The twins have now been home from the NICU for 3 weeks. Here’s a small portion of the things I have learned since then…
* Keep my nails cut very short. I have naturally long, nice nails (thanks Mom), but I find it’s hard to do all of the daily baby stuff with them…especially burping.
* You can never have too many bibs, cloth diapers/burp rags, and the like because babies are messy eaters!
* It is essential to keep a suction bulb in every room of the house. There’s nothing like having a choking baby and running through the house trying to find the damn suction bulb. I now have one everywhere, including the car and the diaper bag.
* Using a tiny whisk is great for mixing the formula in the bottle. If I shake it up (like the instructions say), you end up with foamy, bubbly formula.
* Both twins are mid-morning poopers.
* Make sure to pull Kate’s diaper up high in the back or else I will be changing her outfit in an hour.
* Both twins love bath time. It’s really the only time in which they seem happy and peaceful, so drag out bath time as long as possible.
* Both twins hate having their diaper changed, and they also hate putting on clothes that require something going over their heads. I have been trying to find outfits that snap straight down the front just to avoid the wrestling match that ensues over the head issue.
* The Diaper Champ was a waste of money. With the amount of diapers the twins go through in a single day, I don’t have the time, energy or desire to change out the bag four times a day. So we bought a new kitchen-sized trash can with a sealed lid for the nursery and empty it once a day.
* The twins have an uncanny ability to sense right when I’m about to loose my mind due to lack of sleep, stress, and/or frustration. That’s when the coo and throw me a smile. I like to think they have an inner dialogue that goes something like, “Opps, Mom’s about the crack up. I’ve pushed her too far again. I better smile and show her what a cute baby I can be.”
* The twins also have an uncanny ability to know when I am starving and finally about to eat. I think they save up their fussiness especially for those times.
* Savor showers. Savor sleep. Savor trips out of the house alone. Savor time alone with husband. Savor time to talk on the phone. Savor 3-hour stretches between feedings.
* You must get a burp out of them halfway through the feeding and then once they are finished. If you don’t, there will be hell to pay later.
* I am averaging 30 bottles per day. It usually takes roughly 30 minutes for them to finish off one bottle. So, that's approximately 15 hours per day of just feeding…not including bottle prep, washing/sterilizing the bottles, burping, soothing back the sleep, etc.
And the list could go on and on, but it’s 3:38 AM and time for another feeding.
April 5, 2007
What I've Learned So Far...
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5 comments:
You stopped by my page a while ago and I've been lurking here ever since. I'm glad you're still posting even after the 15 hours of feeding every day. :)
ditto. Diaper champ no good!!!
Sing it, sister! Can I get an amen?
Seriously though? My baby is having major gas/colic issues as of this past week. What kind of formula have you found that works well? Any lovely unwanted comments about not breastfeeding yet? I think I'm going to fire my pedi based on the constant aggrevation about it.
Dawn,
Since my twins were born so early (which, by the way, I still haven't reached what would have been my full-term due date yet!) they are on Similac's NeoSure. It's made for preemies. It's high-calorie and helps with their catch-up growth. You should ask your pedi about what to give Gage for the colic, but we are giving Carson a tiny amount (less than a teaspoon) of Mylanta (adult strength) at his feeding that usually is the beginning of his colic episode. He give it to him in one of those baby medicine dropper thingies and then feed him the bottle. It has made a WORLD of difference. There are also things like Little Tummies drops that our pedi recommended, but I think Mylanta works best. My cousin also used Mylanta with her colicky twins and had good results.
I felt so guilty about the breastfeeding issue. I pumped for the first month (while they were still in the NICU), but we also paid for donor milk since I couldn't come close to meeting the demand for milk. I get asked a lot about breastfeeding and it pisses me off. I consider it a personal question and a personal decision. I had Uribe put me on two different types of meds to try to increase my supply, but nothing worked. So, when my pedi started jumping down my throat on this topic I told him to call Uribe who could verify that I did everything humanly possible with no luck. That shut up my pedi quickly. I have such admiration for women who can breastfeed twins. I don't know how they do it.
But seriously, don't worry about the pedi. It's a decision every new mom makes and it just has to work for you. Who's your pedi? We use the same OB, we might be using the same pedi too! :)
Caroline,
I make time to post on here -- even with 15 hours of feeding everyday. Since I no longer see my husband, friends, family or even strangers on a regular basis, my blog has become my only link to the outside world.
I know the blog's become a big bitchfest lately, but I need an outlet to vent out my stress and frustration. Plus, it's 100% honest. I was so naive as to how hard it was going to be with newborn twins in the house. I know it will get better, but I want to continue to document my journey with all of it's peaks and valleys.
P.S. Stop lurking and start commenting more! :) I love comments. It reminds me that I'm not just talking to myself on here.
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