We met with the girls Orthopaedic Surgeon yesterday. The hip braces have been on for 4 weeks now and the scan showed some improvement. We are now allowed to take the brace off to give them quick baths but other than that it is still to stay on full-time. Our next appointment and scan is in 6 weeks time and *fingers crossed* it will then only be worn at night which I am guessing means somwthing like 12 hours 6pm-6am...
I really missed giving the girls proper baths. We gave them one last night for the first time in a month and my goodness they have grown! They completely filled up the plastic bath tub.
The girls are very kind to us with their routine and have recently dropped a night-time feed. I was worried that they wouldn't make up this feed with their others as the amount they were eating didn't increase but their tummies seem to be slowly stretching to allow for the increase.
They are still demand fed but are very predictable with their feeding times so that pretty much gives them and me a routine to work with:
6.00am - Feed, up 1.5 hours
Sleep, 2.5 hours
10.00am - Feed, up 1.5 hours
Sleep, 2.5 hours
2.00pm - Feed, up 1.5 hours
Sleep, 2 hours
5.30pm - Bath, Feed, up 1.5 hours
7.00pm - Bedtime
Sleep, 4 hours
11.00pm - Feed, up 1 hour
Sleep, 6 hours
To spice things up sometimes they like to start the day at 5am. They both love their sleep but only in their cots. They hate sleeping in the pram but I suspect it is due to the uncomfortable metal bar under their butt.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Pics
The girls are 11 weeks today and I thought I would post a couple of fairly recent pics.
Girls with their sexy new hip braces:
Thankfully found a way to still wrap them around the brace so they will sleep and not flap around all day and night:
Girls with their sexy new hip braces:
Thankfully found a way to still wrap them around the brace so they will sleep and not flap around all day and night:
Sadly had to pack away all their suits and other items of clothing they will never have a chance to wear due to the brace:
I forgot to mention on my last post that my milk never came in. Even on bloody Motilium.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Update on the girls...
The girls are now 10 weeks old or 5 weeks corrected. To be honest things have been pretty tough.
Both have bad reflux and have had to be medicated. Zantac and Infant Gaviscon didn't do a thing and they are both now on Losec. The inconsolable screaming has calmed but feeding and settling/sleeping due to the painful rising acid is still an issue that bothers them (rightly so). I have spent a fortune on various bottles and teats as they were screaming at them and wouldn't drink. Due to the reflux they have absolutely no floor time as it just causes them too much pain (and vomitting).
Colic has also hit but we have found that Infacol and Infants Friend provide them some relief. Hopefully they will grow out of this soon.
Have also been going to the Chiropractor every week as they quite obviously greatly favoured one side of their neck and were going to develop permanent flat spots on their head. They seemed physically incapable of using the other side but their range of movement has now greatly improved and they can turn to both sides. Mirror image, L could really only turn her head to the left and A to the right.
Lastly they both have dislocated hips, again mirror image L the right and A the left. They have both been fitted into a hip brace with fingers crossed that they can be treated without the need for surgery. We are looking at 12 weeks in the brace (and then the weaning process) but if it fails they will be upgraded to a harness and if that fails then surgery. Life is about making them as comfortable as possible.
Both seem to be developing at their adjusted ages and are still very small and fragile.
As if being a parent of multiples isn't hard enough. I feel like they can't seem to get a break. Just need to wait for all of these things to correct with time...
Both have bad reflux and have had to be medicated. Zantac and Infant Gaviscon didn't do a thing and they are both now on Losec. The inconsolable screaming has calmed but feeding and settling/sleeping due to the painful rising acid is still an issue that bothers them (rightly so). I have spent a fortune on various bottles and teats as they were screaming at them and wouldn't drink. Due to the reflux they have absolutely no floor time as it just causes them too much pain (and vomitting).
Colic has also hit but we have found that Infacol and Infants Friend provide them some relief. Hopefully they will grow out of this soon.
Have also been going to the Chiropractor every week as they quite obviously greatly favoured one side of their neck and were going to develop permanent flat spots on their head. They seemed physically incapable of using the other side but their range of movement has now greatly improved and they can turn to both sides. Mirror image, L could really only turn her head to the left and A to the right.
