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Friday, July 30, 2010

Our Hospital Stay

I'd like to say our stay in the hospital was completely uneventful, I delivered, we got them to breastfeed right away and were released three days later. Unfortunately, things did not happen this way. I should start by staying it wasn't horribly scary either, just not as smooth as I'd hoped.

After the delivery we were wheeled back to the recovery area where the girls and I were monitored for an hour. Most of the monitoring was for me to make sure I didn't have any issues immediately following the surgery. While we were there we attempted breast feeding for the first time since the girls were rooting around. We didn't have any immediate luck and we were told a lactation consultant would be available for us in our room when we were moved so I didn't panic too much. While all of this was going on Greg went ahead and called our families to give them the exciting news.

From there we were moved to our room which was fairly uneventful. The girls got their first baths and screamed their little heads off. We tried to breast feed again without much luck and I saw a lactation consultant who helped a little and showed me how to use my pump. She also gave us a method to feed the girls some formula using a cup that we deemed useless the first time we tried on our own after she left because it took about 20 minutes to feed them 20 mLs and we had two babies after all. When would we sleep? We requested some formula until we could get going further. I was able to pump some colostrum which we gave the girls.

The next morning we had our first visit with our pediatrician. He came in and examined the girls and said they were very developed for 37 weekers. I was happy to hear this. I think those painful steroid shots a few weeks prior had most likely done what they were intended to do. After he examined them he spoke with us regarding his findings and he said he thought L had a little bit of jaundice. He said that they'd be drawing standard blood work on the girls later so we would find out when it was done. He also asked how breastfeeding was going and said that he was not going to push it on us too much since they were a little early and I'd had c-section. I told him I was going to give it a try and he said that was good. He asked if we had any other questions and I drew a total blank (which was rare for me throughout the pregnancy) and he said he'd see us soon.

That morning the nurse drew the blood from the girls. Now if you don't have kids let me explain how this works. The nurse basically clips the bottom of the baby's foot and squeezes it to collect the blood as it comes out. Well neither girl decided she liked this process and it took forever and they screamed and screamed, it was miserable.

That afternoon we had their hospital pictures taken. Hospital portraits are much different from when most of us were kids where it was just a shot of the baby laying down. They are actually posed. I brought clothes for the girls however, the outfits I'd brought for the girls didn't fit because they were on the small end of newborn clothes, so I changed them into a couple of onesies I'd brought along. The pictures came out great and Greg and I bought the CD and a package that included announcements (less work for us later on!).

L Under The Lights
After the pictures one of the nurses came in and asked if we'd been told yet that L did in fact have a high bilirubin level and needed to go to the NICU to be placed under the lights. Her approach was just awful as I was holding L at that moment and admiring her. I burst into tears as she told me to say good bye and took her away. I sent Greg to the NICU with her to get more details. He met the nurses down there and they explained exactly what would be happening. She would be under the lights most of the time and only come out to be changed and eat every three hours. So we planned to go down and feed her as much as we could. It was quite scary.

The next morning when we were down there feeding the girls the pediatrician came in and examined them both. He said he anticipated her levels going down and her being with us by that evening or the next morning and this was what ended up occurring, she was back with us Sunday morning.

We were glad to have her back with N because little Nat did not sleep well without her sister next to her. I did not plan to co-sleep them but I was amazed to see how well they slept when they were together.

On Monday, we were discharged by the physician who'd sent us over to Good Samaritan Hospital at 32 weeks when I had the premature labor scare. She was very happy to get to be the one to send me home with my girls and I was happy for this as well. Greg and I are very grateful to her for being so aggressive with my care and we loved having the opportunity to thank her for what she did for us.

Note: This isn't as complete as I'd like but I'm having a hard time finding time to complete it so I'm throwing it out there. I hope you understand.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Still tired

But here are some pics:

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Monday, July 12, 2010

One month pictures





Sorry if they are blurry these are the only ones where they weren't crying.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

New bookshelf & Build-A-Bear

We took the girls to Ikea this week and got them this bookshelf. Greg said it was the easiest piece of Ikea furniture he has ever assembled. It had it together in about ten minutes flat. I love the Winnie the Pooh toy on top of it. We got that at Babies R Us this week. It was so cute I could not resist.

