Seven Weeks and a Manic Monday

This song was running through my head this morning as I worked on various tasks before heading to the hospital.  And, of course, after I left the house, I realized my phone was still at home, making the day even more manic.

The girls are seven weeks old today!  Hazel is 4 pounds 14 ounces, and Abby is 4 pounds 11 ounces.  I forgot to check their length, but will do it tomorrow.  I figured out last week that it took the girls a month to gain one pound, and two weeks to gain their second pound.  

Breast feeding is still progressing.  Hazel was on for about 15ish minutes, and took the rest via bottle, although she did better bottle feeding with Cathy the nurse than with me.  I'm guessing it's because (a) Cathy is more experienced at it and (b) I was holding Hazel in more of a snuggle hold, so she was more interested in sleeping than eating.  She finished the whole bottle with Cathy, though.

Abby, as usual, didn't seem interested for the first ten minutes, and then after she became interested she sucked for about 10-12 minutes.  I didn't get to bottle feed the rest to her because it was 'kick out the visitors' time at the NICU (6:30 pm).  But she was taking the bottle from the nurse really well when I left.

Both girls' diaper rashes seem to be much better, although they are still using the Ilex on them.  And, for the second day in a row, Dr. Breed came by while I was breast feeding (or attempting), so he gave me the update ("girls are doing well...") behind the screen.  Slightly awkward, but less awkward than him actually watching, I guess.

Since I held Abby yesterday, today was my day to hold Hazel.  I got really sleepy and ended up napping with her for about 30-45 minutes ... Cathy came by several times to check on us and to remind me to pump.  :)

Tonight, as well as the past few days, I've been hard at work fixing up the nursery.  Almost all of the girls' clothes are washed, and I finished cleaning out their closet tonight.  I took several "before" pictures, so I'll upload those when I post about the finished product.  Hopefully it'll be in pretty good shape by this weekend!

Pics from the day:

Abby - she squirmed from the center of the crib all the way over to the side.

Another shot of Abby, post squirming.

Hazel in a bunny outfit.

Hazel sucking on her thumb.  Pretty cute.

Duck, Duck, Goose ... and a Wedding

Good news on the feeding front:  Hazel has been upped to two nipple/oral feedings out of three (up from every other feeding), and Abigail will have a nipple/oral feeding at every other feeding (up from three times a day).  The nurse, Cindy, said Hazel's schedule is "nipple, nipple, gavage," which made me think of the title.  (Yup, I'm random.  Pretty much all the time.)

Hazel did okay with the breast feeding today - we went for about 10-15 minutes.  She bradyed four times, though (one was due to spitting up and at least two of the others were because she was asleep).  I fed her the rest of her bottle - 20 ml - and she took it all.  Good girl!

Typical Abby, she started off slow again.  And, as usual, just about the time I was about to give up she decided she was interested, and went for about 5-10 minutes.  She does do a good job of sucking and stopping to breathe.  Not as interested in the bottle - she sucked on it for a bit, but spit up part of it and fell asleep, so we didn't finish it.

I headed home early so Matt and I could go to a wedding of a friend.  It was outdoors at a local venue not too far from us, and everything was really nice.  Interestingly, this is the third wedding in a row we've been to in Austin, and none of the three weddings have been on a Saturday.  Of the streak, the first one was on a Friday in November, then a Sunday in March, and now this one, also on a Sunday.  I haven't had to work the following Monday for either of the Sunday weddings, because otherwise it seems pretty normal.

After we came home, Matt fell asleep while I pumped, so I ended up working on the nursery, including sorting clothes for washing, throwing said clothes in the wash, taking out the trash, and doing other assorted tasks.  FWIW, he's still snoring on the bed as I type this during my last pump of the night.  :)

Saturday Night (Feeding) Fever

Since Matt had to work, I spent the afternoon working on the nursery and watching (more like listening in the background) to the NFL draft.  I miss football!  ;)  Then, as in the recent tradition, I went up to the NICU for the evening.

The girls are really starting to get the hang of breastfeeding!  Tonight Hazel latched on for over 15 minutes (prob closer to 20).  AND, after it looked like she was too tired to continue, she finished off a bunch more via bottle.  Woo!  Abby, as usual, worked at her own pace; for the first 10-15 minutes or so, she didn't do much of anything, and then suddenly (just as I was about to give up) she started, and ended up feeding for probably about 10 minutes.  Woo!

