David and I are meeting Jo and Chris in Atlanta this weekend to watch the Razorbacks and the Gators play for the SEC championship. Thomas and Elizabeth will have their first hotel stay, and they will also get to stay with Gramps and Grandmother Jane while Mommy and Daddy are at the football game. We are really excited about seeing family. Aunt JoJo can't wait to see the twins. I wish we were going to be there long enough to visit some friends too, but I guess I will have to do that another time. I haven't pumped much this week because I wanted to make sure I had enough milk for the twins. Now I am not sure I will have enough breastmilk for Gramps and Grandmother Jane. I will pack some formula just in case. Everyone is in bed so I am going to try to pump before I join them. ( I started this post this afternoon but am finishing it late)
Go Hogs! Beat Florida!
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
First week at home
So far my first week at home with the twins has been great. I got to nurse them yesterday, and they latched on without any problems. They had the strangest looks on their faces when I put them on the nursing pillow and even stranger faces when it was time for them to latch on. Thank the Lord they latched on. I was a little concerned they wouldn't after having formula. Thomas and Elizabeth are officially too big for the nursing pilllow. I have known this for some time, but it was confirmed early this morning. I was trying to burp Thomas, and he flug himself backwards. While trying to catch him Elizabeth rolled off the pillow and fell in the floor. It scared me to death! Thank goodness we were in the nursery where there is carpet and not in the livingroom where there is hardwood flooring. I think it scared her more than it hurt her. She cried but was easily consoled. Now I sit on the floor with my back against the love seat and the twins facing each other. It is sort of awkward, but I figure in a month or so T and E will be able to position themselves without my help. Time sure flies!
T and E seem to be getting over their colds though they are still coughing some. Jo called me in some medicine for that. I figured after 3 weeks the congestion needed some help -- it wasn't going away on its own. They have been a little grumpy since I started nursing them again. I'm guessing the sudden switch has hurt their tummies some -- I don't know. I plan to start feeding them cereal Sunday night. That will give their systems time to adjust to the change from formula to breast milk before adding a new food. We will try to get their first feeding on video.
It is time to feed them and put them to bed.
T and E seem to be getting over their colds though they are still coughing some. Jo called me in some medicine for that. I figured after 3 weeks the congestion needed some help -- it wasn't going away on its own. They have been a little grumpy since I started nursing them again. I'm guessing the sudden switch has hurt their tummies some -- I don't know. I plan to start feeding them cereal Sunday night. That will give their systems time to adjust to the change from formula to breast milk before adding a new food. We will try to get their first feeding on video.
It is time to feed them and put them to bed.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I hope everybody has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! We are staying home and Elizabeth and Thomas will celebrate their first Thanksgiving with just Mommy and Daddy. We are going to have turkey and store bought dressing, cranberry sauce and butter beans. No pumpkin pie for dessert -- we are having Extreme Moose Tracks ice cream instead. I would like to get out the good china, but I don't think we have time to wash it by hand since I am bottle feeding and pumping. Anyway, we have lots to be thankful for this year. T and E are healthy and growing. Hopefully, their colds will go away now that they will be staying home.
I stopped taking my spider bite medication on Sunday. I stopped taking it early because the pharmacist informed me I would have to wait seven days after my last pill before nursing. He called the drug company to make sure. I thought that was so nice and above and beyond what he needed to do. You won't get that kind of personal service at Walgreen's. Anyway, I talked with Daddy about it, and he told me I could discontinue the meds. Thank the Lord! My milk supply has decreased some, but I am trying to pump every three hours and every 1.5 hours a couple of times a day. It reminds me of when the twins were born, and I was pumping frequently to help my milk come in. Needless to say I am a little sore. It will all be worth it though. I will pump through Sunday and will start nursing Monday morning. Provided that goes well we are going to introduce E and T to cereal Monday night. I am so excited about this new milestone! I increased their milk intake to 5oz for E and 6oz for Thomas yesterday. They are still eating every three hours so I feel like they are ready for some food. My pediatrician reassured me that they should be hungry every 3 hours because their weight is consistent with a two month old, and infants that age typically eat that often.
I better go make some bottles for today.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Birthday Sumner!
