I promised pictures!! So here is one from when we first got home from the hospital. They are so tiny here!!
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| Peter (left) and Ethan, home for the first time |
Overall we are doing well. Peter and Ethan are now just over 7 weeks old. They had their two month appointment yesterday (a little early because their doctor wanted to see them one more time before her maternity leave). They got a couple shots and had all their measurements taken. Peter is now 9 lbs, 8 oz (5th percentile) and 21 inches long (2nd percentile) with a head circumference of 38 cm (25th percentile). Ethan is now 8 lbs, 15 oz (2nd percentile) and 20 inches long (less than 2nd percentile) with a head circumference of 37 cm (5th percentile). I have tiny little boys!!
We're doing well here at home too. I have actually managed to get out a few times. The boys and I made a quick stop in Kroger one day and another day we went to Babies 'R' Us. Pushing the double stroller and trying to do a bit of shopping is tricky. At Kroger I tried pulling a small cart behind me with one hand while pushing the stroller in front of me with the other. Unfortunately the stroller I'm currently using (a double frame for snapping car seats in) doesn't stear well with one hand. At the baby store, I just used a basket, but that was also tricky. I'm thinking in the future (at least at the grocery store) that I will bring the reusable grocery bags with me and use those to carry the items I am buying since the bags will fit on my shoulders. Then I can unload them at the register and once they are rung up the bags can be filled again. Seems rather efficient, doesn't it? I'll let you know if it works. Obviously I can't be doing a large shopping trip or buying anything too heavy, but at least I can run in for a few things when I need to.
Feeding has been interesting. I tried breastfeeding, but it proved way too difficult. There were issues with the babies being so small at the beginning and then we were doing so many crazy things to try and get them to suckle that it took two of us to feed just one baby at a time. If both were hungry it was even more stressful as we struggled to feed 10 ml of formula to one through a tiny tube while they were at the breast and the other baby sat screaming nearby. Then the babies lost about 10% of their birth weight (too much) and we had to supplement with actual bottles of formula. Plus, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to coordinate the feeding tube and trying to get them to breastfeed at the same time once Hubby went back to work. So breastfeeding eventually went by the wayside. I have continued to pump (though that too has slowly been diminishing) and giving them each a bottle of breast milk when we have enough, or close to enough. I was disappointed that breastfeeding didn't work, but things are much less stressful now that we are primarily bottle feeding. The more I talk to people with twins or people who know people who had twins, the more I'm finding out that it is rare that someone is successful at fully breastfeeding twins. We can always try again the next time (if there is a next time).
Peter and Ethan are now enrolled in "school" as well. I found a day care I liked and got them enrolled. Location-wise it was not very convenient and some construction in that area was going to make it difficult for me to get there and get to work, etc. But I liked the place a lot, so we went with it. But then another place I had talked to called me to see if I had found something or not. Turns out they had openings after all AND they are in walking distance of my work! I liked them a lot too and I couldn't ask for a better location. So we made the switch. Only issue is the boys have to start a week later than I had planned. For my first week back at work we'll be working something out to have friends and/or family watch the boys at home and then they'll go to day care starting the next week.
All of this starts next week!! I can't believe I am going back to work already! I'm a little sad, but I know we'll all be good once we get into a routine.
Speaking of routine, we're starting to have one!! Yipee!! The boys are starting to sleep more at night. Our last feeding is now somewhere between 9 and 10pm, then we transition to nighttime clothes, low lights, and soft voices and we get them in their cribs sometimes between 10 and 11pm. We usually have one feeding around 3-4am and then not again until around 7:30 or so. During the day I'm feeding them about every 3 hours, so I plan my day around that. We probably have another 3-4 weeks of this and then they should start to be able to make it longer overnight, have fewer feedings during the day, but take more formula at a time than they are currently. We'll slowly transition to that, but I'm estimating that we'll be there by the time they are 3 months old or so.
Finally, Peter and Ethan are being baptized on Saturday. I'm so excited to be able to have this celebration of welcoming them into our Catholic faith after we have had to bury and say good-bye to three previous babies that we never got to do this for. Our children are definitely gifts from God and one thing I have learned is that we are not promised children. We are lucky to have the two we have and to have the three in heaven interceding for us. But I know there is no promise that we will have more. So I kind of went all out with the Baptism. We have invited several people and we are doing a lunch reception afterwards. It's a celebration and a very special sacrament, so I wanted to make it that way. We may never get the opportunity to do this again. More on the Baptism (hopefully with pictures) later.
Sorry for taking so long to post an update! I hope my readers hadn't given up on me! I promise I am not abandoning the blog!!