Dr. Breed said the girls were doing well, and so he was planning to take them off caffeine tomorrow to see how they'd do.  Apparently Abby hasn't had an apnea in three days (since 4/24), which is pretty awesome!

I watched Hazel get weighed tonight.  She didn't seem happy about it at all ... the nurse changed her diaper, then stripped her naked and put her on the scale (which was warmed).  She fussed a bit.  :)  The good news is she is now 4 pounds 13.6 oz, so slightly higher than yesterday.  The nurse also said she was about 2 inches longer than when she was born, but I'll double check that tomorrow when I visit - not sure if I heard that correctly.  

Matt decided he was well enough to finally come visit the girls, and arrived about 10:00ish.  Since I was holding Abby, he held Hazel.  I took some pictures, of course.  :)

Just a normal evening in the Scates household, now.  Hanging with the girls. 

Hazel getting weighed.

Sleepy Abby

Sleepy Hazel

Matt & Hazel

Intently checking Hazel's temp.  Look at that focusness.

The girls on my lap.

In the No News is Good News Department...

"Nothing new today, really."

I usually text Matt updates from my visit with the girls and also to let him know the latest from the doctor.  Today, I didn't have anything new to report.  The girls continue to look good, put on weight, and work on oral feedings (both did better today, but also fell asleep about 10-15 min into it).  And, as typical, Hazel normally bradys/desats at the beginning of a feeding (she did with me today, too - she gagged and I knew it was about to happen).  The good news is "sucking" has started to kick in for both Hazel and Abigail.  After we finished the 5:30 temp/diaper change, Hazel started sucking on her fingers and the blanket.  And Abby actually took the pacifier, looking very cute all swaddled up in her crib.

Pics from the day:

The Abs.

The pacifier is almost as big as Abigail!

Hail citizens!  - Abby

"What did I tell you about pictures?"

Hazel is certainly adding the baby fat in her tummy.

Fingers!  Yummy?

"If you would just *feed* me I wouldn't have to resort to sucking my fingers."

Profile shot of finger sucking

Eyes, Ears, and Mouths

The girls had the follow-up eye exams today.  Hazel's eyes looked better, but the doctor still wants to check again next week to see how they are progressing.  Abigail's will be checked again in two weeks.  Hopefully there will be no permanent issues with either of them.

While I was there this afternoon, a technician came by to do hearing scans for both girls.  It was interesting - the tech hooked up a series of wires, plus a wire/gelatin thing on each ear, and then measured the brain waves to determine if each ear passed or failed.  Hazel passed with no problem.  Abby, though, did not pass either ear.  The tech told me this was actually Abby's second hearing scan (she had failed the first one, too), but the NICU babies are given three tests, so Abby's final test will likely be closer to the discharge date.  Apparently the odds are very small that she fails that one too, but if so, she'd get an outpatient appointment for after discharge for a four test, and if that one doesn't go well either, she'd be referred to a specialist (with even lower odds for this to happen).  I think this is one of those things that I am going to try not to worry about now, since the odds are so slim; plus, I wouldn't probably even know about it if I hadn't happened to have been present at the time the test was performed (for example, I didn't know she had a previous test).

Both girls did much better on breast feeding!  Hazel took to it for a bit, but then passed out.  Abigail finished her entire bottle this morning (woohoo!!!), and actually sucked for me for about 10-15 min before she passed out too.  Yay!  I am still nervous and anxious about this going well, but today's developments certainly helped!

Abby - chillin'

Hazel ... peaceful

Hazel ... not so peaceful

Hazel ... still not peaceful

35 Weeks

Matt still isn't feeling well, plus he found out he's got mandatory overtime due to crunch time.  12 hour days, 7 days a week, for 3 weeks.  He's basically already working 12 hour days during the week.  Ugh.  

It is amazing; both girls are basically two whole pounds over their birth weight.  Today Hazel weighs 4 pounds, 11 ounces, and Abigail is 4 pounds, 7 ounces.  I also noticed today that I'm pretty sure Abby has bigger/longer ears than her sister.  Abby reminds me of my dad and my granddad, and I see flashes of Matt's parents in Hazel.  Some of the nurses have said Abby looks a lot like me, but it is really hard for me to see that; I guess I'm too close to the subject.

