How has insomnia found me? I'm a sleep deprived mother of weeks old twins! I should be sleeping like a baby (horrible metaphor) when I get the chance.
Sleep has thus far worked pretty well for us. I go to bed between 8:00 and 9:00pm (no wise cracks about the early bed time, I get excused for now) and Forrest takes the 9:00pm and 12:00am feedings. I wake up and do the 3:00am and 6:00am feedings. That allows me to get about 6 consecutive hours of sleep.
Tonight, I got in bed at 9:00pm and sleep could not find me. I guess insomnia found me first. I haven't had insomnia since my shift working days. Finally at midnight I threw in the towel and got out of bed. Forrest agreed to go to sleep and take my 6:00am feeding, so I'm on duty now until they go down after 3:00am.
Also, tonight is Halloween...the twins' first Halloween. It's funny how it seems important to mark the "first" of everything for the twins. We certainly didn't do anything special like dress them up in costumes. In fact, this is the only way I'm memorializing their first Halloween. When you're 3 weeks old, it's just not that fun to dress up for Halloween. Plus, I'm not sure that they make costumes in preemie sizes.
Of note, I did hand out some candy. One of our trick or treaters was a pregnant woman. Her belly was exposed and she had painted it as part of her costume. I couldn't tell how old she was since she was in costume, but I suspected she was a teenager. It was very strange. I think I would have skipped this year, if I were her.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Life's little ironies
Last night I had the 3:00am shift, which I had earlier thought I would refer to as "The 3:00am shift....ugh", but I have recently been thinking of it as "The 3:00am shift!!". I know that's not very creative, but it's such a precious hour of my day and I now treasure it instead of want to rush through it.
The babies are pretty good at this feeding. They normally eat well and then go right to sleep. Last night was no exception (or so I thought). I put them both down in their bassinet after they ate and they immediately fell asleep. Their heads both turned in toward each other and they layed their forehead to forehead. My heart was filled with joy and I couldn't help but think of how much of a blessing that moment was.
Then, Olivia spit up all over herself and Carter. The irony of it made me laugh out loud. I then got them both up, changed their clothes, their swaddling blankets, and the bassinet sheet, then put them back down. I smartly turned Olivia's face away from Carter and watched them another couple minutes. Then she spit up again, so I had to change her clothes and blanket all over again. Since I was officially out of sheets, I just put a burp cloth over the wet area and laid her back down.
I ended up getting back to bed at 4:30am...smile still on my face and heart still filled with joy.
And today, we do laundry!
The babies are pretty good at this feeding. They normally eat well and then go right to sleep. Last night was no exception (or so I thought). I put them both down in their bassinet after they ate and they immediately fell asleep. Their heads both turned in toward each other and they layed their forehead to forehead. My heart was filled with joy and I couldn't help but think of how much of a blessing that moment was.
Then, Olivia spit up all over herself and Carter. The irony of it made me laugh out loud. I then got them both up, changed their clothes, their swaddling blankets, and the bassinet sheet, then put them back down. I smartly turned Olivia's face away from Carter and watched them another couple minutes. Then she spit up again, so I had to change her clothes and blanket all over again. Since I was officially out of sheets, I just put a burp cloth over the wet area and laid her back down.
I ended up getting back to bed at 4:30am...smile still on my face and heart still filled with joy.
And today, we do laundry!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
First week with the babies
How can I describe the first week home with the babies? It's been full of joy, feedings, changings, and sleeplessness....but mostly joy (and sleeplessness, maybe that's a close second!).
It has been a very long week, as every day is the same. We had a saying when I was working the four week shift schedule up at Tenaska. We'd say that the four week rotation flies by, but each shift feels like forever. That's kind of how it has been this week, except backwards. The week itself seems so long, but the days fly by.
I am nursing the babies every 3 hours during the day. We have a fantastic arrangement at night which is allowing me to get some decent sleep. Of note, our pediatrician told us that we have a "new normal". I would have never described the sleep I'm now getting as "decent sleep", but that's our new normal and I'm now quite pleased with it.
Our lactation consultant recommended that I feed all day and end my day's feedings with the 9:00pm feeding. Then I go to sleep and Forrest feeds the babies pumped milk at midnight. I wake up again for the 3:00am feeding and my mom takes the 6:00am feeding. That allows me about 4 consecutive hours of sleep, twice a night. Now that my mom is gone, Forrest and I took turns the last two nights taking the 6:00 feeding. Also, I try my hardest to get a nap in after the noon feeding.
Everything revolves around the feedings. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G
We had a pediatrician appointment on Thursday. We chose Dr. Harris who is in a practice with Dr. Raine and a new doctor, Dr. Dao. I didn't realize we'd be seeing Dr. Dao, but we were really pleased with him and our next appointment (next week) is also with him. He has 17 month old twin girls, so he seems like a kindred spirit. The babies checked out just fine. They were weighed, measured, tested for jaundice, had their temperatures taken, and generally prodded by the doctor. Nothing was too uncomfortable for the babies. Also, Dr. Dao was really impressed by how big Carter is for his gestational age. He said that they don't really have records and averages for preemies, but he would estimate that Carter's size would put him in at least the 50th-75th percentile.
