NICU graduation!!

Praise God the boys have graduated from the NICU! They have encouraged us all and fought so hard and been so strong. The doctors felt comfortable moving them to the step down unit, called the Special Care Nursery!

This is their first picture together!! William is in the blanket, and Luke is on the right.

Honestly, it was a little sad leaving the NICU. We grew so close to our nurses and doctors there, and we felt so comfortable with them. It was bittersweet though because moving to Special Care means that the boys are closer to coming home!!!

Lyndsay was one of their (and our) favorite nurses. Here she is packing them up for Special Care!

Special Care is set up to simulate the home setting...kind of:) The boys are in the same room, a private room. The nurse is outside the room, and we have couches, chairs, and a flatscreen TV. This allows us much more privacy, but also the comfort of knowing that the medical staff is right outside if we need them. They are still on monitors so we are still tied to keeping them close to those. But, we can hold them whenever we like, and that is a huge blessing!

all snuggled together on the way to Special Care!!

Right now we are in a waiting mode...they will not attempt bottle feeding or breast feeding for another 2-3 weeks because they haven't developed that reflex yet. So right now, we're just getting to hold them, love them, read to them, sing to them and be their mommy and daddy! Once they hit the developmental stage of sucking, we will try to advance their feedings, as well as do all of those other things:)

Thank you so much for all of your prayers.

Specifically right now, we can pray that they will continue to gain weight. Also, they are continuing to have less (but still some) episodes of bradycardia, where their heart rate slows down. Please pray that these subside. We are also praying that they will be able to maintain their body temperatures. Luke is very close to this, he is still in the isolette warmer, but there is no additional heat. William has some heat in his isolette, and we hope to be able to turn this down. Once they are able to maintain their temperatures, they will be in the regular clear 'tubs' that newborns are in when they are in the hospital!!

We are so encouraged and can't wait for you to meet these precious angels!!

much love,

me:)