Some of you may have noticed some salty language in the previous posts. For the record, those are coming from Chris. His penchant for accurate and non-repetitive descriptions sometimes gets the better of him. :-)
One thing we haven't really commented on is a typical day for all of us. My mom jokes each night that she will see us tomorrow "same time-same place-same routine". This is really true -- in only 4 days, we are very closely tied to our schedule. It shifts and changes in small amounts each day, but overall is fairly consistent. If you want to see Chris' work of art in Excel, it can be viewed and appreciated at: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p49Gw-T7-drPTu641ZEzCWw
As you can see, we pretty much revolve around feedings and pumpings. We have big feedings 8 times each day -- every 3 hours. The boys are still learning to master breastfeeding, so each of these feedings is followed up with breastmilk in a bottle. Thus, breastfeedings take 1-1.5 hours. Bottle feedings take about 45 minutes - 1.5 hours depending on how many people are involved. Kathy pumps after each feeding and occasionally in between to maintain and increase her milk supply. She has also started "free-feeding" the babies as desired during the afternoon and evening. The boys are still small and figuring out "suck-swallow-breathe", but they now seem to have the hang of it 75% of the time. We are now waiting for their stamina to increase (something that will develop naturally with time and maturity.) In the next 4-6 weeks, we anticipate they will have the strength for total breastfeeding. (Although we may reserve the bottles and expressed breastmilk to give Kathy the option of 3-4 hours of sleep a few times each week.)
Currently we breastfeed the boys individually at most feedings. Wednesday we made our first attempt at tandem breastfeeding both boys at once. It was a surprising success! We didn't really anticipate that both boys would be able to latch on without the assistance of extra hands, but they did surprisingly well. We won't post photos of this, but if you are interested in seeing how this works -- or seeing a HUGE grin on Kathy's face, let us know and we'll send them to you!
Well -- feeding time at the zoo is upon us! Look for more info in the future!
Friday, June 29, 2007
Comments
In case you tried to post a comment to the blog and could not, we just realized we had some funky restriction saying that you have to be a register blogger to post comments. Well we changed that so feel to comment if you so choose.
We Scared The Crap Out of Gabriel!
Its amazing how your priorities change after having babies. Instead of thinking about if the Red Sox won last night or what's on TV tonight, you think how long has it been since your baby last pooped. Just one of the many wierd things that we think about these days.
Speaking of pooping, Gabriel hasn't dropped a deuce since we got back from the hospital last Sunday. I know how I feel after going that long so you can imagine how he feels! We discussed this at our first pediatrician's appointment on Wednesday and he said we could wait until today before we should try a dreaded..........suppository. Nobody wants that!! Well we waited, and waited, and waited, and nothing. I blame myself for this problem. I was the one who told him last Saturday, after the doctor said both boys could go home if Gabe gains weight that night, that if he had to lay some cable to hold it until they weigh him. Well I guess he really did. I tried to explain that its okay now and that he can go but still nothing. So this afternoon I went to the pharmacy and got the dreaded suppository. As we took it out of the package, everyone's reponse was the same "Holy cow that's huge!" How is that going to fit in there? Well we brought Gabe over to the chaging table, ready to violate him when we discovered he decided to go on his own. We think seeing the size of that suppository scared the poop right out of him. See, wierd priorities, right?
So everything went well at their first doctors visit. The doc said that they both looked great in all regards. They even put on a few ounces since leaving the hospital which is good too. We ran into a mom with two twins a few months old that were on their way out the door. She was all smiles when she saw our twins and wished us congratulations. As she was leaving, she turned back to us with a very serious expressions and whispered as she left "The first two months are HELL." Yay! This has actually been a common warning we've heard from other twin parents. So far its been pretty hard but not hell........at least not yet.
Speaking of pooping, Gabriel hasn't dropped a deuce since we got back from the hospital last Sunday. I know how I feel after going that long so you can imagine how he feels! We discussed this at our first pediatrician's appointment on Wednesday and he said we could wait until today before we should try a dreaded..........suppository. Nobody wants that!! Well we waited, and waited, and waited, and nothing. I blame myself for this problem. I was the one who told him last Saturday, after the doctor said both boys could go home if Gabe gains weight that night, that if he had to lay some cable to hold it until they weigh him. Well I guess he really did. I tried to explain that its okay now and that he can go but still nothing. So this afternoon I went to the pharmacy and got the dreaded suppository. As we took it out of the package, everyone's reponse was the same "Holy cow that's huge!" How is that going to fit in there? Well we brought Gabe over to the chaging table, ready to violate him when we discovered he decided to go on his own. We think seeing the size of that suppository scared the poop right out of him. See, wierd priorities, right?
So everything went well at their first doctors visit. The doc said that they both looked great in all regards. They even put on a few ounces since leaving the hospital which is good too. We ran into a mom with two twins a few months old that were on their way out the door. She was all smiles when she saw our twins and wished us congratulations. As she was leaving, she turned back to us with a very serious expressions and whispered as she left "The first two months are HELL." Yay! This has actually been a common warning we've heard from other twin parents. So far its been pretty hard but not hell........at least not yet.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Have we cursed Elias?