We worked on breast feeding today; Hazel took to it okay, but spit up several times.  I know she was sucking, but I don't know how much she got, as her feeding tube was also on at the same time.  Abigail wasn't super interested, but she sucked for a few minutes too.  Both girls seemed pretty sleepy, so I mostly spent the time today holding Hazel (since I held Abby yesterday) and listening to the nurses gossip about my nurse Kyra's wedding (and her new sister in law) and something that had happened at work.  NICU 3, our little overflow room, is more secluded, so it certainly lends itself to more nurse chatter, plus there is basically no way to not eavesdrop on half of the room.

One of the things I heard, though, involved pediatrician recommendations.  The baby boy (38 weeker) next to us had swelling in his brain, and his parents were worried he'd need to get a shunt put in.  Yesterday they found out from the doctor that the swelling had gone down enough that it may not need to happen, and even if it did, it would likely be an outpatient procedure, meaning he'd be able to go home soon.  The parents were SO happy.  In the meantime, since they lived in Blanco (1.5 hours from the hospital, which reminds me that 20 miles/30 min one way is not that bad), they needed pediatrician recommendations, so they asked the doctor to review the insurance-approved list.  Anyway, today they asked the nurse if the doctor had reviewed the list, and while she wasn't sure if that had happened, she started naming good pediatricians that nurses and doctors use.  One of the pediatricians she mentioned is the same one we will be using (and that Dr. Cowan recommended), so that made me feel good!

The other exciting thing: last night, while I was at home, Rachel (the night nurse) called to let me know that Abigail finished her whole bottle!  That was a first, and Rachel was really excited, as was I.  Go Abs!  Hopefully the sucking/swallowing thing is finally "clicking on" for Abigail, like it has (mostly) for Hazel.

Pictures from the day:

Abby in her crib

She's looking at me like she's thinking "another picture, really?"

Abby:  I know kung fu...in my sleep.

Look out for the wicked cross.

Hazel making faces while I held her.

Yawn!

I look pretty satisfied with myself.  Must have just had a huge poop.

Yup.  I can smell it now.

What?  That wasn't me.  That was the nurse.

Hazel sticking out her tongue in her sleep.

Konked out in the crib.

Cute clothes for the girls!  Now people will be able to tell them apart. ;)  (thanks Saradee!)

 

NICU Discharge Class

We attended the NICU discharge class from 9:30 to 11:30, taught by Cheryl.  It was only us and another couple, who had just had a 38 week baby two days before (and was their second child) so their stay in the NICU wasn't going to be longer than a week, at most.  The first 90 minutes or so Cheryl talked to us about the proper way to bathe a baby (clean to dirty, no soap in the face, keep them warm) and various other baby issues (make an appt with the pediatrician soon, avoid crowds due to RSV, how to heat up breastmilk - and not to heat up too much, etc).  The last portion of the class was watching a video on infant CPR (the spokeslady in that was *very* enthusiastic) and a video about the perils of Shaken Baby Syndrome.  I think the latter video was made sometime in the mid 1980's - the hair of the mothers and the glasses on the father were dead giveaways.

Matt still isn't feeling well (he sounds worse today), so we had a lovely lunch at the hospital cafeteria before he headed to work and I headed to the NICU.  Cathy was our nurse again today, and I found out: (a) she loves Disney - is going on a cruise for her anniversary in May; and (b) she has two kids named Matthew and Emily.  Cathy is quite the talker, once she gets to know you.  

We worked on breast feeding again today.  Hazel took to it pretty well; she had a brady off the bat (I heard her gulp), but then sucked for about 10ish minutes until she fell asleep.  Abby really wasn't interested again.  There was some suckage, but not much.  I wonder if using the nipple shield is helping or hurting the cause?  It is easier for me, because then I can tell they are on or not and sucking, due to the milk in the nipple part, but it still hurt when Abby sucked today.  Plus, maybe they'd be better with the real thing?  Hard to tell.

I ended up holding Abby for most of the afternoon, since I held Hazel almost exclusively on Tuesday, and then held Hazel until I was kicked out of the NICU at 6:30.  Both girls are so cute!  I noticed their eyelashes were growing; I hadn't really noticed them before.

Pics for the day:

Hazel

Abby

Week Six in the NICU

Stats at the six week mark:
Hazel: 4 pounds, 10.6 ounces 
Abigail:  4 pounds, 4.6 ounces

The girls had been moved to "NICU 3," or the "big kids" room, when I arrived this afternoon.  That was code for they were stable enough to be moved to an overflow room.  ;)  Honestly, I'm not a big fan of the move - we are now in a windowless room (aside from the closed blinds to a sitting area) that is relatively cramped, and, when babies are beeping, gets loud.  We are also smack in the middle, so partitioning us off when I'm breastfeeding/pumping is more intrusive.  Sigh...so it goes.  The good news is, of course, the girls are stable enough to be moved into the other room.

