A real mom

It’s official, I feel like a real mom…I cannot get anything done during the day except taking care of babies and am lacking sleep. This is more on the lines of what I expected of motherhood Thankfully, I have a husband who takes a wee morning shift of feeding the girls so I can get more than 1.5 hrs of sleep at a time.

Joe and I are getting more experienced with hauling the girls around in the car as we have been to the pediatrician twice and to Butte to see the ophthalmologist. We like our pediatrician – thanks to cousin Leslie for the recommendation! The pediatrician was worried about us after our first visit on 8/14 as neither of the girls had gained much weight since discharge from Missoula. However, upon our follow-up on 8/18, both girls had packed on the ounces and she was thrilled. Evie weighed in at 6 lbs 15.5 oz and Maggie was 6 lbs 3 oz. Poor Maggie does have a bit of an issue as she has thrush (yeast infection in her mouth), and she is not fond of her medicine and tends to give back her meals with it; or, she might have a bit of reflux. So, Evie has extended the weight gap even further over the past few days as she loves to eat!

We met the Missoula ophthalmologist in his associated clinic in Butte last Tuesday, as he takes appointments there one day a month. Butte is a MUCH faster drive than going all the way to Missoula. This appointment gave us good results as both girls’ eyes are looking well. Of course, the eye exam is never fun (Joe refers to it as aggressive eye interrogation), and Maggie cried loudly, but we figured out to give Evie her binky to soothe her. We have another follow-up next month to verify that Maggie’s eyes are totally clear, but we anticipate they will be mature and ‘clean’. The ophthalmologist did say that the girls were at a higher risk to have nearsightedness due to the laser procedures, but they were already destined to need corrective lenses. However, he did see that Evie is still currently farsighted, as typical for babies.

Both girls have figured out how to get their hands to their mouths. Evie sometimes helps to “hold” her bottle – although she is not very good about holding in her binky. I did go buy a bouncer as Evie likes to be awake after she eats. She is starting to enjoy it, but hasn’t quite gotten used to it. Evie did go on a walk with Mom and Bruce last night in the baby carrier – it didn’t put her to sleep, but she sucked on her binky most of the time and seemed to enjoy the fresh air.

The girls definitely are not neglected... Grandma and Grandpa Faulhaber spent last weekend down here – weeding the grounds and working on curtains. The girls then enjoyed a day with cousin Shari last Monday. I claim that she spoiled whiny Maggie and held her and snuggled her – and so now Maggie will cry until she is held and then she will fall asleep. Opa and Oma stop by as they head through town each Thursday and Sunday on their way to and from the lake for some cuddle time. Great Grandma Evelyn spent the day with the girls on Friday and did her share of cuddling and patting backs also.

Stroller ride

We finally did something that was worthy of blogging so that I could add another post - we took the girls on their inagural stoller ride in the double stroller. Granted, it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to get both car seats in it (move the front shade forward, remove the snack tray......), but then we took the girls out with the dogs and the Faulhaber Grandparents for their first walk on Saturday evening. Now that I have the car seats in, it should be much easier to get the girls ready for a nice jaunt around the neighborhood. However, we are a bit limited in the areas to walk because we live on the only one paved road before South 19th and I don't think the girls are quite ready for dirt roads yet! Otherwise, things are just "normal" at home - the girls are sleeping, eating, and pooping.

Getting settled

Sorry I haven't posted for a few days, but you can guess that we have had our hands full. It is really going quite well - the girls are used to sleeping for chunks at a time and we usually feed them back to back (or at the same time if bottle feeding and there are 2 parents available), so there is a little bit of time for peace and quiet. However, the parents' sleeping intervals at night are shorter than we would like, because a feeding does take 1-2 hours. The challenge has really been making sure the house is set up for babies with monitors. So, unfortunately, the girls are pretty much held hostage in their nursery.

We did take Maggie off of her oxygen on Sunday since she doesn't really need it. Then on Monday she got a bath, and Tuesday I put her in the baby carrier and walked around the house for 10 minutes or so. She was helping me do chores, but then I put her back to bed and hooked her back up to her monitors. Since Evie is still on the oxygen, she hasn't had as much fun and stays within about 3 feet of the crib. We do have portable oxygen tanks, but it takes a little time to move the regulator and cannula. I'm hoping to do a "fashion show" one of these afternoons, but have lots of not as fun stuff to catch up on first.