We are so proud of them!
They also had a neonatal screening on Friday, which just tests for genetic abnormalities and deformities. They had one done within the first couple days of their lives and protocol says they have to have it repeated 10-14 days after birth, so that's what we did. We'll get the results back in 2 weeks.
That's pretty much it for the first week. We are so happy being parents to these two miracles. God is so good to us and I hope we don't forget to thank him every day for his immeasurable generosity. Nobody deserves this much happiness, but for some reason he gave it to us.
And because no post is quite as good without a pic, here's one I just took. Carter looks angry because he is just waking up and is fussing a bit. He needs to eat in about 30 minutes, but I bet if I pick him up he'll be happy and I can hold him off.
It has been a very long week, as every day is the same. We had a saying when I was working the four week shift schedule up at Tenaska. We'd say that the four week rotation flies by, but each shift feels like forever. That's kind of how it has been this week, except backwards. The week itself seems so long, but the days fly by.
I am nursing the babies every 3 hours during the day. We have a fantastic arrangement at night which is allowing me to get some decent sleep. Of note, our pediatrician told us that we have a "new normal". I would have never described the sleep I'm now getting as "decent sleep", but that's our new normal and I'm now quite pleased with it.
Our lactation consultant recommended that I feed all day and end my day's feedings with the 9:00pm feeding. Then I go to sleep and Forrest feeds the babies pumped milk at midnight. I wake up again for the 3:00am feeding and my mom takes the 6:00am feeding. That allows me about 4 consecutive hours of sleep, twice a night. Now that my mom is gone, Forrest and I took turns the last two nights taking the 6:00 feeding. Also, I try my hardest to get a nap in after the noon feeding.
Everything revolves around the feedings. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G
We had a pediatrician appointment on Thursday. We chose Dr. Harris who is in a practice with Dr. Raine and a new doctor, Dr. Dao. I didn't realize we'd be seeing Dr. Dao, but we were really pleased with him and our next appointment (next week) is also with him. He has 17 month old twin girls, so he seems like a kindred spirit. The babies checked out just fine. They were weighed, measured, tested for jaundice, had their temperatures taken, and generally prodded by the doctor. Nothing was too uncomfortable for the babies. Also, Dr. Dao was really impressed by how big Carter is for his gestational age. He said that they don't really have records and averages for preemies, but he would estimate that Carter's size would put him in at least the 50th-75th percentile.
We are so proud of them!
They also had a neonatal screening on Friday, which just tests for genetic abnormalities and deformities. They had one done within the first couple days of their lives and protocol says they have to have it repeated 10-14 days after birth, so that's what we did. We'll get the results back in 2 weeks.
That's pretty much it for the first week. We are so happy being parents to these two miracles. God is so good to us and I hope we don't forget to thank him every day for his immeasurable generosity. Nobody deserves this much happiness, but for some reason he gave it to us.
And because no post is quite as good without a pic, here's one I just took. Carter looks angry because he is just waking up and is fussing a bit. He needs to eat in about 30 minutes, but I bet if I pick him up he'll be happy and I can hold him off.
Olivia's first manicure
Olivia's nails are too long. She has several scratches on her face and some on her shoulder. While she eats, she tries to cling to her face. The lactation consultant says that is part of the "organizing instinct", meaning that in order for the baby to focus on eating, she needs to organize her hands and occupy them with something. To keep her from trying to cling to her face, I try to get her to hold on to my finger (which is tough when nursing two babies at once!) or I get her to grip my bra strap. However, the real solution was cutting and filing the nails.
Grandmommie and Pops got here at about 9:00 this morning and Grandmommie held her while I did her nails. I had WAY too much anxiety over this little task. I really did not want to hurt my little girl with the nail clippers. Fortunately I used some baby clippers and it worked out great. She was completely unphased by the clipping and filing.
P.S. I also manicured Carter's nails, but Forrest says that's not very manly so he's not the subject of this blog.
While my folks were here my mother made pound cakes for us (yum!) and also muffalettas for lunch. She made a pot of chili for us tomorrow night and also made extra for us to freeze. We are so lucky to have her!
Pops also contributed. He did an excellent job holding babies, and he also made a trip to Target with me to return something and to buy the groceries that Grandmommie needed to make us all that food.
After lunch I took a wonderful nap. I love naps!
Tonight is a BIG NIGHT. It's date night! Forrest's mother is coming over and we're going to go out to dinner. I'm so excited! I think we'll go to Pappasitos, which is our favorite place. Out on the town!
Grandmommie and Pops got here at about 9:00 this morning and Grandmommie held her while I did her nails. I had WAY too much anxiety over this little task. I really did not want to hurt my little girl with the nail clippers. Fortunately I used some baby clippers and it worked out great. She was completely unphased by the clipping and filing.
