Look out Pomeranians!

What an exciting week for Elias and Gabriel. This week we had two big outtings. Yesterday we drove into Sacramento to see retinal specialists. Because they were premature, the boys needed to be screened for Retinopathy of Prematurity (RoP). In essence, this means having and expert look in your eye. Sounds easy, right? That's what we thought! Instead, the boys had to have a series of 4 eyedrops over 30 minutes. Three sets of drops to dilate their eyes and one anesthetic in their eyes. Then the doctor arrived, put on an Inspector Gadget mask complete with miner's light and magnifying glasses and proceeded to examine the boys' eyes by propping them open with metal inserts that held their eyelids all the way back (like that scene in A Clockwork Orange!). As he looked in each eye, the doctor ran another metal stick around and in the edges -- presumably so he could see better. We're not sure who was more traumatized, the boys or the parents who had to hold them down. Gabriel screamed so loud during the process that he actually got hoarse.

Today we had a much more innocuous visit to the pediatrician. Both boys are over 5 lbs, and thus outweigh the many killer Pomeranians of the world! In a few more weeks, Gabe will have doubled his body weight. WOW! We really like our pediatriian. He takes time to sit down and talk with us in detail -- even when we go in for weight checks. He is very pleased with the boys' progress and gives us confidence that we are all doing okay. The boys are doing so well, that we will not be returning for 3 weeks! Our next appt will be the boys' "newborn" appointment.

It is hard to believe that the Elias & Gabe have been here for 6 weeks! The family calendar we use at home still has the weeks of pregnancy leading up to their due date marked on it. It is very odd to note pediatrician appointments right next to the note that says we are in week 37 of the pregnancy! :-) As the boys approach their due date, we are seeing lots of changes in them. They are slowly leaving behind the groans and twitches of prematurity behind and embracing their newfound skills -- stretching, tracking objects with their eyes, making goofy baby faces, sucking more effectively, and playing/lifting their heads during tummy time. It is exciting and unnerving to watch them grow up so fast!

Finally, we are working their schedule to push for more sleep at night. We are back to waking them up every 2.5 - 3 hours to eat during the day. At night, we are still taking separate shifts to care for them, but we keep the lights off, perform very business-like feedings, co-bed them, etc. We also feed them heavily at 10pm and wait for them to wait before doing another heavy feeding. We are hoping to switch them back to being awake in the day and asleep at night... Wish us luck!!!




And now for the much-anticipated photo part of our program:

Sure, they look sweet...but don't be fooled!

Elias watching Gabriel -- "What 'we gonna do tonight Gabe?"

Gabe watching Elias -- "The same thing we do every night E, Try to take over the world!"

Womb Teddy watching Gabe & E -- "It's gonna be another long night!"