Twin Week

Last Tuesday (May 7th), my youngest brother sent me a text that the doctor was sending his wife to the hospital.  I called my mom to see if that meant the twins were going to be born.  She told me that his wife had toxemia and would be having an emergency c-section.  The good news was that she had made it to full term with them.  We were all excited to hear how big they were.  The boy, Elijah, was 6 lbs 5 oz and 19.75" long.  The girl, Priscilla, was 5 lbs 9 oz and 19" long.  We were all very excited.

Elijah (left) - Priscilla (right)

Sadly, the next day my mom called to tell me that Elijah had a blocked intestine and had to be life-flighted to a hospital in a bigger town.  The hospital where they were at couldn't get it cleared and realized he might need surgery.  Plus, he was having trouble breathing.  As my mom was asking my brother questions, she learned that the babies were rushed out right after being born and that his wife hadn't even seen Elijah yet.  My brother was going to go with Elijah to the new hospital.  Priscilla and his wife would stay in that hospital.  His mother-in-law would stay with mom & baby girl.  My mom decided that she needed to be up there with him.  She booked a flight and headed out that day.

Things got a little better for Elijah the next day.  The new hospital was able to get the intestine unblocked without surgery.  He was also breathing 99 to 100% on his own.  However, Elijah wasn't very active and was not interested in eating.  Later that day, my brother was able to get him to drink a teaspoon for one of his feedings.  He had to rely on a tube that went through his nose and down into his belly to get the rest.

Two days later (11th), my brother's wife and his daughter were released from their hospital.  A room was set up for them at the Ronald McDonald house.  He drove over to get them (1.5 hours away) while my mom stayed with Elijah.  They were thrilled to be all together.  Even though they had a room across the street, they were all able to stay in the hospital room with Elijah.  The nurses were very nice about helping with Priscilla too.  They weighed her every day and checked up on how much she was eating.        

Sister-in-law & brother with babies  

Yesterday, Elijah was released and they were able to go home.  Now, the real fun begins.

Priscilla

Lucky for Me

At church, there are a few young families that have one or both of the spouses in the military. Recently, a mom that is about my age had her husband deployed. The thing that makes her story unique is that they have quite a few very small children. In fact, they have a daughter Lexi’s age (5), a son Jordan’s age (3) who has down syndrome, and twins (boy and a girl) that are almost one. She is a SAHM that has her hands full even when her husband is around to help.

One of her personality traits that seems to help her get through (clearly survive emotionally) is her ability to share her babies. They are often passed around and are quite comfortable with strangers. I have realized that my over protective tendencies do not make me a very good at this, so I admire it in others. I also recognize what a wonderful gift to be able to share with others. It is amazing the amount of happiness that comes from cuddling, rocking, and caring for a baby even if only for an hour or so. Sometimes I see women who are not able to get pregnant, or women who have all their children grown, or women whose kids are just a little older find this pure joy from loving on her babies.

Today, I got that honor. Normally, I am hesitant about offering to do that for someone I don’t know well. Not because I don’t want to help, but I don’t want them to feel uncomfortable about an acquaintance doing it. However, it was the last class at church, Relief Society, which is the class for adult women to attend. She is the chorister for the two songs that are sung. It was coming time for the opening song and she looked a little flustered, so I held out my arms. She got a huge smile on her face and handed me her daughter and apologized for the baby’s crankiness. Suddenly, I was full of love. I bounced her sweet baby then stood up and rocked with her for a few short minutes before she fell asleep. I got to spend the class cradling a baby and felt so lucky the whole time. I was sure to let her know that I would be happy to help ANYTIME!

A Little Late Night Fun on the 4th

For the 4th, we headed down to our local outdoor shopping area for live music and fireworks. I am a bit of a stickler for bedtime, but not when it comes to holidays and family gatherings. We didn't get home until 10pm. Bad mother you say??? Whatever...that was the best night of sleep I've had in a year. Jordan actually slept from midnight to 8am! I think we might go partying every night.

Just Add More

I had a follow up doctor appointment for the kidney stones yesterday. I wasn't surprised to find out that mine are solely caused by the fact that I do not drink enough liquids. However, I was surprised when he told me that I also need to be drinking a LOT of lemonade. Apparently, the citrus is good for the kind of stones (calcium) I had. Good thing I like lemonade and it is also nice for the horrible heat wave we are experiencing in Texas. Sadly, I was hoping the remedy would be lots of ice cream.

I also took Jordan to the doctor today. He is 6 months old now (sniff, sniff). He is 28.25" long (93rd percentile) and 15 lbs & 13 oz (30th percentile). Yep - very tall & very skinny. When I mentioned that he still isn't sleeping through the night despite the fact that I am feeding him breakfast & dinner, she told me that he needs more food. She wants me to start feeding him lunch & yogurt for snacks. On top of that, I guess I am supposed to continue breastfeeding.