Is Elias that unusual of a name that people will always have a hard time pronouncing it for the rest of his life? We didn't think so but the nurses in the hospital and folks at work definitely seem to have a hard time. At the hospital, he was called by various nurses the following: "Ellis", "Elliot", "Isiah", "Tabias", and "Eliza" (yes even Eliza!) but most would just slowly say "Ellllllllllliiiiii.........." and wait for us to pronounce it. Sometimes I wasn't sure if they were saying his naming or doing their E.T. impersonation.
What do you think?
What do you think?
You be the judge...
So the big question around the Goddard House these days is, "Are they identical?" We each have our own theories and answers and they change for each of us every day. When they were born, the size difference made it very easy to tell them apart, but as that gap has closed and both boys are more active, it is much harder to make a definite decision. Their foreheads are now similarly sized and as Gabe's cheeks fill out, his eyes seem to be positioned just like his brother's. All our previous cues seem to be disappearing!
I'm embarassed to say that we have had a number of moments where we have gotten them confused with one another. (So much for mother's insinct!) Fortunately they are still wearing their ankle bracelets from the hospital -- so we have a double-check in place. Also, Ninah seems to be able to tell them apart consistently, so there is hope for mom and dad yet.
The plan for today is to give a bath this afternoon or tomorrow and remove the bracelets. At that time, we are planning to do a little nail-polish on Gabe as a reference point (a masculine color, of course). :-)
If you want to weigh in with your thoughts on whether or not Gabriel and Elias are identical, drop us a line! If they continue to look similar, we may never know for sure. The only way to know for sure is to rule out monozygocity (through different blood types, appearance, etc.) or to do a genetic test. DNA testing seems expensive and unnecessary, so we won't be going down that road unless medically necessary and thus far we have been uable to rule out the possibility that they are identical.
Either way, it is fun to have a Scooby-Doo style mystery to grapple with everyday.
I'm embarassed to say that we have had a number of moments where we have gotten them confused with one another. (So much for mother's insinct!) Fortunately they are still wearing their ankle bracelets from the hospital -- so we have a double-check in place. Also, Ninah seems to be able to tell them apart consistently, so there is hope for mom and dad yet.
The plan for today is to give a bath this afternoon or tomorrow and remove the bracelets. At that time, we are planning to do a little nail-polish on Gabe as a reference point (a masculine color, of course). :-)
If you want to weigh in with your thoughts on whether or not Gabriel and Elias are identical, drop us a line! If they continue to look similar, we may never know for sure. The only way to know for sure is to rule out monozygocity (through different blood types, appearance, etc.) or to do a genetic test. DNA testing seems expensive and unnecessary, so we won't be going down that road unless medically necessary and thus far we have been uable to rule out the possibility that they are identical.
Either way, it is fun to have a Scooby-Doo style mystery to grapple with everyday.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Home-Sweet-Home
So we are pleased to announce that we have survived the first 72 hours! (Horray)
We are doing better than we expected to be at this point. The only saving grace of bringing babies home after a long stay in the NICU is that they are on a very rigid schedule and are comfortable with it. The boys eat one after the other every 3 hours all day and evening. Because they are premies, we were advised not to let them wake us up, but to wake them for feedings if necessary -- at least until they are full-term, if not a little longer.
So before leaving the hospital, we laid out a tentative schedule (in Excel!) that allowed us both to get at least one 4 hour block of sleep each day -- even if it was just the two of us at home. And of course, things are far better than this because we have the boys' Ninah (Kathy's Mom) here for support. She makes sure we are eating, that there is laundry, etc. and helps with all the daytime feedings. She is an exceptionally willing and able baby-holder/changer/feeder/singer/etc.
Today the boys went for their first ride in their swings. We think they're still a little too small for the swings but we did manage to squeeze off some adorable pictures:
We are doing better than we expected to be at this point. The only saving grace of bringing babies home after a long stay in the NICU is that they are on a very rigid schedule and are comfortable with it. The boys eat one after the other every 3 hours all day and evening. Because they are premies, we were advised not to let them wake us up, but to wake them for feedings if necessary -- at least until they are full-term, if not a little longer.
So before leaving the hospital, we laid out a tentative schedule (in Excel!) that allowed us both to get at least one 4 hour block of sleep each day -- even if it was just the two of us at home. And of course, things are far better than this because we have the boys' Ninah (Kathy's Mom) here for support. She makes sure we are eating, that there is laundry, etc. and helps with all the daytime feedings. She is an exceptionally willing and able baby-holder/changer/feeder/singer/etc.
Today the boys went for their first ride in their swings. We think they're still a little too small for the swings but we did manage to squeeze off some adorable pictures:
Elias in his Swing
Gabe in his Swing
Swingin'
Gabe in his SwingSwingin'
The new blog!
Check it out. The boys enjoyed bloggin their adventures in the hospital so much that they decided to continue their online journal from home. We've imported the old posts from their CarePage to the new blog but if you're interested in seeing the old page with comments from family and friends and some old photos, you can still check it out here:
We'll be posing to the new blow site exclusively now!
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