“30 Weeks” or “How old are they anyway?”

(Mom, Dad, and Emma Jane)
If the girls had remained in utero they would be 30 weeks today. When you talk to nurses and doctors they still think of them this way. Developmentally that is where they are at. Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since they were born (I know, can you believe it has already been 4 weeks since all this started, more than that since Mary Jane’s water broke). For the next couple of years, even if everything goes smoothly and well they will be developmentally “behind” by 14 weeks because, well they are 14 weeks younger. Eventually those 14 weeks really don’t matter. But for now…
All this begs the question, how old are the girls? It seems to me, that what we do is start the clock at conception and then restart it once they are born. Which on average works since the majority of babies are born right around 40 weeks, but there are a large number of children born early or late and we are zeroing them out with the others and then calling them developmentally behind, when really they are right on target for their actual age.Just something to think about

(Cindi, Mom, and Emma Jane)
Cindi left today. It was a quick visit. We enjoyed having her. She was particularly excited this morning when they gave her a sticker for each of the girls and not just one of them. (see picture).

Mary Jane and I have had the opportunity to see a few full term (or nearly) babies recently and have been stunned at how big they are. At some point you just start to adjust your expectations to what you are seeing on a daily basis, without realizing you are doing it. These so called newborns look like huge giant babies who could sit on ours.
The girls already had their head ultrasound. We haven’t heard anything yet, but are not worried. We’re heading back to the hospital soon and I will try to send out a quick update tonight.

(Parker hugging a pink elephant)