For the past few weeks, I have been thinking about my dad's eating habits and skinniness. He used to eat 4 - 5 heaping plates of food for each meal and his ribs were all very visible. I wondered if this trait had been passed down to Jordan....this one trait that I wish I had gotten. How could this be inside me & not be something I possess? I also thought about how expensive our food bill is going to be in the future. I guess this is part of having a boy in our family. My husband, father-in-law, and brother are also known for being big eaters (nothing like my dad though). People are always commenting about how much they can put away. Jordan was bound to join the club.

One thing is for sure, I am going to be making lots of trips to the grocery store for lemonade & baby food.

May Day

When too many things are going on in life, it is easy to fall behind or feel like you are slipping. This month is going to be one for the books. Besides getting everything ready to close on the new place in the middle of May, packing, taking care of kids, coming up with Mother's Day Presents for our grandmas, and trying to figure out how to do something at least a little special for our 5th anniversary while moving, I have quite a few deadlines for work.

Oh, & did I forget to mention that my sweet little boy is nowhere near getting close to sleeping through the night? He still wakes up every 2 - 3 hours starving despite the fact that I have been feeding him cereal for breakfast plus cereal & veggies for dinner, which is more than I was feeding Lexi at this age. I mentioned this problem to a friend who told me that her pre-term son was the same way (BTW- he was bottle fed). They just can't get enough to eat. She told me the answer is banana flakes, but they are only sold through medical supply companies. Unfortunately, I can only find them by the case. I am not sure that I want to spend over $100 just to see if this will work. ...not yet anyway.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to the end of this month. Not only because I am hoping most of these issues will disappear but because the beach club and water park in our community will open. It is always nice to have a SUPER fun activity to wear the kiddos out at. -Happy May!

Sleeping Single

When you think of married couples, you don't picture them sleeping separately. The funny thing is that for us, procreation leads to sleeping apart. It started with Lexi. We quickly realized that we would both be better off in different rooms. Steve felt that getting a decent amount of sleep would help him to function at work. I liked being near the tv or computer so I would have something to do during late night feedings. Babies are sweet, but waking up in the middle of the night to sit in a dark and silent house is just not fun. I wanted something to keep me from nodding off. For the first few months, I slept in the guest room or on the couch.

When Jordan was born, there was no question that we would do the same thing. It started the first night we brought him home from the hospital. There were a few nights of being together at Christmas due to guests filling up the place. Other than that, my husband and I live as roommates. We hang out and talk for an hour or two after Lexi is in bed and then part with a simple kiss. It is starting to feel like we have been doing this a long time even though Jordan is almost 3 months old.

With Lexi, I was back in the bedroom right before the 3 month mark. Her sleep time started lengthening more and more, so it wasn’t bad. Then, she began sleeping through the night right at 3 months.

Even though I have used the exact same methods with Jordan, he still wakes up STARVING every 3 - 4 hours. I try to slip in the pacifier to coax him into sleeping longer and it works for half an hour or so. Maybe I shouldn't complain because once I feed him, he goes right back to sleep. I tried giving him formula one night to see if that would hold him over for longer, but it was worse. He woke up & screamed for 2 hours. That is a big deal for a baby who doesn't cry much. I guess since he was early, I should be thinking that this is more like 2 months.

For now, my hubby & I are roommates. He has nobody to snuggle with, but he can sprawl out on the bed. He can also get some much needed sleep so he can have the energy to help clean, cook, and take care of the terrible two year old. I'll just continue to carry on with sleep deprivation. Fun times!

Exciting News

My cousin-in-law, a.k.a. Princess & Johnsy, gave birth to Rosemary last night. I just love baby news, especially when it means my kids will have more wonderful playmates at family gatherings.

Nursing It Along

In October, I wrote about my desire to give breast feeding a fair shot this time. This is my update post. To my amazement, it is actually working and it is true that it REALLY sucks (yes: pun intended) for a while, but it gets better. What I would like to know is why do lactation consultants say that if it hurts, the baby is not latching correctly? Fortunately, there were lots of great nurses at the hospital that knew better. They told me that I was doing it right, but that it just takes a few weeks to toughen up. Plus, I was told that fair skinned people are usually more sensitive (great – I have a higher chance of skin cancer & bf hurts more).

I would have to say that the first two and half weeks were quite hellish. Right about that time, I had serious thoughts of quitting. When I was about to pull my hair out, I decided to call the lactation consultant. She happened to be booked up for the day and then mentioned her prices, which had gone up significantly. She told me I could check out a few websites or we could schedule an appointment. I decided to go another day or two on my own. Suddenly, by the end of week 3, it was a LITTLE better (lots of emphasis on a little). I guess mainly the sore nipples were not as bad.

