We celebrated Dan's 32nd birthday on Friday and the boys enjoyed the party. Well, Austin did. It was just the four of us, but that has left some much appreciated extra cake and ice cream for mom and dad!

Both boys are getting big. As of Wednesday, Jan. 23, Austin was 6 lbs. 4 oz. and Chase was 5 lbs. 3.5 oz. Austin is gaining an above average amount every week at this point and Chase is right on target. Most of the preemie clothes are getting packed up at this point, with only a few outfits that still fit. I'm hoping they stay in the "newborn" clothes for a little while so they get some use out of all their cute outfits.

I've decided that is just isn't natural to wake up in the middle of the night and feed two babies. But as awful as it feels, I really can't complain because most of the time, it's every three hours. That at least gives us about two hours of sleep at a time.

As the boys have grown, so have their voices. Each has a very distinct cry. Austin's is mature and rather controlled, while Chase's cry is by far more demanding. Their cries seem to be reflective of their personalities, as Austin is a bit more laid back and patient. If Chase wants something or if he is annoyed, he's going to let you know.

VISITATION UPDATE: We will be accepting HEALTHY visitors starting in February. If you want to come meet the boys, we ask you to give us a call or send an email and together, we should be able to find a time and date that works. Weekends are best, but if you are local, an evening could work as well. You should expect to stay for about an hour and wash your hands often. If we learned anything from our stay in the NICU, it's that hand washing is the single most effective weapon against spreading germs. So help us all stay healthy and wash your hands! If you have children, they can come along, but please prepare them for a look but don't touch approach. We'll be a lot less neurotic about this once winter has passed and everyone is less germy.

Well, that's it for now. Off to another feeding session!

New Pics of Us!

New Pic of Austin

New Pics of Chase

A Moment Worth Waiting For

We've waited 53 days to take this picture and it felt just as good as we anticipated it would. One more night in Newport and tomorrow, we'll drive to Merrimack! Finally, we're full time parents and feel like our family is complete. Let the sleepless nights begin!

Happy New Year!

We have had the most incredible new year surprise - Austin came home today! It wasn't easy leaving our little Chase behind but we know he's in good hands and will probably be joining us later this week when he completes his A&B countdown. Until then, we'll continue living out here by the hospital to spend the days there with Chase. A second crib will be in Chase's bed space for Austin to use while we're visiting. Our departure from the ICN today was exciting, but we are saving the picture taking until we can walk out of there with two full car seats in hand. Gotta run - there's a baby calling my name :)

Love, Rebecca & Dan

We've Come So Far

Hi everyone. I'm sorry we haven't posted in two weeks, but boy, have we been busy! The holidays came and went without much of our routine changing. We did get to spend some time with family but most of all, we hung out with our boys. Starting on Dec. 15, we were a bit distracted by what the doctors thought was meningitis in Chase, but it turned out to be a false alarm after eight days of a 21-day treatment. This was Chase's third set back with "infection" but he is extremely strong and we couldn't be prouder on his ability to prove he's not going to let these set backs keep him from moving forward. I suppose his tenacity is the first hint of the competition we'll witness between he and his brother for years to come. In the meantime, Austin has continued to eat and grow.

Ok, enough excuses, here is the fun stuff (besides new photos) that I know you're all wondering about...

Today, Austin weighs 5 lbs. 1 oz. and Chase weighs 4 lbs. 9 oz. To us, they are huge! Both are starting to make lots of wonderful baby noises and they even cry. The boys are in open cribs and for the last few days, we've started ad-lib feeding. This means, we've taken the gavage tubes out and they are eating from mom exclusively. Needless to say, I'm starting to finally feel like this mother role is real and I couldn't be happier to be spending such quality time with both babies. To help the boys adjust to this feeding process, Dan and I are sleeping at the hospital tonight and tomorrow night. We'll get a call whenever the boys are hungry and then I go feed them. Austin has already finished his apnea/bradycardia countdown and Chase is in the midst of his. The car seats are installed and once the boys have breastfeeding perfected, we'll introduce a bottle and they say we could be home within a week to ten days. Of course, we'll believe it when we see it, but finally, we are starting to feel like real parents and that our stay in the NICU could be over soon.

Here are some pictures from the past two weeks. The nurses had a photo shoot with the boys on Christmas and I'll post those pictures separately. Enjoy and as always, thank you, everyone, for your continued support, warm gestures, kind messages, care packages and love. We are extremely blessed to have all of you in our lives and to share this amazing experience with.


Austin (left) - mom made me wear this silly hat!
Chase (right) - I'm so concerned!

Christmas '07 in the Intensive Care Nursery

Checkout our Christmas photo shoot! A special thank you to Amy M. and the rest of the nurses on that night for capturing such great images of our boys while mom and dad were home resting.

Mom and Dad's Friday night...how things change!

After hanging out for a while tonight, we did tubs and then tucked everyone in for a good night sleep. We couldn't be happier to see what our Friday nights will be like from now on!

Happy One Month Birthday!

Happy Birthday Chase!

Happy Birthday Austin!

Hanging With Mom & Dad

So we showed up today with hopes of getting some pictures of Austin with his eyes open. Not only did we achieve our goal, but to our surprise, the nurses had put clothes on him! Dan and I both spent the day holding our boys and it couldn't have been nicer. Chase "desatted" (this means the oxygen saturation level in his blood reduced briefly, which is extremely common during this stage in life) a few times on Dad, giving him a heart attack, but that's par for the course and he recovered fine. Oh, and Dad is ok too...

Chase wasn't too photogenic today, but I'm sure this is just the start of us not being able to control these two!

