NICU Update: Day 4

Hey everyone,

Thought I'd do a bit of an update to let you know how our boys are doing here at the NICU.  Wow, as much as I had read about life in the NICU, you can not be prepared for the intensity of what it is like.  Overall, our boys are doing very well and we are so fortunate that they do not have many more concerns.  Their breathing (heart and lungs) don't seem to have any problems at all (whew!).  The biggest thing we are working on right now is their feedings.  They are both being tube fed (through the nose) and their food is given through a pump that gives out a certain amount over the period of an hour.  They both have been spewing up their food and retaining a lot of air in their bellies, which is not helping them gain the weight and strength they need.  They also are borderline for jaundice so they are being treated under the lights.  R has had  few apnea episodes, but the nurses think it is just when he is spewing and his body is actually protecting him by not allowing him to choke on the spew.

Today was a good day, though!  The twins had their IVs taken out (from antibiotics and extra fluids), they learned through the night to suck on a pacifier, AND (best of all) they each got their first chance at the breast!  Both were able to latch on right away, but it still is such a big task for little guys that they did not last long.  As soon as they tired, we just moved them to kangaroo care position and I got to cuddle them while they received the rest of their food through the tube.  That was so special!  We will try to keep that up as they build up strength to be able to breastfeed.  My milk has come in and I am now producing enough that they don't neeed to be supplemented with formula (hooray!!). Hopefully that trend continues.

As for me (and my hubby), I am recovering fantastically physically from labour.  Yesterday the day 3 baby blues hit, and they still are lingering, but I'm getting by.  What has been hardest is having people not understand how difficult this really is.  It's not like struggling with infertility for 6 years, experiencing a miscarriage, and having a complicated pregnancy were enough... now we have babies that are in the NICU.  That is the intensive care unit!  We are receiving lots of congratulations (which we love), but nobody has acknowledged how difficult this part of the journey is.  Everyone just expects that things are all peachy keen now that the babies are "safely out."  Things ARE peachy keen and we are so happy, but this is another challenge to deal with and it is truly tough!

Tomorrow I am likely being discharged.  This is a whole other scary thing to deal with, but I'm trying not to think about it too much until it happens.  Remember, we don't live in this city, so we will likely be staying in a hotel (or a family friend's house) and commuting back and forth to the hospital to be with the babes as much as possible.  It's going to be so hard being far away from them, but harder too to manage the scheduling of pumping, feeding, cuddling, getting rest, eating properly, etc.  But again, we will deal with it when it happens.  We don't really have another choice.

So, that is where we are at now.  I will try to update from time to time.  It's nice to sit down and make some sense of what is going on, but it is also nice to nap (and that is my first priority!).