Introducing....

"For these boys I prayed; and the Lord has given me my petition which I have asked of Him." I Samuel 1:27

Joseph Blane and Miles Warner arrived in this world Friday morning at 10:27 and 10:29, weighing in at 4lb even and 3lb 13oz! James and I are two proud (tired!) parents!! (although I'm not sure it has sunk in yet!) They are absolutely beautiful, and doing incredibley well. Baby J came into the world screaming, with both legs straight out, and Miles made a less boisterous entrance with a few kitten-esque wimpers. I wanted to kinda give an update into their conditions into the NICU more than anything with this post because James and I are doing fine...Im recovering slowly, but moving great, and they are talking about discharging me on Tuesday--although I'm not sure I remember what freedom looks like at this point! So....

When born, Joseph had a little trouble breathing and so was immediately hooked up to a C-Pap (breather over the nose) which he got to move down from on Saturday morning. Joseph and Miles both are wearing the cannela (breathing tubes in their noses) with light oxygen input, meaning that their little lungs are doing great at supporting their bodies on their own. Saturday they were both eating every 6 hours through their eating tube, but today (Sunday) they got moved up to every 3 hours because they were holding the food so well. They get to try eating from bottles by next weekend, when they will have hopfully mastered the swallowing technique :) They also went off antibiotics today, and their oxygen level was again lowered showing their improved lung health! Praises!!

However, we have run into a few trouble spots as well. When we went up to see the boys this morning, we met with their Neonatal Dr to find out that Joseph is anmemic. This stems from me being a negative blood type and the boys both being positive. Essentially, a shot during pregnancy was supposed to help their bodies to build antibodies to fight this off...the only thing the Dr can say is that Joseph might have bled into the placenta in the womb therefore missing his opportunity to form the antibodies to fight the anmemia. Miles however, is fine. For Joseph, this means an increased risk of blood transfusions because his body cannot replenish his blood as quickly. That's also why he is slightly a lighter skin color because he has less blood in his little body. Miles also encountered a slight hiccup today...he had a 'spell' when he was eating. This is what they call it when they actually 'forget' to breathe when they are eating. Essentially his brain was focusing so hard on eating that it forgot to tell the lungs to move and breathe. He did recover himself quickly without the help of the nurses though, which is a great sign. It's a little overwhleming to watch all this unfold...but still so incredible to hear the Drs be so positive about it all. God is in control. He knew when they would be born, and the things they would fight along the way to going home, so all we can do is to continue to pray for these things specifically at the moment.

But their personalities continue to be translated from womb to world...Miles being the ever rambunctious lil man when being monitored in the hospital, continues to heap havoc on the NICU nurses constantly pulling out his tubes and pulling off the heart rate/temperature stickers! He can follow your voice so well with his eyes, as he stays so alert. Joseph is a laid back guy, stretching with arms and legs out, propped up on the blankets, as well as keeping his seemingly constant hiccups, too. We keep getting asked who they look like right now, and we honestly can't tell just yet because of all the tubes. :)

We should be able to hold them within the week, once they get their central line out of their belly buttons. We also get to bring little clothes for them to wear too, once they reach over 1900 grams! Woo! As far as take home time goes, it could be anywhere from 2 weeks to a month, so we are prayerful for the shortest time to healthy baby boys.

Thanks to each and every one of you for your prayers, love, support, texts, calls, messages, etc...and if we didn't get back to you, know that your words still reached us and meant the world to us, and essentially have got us through this crazy beautiful weekend! God has been so faithful and He has heard all of our prayers. He will continue to use them to bring Him glory!

We'll keep everyone updated as we can, and much, much , MUCH love to each of you! Joseph and Miles can't wait to meet you!

Joseph :)

Miles :)