Sunday was visitor day - and even though they tried to time it so that there was only one group at a time...they all showed up at the same time. But I figure the girls are used to having people around in the NICU, so it didn't bother them too much. Grandpa Paul and Grandma Diana brought Bruce, our dog, home and were the first visitors. They actually timed it quite well and stayed for a few hours before those passing through Bozeman showed up. !!Thanks for taking care of Bruce for us!! Then Frank & Mary Hemphill and the Schafers (my wonderful housecleaning fairies) showed up to gree the girls and were quickly followed by Opa and Oma (Gpa Rich & Gma Bev). Most of that crew left by the time Timmie-Lynn and Darren DeHaas showed up as they were headed from Boise back to Billings. We had a good chat with everyone and Maggie was even awake for most of it!

So, all is well in the Faulhaber household. Here are some pictures of the girls at their homecoming, Dad's baby beard (yes he shaved within 2 hours of being home), and the girls being cute in their crib.

Dad's baby beard (to get us home) and Maggie

Heading Home!

The day has finally arrived - we are in the car and headed home...all 4 of us! The night went well and I guess I'll get used to sleeping for 2 hours or less at a time. The morning was very busy with getting the girls fed, going over last minute items and paperwork, waiting for discharge orders from Dr. Hiller - and chatting with her, and gathering tons of baby supplies and stuff with lots of help from Nurse Marsha. Dad was very anxiuos to get out as soon as possible and went into "crisis mode"' which is sometimes when he performs best. He had the car loaded and checked out of RMH by 10:30 and we hauled the babies with monitors and oxygen through the NICU for our "victory lap" and quick good-byes to the car. We finally got to take the girls outside and put them in their little car seats in the car + happy tears! We waved good-bye to Missoula right around 11 am.

The first hour of the drive has been uneventful - and allowed mom's squished butt in the backseat to catch up on blogging. We'll see how the rest of the day goes and try to blog tonight or tomorrow.

Loves to all for your support during the crazy start to this journey. Here comes the fun stuff, right?!

Friday August 8 2008

Today we finally got to room in at the hospital. Again I checked into room 119 at 2pm and this time Jinny and I rolled the girls' crib down. It is a bit squished in there even though it was a triple room...but it has 3 beds and storage of other cribs, chairs, and other extra labor & delivery stuff. So the nurse comes to check on us at feeding time and brings bottles. Dad came over after he was done working at 6pm and helped with feedings and picked up Subway for dinner. We did let him go back to the RMH at 11pm to sleep until 3pm. I figured he should at least have one turn walking over to feed in the wee hours of the morning.

Evie has been the super eater today and Maggie has been sleepier. But they are both doing great and the NICU staff are anxious for us to leave tomorrow.

I forgot to mention that Evie passed the 6 pound mark on Wednesday. Maggie is almost there but probably will hit it the first couple days we are home.

Thursday August 7, 2008

Surgery - or the laser procedure - went well. It started a little after 8pm and was done by 8:45pm. They gave her one dose of Versed and Morphine and then something afterward to help her wake up. She was doing pretty well at 9:30pm. When Evie gets awake and hungry they will feed her and ween her off of her IV hopefully by morning. If everything goes fine I will room in Friday night and hopefully go home Saturday or Sunday. Maggie is just hanging out.

Wednesday August 6 2008

Status: Nevermind, we,
are not going home. The monitors came today and we learned how to use them. We packed the car with all the stuff we have accumulated at the RMD house and took my overnight bag to room 119 at the hospital. Then the girls had their follow-up eye exams and the plan changed again. Evie still has a little spot that the blood vessels appear to be still growing on her right eye. There is a chance that it might start receding, but we would have to return next week to check. And then if the procedure needed to be done we would have to re-admit. So, it makes sense to just fix the spots now and hopefully have a speedy recovery and go home this weekend. The procedure would be short and they would do sedation instead of paralyzation, so hopefully the recovery is nothing like the original surgery. Maggie's eyes seem to be fine with only a little bleeding that is mostly resolved. So, with
the car loaded and not really enough room to fit everything in one trip, we decided to drive home one more time without the girls. Granted the last two trips to Bozeman I thought would be the last without the girls. I sure hope this one really is.

Tuesday August 5, 2008

The girls made their first trip out of the NICU today. Granted, it was rolling in a crib down the hall to the well baby nursery where they got their pictures taken. They are finally up on the Community Medical Center website but I’m not sure how long the picture will be up there. Also, the information isn’t quite correct because the nurse made up the heights as I had a momentary memory lapse. Otherwise, they had a pretty normal day.

Go Home Status: At 5pm, the social worker finally got someone to work out a plan for getting us medical equipment in Bozeman. It was quite a hassle, but the Missoula company is contracting equipment to a Bozeman company so that they can rent it to us and we will have a service provider in Bozeman. However, the contract did not get finalized and thus the equipment did not get delivered and thus we did not get to room in. The doctor wants to make the rooming in a trial run with the equipment we will go home with, so that is postponed. I just hope it all falls into place tomorrow and we can room in Wednesday night and head out Thursday afternoon.

