I know it's been over a week since I've blogged. It was a crazy one with multiple doctors appointments and Mike working almost everyday, picking up landscaping shifts for extra money - so as far as down-time is concerned, there's been little to none.
The girls had their follow up appointment with the gastroenterologist on Tuesday. It was a pretty simple appointment since we've had great success with combatting Madison's acid reflux with her prescription formula (which I can't remember if I mentioned it already, but my insurance is paying 90% of!! phew!) and a small increase in her Pepcid. She's like a totally different baby. She still has her moments, but it's nothing compared to what it was. She'll have maybe one "episode" per day where she chokes up and really struggles with it - and she has maybe one feeding per day that we have trouble getting her to take. She's still spitting up a bit, but it's basically a normal baby spit-up type thing - she's not giving back her whole bottle like she was before. And it's showing in her weight gain - at her previous appointment with Dr. Sunaryo she weighed 5lbs 11oz, and on Tuesday, 10 days later, she weighed 6lbs 10oz!! She gained almost a full pound in 10 days! Dr. Sunaryo was very pleased with this weight gain - and finally, so am I! Just today did I look at Maddie and really notice, saying to myself how big she looks and how nicely she's filling out. It's always been hard to notice her weight gain because next to Melia she looks so small, but I think she has a fighting chance to catch up now! Melia started to spit up more and more throughout last weekend. So I asked Dr. Sunaryo if maybe it was time to switch her formula. She was still on the formula for premature babies, and now that she's over full term, I was wondering if she needed something different. Dr. Sunaryo was reluctant to change her formula without me speaking to Dr. Kamtorn, especially since he wasn't sure that a formula change was really necessary since Melia had a nice weight gain herself over the past 10 days - weighing in at 8lbs 10oz. When I got home I called Dr. Kamtorn's office and spoke to the clinical coordinator of the follow up program. She suggested either Alimentum or Nestle Good Start for Melia. The Alimentum is the $27/can stuff that Madison was on for about a day and a half but hated and was then switched to the prescription formula. I still had some Alimentum left over from Maddie, so I decided to give it a try and sure enough, it's working like a charm. Today I went out and bought the Nestle Good Start. I'm going to try that over the next couple days and I'm hoping that it works as well as the Alimentum for her because it's half the price of the Alimentum. So, time will tell.
On Friday the girls had their first round of immunizations - three shots each, two in one leg and one in the other. One word - HEARTBREAKING! I held Maddie while she got her shots and Mike held Melia for her's. Madison's painful scream threw me right over the edge and as hard as I tried to hold it in, I just couldn't. There I was in the exam room with tears rolling down my face - trying to comfort Madison when I couldn't even comfort myself. Me, Maddie and Lia - three little babies crying in the doctor's office. I knew I'd be sad watching the girls get their shots, but I thought that I'd handle it a little better than I did - having seen all that I had while they were in the NICU. But I guess the bottom line is that it doesn't matter how many times I've seen it - any time I see the girls in pain, it will effect me.
On Monday I'll be leaving the girls all day to enjoy some time with my friends at the Rutgers opening football game. I haven't left the girls since they've been home (with the exception of leaving Melia for a couple hours when I had to pick up Maddie from the hospital). So we'll see just how much I can enjoy myself. I know they'll be in good hands, being watched by Mike's mom in the morning and my dad in the afternoon, but it's still hard to leave them for a full day and not be there for every little thing they do. And to think, I'm just talking about going away for one day - imagine what a basketcase I'll be when it's time to go back to work!
**Noteable landmarks for the week - Maddie is over 6lbs and Melia is over 8lbs! Madison is officially out of preemie clothes and Melia is officially out of newborn diapers. Both girls are now taking their bottles with stage 2 nipples.
**Notable manipulation for the week - In this story, Maddie manipulates mommy. So Maddie was having one of those days where she just wasn't happy unless she was being held. She had recently pooped so I knew she wasn't constipated - she had eaten about an hour ago so I knew she wasn't hungry - her diaper had just been changed so I knew she didn't need a new diaper. She was just being plain old fussy for no good reason. I put her in the boppy - hysterical. I put her in the bouncer chair with the fun vibrating seat - hysterical. I put her in the swing which is usually great for calming her inner beast - hysterical. She just wouldn't stop. I knew what the problem was - she just wanted to be held. Meanwhile, I was in the middle of cleaning out the garage. I was having one of those motivated moments and I really didn't want to let the moment pass. So I caved. I grabbed the baby carrier, or as I like to call it, the snuggly, and I strapped it on. So here I am with Madison literally strapped to my chest, and the second I strapped her in, she stopped crying. So I went back into the garage and continued my cleaning. Within minutes Maddie was sleeping. Meanwhile, I'm moving like crazy - breaking styrofoam, breaking down boxes, you name it - full garage clean out with this little 6lb baby strapped to me, sound asleep. She totally manipulated me into holding her. I turned to her and told her not to get used to this because I don't plan on making a habit of strapping her to me in order to get my household chores done - for one moment she opened her eyes, just to roll them at me and go back to sleep. This kids knows she has me wrapped around her finger. This is going to be a problem. Haha.
**Notable bad timing story - Melia is good for either not pooping when you want her to, or pooping when you don't want her to. On Tuesday I was supposed to bring stool samples in to Dr. Sunaryo. Of course, I forgot about this until Monday night. Luckily, Madison made her poops in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, Melia hadn't pooped since early Monday morning and we had no idea when she'd poop again. I tried to stimulate her to go and she just wouldn't. So we went to Dr. Sunaryo without her sample. So he gave me a stool sample test card to bring home and then I had to put her poop on this card and mail it to the doctor. How gross! So of course, she pooped on Tuesday afternoon when we got home from the doctor. That was the last time she pooped all week. She pooped on Tuesday afternoon and didn't poop again until, you guessed it, Friday afternoon - at the pediatrician's office. She didn't poop for days - so why wouldn't she finally poop and put 3 days worth of poop in her diaper while we're in the middle of the pediatrician's waiting room?? Haha. Gotta love it.
***new pictures to follow***
- Mike and Amanda
- I am a 29 year old mother of identical twin girls, Madison and Melia. They were born at 29 weeks, 1 day gestation and spent 8 weeks in the NICU at St. Barnabas Hospital in Livingston, NJ. They hit 40 weeks gestation on August 20, 2009 and are now considered full term. Even though they are actually 11 weeks old, they are just now considered to be newborns. I started this blog as a way to keep friends and family informed on what was going on with the girls while they were in the NICU. It has turned into a keepsake and a therapuetic outlet. I hope that everyone continues to follow along and enjoys sharing this first hand experience of first-time parents of premature twin girls.
Words that I came to live by while on strict bedrest for 6 weeks during my pregnancy, 4 of which were spent in the hospital ~ Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination. Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.