I stopped taking my spider bite medication on Sunday. I stopped taking it early because the pharmacist informed me I would have to wait seven days after my last pill before nursing. He called the drug company to make sure. I thought that was so nice and above and beyond what he needed to do. You won't get that kind of personal service at Walgreen's. Anyway, I talked with Daddy about it, and he told me I could discontinue the meds. Thank the Lord! My milk supply has decreased some, but I am trying to pump every three hours and every 1.5 hours a couple of times a day. It reminds me of when the twins were born, and I was pumping frequently to help my milk come in. Needless to say I am a little sore. It will all be worth it though. I will pump through Sunday and will start nursing Monday morning. Provided that goes well we are going to introduce E and T to cereal Monday night. I am so excited about this new milestone! I increased their milk intake to 5oz for E and 6oz for Thomas yesterday. They are still eating every three hours so I feel like they are ready for some food. My pediatrician reassured me that they should be hungry every 3 hours because their weight is consistent with a two month old, and infants that age typically eat that often.
I better go make some bottles for today.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Birthday Sumner!
Friday, November 17, 2006
It has been awhile.....
A lot has happened since I posted last. Things have been really busy up until now. Let's see, in mid October I took the twins to Arkansas for the first time, and we had a great time. They got to meet lots of family members who were anxiously awaiting their arrival. We stayed with my granparents and had lots of help from Franny (my grandmother) and all the nieces and nephew. The trip was too short. Following that trip my sister-in-law Amy, who lives in Austin, came for a visit. We had such a good time. Elizabeth and Thomas had great conversations with their Auntie, Amy cooked some wonderful dishes for us, and we laughed so much the entire time she was with us. On Amy's last night she was helping me burp the twins during one of their late night snacks. We laughed so much David had to shut his bedroom door :) Good times! We miss you Auntie!
I went back to work officially 10/26 though I started a few days early for a couple of hours to ease myself and the twins into our new surroundings -- me work, the twins daycare. I have a great caseload of sweet kids, and the other speech pathologists are great to work with. I think the school is a good fit for me. However, David and I never anticipated how hard going back to work would be with the twins. Getting everything ready for each day is such an ordeal -- washing bottles, fixing bottles, washing my breast pump pieces, getting them packed again for the next day, packing the diaper bag, etc....Have I mentioned sleep deprivation? Thomas and Elizabeth are not sleeping through the night yet so David and I haven't been getting much sleep. There have been many mornings that have started at 3 am for me. It is such an ordeal getting them up and ready to leave each morning. We always have to wake them up, and I hate that. The ladies in the baby room at the daycare have been wonderful. T and E are the only infants in the room, and they get SO MUCH attention from the entire staff. Elizabeth has had some feeding issues though in that she will not take my breast milk in a bottle consistently. Some days she is fine and others all she does is gag whenever the nipple is put into her mouth. T and E have been sick since they started going to daycare with stuffy noses, runny noses, and now they have coughs. After lots of thought David and I decided I should stay at home with the twins. I have resigned, and my last day will be Tuesday. I hate leaving the school in the middle of the year, but I need to do what is best for my family. It seems that since I went back to work we have had so much chaos. I'm not sure if chaos is the right word or not.... Thomas and Elizabeth have been sick, and David and I have been sick. I have really missed more days than I have worked so far. Anyway, my principal was very understanding and told me that if I had the opportunity to stay home with my children I should do it. He also said whenever I am ready he will hire me back :)
My last full week at work has been an intersting one. Monday evening I was nursing the twins, and I felt something bite me. I asked David to take a look (it was on the outer thigh on my right leg), and he said it was an ant. No big deal, right? Tuesday morning the bite was about the size of a quarter. It bothered me all day at work, and by the time I got home it was the size of the top of a Coke can. Wednesday morning it was the size of an orange, and it was extremely red and hot. I decided to let the school nurse take a look. She took one look and said, "Honey, that is not an ant bite. That is a spider bite!" She told me to go to the doctor right away. So I left work and went to Urgent Care -- we don't have a primary care physician yet because neither one of us has had to go to the doctor. The doctor wasn't certain what type of bite it was but wrote me a prescription for some strong antibiotics. Daddy wasn't satisfied with that so he called me in some dapsone which is a drug specifically for brown recluse spider bites. It stops the tissue destruction caused by spider venom. Needless to say, I can't breastfeed the twins while I am on these meds. So, they are getting formula, and I am pumping and throwing my milk out. I have to pump so that my milk won't dry up. The pharmacist told me it would take three to four days after my last pill before the meds would be out of my system so it looks like I will be pumping and dumping for ten days. We are on day three. I sure hope the twins will go back to the breast after this ordeal is over with. I hope I still have milk for them to drink!
