Sorry for a day late! I
swear yesterday was Wednesday. The days are flying by, even though time
feels like a standstill in this room sometimes.
The girls are doing
well. Still here just for feeding and growing. They've mastered the
growing thing, and we're still fine tuning the feeding thing.
Individual Updates:
Danika:
She is now 5 lbs 6.3
ounces. Seriously?!? I barely remember typing the number 4... It
feels like we just leaped over that number. She is doing very well.
She had a few quiet days, and looking back at it, I think she was just
over worked her oral feedings and it caught up with her. She LOVES her
baths! She's starting to give us more of those little infant grins, and
my heart completely melts when she does it (even though I'm pretty sure it's
her just passing gas... because she has A LOT of it!)
Her oral feedings are
coming along... she'll eat orally for 13 hours straight and then she gets tired
for the next 11 hours. Her bradycardia episodes are really slowing down,
and she usually only has one when she's eating because she's trying to eat so
fast.
Johnalyn:
She is 5 lbs 5.9 oz.
Our girls are getting SO big (yet are still so tiny). She is more
of our sleepy girl, but LOVES to eat. If it wasn't for getting so sleepy
and tired, I think she would eat all the time. She's still our little
cuddle bug. If she's squirming or fussing, it never fails that all she
wants is to be held.
They both had hearing
tests on Wednesday (or was it Tuesday?)... and they both passed. The
audiologist did say, though, that parents swear that from the ages of 2 - 18
their kids can't hear, but we can always bring them back for a retest if that's
the case. :-)
Everything is going
well. I've been getting pretty discouraged lately because we keep getting
teased with the word, "discharge". We were told they would be
discharged last Saturday... and then we were told Tuesday... and then this
weekend. I completely lost it yesterday because I'm so sick of the
anticipation. I had to come to the realization that the girls just aren't
ready to leave here, like their mama. They need a little bit more time to
gain more stamina to eat on their own. I was pushing them too hard and
too fast, and then they just crash because their little bodies can't take it
yet.
Their doctor sent me home to Kasota (and by much persuasion and encouragement by an amazing nurse, Emily) to get some sleep and get the house ready. I haven't
been home for two months, let alone been able to do anything since early
December. It felt SO good, but SO hard to be there without the girls or
Shadow. The house is ready for all five of us to be together... and it's
so hard to wait.
Speaking of Shadow... he
deserves his own paragraph (or two... or three)!
He's been staying with a
family here in Rochester... the mom is a co-organizer of Minnesota Greyhound
Rescue, the organization he came from... and she was the gal that we knew from
the time we got Shadow. She was the one who actually brought Shadow to us
6 years ago. I had A LOT of anxiety when it came to where Shadow would go
during this time. The longest he's been away from us was a week. With his
history of anxiety (we're a good pair, aren't we??) I was afraid what would
happen to him, and if he would lash out to other dogs or humans around him.
Last time we left him for a length of time, he got in nasty fight and he
ended up with gashes all over him and ended up in surgery. I was beside
myself.
I've been in contact
with Kelly, the greyhound mama, and he wasn't doing so well the first three
weeks, and I was beside myself trying to figure out how to get Shadow home.
He wasn't eating, drinking, sleeping, laying, and wouldn't go near other
dogs. All he would do would pace. Then things turned around at week
three.
Kelly and her boyfriend
go down south quite frequently to get retired/discarded greyhounds from the
track... with their last trip, they brought home a brood mama, Rosie.
Shadow fell in love. He completely turned around and LOVES Rosie.
He's eating now and is sleeping with Rosie (scandalous!) I miss him... a lot. I can't wait for him to meet his new little humans and watch him be their protector.
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| Shadow and his girlfriend, Rosie |
I can keep typing as things come to my head, because my mind really doesn't stop. We sit in the girls' room and it kills us that we can't be home doing 'normal' things, as simple as laying them on the floor together and watch them interact... or put them in a swing and watch them fall asleep... or being able to change their diapers without straightening cords out. I know the day will come soon, but it feels like time goes backwards sometimes... and then I look at the calendar and it's March 20th when it feels like it should be February 20th... and I should have 3 pound girls, and I really have 5 pound girls...
Alright, here are pictures! I'm sure many of you scroll to the bottom of the post before reading anything anyway! (That's what I would do too!)
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| We can hear! |
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Danika and Daddy |
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