A Preview of What's to Come?

Everyone says that a baby is a ton of work, much less two babies. I have to be quite honest, while in my head I know that this fact is true, I am not sure that I really believed it. After all, babies are cute, they sleep most of the time, and you get to do fun things like push them around in their stroller waiting for adoring strangers to come and gush over them.

Well, babies are cute, they seem to sleep a lot, and for now, the nurses at St. Joe's are gushing... but they are a lot of work. And, I don't even really know the reality of this yet. Tonight gave me just a small taste for what is coming down the road, much sooner than we think.

A timeline of tonight's events:
5:15 Arrive at the hospital. Adore the girls for a bit and admire Hope in her new open crib. After about 5 minutes, Grace is screaming about something. Where's the nurse? What does she want? Give Grace her pacifier only to find that the pacifier is not at all what she wants. Where's the nurse? I finally decided that she may need to be changed (or was hungry, but I can't really get that going without the nurse's ok). Her diaper contained what appeared to be her weight gain from the last two days full of pee. The doctors decided to give her a diuretic today and I can attest to it's success. No big deal here though. Hope was wide awake to greet me and show me her blue hands, sending me into a small panic. All was well, as the rest of her is the right temperature, thank goodness. The open crib presents Hope with the challenge of keeping herself warm enough to function and thus far, save her hands, she appears to be doing well.

5:35 The nurse arrives to check on me and the girls. She gives the go ahead to feed Gracie. It takes me about ten minutes to set up, remove Grace from her isolette, etc. Will arrives and greets us, changes Hope, and gets her out for a little Daddy time.

5:45 - 6:00 Feed Grace.

6:00 - 6:15 Burp and cuddle Grace before passing her off to Daddy.

6:15 - 6:45 Try to wake the previously chipper, hungry-looking Hope. I enticed her with food, patted her gently on the back, tickled her under the chin, but nothing. She had absolutely no interest in being alert enough to feed. But I wasn't about to give up that easily, nor was the nurse. After all, these girls have to learn that they have to do a little bit of work in order to get their tummies full. The nurse came over to help. Together we stripped Hope down, thinking that she was too cozy and warm in her sleeping bag. Nope. Nothing. I enticed her with food again. Nada. I convinced the nurse to let me try for five more minutes and I finally annoyed her to the point of awakening her.

6:45 - 7:15 Feed Hope. Now all of the books say that when you're breastfeeding, the child will eat what she wants and stop when finished. Ok, I believe these experts writing the books and let Hope go as long as she wants. Nurse Ashley comes in periodically to check, pleased as punch that Hope was still at it. After about 30 minutes, twice as long as Hope usually eats, she decided that she was finally full and quits. After I take her off, she acts like she's still starving, but I used my better judgment and tried to give her a burp rather than allow her any more food. Will had already left to make dinner and it was well past the time that I was supposed to leave for the nurses to make their report. As Will left, he muttered that I was going to be the one to have to change her nasty post-feeding diaper tonight.

7:15 - 7:45 Change Hope's diaper, clothes, bedding. As I held Hope for a few minutes she emitted some sounds that would make my fifth grade boys proud. Then I felt poop #1 make it's entrance into Hope's diaper. I found myself making a lucky move putting a cloth diaper under her tush just after that little present came. A few moments later, poop #2. I decided that it was time to put now-stinky Hope back into her bassinet and change her. By that time, Hope's poops had come out of the top of her diaper, which rides up almost to her neck, through her onesie, and onto the cloth diaper. Upon changing her diaper and outfit, the poop got everywhere else, including my hands, her cords, her feeding tube (eww!) and her hair. Then, while getting new clothes and diaper, Hope's feast of a dinner made a second appearance. Luckily this time, she was only wearing a diaper, but it did manage to get all over her teeny body, bedding, and of course, my hands. With Ashley's assistance, I got Hope all cleaned up, into a new outfit, back into her sleep sac, and bundled up. Meanwhile, Hope looked thoroughly entertained by the whole scene, while making some "I ate too much" groans. I checked on Grace, only to find that she too, had spit up all over herself and her blanket. Recognizing my bewildered look, Ashley offered to take care of Grace so that I could get home for my late dinner.

All together, feeding and changing both girls took the two of us two hours and fifteen minutes. Given that their feedings are just three hours apart, I realized that this does not leave much time for anything else. Oh boy, babies are a lot of work!

Our Feisty Daughters

The good news for today is that Grace's head ultrasound, too, looks good. As suspected, like her sister, Grace has a PDA. She had her first dose of medication today and we're waiting anxiously to see how things go. Unfortunately, like most medical conditions, it doesn't look like we will know right away if the girls' PDAs are going to close or not. That's how things seem to be in the NICU, lots of "wait and see." As such, we're waiting to see how Hope responds to the medication, although there has been no change at this point. After tomorrow, she'll get another echocardiogram to determine if/how the medication is working.

After our doctor examined Grace today and came over to give us the report, he mentioned, "her blood pressures have looked good, she's breathing room air, she's a pistol, I tweaked her sugars and lipids..." It cracked me up that right in there, with all of her medical stuff, "she's a pistol." Well, we tend to agree with this statement. Grace squirms and stretches and does her little exercises all day long. While Grace seemed to be our feisty child, calm little Hope has joined her in the last couple of days. She's "a wild child" according to the nurses. I hope that this means that our two girls are little fighters! If they're like their mom and dad, I have a feeling that they will be. Both girls have taken pacifiers which helps to mellow them out a bit, but we know that in spirit, they are both just as feisty as ever.

Today, I got to join my hubby in the ranks of diaper changes. There are very few parents out there that get excited about "getting" to change diapers, but Will and I are exceptions to this rule. When you are barely allowed to handle your child (for very good reasons, mind you), changing diapers is a privilege. Not only did I get to change Hope, but also sponge out her mouth with some sort of tasty mint solution, which was adorable watching her lick her lips contentedly, and take her temperature (underarm, thankfully).

Pampers preemie diapers worn by Hope and Grace
(photo from http://www.flikr.com)