Lastly they both have dislocated hips, again mirror image L the right and A the left. They have both been fitted into a hip brace with fingers crossed that they can be treated without the need for surgery. We are looking at 12 weeks in the brace (and then the weaning process) but if it fails they will be upgraded to a harness and if that fails then surgery. Life is about making them as comfortable as possible.
Both seem to be developing at their adjusted ages and are still very small and fragile.
As if being a parent of multiples isn't hard enough. I feel like they can't seem to get a break. Just need to wait for all of these things to correct with time...
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Hospital Day 13
Day 13 - 12 days old - 36w6d
Today the girls were transferred out of the SCN to Pediatrics. The thought of my premmie babies in a ward with sick children was a little scary. This is a huge step as all we are working on now are their feeds. Their room also has a flip out sofa so I can bunk in with them overnight.
The SCN was operating at full capacity and the bottle fed babies are usually the first to be shipped out as I can't rock up and pull out my boobs to feed them so this creates staffing issues having to take the time to bottle feed them in my absence. No doubt they are also given preference for other reasons too...
The girls have their own room and it looks so lonely. After being in a busy SCN with staff abundance they are now in separate big girl cots and left alone other than when they are due for a feed.
From here:
To here:
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
SCN Day 12
SCN Day 12 - 11 days old - 36w5d
Today the girls came off their apnea monitors so no longer have any machines connected to them. My Pediatrician is on leave this week but the one filling in left instructions that the girls drop their amount of NGT feeds in an attempt to be bottle fed all of their feeds now.
The SCN is extremely busy and has been trying to transfer us to the Private Hospital we were originally booked in to deliver at. My original hospital however is also fully booked. I really don't want the girls continuity of care interrupted (would be the same private Pediatrician looking after them but different Nurses/Midwifes). This hospital doesn't have a SCN so staff would have to be rostered on specifically to look after the girls and administer their NGT's. Thankfully my Pediatrician has left specific instructions that my girls are not to be transferred whilst she is away.
The SCN has been so good to us and I know my girls as exactly where they need to be. They also let the parents be very hands on. We get to do all the cares - temperature taking before every feed, nappy changes, bathing, etc.
I have 5 different lactation consultants riding my back about my low milk supply. Their suggestions are really helpful - instead of expressing every 3 hours 8 times a day, express every 2 hours 12 times a day. Bullshit. I don't know if the cause is the stress of not having take home babies, my diet and water intake suffering as I sit with my girls all day long in the SCN, or my bloody PCOS. I'm so sick of feeling like I have to justify my low milk supply everyday like I am doing something wrong. I've started to push the PCOS, hormonal imbalance, angle on them and have been advised to now seek medication to increase my supply.
I had always assumed that breastfeeding was something that came easily and naturally. I enjoy the feeling of breastfeeding, even though it makes me feel like I am going to fall asleep and sometimes a 1800g baby can get a little lost and slippery in the football hold. It's amazing how you can be so determined to work on something that you forget about the one hundred other people in the room that you are flashing your headlights at.
It's getting harder and harder to leave the girls of a night time. They stare at me wide eyed accusingly as I leave :(
Today the girls came off their apnea monitors so no longer have any machines connected to them. My Pediatrician is on leave this week but the one filling in left instructions that the girls drop their amount of NGT feeds in an attempt to be bottle fed all of their feeds now.
The SCN is extremely busy and has been trying to transfer us to the Private Hospital we were originally booked in to deliver at. My original hospital however is also fully booked. I really don't want the girls continuity of care interrupted (would be the same private Pediatrician looking after them but different Nurses/Midwifes). This hospital doesn't have a SCN so staff would have to be rostered on specifically to look after the girls and administer their NGT's. Thankfully my Pediatrician has left specific instructions that my girls are not to be transferred whilst she is away.
The SCN has been so good to us and I know my girls as exactly where they need to be. They also let the parents be very hands on. We get to do all the cares - temperature taking before every feed, nappy changes, bathing, etc.
