Wow, I can't believe that the girls are already 3 months old. Time has just flown by since they were born and it's really hard to imagine them as small as they were then. Maia is now 21 months old which is also just crazy. She'll be 2 before we know it! Time to start thinking about party ideas.
So I heard back from my work and they've agreed to extend my leave (unpaid) for another 3 months. This is wonderful news because I just didn't feel right about coming back yet but don't really know what the future holds either. They won't guarantee my same job back but at least I don't lose benefits in the meantime. I really expected them to say "Sorry, you're done" so I feel really fortunate that they've been willing to work with me during this time.
I gave the girls baths today and did impromptu weights (weighing myself then weighing myself holding them). Lily is just about 7 lbs and Juliette is right around 10. I can't believe how tubby Juliette's gotten!! Pretty soon she'll be caught up weight-wise to full term babies - it's amazing. Lily has been nursing better - I don't have to use the shield nearly as much anymore so I'm thankful for that. She still gets really worked up and seems uncomfortable (especially in the evenings and at night) and she'll scream and eat and scream and eat. It happens when she gets her nightly bottle as well. I don't know if it's the reflux or something else. I feel so bad for her when it happens though!
Speaking of Lily, as of today we've been told that we can discontinue the caffeine! This is great news because it means that the Apnea program will download her monitor information in another 2 weeks and if they like what they see then she'll be off the monitor for good! I feel like it's unfair to her when I can just walk around everywhere with Juliette and can't really do that easily with Lily. Right now she's off the monitor to give her a break. We're allowed to do that and I'm not worried about it anyway other than when she's eating since that is the only time it ever goes off.
I'm looking forward to this evening. It's the Earle Brown Days in Brooklyn Center and the parade goes right down our street. This will be the first year that Maia will really enjoy it I think (and stay up way past her bedtime!) and it'll just be fun to go outside and listen to bands and be around people. We have to be extra vigilant with the twins since we don't want them getting sick - can't be afraid to ask people not to touch them! I'm sure I'll be inside for a lot of it nursing anyway but that's ok. Amanda and Jeremy are coming over tonight as well so I think we'll have a good time (and so will Maia and Ivy).
Oh, and for a first today I got both twins napping in their cribs at the same time for about an hour this afternoon! Woohoo!
I'm so sorry for not updating. It feels like I barely have time to breathe sometimes. Right at this moment I'm bouncing Lily with my foot, watching "Knocked Up" on TV and typing this entry. Ben is downstairs with Juliette and Maia is in bed.
We had Lily's weight check on Tuesday and I'm happy to report that she gained 7 1/2 oz in one week. They expect a full term newborn to gain an ounce a day and less for a preemie so she's right on track! Not quite like Juliette who is turning into a little tubby but that's ok. Lily will catch up eventually.
Today is Father's Day and we had my parents and Ron and Kathryn and Annabelle over to celebrate. Ben made brats and I got a small baby break so that was great.
So things with work are sort of in limbo right now. Technically I'm supposed to go back tomorrow but that's not going to happen so I'm waiting to see if they can give me some additional time - if not I will be terminated. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about that. I can always go back later (if they let me) but I'll lose my almost 6 years and my vacation time. We'll see what happens.
I'm hoping that this week Lily gets off the caffeine. The sooner she's off of it the sooner she's off the monitor. They did a download this week of the info so I'm praying that the results are good enough. It's tough to do much when she's tethered!
Anyway, thanks for reading if you still are!
I am exhausted. It's been a rough week as far as sleep goes. Our "station" is the living room couch so the babies are sleeping there in their chairs (or on me) until we get their room done and a place to sit in there. Ben got the second crib and nightstand set up so we're making progress. Anyway, the girls always want to eat at the same time right now and while it's doable, they generally fall asleep and take forever so I end up falling asleep (uncomfortably) with them on my nursing pillow. Hopefully we'll be able to get on a better schedule soon.
Lily has been vey fussy and all Juliette wants to do is eat. Lily just seems uncomfortable so tonight we're changing her meds to Prevacid (she was on Zantac before) so hopefully it makes a difference. She also has a weight check tomorrow so I'm really curious to see where she's at. I'm hoping she's gained at least 6 oz but we'll see!
Ben's mom is in town this week and it's been helpful to have her here to hold a baby and help with housework/meals. She leaves on Wednesday so we'll be back on our own starting then but it's okay - I think we will be able to handle it!
We are still looking at minivans. We've looked at the Sienna, Odyssey, Town & Country and Caravan. The T&C and Caravan are the least expensive with the most features but the reliability is questionable. We're still not sure what we're going to do.
Juliette is doing great. She is very roly poly these days - we think she probably weighs a good 8 1/2 lbs by now!!
I apologize for not writing more often. My hands are full lately and I can hardly find time to shower or pay bills even so it's a rare moment that I get a chance to do an entry! Right now Ben and I are watching some TV while he is holding both girls; it's pretty adorable.
