Today two things happened. Lily rolled over for the first time from her back to her belly (she's already been rolling belly to back a few times) so that was exciting! I think it was an accident but now that she's done it once I'm sure that it will happen more and more frequently. Go Lily! Juliette has rolled a couple of times from her belly to back but she can't do it very often - she's pretty pudgy so she ends up just airplaning on the ground.
Second, Juliette has found her thumb. Neither girl takes a pacifier but they've both been exploring their hands a lot lately and today Juliette got that thumb in there and went to town. The good news about that was it was during her nap and instead of the usual 45 minute crib nap she takes it turned into a 2.5 hour nap! I'm loving it already. We'll see how she does tonight.
Maia took her first shower today. She has been wanting to come into the bathroom with me while I shower lately because she always wants to know what Mama is doing so instead of having her just play in the bathroom messing up clothes and tearing all the toilet paper from the holder, I brought her in with me. She was pretty unsure at first and I think a little bit scared but by the end she was saying "more shower?" and had a great time. Gotta love it.
As far as our weekend goes, we had our friends Amanda and Jeremy Solt and their kids Ivy and Jamey over on Saturday. Maia and Ivy play really well together so it was fun to watch them. They were jumping on our trampoline and having a good old time! We grilled brats and burgers and the Solts brought browines for dessert. It was a nice day. My mom came over in the evening to help out with the girls and we finally got them to sleep and were actually able to sit down and play a game (Phase 10). It has been ages since I've played any sort of real game so it was a nice and mostly relaxing evening! I'm praying for many more to come.
Today we went to USA Baby to purchase a rocker/recliner chair for the girls room. I want them both sleeping in there and it's too difficult to shuttle them back and forth from their room to the living room every time they want to eat so I'm hoping having the recliner in there will help.
I must have been jinxing myself by talking about how well Juliette was sleeping. The last 2 nights she's been up every 1-2 hours so it's been a rough go. I am trying to tandem nurse them both more frequently now to get them on a more similar schedule but they're taking awhile getting used to it. Juliette does a good job but Lily is having a tougher time. Burping them while tandem nursing is difficult as well so there's inevitably a lot of spit up afterwards. I also haven't mastered how to get them from being fully asleep on the tandem pillow to still asleep in their beds. I have to remove one from the pillow and put them on the couch while I try to carefully put the other one down, then go back and get the one on the couch (which is probably a dangerous thing to do) and put them down as well. Inevitably they both wake up angry.
The State Fair started today I think and I'm sad because this year we can't go. I'm not comfortable bringing the twins to such a germ-filled environment and since they don't take bottles we can't leave them with someone else. I know my cheese curds and fried candybars will be there next year but I will still mourn the loss.
I scheduled Lily and Juliette's 6 month well baby visit today. I can't believe that they're almost 6 months old - where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday they were born but at the same time it feels like it was a million years ago. What a ride we've been on! I also scheduled Maia's 2 year appointment. 2 years old? She's sure acting it! She's definitely Miss Independent these days.
Our friends Stacy and Finn came over yesterday so it was great to catch up with her and see how Finn is doing. He's 7 months old now and he's doing great. He was a 25-weeker so 4 weeks earlier than the girls and he's now rolling over really well, laughing and holding his head up like a champ. Juliette weighs a little bit more than he does but Finn definitely looks older (and tanner!). It will be great to see how they grow and develop in the next few years.
Our weekend was okay. On Saturday we went to my parents house and had some dessert and then went home and had Matt, Meghan and Ally over for dinner. Ben grilled on his new grill and we all took a walk and talked babies. Oh, and they brought cake and cookies over and gave Maia an enormous frosted butterfly cookie which had her wired and hyper for the rest of the night. Luckily she went down for bed okay - I was pretty surprised!
Poor Lily has been extra uncomfortable lately. She's always arching and "complaining" and rolling to her side. I don't really know what to do for her. She's not spitting up that much but I can tell that it's coming up and then going back down. She's still sleeping in the swing so she's somewhat propped up but she's still obviously not feeling great. I'll have to ask the doctor what else we can do. A girl I know suggested going to a cranialsacral therapist and swears that the people she knows who went to one were off reflux meds in 2 weeks. It's certainly something to consider but I want to do a little bit more research before we go that route.