Here's Dad hanging out with Chase. The boys have been moved into the older style isolettes that don't have humidity settings or portholes for us to get our hands in there. We're hoping for open cribs soon.

Austin is sleeping peacefully - with clothes on! Everyone must think we're strange to think that's a big deal, but these kids have been au naturale since birth.

Austin, still sleeping, but heading for some snuggle time with mom. He'll eat while being held. But not before we hold him up and admire this new look! Hopefully Austin won't be embarrassed that we all think his backside is even cute!

Ok, and here he is with those eyes wide open!

Finally, a Kodak moment Austin didn't sleep through!

Thursday, December 6

While Austin and Chase look alike with hats on, it's easiest to tell them apart by their hair.


Austin (asleep) has a full head of dark hair and his complexion is darker too. Chase (awake) has only a thin coating of light brown hair and his complexion is light.

These pictures are a little dim because they're taken while the boys are in isolettes. Until they can maintain their body temperature on their own, this is where they will live. The doctors say they could be in open cribs within the week. While at the intensive care nursey, the boys will always be monitored for heart rates, oxygen saturation levels, blood pressure and respitory rates so co-sleeping is not an option. There are just to many wires to get tangled. But I'm holding out for an opportunity to put the boys together for a special holiday picture...so stand by for that!

Chase has a central line right now because he is still working back up to full feeds. The line allows him to receive nutrients via TPN, allowing him to thrive as well as his brother. What you see sticking out of his blanket are called lumens and it's where the TPN is given. One lumen is used right now while the other just gets flushed every eight hours. Once he's on full feeds, the central line can be removed. As of today, Austin weighs 3 lbs. 5 oz. and Chase weighs 3 lbs. 2 oz.

The tubes in their mouths allow them to eat. Sometimes these are put in their noses but it can affect their breathing rates. The tubes are not painful at all. The boys both like to suck on pacifiers while they eat which shows their stomach and brain are communicating effectively by associating a full or hungry belly with sucking. All good signs they will eat normally soon!

Both boys are vigorous, according to the staff. They say this is a great sign but that we're going to have our hands full when they come home. I say, bring it on! We can't wait until that first sleepless night, as long as we have both boys at home with us safe and sound.

We're growing!

These boys are growing and we couldn't be prouder! Both are over three pounds now and 16 inches long. Austin is up to full feeds and while Chase was eating at full feeds early on, he needed some time to rest his gut. His first meal in eight days was last night and so far so good. Not to worry, during that time, Chase was still getting all the nutrients his body needed and it was apparently working since he gained weight and grew. Mom and Dad are getting to hold the boys daily now and the babies love what's called Kangaroo Care - when the baby is put right in your shirt allowing for skin to skin contact. It's the closest they can get the baby to a womb-like experience and they love it.

We took our first day off from the hospital on Monday and it snowed all day long. Accumulation led to about 12 inches so it was a good day to be home. The cats were certainly happy to see us. But, now we're back and it really does feel better to be here with the boys everyday. They are so precious and that makes it very hard to stay away. This is especially hard for Dad, who went back to work last week. His commute really hasn't changed, but it makes for a long day when he works and then heads to the hospital every evening.

We wanted to send a special thank you out to those who've been making us food or putting care packages together. We're overwhelmed by people's generosity and our bellies thank you. It makes these late nights a lot easier when you can just come home and pop something in the microwave or head out to the hospital with a bag full of snacks.

So, cheers to another good day and we'll try to get some new pictures taken soon for all of you to see.

Can you tell us apart? Austin is in green and Chase is in blue.

New Pictures of Chase

New Pictures of Austin

Update

Hi everyone. For those of you who haven't heard already, our son Brady suffered a terrible setback on Thursday, November 15. An emergency transfer was made through the night to the Dartmouth Hitchcock Intensive Care Nursery in Lebanon, NH and while he was declared stabilized by the weekend, he'd suffered severe, irreversible brain damage. We had an elective transfer approved on Saturday for Austin and Chase and by that afternoon we had our family of five together in one facility. Brady fought extremely hard but unfortunately passed away on Sunday, November 18 at 6:31 pm. Before he passed, we were able to have all of the boys baptized together and we are extremely happy to have that memory forever in our minds. Dan and I wake up each day knowing the best thing we can do right now is be strong for Austin and Chase. We are extremely fortunate to have the two of them in our lives and while we always said we'd never spoil or smother our children, these boys will not know what hit them once we get them home! Both are back to birth weight, off breathing apparatus and tolerating full feeds. Thank you for all of your support and we'll continue to keep you posted on the progress Austin and Chase are making.

Love, Rebecca and Dan

Austin Daniel Couture

Brady Francis Couture

Chase Devlin Couture

Our boys have arrived!

The big day was Monday, November 12, 2007 at 4:02/4:03/4:04 pm and before we could even digest the fact we were about to become parents, they were here!

Austin Daniel Couture (2 lbs. 12 oz./15.25 in.)

Brady Francis Couture (2 lbs. 12 oz./15.25 in.)

Chase Devlin Couture (2 lbs. 14 oz./15 in.)

Labor began at 1:30 pm. They tried to stop the contractions (which I still couldn't feel) and by 3 pm decided a C-Section was necessary.

The boys are absolutely precious and while they have a challenge-packed journey ahead of them, we're confident they will live up to the "Couture" reputation to be strong and healthy boys. They have dark wavy hair, which we think comes from my grandfather "Buppa" (Francis Devlin) and the verdict is still out on which two are identical.

Some of the pictures taken early on, as in minutes after they were born, are hard to identify. So enjoy the followng and then we'll add a post for each child.