to know how to bring up our girls biblically. Thanks so everyone who has been helping us out and praying for us.
Mankins
