Today was the first time that both got to take a bath together, surprisingly they love bath time! Now the getting out part is not so enjoyable. All is going well and tomorrow is there first doctors apt.

Home Sweet Home

Bath time! We gave Kayden and Riley their first baths at home. As soon as Zach took Riley's cloths off she peed all over him! She loved the water! Poor Kayden can't have a full bath yet because of his circumcision so we gave him a little sponge bath and he was not happy!



Kayden

Riley

having to take care of two is exhausting!

They sleep pretty well during the day but not so well at night. Because they were in the NICU they are used to having light and noise all the time so as long as we have the lights on and tv or music they sleep pretty well, so of course we don't get much sleep. Me and Zach now sleep in shifts, it is the only way we get any kind of sleep.

The 1st night

The picture you see here is Rileys' at home monitor for her heart rate and O2 level. This WONDERFUL piece of machinery has two volume levels when either her heart rate or her O2 drops, LOUD and O.M.G. the kid needs a transplant! Needles to say the first night. . . . not soo much sleep. They are both doing great. Riley just needs O2 for a little longer and Kayden, well, lets just say that he no longer has the protective sweater around his tallywacker.

Merry Christmas

They are still in the hospital but they come home Saturday!! Riley is on the right and Kayden on the left.

So Close...

Kayden and Riley are doing so well! They are days away from coming home. Riley had her feeding tube taken out the other day and kayden is having his taken out tonight. They are both taking a bottle at every feeding now. They just need to watch them for a little bit to make sure they take the bottle and gain weight. It is looking like they will be home by Christmas.

This is Kayden waking up looking for his bottle.

Hello everyone! Kayden is on the left and Riley is on the right. She was not very happy about being woken up.

Feeders and Growers!

Riley

Kayden

Riley

Kayden

The Babies are doing really well. Still off oxygen and feeding 2-3 times a day by bottle and usually take the whole thing. They have also moved to the feeders and growers side of the NICU. And yesterday were put into open cribs instead of the isolettes. Both weigh over 4 pounds. Kayden is just a little bigger than his sister.

IT has been a while and they are awake!!!!

Sorry for the gap in postings but all is going well. Kayden now weighs 3lbs 15.8 oz and Riley now weighs 3lbs 12.4 oz. both are now off of oxygen and have no IVs' !!! all that is left is their feeding tubes in case they don't finish their bottles.

ONE WEEK OLD!!!!

Well the Babies are now one week old and they are having small improvements every day! Cassie's life has changed, she now spends a good portion of her day making and harvesting food for the wee ones. The nursery is almost done and we put up a plethora of Christmas lights! Just keeping our fingers crossed that they will get to come home sooner than later.

Improved photo oportunities

Well they are doing great, they both have small improvements every day!

Our new family from 2 to 4!!

If you can not tell by now the top one is Riley and the second is Kayden!! By the way, Riley Ann Braegger was born on 11/27/2008 at 11:26am weighing 3lbs. 8oz. and measuring 16 inches. Kayden Floyd Braegger was born on 11/27/2008 at 11:27am weighing 3lbs. 10oz. and measuring 161/2 inches. Cassie was discharged finally after ONLY 16 days in the hospital. Now we spend our nights at home and parts of our days at the hospital with our babies, but our thoughts are always there with them.

Riley and Kayden are both doing great they have been taken off of the breathing machines and are just on a light flow of o2. Today around 1:30 we will get to hold them for the first time! Riley is the one with the binky in her mouth and Kayden is the peacefull sleeper.

Small but doing great!!

Don't let the wires and hoses fool you they are doing great

THE BABIES ARE HERE

The top three pictures are Kayden and the bottom three are Riley!!

Almost There!!!

Well today I put in another eight hours on the crib and yet we are still not done with it, although close!! We managed to include the one feature that Cassie really wanted, the ability to raise and lower the front end. It took at least three hours just for this accessory. Due to the holiday I wont have it finished until just right before the babies get here, which by the way is the 8th of December.

WHAT IS SPARE TIME?

Between visiting Cassie in the hospital, working, being the delivery boy, personal shopper, and stressed soon to be father I decided to build the babies crib in my "Spare Time". After starting at 6:00 am and having to be at work by 12:00 this is how far my friend and I got today. Hopefully we will have it built by tomorrow night. Cassie is still the same old same old getting room service and getting to lounge around all day, but we all can't just let life pass on by.

MOVE?

All is well, the only news is that cassie has been moved to the fourth floor to make more room in labor and delivery. The room is smaller but at least there is closet space. She is still doing the same old thing of just hanging out and growing babies.

Cassies life line!!!

Well Cassie had another ultrasound today. The babies are growing and Riley has now filled her sack with enough urine to make her comfortable. More good news, Cassie also now gets to wear real clothes instead of the revealing hospital toga that she loved so much. Tomorrow we will move out of our week long home of a hospital room to another floor, to allow more room for the moms who are "Actually in labor". Two more weeks to go until the glorious induction. Also we are inviting everyone to our house for thanksgiving, seeing as we will not be there please feel free to make your selves at home, And by this I mean , laundry, dishes, paying my rent, feeding the cat or disposing of it, and any other maintanance needed.

GOOD NEWS

This is Cassie with all of her monitors on. The top and bottom monitors are for the babies heart beats. the middle one is to monitor her contractions. She now only wears them twice a day for thirty minutes due to the fact that Riley's fat head plugged the whole causing the leak in her baby pee water bead!! All major contractions have stopped and the ultra sound shows that all is well. Cassie now gets to spend the next three amazing weeks in the hospital on mandatory bed rest. And back to work for me........

THE BIG SCARE!!!!!

Well Friday morning at approximately 12:30 in the AM. Cassie got up to use the "facility" after returning to her most comfortable bed she realized that something was different and that the wetness now flowing was not supposed to be there. You guessed it her water broke at 30 weeks and 5 days! She then proceeded to disturb my slumber and awkward dreams with panic and mayhem. Needless to say a what should have been a twenty minute drive to the hospital turned into a flying ten!! long story short she is now looking at spending a minimum of a week to a maximum of three weeks on bed rest in labor and delivery with little to no amniotic fluid to keep Riley afloat. But do not fret she and the babies are doing well with minimal contractions and a dilation of 3 cm. Two things have been learned: 1. Women really do scream when they are having babies, and 2. amniotic fluid is really just baby pee!!!

Stubborn Babies!

We had our 30 week ultrasound today. Everything is still looking good. Just the normal pregnancy aches and pains. When the tech did our ultra sound we tried to get some good pictures but they would not cooperate. Riley is back to being head down which is good but she had her feet resting on her head and her cord across her face so we could not get a good face shot of her. Kayden is up in my ribs and is facing my back. We tried to get him to move but he just kept kicking us away, his feet are also on his head across his face. They are measuring right on time even a couple days ahead. They have both really grown in 4 weeks, they went from being 2 pound to being 3 pounds 9 oz and 3 pounds 7 oz. It is scary to think i am only 30wks and I have 7 pounds of baby in me.

I now go to my OB every 2 weeks and starting at 32 weeks I go to the specialist every week. I will be getting a biophysical of the babies during that time. Basically i will go in every week and they will see how and if the babies are making breathing patterns and a NST (non stress test) to see how their heart rates fluctuate when they move and how they deal with my contractions.

Zach is working hard to get the nursery ready. I will post some pictures of his hard work this weekend.

Just some pictures...

I feel like i am getting huge and i still have 9 weeks to go!

Zachs sister as a cute lady bug
My nephew Nixon as a cute dalmation

Me and Zach at 28 weeks.