On a more positive note, Thomas and Elizabeth had their four month well visit today. Elizabeth is 23 1/4 inches long and weighs 10lbs 11oz. Thomas is 23 1/2 inches long and weighs 11lbs 1.5 oz. I had lots of questions, and the pediatrician was wonderful and answered them all. T and E continue wanting to eat every 3 to 3 1/2 hours. The doctor said that was normal for them because their weight is comparable to that of a two month old. She said it would be awhile before they start sleeping through the night because of their weight. I do get to start giving T and E cereal, and I am excited about that. Each little milestone thrills me. I am going to wait until Sunday evening to start the cereal because the drastic change from breastmilk to formula has both babies constipated :( Once I get there bowel issues resolved we will try the cereal. Thomas and Elizabeth each got four shots- the pneumococcal vaccine, DTaP, Hib vaccine, and polio. They were so mad after getting their shots. They screamed and cried and were not easily consoled. I was by myself and tried to hold them both, but they are getting so big that it was hard to do. Maybe David can go with me next time.
I will try to do better about posting.
I'm off to the breast pump!
I went back to work officially 10/26 though I started a few days early for a couple of hours to ease myself and the twins into our new surroundings -- me work, the twins daycare. I have a great caseload of sweet kids, and the other speech pathologists are great to work with. I think the school is a good fit for me. However, David and I never anticipated how hard going back to work would be with the twins. Getting everything ready for each day is such an ordeal -- washing bottles, fixing bottles, washing my breast pump pieces, getting them packed again for the next day, packing the diaper bag, etc....Have I mentioned sleep deprivation? Thomas and Elizabeth are not sleeping through the night yet so David and I haven't been getting much sleep. There have been many mornings that have started at 3 am for me. It is such an ordeal getting them up and ready to leave each morning. We always have to wake them up, and I hate that. The ladies in the baby room at the daycare have been wonderful. T and E are the only infants in the room, and they get SO MUCH attention from the entire staff. Elizabeth has had some feeding issues though in that she will not take my breast milk in a bottle consistently. Some days she is fine and others all she does is gag whenever the nipple is put into her mouth. T and E have been sick since they started going to daycare with stuffy noses, runny noses, and now they have coughs. After lots of thought David and I decided I should stay at home with the twins. I have resigned, and my last day will be Tuesday. I hate leaving the school in the middle of the year, but I need to do what is best for my family. It seems that since I went back to work we have had so much chaos. I'm not sure if chaos is the right word or not.... Thomas and Elizabeth have been sick, and David and I have been sick. I have really missed more days than I have worked so far. Anyway, my principal was very understanding and told me that if I had the opportunity to stay home with my children I should do it. He also said whenever I am ready he will hire me back :)
My last full week at work has been an intersting one. Monday evening I was nursing the twins, and I felt something bite me. I asked David to take a look (it was on the outer thigh on my right leg), and he said it was an ant. No big deal, right? Tuesday morning the bite was about the size of a quarter. It bothered me all day at work, and by the time I got home it was the size of the top of a Coke can. Wednesday morning it was the size of an orange, and it was extremely red and hot. I decided to let the school nurse take a look. She took one look and said, "Honey, that is not an ant bite. That is a spider bite!" She told me to go to the doctor right away. So I left work and went to Urgent Care -- we don't have a primary care physician yet because neither one of us has had to go to the doctor. The doctor wasn't certain what type of bite it was but wrote me a prescription for some strong antibiotics. Daddy wasn't satisfied with that so he called me in some dapsone which is a drug specifically for brown recluse spider bites. It stops the tissue destruction caused by spider venom. Needless to say, I can't breastfeed the twins while I am on these meds. So, they are getting formula, and I am pumping and throwing my milk out. I have to pump so that my milk won't dry up. The pharmacist told me it would take three to four days after my last pill before the meds would be out of my system so it looks like I will be pumping and dumping for ten days. We are on day three. I sure hope the twins will go back to the breast after this ordeal is over with. I hope I still have milk for them to drink!
On a more positive note, Thomas and Elizabeth had their four month well visit today. Elizabeth is 23 1/4 inches long and weighs 10lbs 11oz. Thomas is 23 1/2 inches long and weighs 11lbs 1.5 oz. I had lots of questions, and the pediatrician was wonderful and answered them all. T and E continue wanting to eat every 3 to 3 1/2 hours. The doctor said that was normal for them because their weight is comparable to that of a two month old. She said it would be awhile before they start sleeping through the night because of their weight. I do get to start giving T and E cereal, and I am excited about that. Each little milestone thrills me. I am going to wait until Sunday evening to start the cereal because the drastic change from breastmilk to formula has both babies constipated :( Once I get there bowel issues resolved we will try the cereal. Thomas and Elizabeth each got four shots- the pneumococcal vaccine, DTaP, Hib vaccine, and polio. They were so mad after getting their shots. They screamed and cried and were not easily consoled. I was by myself and tried to hold them both, but they are getting so big that it was hard to do. Maybe David can go with me next time.
I will try to do better about posting.
I'm off to the breast pump!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