I have 5 different lactation consultants riding my back about my low milk supply. Their suggestions are really helpful - instead of expressing every 3 hours 8 times a day, express every 2 hours 12 times a day. Bullshit. I don't know if the cause is the stress of not having take home babies, my diet and water intake suffering as I sit with my girls all day long in the SCN, or my bloody PCOS. I'm so sick of feeling like I have to justify my low milk supply everyday like I am doing something wrong. I've started to push the PCOS, hormonal imbalance, angle on them and have been advised to now seek medication to increase my supply.
I had always assumed that breastfeeding was something that came easily and naturally. I enjoy the feeling of breastfeeding, even though it makes me feel like I am going to fall asleep and sometimes a 1800g baby can get a little lost and slippery in the football hold. It's amazing how you can be so determined to work on something that you forget about the one hundred other people in the room that you are flashing your headlights at.
It's getting harder and harder to leave the girls of a night time. They stare at me wide eyed accusingly as I leave :(
Saturday, July 11, 2009
SCN Day 9
SCN Day 9 - 8 days old - 36w2d
Last night I finally cried. I'd been watching all the other SCN mothers break down and become emotional around the 3 day mark. I asked David if the girls were really ours and wanted to know if they would ever be coming home. Not having a "release" date or time frame to work with was the hardest for me. How quickly they develop their sucking reflex wasn't something that could be predicted.
Yesterday the SCN asked my permission to bottle feed during the night if the girls were demanding as it was noted that they had been lately. They took their first bottle during the night. I was extremely happy to hear this but then cried again when I was told that both of the girls had oral thrush. I have no signs or symptoms of nipple thrush but was told that we all have to be treated simultaneously.
My milk supply is absoloute shithouse. I express with my electric pump every 3 hours for 1/2 hour for the sake of 10-20mls. I have tried 4 different brands/types of electric pumps and all yield the same result. If I attempt to breastfeed in the 2.5 hours I am not attached to a pump I am a completely dried up well and can't even hand express anything onto their lips. I have been keeping them on there anyway to keep up the breast contact and stimulation.
The SCN really err on the side on caution when it comes to feeding amounts and my girls, as well as other neighbouring babies, have had some pathetic weight gains due to insufficient feeding quantities. A 5g weight gain over a 2 day period wasn't an uncommon occurance. Thankfully when the feeds were increased accordingly the girls were back on track pull 60g or 90g over 2 days.
Last night I finally cried. I'd been watching all the other SCN mothers break down and become emotional around the 3 day mark. I asked David if the girls were really ours and wanted to know if they would ever be coming home. Not having a "release" date or time frame to work with was the hardest for me. How quickly they develop their sucking reflex wasn't something that could be predicted.
Yesterday the SCN asked my permission to bottle feed during the night if the girls were demanding as it was noted that they had been lately. They took their first bottle during the night. I was extremely happy to hear this but then cried again when I was told that both of the girls had oral thrush. I have no signs or symptoms of nipple thrush but was told that we all have to be treated simultaneously.
My milk supply is absoloute shithouse. I express with my electric pump every 3 hours for 1/2 hour for the sake of 10-20mls. I have tried 4 different brands/types of electric pumps and all yield the same result. If I attempt to breastfeed in the 2.5 hours I am not attached to a pump I am a completely dried up well and can't even hand express anything onto their lips. I have been keeping them on there anyway to keep up the breast contact and stimulation.
The SCN really err on the side on caution when it comes to feeding amounts and my girls, as well as other neighbouring babies, have had some pathetic weight gains due to insufficient feeding quantities. A 5g weight gain over a 2 day period wasn't an uncommon occurance. Thankfully when the feeds were increased accordingly the girls were back on track pull 60g or 90g over 2 days.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
SCN Day 7
SCN Day 7 - 6 days old - 36w0d
Got a fantastic surprise today. I walked in to the SCN to find that the girls had been moved from the back little intensive care room to the "normal" SCN section :D
My Pediatrician is extremely happy with them saying they are doing so very well, more like one week ahead of their age, but are so very, very small. They dropped the full 10% of their body weight and got down to 1800g and very barely make their "corrected" age graphs.