Another source of her uncomfortableness might be gas. It is pretty terrible. It stinks and it's loud. Juliette has it as well though usually not quite as often. I've heard that the Mylicon drops don't do anything and that you really just have to wait it out but it can't feel good for them!
Juliette slept 8 hours last night (straight) but didn't go to sleep until 10. Ben and I spent from 7-10 trying to get them to go to bed so it got really frustrating. They were crying and bucking and obviously overtired but it's difficult to find that "sweet spot" on when it will be easy to put them down when you have to do it with two babies.
Well, Juliette is pretty consistently sleeping 7 hours straight at night now! I'm so incredibly happy about this. She's also in her room sleeping but still in the swing (not moving). All her naps right now though are in her crib though I do have to bounce her to sleep. Lily is still very inconsistant with sleep. She's also sleeping in the swing but it takes a long time to get her to fall asleep when we try to bounce or rock her. Often right now what happens is she eats then falls asleep nursing and I'll put her in her swing after that. She's still sleeping in the living room (as am I). We're getting there. Hopefully within the next month we'll have it all figured out with a nice early bedtime. That would be so wonderful.
Ben's mom left yesterday. She left us with some trays of lasagna and enchiladas so that will be great to have for later. I know she really enjoyed seeing the girls and spending time with them as well. Ben and Laurine (his mom) took Maia to the zoo on Monday which was really great. Maia adores animals so she had a really fun time hanging out with daddy and grandma. Juliette, Lily and I stayed home because they don't do very well on big outings yet and it just takes so long when we have to stop and nurse and I thought they'd have a better time without us. Someday soon it will be fun to take all the girls together!
On Sunday we went to a Moretter family reunion. We didn't stay long but it was really nice to see my grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins. Most of them hadn't met the girls and some of them hadn't even met Maia.
This afternoon there was a tornado warning in Brooklyn Center so me and the girls hung out downstairs for awhile. Gotta love Minnesota!
So I think I mentioned before that we finally have a real "night time" for the girls. Once they fall asleep for the night it's obviously for the night because they'll sleep for more than 45 minutes at a time (which is what it is during the day). Two nights ago Juliette slept for 7 hours straight and last night Lily did! I think that this is a miracle. Now. If we can get them out of the swing or on me to sleep and in their rooms and in their beds and before 11 pm then we're all set. Baby steps, right? It's about 10 pm here right now though and both girls have been down since about 8:30 so I think we're good for the night!
Last night was a sad night. On Tuesday my favorite high school teacher (Ertwin Jones-Hermerding, otherwise known to us as just Herm) died in a tragic motorcycle accident. He retired about 6 years ago and the last time I saw him was at his retirement party. He taught speech and drama and was such an inspiration to every student he touched. Friday night was a student-led memorial for him and while I was only able to stay for 20 minutes due to a hysterical Juliette who wouldn't take a bottle, I was touched by what others said about this wonderful man. He will truly be missed and in our hearts forever.
This morning we had our follow-up doctor's visit for our hospital stay. The girls both look and sound good so that is good news. Lily is 9 lbs, 4 oz (she understandably hasn't gained a lot since being admitted on 7/24) and Juliette remains tubby at 11 lbs, 15 oz. I can't believe they are almost 3 pounds apart! The doctor didn't really say much else, she just commiserated with me but that's fine. No news is good news, right?
We also had our Early Intervention appointment today which was basically just giving us a developmental summary of both girls before we get the actual "plan" of where do we go from here. They'll start out by getting visits twice a month to evaluate and work on things that they should be doing for their adjusted age. I don't mind the visits, it's nice having someone else come and hold/play with the girls!
Tomorrow is Ben's birthday (wow) and then on Thursday his mom comes into town so it'll probably be busy for the next couple of days!
