WalkAmerica for Premature Babies: Team Eleanor and Adam

On April 30, Jim and I will be walking at Hudson Mills in Dexter in the March of Dimes WalkAmerica 2006 fundraiser for babies born prematurely. This is obviously a very important issue to us. If you are able, we are hoping you can help us raise at least $500 by donating to the March of Dimes in Eleanor's and Adam's names. Please go to our website at http://www.walkamerica.org/meesh113 to donate. Our family would greatly appreciate your generosity, as well as the families of some many other premature babies who need a lot of help like ours have. If you would like to walk with us, just email me and I'll give you the details! I am going to submit the twins' story and some pictures to be posted at the walk. We will be walking with another family who we met in the NICU at the hospital, so it's a big day for many of us.
Adam and Eleanor are both feeling MUCH better now. I'm quite impressed they were able to fight off their colds as well as they did. We visited the doctor twice, but their lungs were clear--they just sounded awful because their little noses were so congested.
Yesterday the twins recevied their last Synagis shot for the season. It will last until the end of April. In May, we are going to gradually start taking visitors. I know the aunts and uncles will be the first in line!! At the home visit for the injection they were weighed. Adam weighs 14 pounds 3 ounces, and Eleanor weighs 13 pounds. She did some serious catching up in the last two weeks and has started to get the pudgy cheeks, too.
A few people have written to me asking about our schedule (or lack thereof) at home. The every three hour feeding schedule of the NICU is no longer, since both of them are putting on (more than) enough weight. The pediatrician even mentioned that at the next visit we might be switched over to regular formula instead of the higher calorie preemie stuff we're using now. They wake up every morning around 6:00am. This obviously is some cruel joke for a girl who used to like to sleep until 10. But then they smile at me and it doesn't really matter what time it is. They eat then, and about every 3 1/2 to 4 hours after that. That would be fantastic, except that it often takes over and hour to feed both of them. Sometimes Eleanor takes 30 minutes to burp, and Adam fusses so much that it takes that long just to get him to start to eat. They have to burp--because if they don't, they will contribute to what we have christened "The Pond". The Pond is the area between my side of the bed and the dresser where the kids (mostly Adam) often spit up. I should really say throw up. We have to steam clean every weekend. To look on the bright side, I'll be able to get new carpet sooner than I had thought! Around the 9pm feeding, the twins both go to sleep. This is pretty much a sure thing--which is great. They sleep in their bassinets still in complete darkness--I want them to know it's time for sleeping. The longest strch of sleep we get is 5 hours, but most often it is three or four hours. We wake up at least once, but often twice during the night to feed them and it starts all over at 6am. I don't know if this is how things usually are for people who have one baby or not, but since they are on the same schedule, it's not that bad. My hope is that they are sleeping through the night in two months... I'll let you know.