After still having no colostrum to express (obviously I gave the SCN permission to formula NGT feed the girls) my milk came in today. I had no idea as there has been no physical changes in my breasts (still large, soft and saggy) but after my morning shower I noticed drops of water falling onto the floorboards as I was getting dressed. I finally have a use for the electric breast pump I had purchased other to purely stimulate and hope for milk production one day.
The only physical change that occurred was a scary one a few days ago. The night I was discharged from hospital I noticed in the shower that I no longer had anything that resembled legs, ankles or feet, but large stumpy elephant feet (yes you did warn me you know who). Nothing prepared me for that. David and I freaked out. I've had to deliberately wear slippers out in public ever since.
Got a fantastic surprise today. I walked in to the SCN to find that the girls had been moved from the back little intensive care room to the "normal" SCN section :D
My Pediatrician is extremely happy with them saying they are doing so very well, more like one week ahead of their age, but are so very, very small. They dropped the full 10% of their body weight and got down to 1800g and very barely make their "corrected" age graphs.
After still having no colostrum to express (obviously I gave the SCN permission to formula NGT feed the girls) my milk came in today. I had no idea as there has been no physical changes in my breasts (still large, soft and saggy) but after my morning shower I noticed drops of water falling onto the floorboards as I was getting dressed. I finally have a use for the electric breast pump I had purchased other to purely stimulate and hope for milk production one day.
The only physical change that occurred was a scary one a few days ago. The night I was discharged from hospital I noticed in the shower that I no longer had anything that resembled legs, ankles or feet, but large stumpy elephant feet (yes you did warn me you know who). Nothing prepared me for that. David and I freaked out. I've had to deliberately wear slippers out in public ever since.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Hospital Day 4
SCN Day 4 - 3 days old - 35w4d
Last night I had one of the nurses from the SCN race into my room and tell me that the girls were demanding. I had no idea what they expected of me as my milk hadn't come in yet and I had been unable to squeeze out even one drop of colostrum for the past few days and all the midwifes claimed they were too busy to assist me. It was explained that this was to establish breast contact and that the girls would be fed down the tube at the same time. Previously we had been told to get the girls a pacifier to develop their sucking reflex to associate sucking with a full tummy. My tiny girls did nothing but open their mouth whilst I shoved my boob in and stay there wide mouthed not knowing what happens next.
Last night I had one of the nurses from the SCN race into my room and tell me that the girls were demanding. I had no idea what they expected of me as my milk hadn't come in yet and I had been unable to squeeze out even one drop of colostrum for the past few days and all the midwifes claimed they were too busy to assist me. It was explained that this was to establish breast contact and that the girls would be fed down the tube at the same time. Previously we had been told to get the girls a pacifier to develop their sucking reflex to associate sucking with a full tummy. My tiny girls did nothing but open their mouth whilst I shoved my boob in and stay there wide mouthed not knowing what happens next.
Later that night the night duty nurse saw that I was awake and came in with my discharge papers (less than 72 hours post birth) so that in the morning all they had to do was change the locks on my door. Bloody ridiculous for a cesarean if you ask me. I was originally told I would be there for 5 days.
I had my breakfast and went in to see the girls. The day nurse came running in after me telling me that she was packing up my room and putting my stuff in a cupboard somewhere. The way I was treated by the hospital was bullshit, including the feral meals I vomitted up every night and missed doses of meds. 12 hours overdue is not good enough. I also wasn't ready to leave my girls yet.
Our Paediatrician came to see the girls (as she does every day) as we were on our way out to take my rooms contents home. So far the girls jaundice levels haven't had to be treated but she said that they were looking particularly orange today and not to be surprised if we came back to find them under the phototherapy lights. To expect it actually.
Having been on complete bedrest for the last few months we stopped by the local shopping mall on the way home for lunch and a browse. An hour later I realised I was out in public with my slippers on and hospital ID wristbands on full display.
That night we returned to the girls to find that not only had their jaundice levels come back fine again but they had also graduated to an open twin cot and their only wirey friend was a little apnoea monitor. Plus of course their NGT's. The Pediatrician suggested that we stop using orange muslin wraps, lol.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
