Brief update and some pictures

I just wanted to let you all know about some of the questions you’ve been having, then I’ll post some pictures below.

Kidneys – it turns out both our girls have enlarged kidneys.  We were told that kidney enlargement is on a scale of level 1 to level 4; 1 is lowest and 4 is highest.  Gloriana’s kidneys are both level 1 and aren’t anything to be concerned about.  Belladia has one that is level 1 and her left (which we’ve tracked throughout the pregnancy) is a level 3.  The NICU doctor said that he wasn’t too concerned about it – they are going to test to see whether the urine from her bladder is backing up to that kidney and whether there is a blockage.  If there is some blockage, they would have to do a procedure to correct it.

Feeding – Bella took some breastmilk by the feeding tube around lunchtime, so we’ll have to see how that went for her.  UPDATE: She ended up taking some from a bottle, too – woo-hoo!  Gloriana took 3 cc of breastmilk by bottle (!) and took another 2 cc via feeding tube.  We’re impressed with both of their progress.

Pictures

This is Gloriana with my hand in front of her.  She's in a preemie diaper and looks like she's swimming in it. =)  This is just a few hours after she was born...

This is Belladia just a few minutes after the above picture was taken.  You can see (just like you saw from the first picture of them) that she's noticeably bigger than her sister.

Lisa was able to hold Gloriana for the first time on Tuesday.  Beautiful girls, aren't they?

My parents visited Tuesday afternoon and held Gloriana for a while...

Here is our little glowworm Gloriana (that's Lisa's finger on the bottom right side of the picture to show how little this peanut is).

This is Belladia sporting her shades as she's under the spotlight to help her deal with some jaundice.  The c-pap that you see under her nose has since been removed.

There are Lisa and I, standing by Belladia's bed; you can see Gloriana's bed in the background.

Aunt Laura is holding Gloriana, who has her shades pulled up and is snoozing away.

This little doll that Aunt Laura brought will likely be used in future updates to show how much our girls are growing - the doll is next to Gloriana here...

...and next to Bella here.

Bella meets her Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Boss.  Notice her dark hair here!

Lisa feeds Gloriana from a bottle.

Lisa holding Belladia, who fell asleep on her chest.

Bella spent this afternoon sleeping on her tummy; the band is holding her shades in place.

Lisa is happy to be holding Gloriana here...

...and the feeling is mutual - does that count as a newborn smile? =)

One last story: lately, we had been praying before every meal (as we always do), but Kruesie has been participating a bit.  In very non-Reformed/Presbyterian fashion (wink, wink), he would jump in with a little prayer of his own.  For example, I might say, "Thank you for the food we're about to eat," and Kruesie would say, "And thank you for the babies."  At the time, they weren't yet born, but Lisa or I would affirm him, "Yes, we thank you for the babies, too."  It's so incredible now to see what we've been thanking God for and to share those images with you. =)