While my folks were here my mother made pound cakes for us (yum!) and also muffalettas for lunch. She made a pot of chili for us tomorrow night and also made extra for us to freeze. We are so lucky to have her!
Pops also contributed. He did an excellent job holding babies, and he also made a trip to Target with me to return something and to buy the groceries that Grandmommie needed to make us all that food.
After lunch I took a wonderful nap. I love naps!
Tonight is a BIG NIGHT. It's date night! Forrest's mother is coming over and we're going to go out to dinner. I'm so excited! I think we'll go to Pappasitos, which is our favorite place. Out on the town!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The gift of my mother
My mom has been such a huge help. She came to stay with us on Monday night and stayed through Thursday morning. She has cooked, cleaned, changed diapers, done laundry, and most importantly took the 6:00 morning feeding so that Forrest and I could sleep. A thank you is just not enough, but right now it's what I have to give, so Mom.....a thousand thank yous come your way. I know it's tiring but you have eased our load significantly.
Also, she and I snuck away for a pedicure on Wednesday morning. That was a nice treat for us both!
Anyways, here's a pic of her with the grandbabies. They are so lucky to have her and I know they'll love her tremendously (like I did my grandmothers). One other thing she did while she was here is hold our babies. That was probably the most important task (wait no, it was still the morning feeding, haha!).
Also, she and I snuck away for a pedicure on Wednesday morning. That was a nice treat for us both!
Anyways, here's a pic of her with the grandbabies. They are so lucky to have her and I know they'll love her tremendously (like I did my grandmothers). One other thing she did while she was here is hold our babies. That was probably the most important task (wait no, it was still the morning feeding, haha!).
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Olivia comes home
Another wonderful day! Olivia came home today and completed our family of four. She had to stay a bit longer than Carter because she had an infection which required 10 days of antibiotic treatment, which started on her birth day. She got her last dose of antibiotics tonight at 8:00pm and we were there waiting to take her home. Since we did a room in with Carter, we didn't have to do one with her. We just picked her up from the NICU and took her home.
Reunited at last!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Room in with Carter
On Saturday morning we went to visit Carter and Olivia at the NICU. Uncle Bart came with us and we had a wonderful time with the babies.
Of note about the NICU, before you can go to the baby's bedside, you have to scrub in, which consists of handwashing from fingertip to elbow for 3 minutes (or more specifically, 3 minutes and 6 seconds, which is what the timer at the handwashing station is set to). The water is controlled by two foot pedals, a hot and a cold. The soap is also controlled by a foot pedal. The hot water is VERY hot. Bart made a comment about it while washing up....he said "Wow, this will take you straight from the NICU to the burn unit!" Not sure that it is funny when retold, but it made me laugh at the time.
Anyways, I fed both babies and Bart and Forrest held them. While there we were told that Carter was ready to be released and we'd be doing our "Room In" that night. This was the best news I've heard in so long! I got so excited that I even shed some tears.
Rooming in occurs in the Labor and Delivery area. We get to have him all night long and we do everything - feed, change diapers, soothe, etc. The NICU nurses are there to check in on us and make sure it all goes well. Most importantly, Carter wasn't hooked up to any machines! No IV or anything!
Our night went great. The NICU nurse taught us how to give him a sponge bath and then we had to feed him every three hours. It was an exhausting night, as we both had to wake up each time we fed, but we learned a lot and Carter was so good the whole night.
We checked out at about 1:30pm on Sunday (it took WAY too long for the nurses to get their acts together, in my opinion) and went home.
Here are some pics of our night with Carter:
Ready to go home:
Of note about the NICU, before you can go to the baby's bedside, you have to scrub in, which consists of handwashing from fingertip to elbow for 3 minutes (or more specifically, 3 minutes and 6 seconds, which is what the timer at the handwashing station is set to). The water is controlled by two foot pedals, a hot and a cold. The soap is also controlled by a foot pedal. The hot water is VERY hot. Bart made a comment about it while washing up....he said "Wow, this will take you straight from the NICU to the burn unit!" Not sure that it is funny when retold, but it made me laugh at the time.
Anyways, I fed both babies and Bart and Forrest held them. While there we were told that Carter was ready to be released and we'd be doing our "Room In" that night. This was the best news I've heard in so long! I got so excited that I even shed some tears.
Rooming in occurs in the Labor and Delivery area. We get to have him all night long and we do everything - feed, change diapers, soothe, etc. The NICU nurses are there to check in on us and make sure it all goes well. Most importantly, Carter wasn't hooked up to any machines! No IV or anything!
Our night went great. The NICU nurse taught us how to give him a sponge bath and then we had to feed him every three hours. It was an exhausting night, as we both had to wake up each time we fed, but we learned a lot and Carter was so good the whole night.
We checked out at about 1:30pm on Sunday (it took WAY too long for the nurses to get their acts together, in my opinion) and went home.
Here are some pics of our night with Carter:
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