This week we had a follow up weight check with Juliette. Last week she was 6 lbs, 1 1/2 oz and this week she was up to 6 lbs, 12 oz. The average for a normal newborn is an ounce a day so she gained 10 1/2 which is fantastic. Two days later we had a home nurse come and she took her weight again and Juliette is now 7 lbs, 1/2 oz. Amazing! She's growing so big.
We had an initial appointment with Lily on Wednesday and when she was discharged on Monday she weighed 5 lbs, 11 oz. Wednesday's appointment she was 5 lbs, 12 oz. 1/2 oz a day so that's not bad but hopefully we can get the feeding/nursing down a little bit more so that she can catch up a little bit to Juliette. We have another weight check on Tuesday.
Nights are tough. Their room isn't done and there is nowhere in there for me to sit to nurse them so we've set up camp out in the living room for now. When one wakes up and I start to nurse her, inevitably the other wakes up as well and starts screaming. It's just me so it's really difficult to manage it all at the same time, especially since Lily has a reflux issue that causes her a lot of discomfort. I'm doing okay but I am quite tired. The good news is that the second crib and dresser arrived so we now have somewhere to put the clothes. Ben started painting their room yesterday so it won't be long until it's done and I can have them hopefully sleeping in their own beds.
We had to take Lily back to Children's this week for a spine ultrasound. She has something called a sacral dimple that we never noticed before (at the base of her spine) so our doctor wanted it checked out just in case it was open to the spine. She didn't think it was but if it was it could be an indicator of spinal bifida. Luckily everything came back completely normal.
It was weird going back there!
We had some visitors this week so it's been nice to see friends and family. My mom is helping in the evenings sometimes which has been great and then we've also seen Matt and Meghan, Darek and Steph and my grandparents. If anyone else wants to stop by, just let me know and be sure you're not ill. Also, please don't be offended when we ask you to wash your hands - it's important to us to keep the girls from getting sick.
Maia loves the girls. She is doing very well with them. I feel sad that I'm not able to spend more time with her right now since she's at such a fun age. I'd love to take her to some classes or fun activities but I don't know logisitically how I can do that at this point. Maybe we'll get to a point where I'm comfortable going out with all three of them.
We had a bit of a scare on Thursday. At Wednesday's appointment our doctor prescribed Prevacid for Lily's reflux. Ben went and picked up the prescription and our instructions were to give her 3 ccs/2x day. We gave her the first dose on Thursday morning and Ben noted that it seemed like a lot to give her since a dosage of Tylenol at her age/weight is about .3 ccs. He decided to call the pharmacy and they weren't sure so they called our pediatrician. Turns out that it IS supposed to be .3 ccs and not 3 ccs so we gave her 10x the dose she should have gotten. They told us to call poison control to see if it would be an issue and luckily they said that it shouldn't affect her. Thank goodness. We don't know where the mistake happened. The doctor says that the chart says .3 and we don't know for sure what the prescription itself said. Anyway, she's been acting normal so I am very thankful we only gave her one dose before realizing our (their) mistake.
Anyway, that's enough for now. Things are okay. It's been challenging but I know it will be worth it.
Both girls are home! It is really surreal right now knowing that they're both here with us and we do not have to go to the hospital tomorrow or the next day.
We headed to the hospital at 2 pm today to have Ben give Lily a bottle to practice since she requires a lot of pacing so that she remembers to breathe. We got her meds (she'll be on caffeine), talked to the doctor, fed Juliette and walked free and clear out of the ICC. Nobody even tried to stop us and they were happy to see us go home.
Now that we're home we're trying to figure out how to handle nights. Since I'm nursing it'll pretty much all be me. I ordered a twins nursing pillow about a month ago but it still hasn't come so I don't know yet how I'm going to nurse them at the same time. Already they're starting to cry when the other cries and grunt when the other grunts. Oh boy. Plus we still only have one crib so we're waiting on the other one to get here so they'll have to share in the meantime. I admit I've just ended up with Juliette on the couch the last couple of weeks because she takes forever to nurse and I end up just falling asleep. I can't do that with both girls, especially since Lily is on a monitor. Wish me luck.
Maia has been handling everything really well. She loves the babies and even though she's acted somewhat jealous it's not too bad. We've started letting her watch Sesame Street on TV (she had no TV before this) and she LOVES it. Every day she goes over to her chair by the TV and says "Elmo?" That girl loves her Elmo.
We finally picked out bedding so now we just need to paint the room and get the rest of the furniture. Hopefully we can turn their sty of a room into something cute. We'll see!
Ben and I went van shopping this morning. We looked at Toyota Siennas and Honda Odysseys. We're not sure yet whether to put our money into our current 1999 van with 110k miles or get a new one. Ben went to a junkyard this morning and bought bucket seats for our current van because we currently just have a bench seat which makes fitting three carseats inside impossible. We liked both vehicles but need to take a look at some other ones before making a decision.
On that note, I am exhausted and should try to go to bed. Juliette has a weight check in the morning so I'm excited to see how much chub she has gained this week with how much she's been nursing!
