Intimidating....

I am happy to report that I am moving MUCH better today...I'm still REALLY tired and my stomach still really hurts (getting in and out of bed is a treat let me tell you), but all in all I can tell I'm making strides to the return of me!


I spent a couple hours this morning organizing some things in the nursery, pumping (of course), and returning some calls/making ones that needed to be made...like to get our air conditioner fixed, I called our potential babysitter to discuss when we could meet again (Sept. it is), and to my insurance company (that was a great use of 1 hour of my time), and to the NICU, of course to check on the girls. :)



Today, when I arrived at the NICU at Children's Hospital (courtsey of my personal chauffer Grandma Sharon), my nurse announced that I would be changing the girls diapers today AND repositioning them in their isolettes (the babies are moved from different positions every 3-6 hours)... Wow, I never thought I'd say that I was so excited to change a diaper in my life and I'm sure in a couple months I won't be so excited about it! :) (Remember, yesterday Matt and I changed our first diapers)....HOWEVER, the repositioning, well that was pretty intimidating. What if I hurt them? They are so tiny I am sooooo afraid that I will hurt them in some weird way...

Each of the girls were laying on their sides BEFORE their diaper change and would need to be moved to their stomaches and curled up inside their 'snoogle'. Much easier said than done. 15 minutes later, Sydney was repositioned and changed and then another 15 minutes later Olivia was changed and repositioned. WOW, I did it... I was so proud of myself.

Olivia BEFORE I changed her diaper and repositioned her...with her eyes open at the sound of mommy's voice... It is very exciting that they both open their eyes and try to respond to the sound of my voice. :) Makes me feel loved.

One 'coping' strategy that all counseling books talk about, in terms of helping parents who have babies in the NICU adjust to being parents, is to involve them in their babies care (like we were doing today). Since I am a counselor, I did know this and I, of course, was working my way into doing this, but I some how thought it would be a couple more days before this happened. Not the case today. It was good, though. I also learned how to feed them (through their feeding tube unfortunately), take their temperatures and record them, weigh their diapers and record them in their charts, and we reviewed all the different machines they are on, codes, etc. It was great. After learning how to do an assessment with our NICU nurse, I asked her when their next assessment would be, and she told me around 5pm... Great! Just in time for Daddy to change diapers and reposition, etc.

Some people probably wonder, what do I do all day at the NICU... Well, I don't do much, not that I've really had tons of days to hang out in the NICU all day... Today was only my 2nd day there. After assessments, Sharon and I hung out... I would put my hands in the girls' isolettes ocassionally and talk to them... Sharon just looked and sighed over how cute they are (typical Grandma I am sure). I of course pumped every 2-3 hours, had a counsultation with the lactation consultant (who gave me more free stuff for breastfeeding), and then came the exciting part... I got to hold the babies again. I'm not sure if Matt commented yesterday, but the girls are only allowed out of their isolettes for 1 hour each day, so as to not over-stimulate them. So, it is the HIGHLIGHT of my afternoons when I get to hold them. Until then I am content to talk to them and soothe them by placing a hand on them (you aren't supposed to rub b/c it over-stimulates them as well), which makes them miserable and cry, which is so pathetic. Their cries vary from sounding like a kitten to a baby bird.

The following pictures are courtesy of our fabulous NICU nurse Melanie......

Olivia and I

Sydney and I.......

Olivia waving or saying "STOP, no more pictures, I'm tired." She was super active today, sticking her tongue out at me, pursing her lips in response to mommy kisses, and she kept her eyes open the ENTIRE time I held her, which was pretty amazing.

Sydney, was not as happy as her sister today. She had her blood drawn to test her levels for jaundice to see if she has to go back on her billi-light and was terribly upset the rest of the afternoon. BUT she did keep opening her eyes for her mommy during kangaroo care time and her daddy when he got there. Poor baby. She's had a rough go of it lately. :(

Matt was able to spend about two hours with the girls before we decided to leave. I was tired and boy did my back hurt, plus we needed to run a couple errands before we made it home to save the Boxers... Topic of discussion on the way home: do we think the girls are identical or fraternal? We think fraternal, BUT the Dr seems to think that they are identical (you would think he would know and he does claim to have medical proof (they shared a placenta), BUT it could have fused, etc.)... Guess we'll have to wait for the pathologists report to come back at Mo Bap; either way, I don't care. :) Matt seems to think that Olivia looks like me and that Sydney looks like him...we'll see. :) They are beautiful and perfect, that is all I really care about.

Have a great night!

J

P.S. If you called me today and I haven't called you back, I'm sorry....I can't use my cell phone in the NICU, and we didn't get home until very late, so in the interest of having a personality again and feeding my daughters, I decided that I'll start making return calls tomorrow. :)