Finding their voices.

Well our darling girls have reached another important milestone. They are now 8 weeks old, and are in every sense bigger, stronger and healthier than the two wee dots who we met on October 21st. And Megan and I are most certainly 8 weeks more in love with them.

Eliza.

Precious little dot!

Stats wise Olive is now a whopping 2.8 kilograms, and Eliza is 1.8kg. So each week they continue to impress us with their progress.

Olive.

Precious bigger dot.

The Nurses around NICU have started bandying around the term "Term" to describe them. This is because they are now 38 weeks old... the full term for twins and about the age we might have expected to meet them in less dramatic circumstances.

As "term" babies their behaviour is appreciably different. They are more alert and curious about their surroundings. They have their beautiful eyes open for more time and (obviously) they are sleeping less. They are much more responsive to other humans, particularly their doting parents, who are called upon to do more comforting, cuddling, feeding and dummy inserting.

Megan is such a natural Mum!

Olive loves to feed.

And Eliza doesn't want to miss out.

Yes our darling sweet quiet babies are quiet no more. Even one-eyed parents like us have to admit that they have become pretty rowdy. And they are most definitely dominating Nursery F in terms of noise pollution. This is fine by us, because it means that they are going to have vibrant, full-some personalities. Also because it proves that they are healthy,which is the most important thing.

Luckily both Megan and I are quite adept at calming the girls down when they are riled up, which means we are employed a lot by nursing staff who have been exasperated by the girls this week. In this series of photos, nurse Ngahina is doing a blood check on Olive, by pricking her foot and milking .5ml of blood out of it. And Megan is keeping her calm with a gentle touch of the head and a steady hand on the dummy... which she is determined to spit at any moment! Hardly surprising that they are complaining when they are being poked and prodded so.

Taking Olive's blood.

Quite a medieval procedure.

Mum, what the heck are they doing to me?

Speaking of which Eliza has developed a pathological dislike of her CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure), and is forever trying to remove it. She clasps it with both hands and pulls with all her might, and has on more than one occasion succeeded in removing it. All very admirable in terms of her will, but upsetting because for the mean time she still needs it.

The CPAP is being alternated in 6 hour bursts with low-flow which utilises pure oxygen in a very small amount that mingles with the air Eliza breathes normally. To the lay person the two breathing aids look very similar but low-flow has much smaller nose prongs. 

The important thing about low-flow is that it can be made transportable for when Eliza comes home. We could bring an oxygen cylinder home with her as she may need low-flow for a few more months. So it is good that she is doing so well on low-flow, and that she doesn't mind the apparatus as much as she does the CPAP.

3 beauties

Which brings me to the $64000 question, and the one we are each asked at least once a day. When are they coming home? The answer is still, we don't know. Olive has had a much better week breast feeding, but she hasn't yet managed any more than three (four hourly) feeds in a day. And until she is thriving without the need of the feeding tube, then NICU is the best place for her. 

Peas from the same pod.

It is a good time to remember that their due date is December 28, so they still have no business being here yet. Of course we'd love to have them home, and we'd welcome a reprieve from the daily trip or two or three to Newtown, but the girls simply aren't ready yet. And until they are we'll be happy to keep up with the crazy schedule.

Before we forget, Happy Christmas one and all. Our girls have been showered with gifts from such incredibly generous friends and family. We have literally been receiving parcels every day. Today they got their first bike for goodness sakes! We feel so well supported and our girls so welcomed to the world. We can't thank you all enough. Arohanui. Please travel safely and have a wonderful well earned summer.