On Saturday we took the girls to Build-A-Bear and built their first bears. We will be taking a picture of the girls every month each with their own bear so we can see how they grow every month. Leah's got the monkey & Natalie got the bear.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

One Month Observations

Both Girls

  • Love to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's arms. It makes it tough to keep the house clean.
  • You've had a few visitors: Grandma & Grandpa Macke, Great Grandpa Bossman & some friends from Mommy's work.
  • You've visited both Mommy & Daddy's jobs and were quite popular!
  • Got your Hep B shots and cried your little heads off.
  • Have been to lots of fun places already: Tim Horton's, Ikea, Target, the mall and Babies R Us a few times (Mommy can't resist buying you stuff!)
  • Love to be swaddled to sleep
  • Will nibble on your Daddy's nose when you are hungry
  • Light up your Mom and Dad's world, we can't imagine life without you!

Leah:

  • Weighed 8 lb 12 oz at your one month check up
  • Already outgrew the newborn clothes, we sure were surprised at how fast it happened.
  • Like to ride in your swing and look at the mobile
  • Make funny gulping noises when you eat
  • Have crazy hair after you have your bath
  • Sometimes sleep with your head tilted

Natalie:

  • Weighed 7 lb 4 oz at your one month check up
  • Make some of the funniest faces
  • You are smaller than your sister, your Daddy likes to say you are svelte! But at least we get to put you in the newborn clothes for awhile longer.
  • Have taken to sleeping the best in your car seat
  • Fight nap time with every fiber of your being

Monday, July 5, 2010

Last Week In The Macke House

My Dad Holding Leah
Last week my parents came to visit and to see the babies.  It was nice to see them and they brought presents from everyone that had heard about our newest additions to the family!  My mom came in and got to hold one of the girls while the other girl was still sleeping.  My dad was tapped to take April on much needed walks (since the girls have shown up we haven't done much of anything except take care of them so April needed some loving).  My parents were a big help as they gave us some human interaction other than our own and they also went to the store and picked us up some groceries since our shelves were getting bare.  My mom also brought some food that she had pre-made and got ready for us to just pop in the oven!

This weekend we have started to venture out of the house with the girls.  This was something that was needed to start returning our lives to a sense of normalcy and to keep Melissa's sanity (she hasn't really gone out since she has been at home on bed rest and since she had the babies were born close 9 weeks).  We went to Target and Costco.  We didn't have anyone have a major meltdown or start screaming their heads off, which was good!  We did get a lot of stops and stares since we were using the dual stroller and people were like "I just have to look!"  We also went out to Babies R' Us to pick up a few items.  We picked up a couple more of something that I think is the greatest thing to have as a new parent Summer Infant Swaddleme Cotton Knit, Pink.  These things are great to keep your babies nice and snug and they help get them to sleep!

Berenstain Bears


Greg and I remembered that we have a collection of these books from when Greg was a kid stashed in the garage today so we went out and grabbed them for our bedtime stories with the girls in the evenings! We both loved these books as kids and can't wait to share them with the girls.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Evening routine

When you have twins there really is not much routine from day to day except feed, sleep, change diapers, swaddle & play a little.  However, one place that we've developed a routine over the past couple weeks is bath & bed time.  Our pediatrician sais we could give the girls a bath every night.  Initially we thought this was a crazy idea but after some thought we decided it might work because baths tend to wear the girls down a bit.  So every night we set up shop in their room and put one baby in the crib.  I draw up the bath and lay out jammies while Greg preps the first girl.  Then we bathe the first girl and Greg dresses and swaddles her while I get the tub ready for number two.  Then we repeat the process with number two.  While Greg dresses her I usually get the bottles ready for afterward.  Then we all come into the living room and I read a story while the girls drink their bottles and begin to doze off.  It's quickly become our special family time and we enjoy it every evening.  Hopefully it will be our family routine for the next couple years!