After 10 days in the hospital with RSV they finally discharged Lily (on Tuesday) and we went home. And the best news of all is that she came home oxygen and monitor free! The consensus among the doctor and the NP was that she hadn't had any apnea spells so they didn't see why she should go home on a monitor so that is excellent news. The only thing different that we need to do is try to keep them a bit elevated when they sleep and use a nebulizer on Lily once a day. We're thankful to Lorry, Paul and Lindy for letting us borrow theirs! Once we got the news on Tuesday that we could leave the girls and I packed up, dropped off a note for their favorite ICC nurse Josie and drove out of there in our brand new minivan - hopefully for the last time!
I missed home so much. It was wonderful to see Maia who was so excited that the babies were back!
The girls are finally on a little bit of a night time sleeping schedule. They now go to bed at 11:30 p.m and it's actually bedtime because it's the only time they'll sleep 3 consecutive hours. Ahh, sleep is a wonderful thing! I remember with Maia she went to bed really late when she was young and then the time just moved earlier and earlier so I pray that the same thing happens here - especially since the girls are still fairly fussy in the evening. I've gotta say though that Lily has been all smiles since she's been home. Her smiles just light up the room!
What a rollercoaster week it has been! It feels like just yesterday that we got here but at the same time it feels like we never left. Lily is doing well. The only thing keeping her here right now is the fact that she needs about 1/8 liter of oxygen to maintain her oxygen saturation levels. When she got here she was on no oxygen and she got up as high as needing 4 liters so there have been a lot of up and downs. 1/8 liter is practically nothing do I'm praying she can maintain today with her oxygen turned off. If she does we can go home. If she doesn't then they want to send us home anyway - WITH oxygen. This freaks me out because we were already told that she has to go home on an apnea monitor (despite having no real apnea) and can you imagine what a pain it'd be to go home on o2 as well? I'd almost rather stay in the hospital.
That brings me to my next point. Ben checked our insurance and we apparently have a max deductable of 1500 for durable medical equipment. We already reached that with the monitor Lily was on when she got home (it's around $750/month and they don't prorate) do I can't imagine how much oxygen equipment would be to bring home! Plus, what a pain in the butt. Obviously I wouldn't decline either if they're medically necessary so I'm praying that Lily does well today without o2 and I'm also praying that based on her mostly non-apnec history they'll forego that as well. Rant over.
Lily is down to one nebulizer treatment a day but I think they'll want us to keep doing them at home so we will need to borrow or buy a neb machine. I'm not sure if she'll go home on any other meds.
Juliette is doing great. She's such a smiley happy baby and she seems so healthy now! I'm glad she and Lily aren't sharing their problems so far.
I miss Maia. She's getting used to not having me around and she didn't even want to talk to me on the phone last night. :(. That made me really sad and I hope she can forgive me for being gone so long!
Oh and I want to thank Lorry, Patrick and Kari for coming to the hospital to visit yesterday! It was great to have some company and someone to hold a baby. Thanks my friends!
Thank you for all of your prayers and positive thoughts! Our little girl is on the mend. She has much less mucus now and she isn't coughing near as much as she had been so that is great news. She does still have a persistant hacky cough but at least she can catch her breath now!
Lily was actually in great spirits today. She was smiling and cooing a little bit and it was so nice to see my little girl back. On Tuesday and Wednesday I was really scared for her and honestly had doubts that she'd be ok but she's a fighter and God is good so I feel really blessed.
In other news we (well, Ben) bought a new vehicle today! It's a Honda Odyssey Touring and it's beautiful. It's black with a black interior (not our first color choice of course) and I can't wait to drive it. We took advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program so we were able to get a good amount of money for our existing van. Ben was at the dealership all afternoon and evening with Maia who was such a trooper. She was up way past her bedtime tonight!
Anyway I hope Lily can come home soon. She's still on oxygen so we are trying to wean her off. She will go home on another apnea monitor unfortunately but I've come to terms with that. The doctor today said that based on my history and Ben's history of allergies/asthma it's likely that the girls will have the same issues. Blah!
