We have been home for almost 2 weeks now! It is hard to believe. Overall it is actually much easier than I thought it would be. I think a lot of it is just the relief of being out of the hospital and in our own space. It makes even the hard things seem not that bad! The twins are very good babies. I shouldn't speak too soon though, because I have heard all hell breaks loose a couple of weeks after their due date, which is tomorrow. So crazy!! Tomorrow is also their 3 month birthday. They have been through so much in such a short amount of time.
We had a weight check and hemoglobin check at the doctor today, and Mary gained 8 ounces and Vivian gained 6 ounces. So Mary is 5 pounds 15 ounces, and Vivian is 6 pounds 5 ounces. Their hemoglobin levels are also rising and stabilizing out which is great!
They are having more awake periods during the day. Well, I should say during the night haha. The last couple nights have been kinda rough. Its either they want to nurse a couple hours apart, which is bad because then I don't get much sleep, or they want to nurse at THE EXACT SAME TIME. And if they can't nurse when they want to it is not pretty and they let me know what they think of me;) On a good night I get a couple of 3 hour stretches of sleep. Their behavior is totally normal for newborns, so its not their faults! I feed them at 10 PM, and Kyle usually sleeps on the couch by them until 2 AM, and then I get up and feed them and sleep on the couch until their next feeding at 6 or 7. We have them sleeping in their rock-n-play bassinets in the living room for now. I absolutely love the bassinets, and highly recommend them!
It is possible for me to nurse them at the same time, but none of us prefer it;) They are just too little at this point and don't have enough head control. I'm hoping it gets easier once they get a little older! They are still on the nipple shields, but I am working on weaning them off of those. I think that will make nursing a little bit smoother too once we don't have to worry about those darn things!!
It is interesting the difference between having your first and second(s). I really didn't trust Kyle with Norah when she was a newborn haha. Not that he wasn't capable, it was just me being super protective. I also didn't want her given a bottle (of breast milk) unless it was absolutely necessary. With these two I am completely different. I have left for a couple of afternoons and on errands and feel totally comfortable leaving them with Kyle. He is more than capable of taking care of them. He is pretty awesome actually. The other night I left for a couple hours and came home and Norah was in bed, the house was clean, and the twins were sleeping after just having had a bottle. Now that is impressive!!! Yesterday Norah and I went to one of my coworkers houses to swim and hang out with friends and left the babes with Kyle. Its nice to be able to hang out with just my big girl and get some bonding time in! The twin take bottles of breast milk totally fine, so that isn't an issue. They are also doing less choking and stopping breathing with feeds so that makes life a lot easier as well.
If the twins weren't 28 weekers I would just take them with us more places, but we have to be super careful that they don't get sick, especially with a respiratory illness. Even a little cold could put them back in the hospital on oxygen. So they are kind of on lockdown til they get bigger! By the time they turn 1 it won't be as big of a deal and we will be out and about more. It kind of sucks, and I think it will be a long winter, but its worth it to preserve their lung function for the rest of their lives.
Norah is doing so great with them. She doesn't seem to be jealous at all, and is very loving and protective of them. One night when one of them was crying, she started crying and saying "mommy, she needs you! Mommy, pick her up!" It was so precious. At the doctors today when the girls got their blood drawn and were crying Norah started crying too and saying "Mommy, help them! They got owie!" I think she is just relieved to have things semi back to normal and that Kyle and I are home with her all the time now. I missed her so much, and its great to be back home with her!
No comments:
Post a Comment