Breastfeeding is still going slowly.  Hazel takes to it more than Abby, especially this afternoon.  H downed most of her feed, and since she had yanked her feeding tube out, I gave her most of the rest via bottle.  Abby went for a very short time.  I know they'll get the hang of it soon.  And me too!

Dr. Breed checked out the girls at 5:30, while I was there.  He noted Abby's birthmark was getting a bit bigger, which is normal.  He also decided to take Hazel off the nasal cannula to see how she'd do.  Pretty exciting step for her!

Since Matt is still not feeling well, I decided to stick around for the 8:30 pm bottle feeding (especially since I haven't gotten as much practice at that as I have with the breast thing).  During the NICU closing time, I picked up a changing table for only $35 from another AMOM member who lived about 10 minutes away.  I'm pretty excited about that deal!  Now I need to clean it off and get rid of the pile of stuff sitting where the table will be going.

The 8:30 bottle feeding just went okay as well.  Hazel downed 10 ml relatively quickly (one brady off the bat, which Rachel said was normal), and then took another 10-20 minutes to take another 2 ml.  She brady-ed several more times, so she got the rest of her feeding via gavage.  Abby was also super sleepy, like her sister, and so I only got about 3 ml in her.  Rachel said that was pretty normal, though, and that Abby usually was more awake at the 2:30 am feeding time.  She must be a night owl like her dad.  :)

Pictures for the day:

Abby - note her size compared to the size of the pacifier that is not in her mouth

 

Hazel sucking on a pacifier :)

Hazel, deep in thought

Hazel, bundled up

"Oh, woe is me..." - Hazel

The new changing table in my car!

Weekend Update

Saturday felt like an exercise in futility.  I had received an email from Pottery Barn that they were having a sale on their furniture at the outlet in San Marcos, so Matt and I decided to make a quick trip down there to see if we could get some rocking chairs for the nursery.  No such luck.  And the three other furniture stores we visited didn't have anything either.  We quickly ran by Buy Buy Baby to try out their rocker again - found one we liked - and then I booked it to the NICU to make the 8:30 pm feeding time for breastfeeding purposes.  Since Matt wasn't feeling so hot, he didn't go, but did purchase the crib mattresses after visiting three stores (two Targets and a Wal-Mart) and thoroughly testing their firmness (I can just see him thoroughly inspecting each type).

Meanwhile, in the NICU, breastfeeding went okay, but less than 10 minutes for each; so, according to the algorithm/doctor's orders, they received the rest of their feeding via tube/gavage.  I ended up holding both of them afterwards, and took some cute pictures of them sleeping in my lap:

Abby

Hazel

Abby peeking while Hazel is sleeping

Napping on my lap

On Sunday, I made up my weekly "to do" list (always long...sigh) and headed up to the hospital alone again, as Matt still felt like he may have something, and didn't want to pass it to the girls.  (Instead, he stayed home and worked on cleaning out the garage plus working on a massive status update.)  I arrived there for the 5:30 feeding time, spent some time with the girls, had dinner at the Bistro during the NICU shift change, and then went back in for the 8:30 feeding time.  We worked on breast feeding with both girls; Hazel, who went first, and went for about 45-60 minutes (although not sucking the whole time), took to it better than Abby.  But, as I was working with Abby, I noticed that Hazel was still fussing a bit, and wondered if she was still hungry (she didn't get any remaining milk via tube, b/c I thought she had fed from me for over the allotted time).  So after Abby passed out, I picked up Hazel again, and using the nipple shield she definitely ate more.  Progress!

The other interesting thing:  I planned to leave around 10:45 pm, and so I put Hazel back in her crib.  She started fussing and crying, so I picked her back up, held her close, and rocked her.  She calmed down almost immediately!  Gotta admit, that made me feel really good that I could make her feel better.  :)  Of course, eventually I had to leave her, but the nurse held her and kept her sleeping when she put her back in the crib.  She stayed asleep, so I was able to leave (no way if she was still crying - I did that once while I was still in the hospital and still feel bad about it).

Pics from Sunday:

Abby

Hazel

Hazel's cheek

Hazel's nose

Look!  Chub on Hazel!

Cute Hazel feet

Hazel's foot and my thumb

Hazel wearing one of the outfits from Matthew & Megan