Monday August 4, 2008

Go Home Status: The hospital social worker is trying to get us all the equipment we need to take the girls home. This equipment includes oxygen, heart rate monitor, & oximeter for both girls. Apparently it isn’t as easy as we hoped because there isn’t one provider that rents all of those items in Bozeman. And even if we can get all those in Bozeman – they usually come out to the house to set it up…but we need it to get out of Missoula. So, they are working on logistics but hopefully we get the stuff by tomorrow afternoon. If that works, the plan is for me to “room in” at the hospital where the girls will stay in the room with me and I get to take care of them all night. It is kind of like a practice round and it would be best if we had the equipment we will be using at home. The next step is the eye exams and those happen late Wednesday afternoon. So, if all goes as planned we will be headed home Wednesday evening. Now, I have to remind myself that things don’t always go as planned – as evidenced by everything else with these kids.

Otherwise it was a normal day of feeding and not feeding. Evie did get a bath this afternoon – trying to get rid of the ew gross toe jam. Joe and I are in that phase of new parenthood where we think the girls’ bodily functions are funny (and encouraged) and it is cute when they cry. I’m sure that won’t last too long.

Sunday August 3, 2008

Both girls gained weight last night! That is a must have to go home this coming week. They also did the car seat test this morning at 6am and did fine. Evie did require a little higher blend of oxygen, but that will not be a big deal as she will go home on oxygen anyhow. Mom and Dad were both frustrated with some of the girls’ feedings today – but they made up for it at the 8pm feeding. Part of the frustration was probably that Dad finally took part in the late night feedings and was tired and Mom needed to get out of the RMD House. So, a nap for Dad and retail therapy for Mom must have done the trick. Yes, I realize we won’t have these luxuries going forward, but we’ll take them while we can get them. We also checked off watching the newborn video and CPR video (yesterday) from the list. We’re getting so close to going home – even the receptionists and nurses are on watch.

A trip to the NICU

I made this silly little video for those who didn't get a chance to visit to see what it was like on a typical trip to the NICU.

Guestbook

Please leave a note for Evie and Maggie in their guestbook!

Click on "Post a comment" to "sign" the guestbook. You don't need to have a blogger account, just click "Name/URL", type your name in the box and write your note in "Leave a comment".
Please include the following:

• Name
• Relation
• Location
• Note for the girls

I should have put this together when I first started blogging because I have heard so many people say that they enjoy reading the blog and have shared it with their friends. And now as we are a few days from going home and starting this thing called parenthood, I finally get around to putting in this post.

So, I would love for the girls to have a note from all of their "subscribers" or those who have been watching over them for the past 3 months.

Saturday August 2, 2008

Joe and I spend a lot more time in the NICU these days – every 3 or 6 hours for 1-1.5 hours at a time. (OK, Joe sleeps all night, but usually helps bottle feed during the day.) And because of that, better feeding, and a go home plan – both of the NG tubes are out! Of course, did I remember to take pictures, no. Actually, Maggie pulled her NG out yesterday and we just didn’t put it back in. The goal is for no NG feedings and weight gain for a couple days and they’ll kick us out! The other exciting thing is that we took the car seats over to the NICU this evening. The receptionist and nurses were all excited for us. We’ve been anxiously awaiting the “car seat test” in which they put the girls in their car seats for 3.5 hours to make sure they don’t have any breathing issues. I’m not sure they will do the trial tonight, but we are hoping to cross it off the checklist shortly. The end of the NICU stay is in sight!!!

Friday August 1, 2008

It is really quite neat to be able to wander around the NICU with a baby in my arms, it seems so out of the ordinary since they are usually hooked to monitors. But Nurse Lisa disconnects Maggie and greets me at the door and then I feed her without the monitor – it is good practice for when we won’t have numbers to look at. Evie still has her oxygen and has a few more problems while she is eating, so she doesn’t get disconnected as often. The girls worked very hard at eating all day – we did give them a break at 2pm and let them sleep since we didn’t ease them into the full time schedule very much. But then Maggie woke up at 4pm and was wide awake. We fed her at 5pm and she still didn’t want to go to sleep. I finally changed her very heavy diaper at 7pm and she dozed off. Evie, of course, sleeps as much as possible.

Dad did his part in feeding today – and gets the marks for making each girl regurgitate once. I’m not sure if it was bad luck or poor form yet. And it is pretty entertaining to laugh at the girls’ bodily functions – they have some fantastic burbs!It is really hard to believe it is August 1 and I have 3 month old twin girls, which have never been home. I guess it will be like I had full term babies this week and will take them home just like newborns. Thankfully, I suppose, we do know a bit more about taking care of newborns and have had practice in some areas!