I guess I should mention how I managed to get that far. You would think that after all the pain of birth, that breast feeding could be a little easier on the mommas. Sore nipples and engorgement are nightmarish by themselves, but throw in a squirmy toddler who wants hugs that end up bumping the painful knockers and it is too much. For the nipples, I used lanolin and gel patches. One side hurt so badly, that I pumped & dumped for a few days so that it could heal a little. I was also switching between the cradle hold and the football hold. For engorgement, I started feeding him every 2 hours, which made doing anything else practically impossible. I think avoiding engorgement kept me going. For sanity, I pumped and gave him a bottle once or twice a day at 2.5 weeks (no problem with nipple confusion btw).

I kept all of that up and engorgement subsided around four and a half weeks. There was still some pain though, but I decided to keep going until 6 months. Now, I am at 6 weeks and I would have to say that everything is ok. I am certainly not ready to rave about it, but I no longer think about how happy I will be when I quit. I still pump and give him a bottle almost every day usually when we are going out. I am a little shy about doing it in public. When I haven’t brought a bottle, I have gone to Steve’s truck. I have fed him once at the park with a blanket over him, so hopefully I’ll get use to that soon.

The biggest advantage at this point is that breast feeding takes less planning. I know the list of positives is long, but less planning is my current motivation.

Birth Story of My Big Premie

It all started last Friday when I wasn’t feeling very well. Besides an extra dose of exhaustion, I felt like I had menstrual cramps. These were not the same symptoms I felt the week before, so I decided to just take it easy. I did not want to call the doctor. Around noon, I had not improved so being the wise person that I am, I decided to finally read the check list of reasons to call that the hospital had given me the week before. Guess what? Menstrual-like cramps was on there. I called the doctor’s office and had to go through the whole explanation of how I don’t feel contractions. The nurse seemed a little miffed, but told me to come into the office at 2:30pm. I put Lexi down for her nap right away.

I woke Lexi up just in time to make a mad dash. She was still out of it, so I ended up carrying her through the parking lot and into the office. I wondered if I would be scolded, but my options were limited. They took me right in for an ultrasound. Judging by the size of the baby’s belly, they thought he would weigh less than 6 lbs. They also noticed that the amniotic fluid was low. My doctor told me that she wanted me to go right to the hospital and check in. Of course, I called Steve and asked him to come to my rescue. I wondered how much of an adventure this would be considering I had Lexi with me. Fortunately, it was a very short walk.

When we got to the maternity ward, I peeked into my friend’s room to see if she was still there. We had visited her and her new baby the night before. Apparently, she had just checked out. With no more distractions, Lexi and I headed back to Labor and Delivery (L&D). I filled out a few papers and they checked us into a room. I was being hooked up to monitors while Lexi was exploring the room and entertaining the nurses. My phone rang and to my surprise the caller ID showed that it was my friend’s mom. Somehow, she knew I was at the hospital. It turned out that my friend’s husband spotted me going in. She offered to pick up Lexi and help us out over the weekend. Steve arrived fairly quickly though.

My night in the hospital consisted of steroid shots for my premie’s lungs, trying to increase the amniotic fluid through IV, and being monitored. The whole thing seemed strange. Probably because the only other time I was in the hospital was when I gave birth to Lexi. Plus, it was the first time I slept away from her.

The next morning, I was given another steroid shot and a more extensive ultrasound. This time, the baby was estimated to be about 7 lbs and the amniotic fluid was much better. Things were fairly calm except that the contractions monitor revealed that instead of peaks and valleys, I was stuck at 5 (out of 12). I guess it was one LONG contraction that had lasted hours. When the doctor came to see us (about noon), she told me that she could release me, but that I would just be back that evening for delivery. I was already dilated to 4 or 5 cm. She gave me the option of inducing & I took it. I called my friend’s mom to ask if she would take care of Lexi. She dropped everything and came to pick her up. Steve rushed home to grab the camera. While he was gone, my water was broken, the Pitocin drip was started, and I was even given an epidural before feeling any pain.

Steve and I just chatted over the next few hours while my legs were tingling. A little after 3pm, the nurse checked me again and I was dilated to 7cm. She realized that she had not put a catheter in, so my full bladder was probably slowing down the progress. She drained it and at 4pm I was officially 10 cm. The doctor had me push through 4 contractions and out popped Jordan. His official birth time was 4:07 pm. I guess it is true, the second time is MUCH easier. In fact, I think all births should go like this. I only ended up with 3 stitches.

My premie was born weighing 6 lbs 9 oz and being 18.25” long. Not bad for being less than 36 weeks along.

We're Home

This is just a quick post to let you all know that we are home. I was released from the hospital Monday night, but Jordan had jaundice and they wanted to keep him under the lights. We spent yesterday going back and forth to the hospital so I could breast feed him, which is going very well by the way. More later...