Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Black&White Beauty







Enjoy our friend Natasha's great artistic photos


Sunday, November 25, 2007

Their 5th week in pictures

1/ Tommy and the ducks
2/Lili's first time in Grandma's loving arms
3/ Multiple moms: Grandma Barb (twin mom)+Jen the quads' mom and Manna the quints' mom
4/ Matthew in his brandnew hat (matches his blue eyes)
5/Tommy had a great male bonding time on Daddy's chest
6/ Hanna with her favourite girlfriend Nurse Lindsay
7/ Matthew and his "first love" Nurse Amy
8/ Hanna in her first outfit with matching purple hat. Don't you love the tiny pink bows???
9/ Lili liked her sister's dress so she got her's too. She seems pleased.
10-11/ Annabelle was hot so she only had her new funky hat with ruffle. It's colorful just like her.
12/ Lili has a new best friend, which is her pacifier. Purple of course.



























Friday, November 16, 2007

Happy 4 weeks!!!

Thomas, Big Brother
Matthew, our special one

Lili, our hairy baby


Hanna, our pink lady
Annabelle, our fighter
Wow, it has already been a month since our Quint babies were born. It is amazing how much improvement they showed over the last couple weeks. Their breathing is fairly stable now. They are either on vaportherm or on the nasal cannula. At this moment Matthew is the only one who is on the Cpap still recoving from his recent infection, what he thankfully and successfully overcame just like our other son Thomas.

The other great improvement is that all five of them are eating now. Some of them are already on full feed, which is usually around 160ml/day (a little bit more than 5 ounces of breast milk). Mom can still keep up with them.

Annabelle was the last one who finally gave in and now she enjoys 1/2 ounce of milk every 3 hours. Last Friday was the very first time when she was "big" enough (still talking about preemie size :) to be held.

Everyday they are growing so much:

Thomas: 3lb 2oz ( he qualified for a bigger diaper)
Lili: 2lb 14.5oz (she wears the same size as Big Bro)
Hanna: 2lb 5.5oz
Matthew: 2 lb 4 oz
Annabelle: 2 lb 4 oz

They also seem to have less episodes and the high bilirubin level is not an issue any more.
As they grow they are more alert and keep their eyes open. All of them enjoy being held by Kangaroo dad and mom. Even though they are preemies they still do eveything what adults do such as yawning, sneezing, hic-ups. and it's so cute.

David’s first diaper experience with Tommy:
“Today as I was holding Thomas he was very feisty and squirming all over the place. I asked the nurse if she would come over and advise me on his situation. She checked his diaper and it was soaking wet. The nurse changed his diaper and placed his new diaper loose around his bottom. He began to squirm again and again. The next thing I noticed I felt like morning dew on my belly and as I looked down his diaper was completely off his bottom. Guess what? It was pee on my belly.”

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Fatherly Pride & Motherly Glow

Hanna and Manna

Eye contact...
Lili is already daddy's girl

" Our Daily bread"
Praise for the great supply!


You all know what I'm talking about. The broad smile on a new father's face as he talks about his daughter... and son.. and daughter, and son, and daughter! And the indescribable glow on a mother's face as she snuggles her baby. We were blessed with a chance to see all of this on Tuesday night. It's truly amazing how you go somewhere hoping and somewhat expecting to be a blessing, and leave realizing that you were the one blessed. So it was for us.

Dave gave us the tour of introductions to Matthew, then Hanna, then Lili. With each one, we sanitized our hands, though we weren't even touching them. You can't be too careful. Dave would say hello to the baby and encourage them to open their eyes, which was just too cute. He explained what all the different tubes were for each and shared in the huge praise that Matthew's improvement that day had been significant and miraculous. Then across the hall we went to see Annabelle, who opened her eyes and seemed to say hello.

Finally, we met Manna behind a cloth screen where she sat cuddling Thomas. I haven't seen so much joy on her face before. She peacefully sat and rocked Thomas as he was "kangarooed' warmly against her chest. She uncovered just his tiny foot so we could see it and "ooo" and "ahh". She shared the encouraging news that her milk supply is picking up -- another reason to sing praises to our Lord. He surely is the great Provider!

Until things slow down for Manna, (or if they never do!), I'll be doing the postings. Expect one or so every week. We're also working on a new link to a photo gallery of the family. It will be a more efficient way to display the many photos being taken. Thanks for your patience!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Weight Competition!

The babies have all grown so much, relatively speaking of course! Below you can see their gains in the past weeks.

0 days--------- 3 weeks
Tomi: 2 lb 9 oz -------- 2 lb 12 oz
Lili: 2 lb 2.7 oz------- 2 lb 9 oz
Hanna: 1 lb 15 oz ------- 2 lb 4.5 oz
Matthew: 1 lb 11.5 oz ----- 2 lb 3 oz
Annabelle: 1 lb 4.8 oz ------- 1 lb 12.5 oz


Dave and Manna have been spending precious time with Tomi, Lili, Hanna, Matthew, and Annabelle. This past week, Manna was able to hold Annabelle for the first time, which is a HUGE praise!

Saturday, November 3, 2007

50 little fingers...


"I was able to hold Tomi, Lili, and Hanna. The smallest ones are not ready yet. Dave has held them several times. It's the best bonding time. It is so intimate and sweet when we actually feel like their mom and dad."

Here are brief updates for the babies. Hanna is the only one being fed right now. Pray for the others' tummy issues to be resolved. There have been no changes in the brain scan results. Please continue praying specifically for Annabelle, Tomi, Hanna, Matthew, and Lili. Here are brief updates for the babies. Hanna is the only one being fed right now. Pray for the others' tummy issues to be resolved. There have been no changes in the brain scan results. Please continue praying specifically for Annabelle, Tomi, Hanna, Matthew, and Lili.

Annabelle: 1 pound 7 oz. She gained a couple ounces!














Tomi: 2 pounds 5 oz. They are running a blood test to check for infections and possibly put him on antibiotics.















Hanna: 2 pounds 1 oz. They kept her on antibiotics for 3 days. According to her blood culture she has no infections! She is still eating!















Lili: 2 pounds. Praise the Lord -- the brain fluid sample came back negative, so she has infection only in her blood. They are still trying to figure out exactly what kind of infection she has. She is on only one antibiotic right now.





















Matthew: 1 pound 11 oz. No breathing or heart issues! Today they were going to start feeding him again if he didn’t have any infections.