Wow, I feel like I am wanted on a Canada wide warrant

Good day all,

So June 8th was my official last blog entry and well I guess today is a good a day as any to update again. Our lives have turned from a world of having three premature babies who need a lot of support to get through a day to wow these girls are ours and they will be coming home, period. We of course have no idea yet when they will be coming home but reality is setting in and we are realizing that the support will not fully be there when they come home. We are not going to be able to do everything, but we better be able to do mostly everything that all four of our girls need as well as the support that Stephanie and I need to give to each other. The hospital experience has been very different for both Stephanie and I, we are two different people with two very different outlooks. Thinking about it now it is funny how things have changed since the birth. I was always someone who would consider a glass half empty during the pregnancy, meaning that I was always looking at the worst possible outcome and now I am more of a glass half full, and very positive that everything will be just fine, whereas Steph was and is completely opposite now. It is easily explainable as moms of course are going to worry worry worry when their babies are being supported by different devices and the computer monitors that are reading the heart beat, respiration, and oxygen levels are not all where they should be. We have, knock on wood, overcome some colds and flus the last couple weeks and now we are simply doing our visits with the girls, working, and playing with Renee and family. Steph's list is a little longer however she is coping very well to this point.

The girls were transfered three weeks back to Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) in New Westminister from Childrens Hospital in Vancouver. The care at this new hospital is a little different, better in some ways, and worse in others, but as a whole it is good. They have had their hiccups since being at RCH but all is good for the most part. Shauna really needed to get out of her incubator but being that she still had some issues to deal with and that she is still small it has taken some time. About a week ago she was taken out and as you can see in the pictures that I sent out she is doing well squished in the middle between her sisters.

We were told last weekend that Andy could come home on Wednesday of this past week however after blood tests and some not so positive feeding days it was determined that it would be best if she were left in the hospital for more observation. Her ability to breastfeed when she does is awesome, she really has been gaining a lot of weight and looks really good. She is currently 5 lbs and 4 ounces. Paige has been hit and miss over the last few weeks as well, you can tell by her hair-do that she had some shaved off not to long ago. That was to accomodate a new IV, as your head is the best place to put it so that you don't pull it out and so forth. After a blood transfusion and some antibiotics she is back on track again. Stephanie has started breastfeeding her but she is just doing it once and a while because she is only 4 lbs 6 ounces and gets quite tired still. Shauna our little fighter has a great little personallity, fiery, and has done really well because of it. At 3 lbs 10 ounces she is still the smallest but has grown into her face a little better now and is doing quite well. She has begun taking the bottle and has also tried breastfeeding a little bit.

We expect our girls to be coming home over the next 4 to 5 weeks and we can not wait to start our new journey. These girls have been through a lot and we truly appreciate all the well wishes as well as the respect that you have given us for the decision to protect our babies while they have been in hospital. Premature babies are very vulnerable to a lot of things so therefore we have decided to ask all of our friends and family to please give us our space once they come home. A lot of you, I know, may not understand but please realize that the first few years these girls could get very very sick from the smallest of bugs and if one of them gets a bug then it will probably spread to all three. Our house has become a sanitizing safety haven because of this and we would like to maintain that as much as we can. If and when you and your family comes to visit please make sure that yourself and your children have absolutely no colds and that you are as clean as you possibly can be. We are aware that our precautious attitudes about this may offend some of our family and friends and we apologize about this before hand but at the end of the day we do not want to be in and out of the hospital with them due to colds and viruses.

Once again, thank you for your support.

The Van Marrewyk girls and ..................................ME. (PS. Gordon we need to talk, you never gave me advice on dealing with 5 girls-----Can anyone help?)