12-17

I successfully bathed my babies yesterday before the noon feeding. I was freaked out about it at first...they are so small and slippery, but it came back to me pretty quickly. I am much more comfortable handling the boys than I was with Ethan when he was in the NICU. Because the bath is a stressful event (two minutes in the tub and getting dried off!) for preemies, the nurse recommended I skip the 3pm feeding and just let them rest. I tried a quick breastfeeding session with Dylan, but he was too tuckered out from the bath to do anything. Regardless, I love the skin-to-skin snuggle times. Other than the obvious emotional wonderfulness of it, it is beneficial for my milk production and productive for the babies in many ways as well. They are both absolutely precious and make the cutest faces...I know the little smiles are probably just gas, but I'll take it...it's so cute!!

After bathtime, I dressed them in clothes for the first time. Dylan is too long for the preemie sleepers, so he donned a newborn-size long-sleeve onesie. Owen fits just perfectly into the preemie sleepers and really freaked me out today as he lay on his back with his arms stretched above his head...de ja vu...below is Ethan right after he came home...And Owen, this morning...


When they wear clothes in their isolettes, the nurses are able to dial down their isolette temperatures to see if they can still maintain a temperature of 98 or around there. Dialing down the temp slowly is how they graduate to a crib. We're not very close yet since they just started wearing clothes yesterday. This buys me a little time to work on breastfeeding without slowing down their progress towards coming home. If they were already in cribs, the nurse said they'd probably suggest we work on bottles...and I would be totally fine with that!! But since they are still in isolettes, we have time to work on the breastfeeding. We'll see what happens. The charge nurse said today that we'd probably start doing bottles around 36.5 weeks (end of the weekend?) if they haven't made good progress on breastfeeding. Owen still hasn't gotten anything directly from me...Dylan did the last two mornings, but hasn't since then. They are both interested though...are latching on and sucking/swallowing a little bit. They are still young, so noone is pushing them. If we try too much, they will expend too much energy, so it's a thin line between practicing enough and practicing too much, which can actually set them back. And that's the last thing I want to have happen!! Another breastfeeding tidbit I learned from the neonatologist the other day is that my body "knows" that the babies were born early and compensates somehow with my breastmilk...weird. However, they are fortifying it with some type of powder. Breastmilk has calories of 20 and they are fortifying to 22. They will likely come home on some type of iron supplement as well...we used something called TriViSol for Ethan.

I think I forgot to mention that when I arrived on Monday morning, the boys had been moved from the main NICU room to the coveted suite. This is the same room that Ethan was in. It fits two isolettes/cribs. When Ethan was in there, he had a roommate for awhile, but then had it all to himself. It is just a separate room right off the main NICU room with it's own door...it's perfect for private skin-to-skin times, and ideal for breastfeeding. I am SUPER happy that they are in there. The main NICU room has curtains that provide some privacy, but there is just something about the suite that is extra-comfortable...it could be my plush chair-and-a-half!

I got the pleasure of changing really nasty diapers on each baby today before the noon feeding. Owen must have known that I was skeptical about using up our "tower of diapers"...we have tons of Newborn size (the twins are currently in preemie size)...see below...the black bag is filled with them (a co-worker brought her leftovers!!), and underneath the black bag is two more plastic bundles of newborn size!! He decided to squirt one out as I changed a wet diaper before his feeding. I peeked, thought he was done, and placed down another clean diaper...repeat, twice. He went through 4 diapers in one changing!! I no longer think we'll have an issue with having too many mini-diapers!!

After the noon feeding, I went over to Target to do some damage. Ethan is aware of Santa and his stocking this year...I got some cute stocking stuffers...matchbox cars, etch-a-sketch, recorder, bath toys, and a microphone just like Sid the Science Kid has (one of his favorite shows, and one of my least favorite...Sid is totally annoying...but darnit, he's educational!!)...and some presents from Santa...gigantic Thomas the Train coloring pad, and a few big-piece puzzles...a few days ago Dad picked out play tunnel thingy like the one they have in the big motor room at his ECFE school that will be from Mom and Dad. I didn't get anything for the twins...honestly, I can't think of anything they need immediately that they don't have and they obviously don't "want" anything...I just think of us as each others' gifts this year...We gave them life and we got them!!

I finally took a few pictures of Owen and Dylan that I find acceptable for Christmas cards so I finally got those ordered this afternoon. I'm taking the easy way out and combining the Christmas card with the birth announcements. They looked pretty cute on the computer, so I'm hoping they turn out ok. I'm way behind this year...last year I mailed mine the day after Thanksgiving!!

Tonight I am heading out to a Girls' Night for Anne's birthday! I have successfully practiced drinking wine at home now without feeling like I'm going to pass out, so I'm really excited to head over to Kristy's and partake in the wine a little bit...it's been a REALLY long time!!