12-15am

I'm hanging out in my Parenting Room right now...it's pretty sterile and depressing...hey, it's a hospital room...not exactly where I want to spend my day, but at least the sun is shining in the window...it barely looks like it's -5% out!!

The boys continue to do well. I visited during their noon feeding yesterday and got to hold Dylan. I held him skin to skin and, opposite from his brother's interest the day before, Dylan thinks boobies are yucky...he actually made a face...a face like I'd tried to feed him beets or something. Oh well. 'Course now I'm back and forth again on the whole breastfeeding thing...the nurse yesterday said we should still plan on them taking the 4 weeks until their due date to come home, but bottle-feeding does get them home sooner (This was the first time I'd heard 4 weeks!! I am still hoping it will be around 36/37 weeks which would be this week or next). This is simply because it is much easier for everyone to know how much the babies are getting (they would weigh the babies before and after breast-feeding, so there is some technique used to determine how much they get), and the actual mechanics of it are typically easier (bottle in mouth, ta-da!!) than breast-feeding, especially with twins. So, I know I will continue to pump and bring in breast-milk during their stint in the NICU, but I made it clear this morning that I am not gung-ho on exclusively breast-feeding. I just want our babies home!!

Andy went yesterday morning to do kangaroo-care with Dylan too. We are having a harder time getting snuggle time with Owen due to some of his spitting-up issues. They check to see what's left in their stomachs before each feeding. Owen has had some residual amounts, but they look like they are partially digested...which is good, his body is doing what it is supposed to, it is just doing it slower. This is very common in preemies. True to his in utero form, Dylan is sucking up everything in sight and hasn't been having any digestion or spitting up issues. Both boys are almost back up to their birth weights.

I continue to be amazed by how different they look from each other. Owen is like a little Ethan clone...at least, Ethan when he was this age...they both were born with extremely dark hair. Dylan is such a blondie...I joke that he looks like he stopped at the salon on the way and got his hair frosted...it looks just like that!! They are handsome...even when they're wrinkly!!

Ethan is still talking up a storm...picking up on everything (ok, who taught him "damnit"?? :>). When he wakes up in the morning or after a nap, he tells me "Mommy's owie getting better"...And yesterday when I was explaining to him how I'm pumping to make milk for the babies he said "Mommies and cows make milk"...I laughed so hard I cried...but it's a true...he's a smart one. It's been great to be able to get down on the floor (slowly!) and play with him again. I'm starting to feel emotionally a little better about my relationship with E again since I can start to be more interactive with him as I heal. I have been feeling really bad during most of this pregnancy between morning sickness and my physical restrictions since it has really limited my ability to spend quality time with my first-born (besides reading books on the couch).

I need to write the rest of my "birthing story" soon...before I forget even the little parts I am able to remember now (we'll blame the Oxycodone). I'm still waiting for my incision tapes to come off which are supposed to fall off by today. They don't look like they will just "fall off". Then the stitches from my incision and the mole (they removed a mole during my surgery since it was right by the incision site...yay!) removal will dissolve eventually. I'm still trying to figure out exactly where my incision starts and ends, but I don't think it's very large. I can already tell that the swelling is going down and the pain has been much more manageable. That being said, I tried to have a glass of wine with Andy on Saturday night (after I let my pain meds work their way out of my system)...I took two sips, got a nasty headache, and my incision started to ache again...so Andy finished my wine and I took my meds. I have not yet attempted the wine again...for those of you who know me personally, this speaks volumes about the pain involved with the recovery of this surgery. I do love me some wine.

Off to the noon feeding!!