False Alarm

Yesterday must have just been a fluke because today all I see is puke.

Bye-Bye Newborns!

After changing several blow-outs, I believe we are officially out of newborn diapers!

We're moving on to size 1!

I am amazed and thankful for how the Lord provides. We have no more newborn diapers stored in the attic that we had been given and at the same time, they have out grown them.

A Fluke?

I started the Axid today.

I am really skeptical because I have heard that it is not much different, if any, than Zantac.

However, for the last two feedings there has been no spit up. None. This has never happened.

I am trying not to get my hopes up, but it has been nice.

Dietary Suggestions???

Our visit with the doctor was not all I hoped it would be, but I'm getting used to that I suppose.

We had a very *thorough* discussion on how acid medications like Prevacid, Prilosec, Zantac, etc... do not help with spit up, but with the pain caused by reflux. He even broke out the medical books because he could tell that I did not believe him.

I discussed with him that I had spoken with several mothers/fathers and that they had given me references on medications that HAD helped their child with spit up.

Apparently, you are all wrong and he is right. After all, HE is a doctor and went to med. school and you did not.

So, he wrote me a prescription for Axid and I am to try that for the next two weeks. If there is no improvement, which he suspects there won't be, but he wrote it to humor me I suppose. He asked if Henry was fussy and overall I say no, but he does cry when he spits up and I can see he is in pain. I just don't have overly fussy babies. They fuss when they are hungry or tired. Once I meet those needs, they are happy.

So, if any of you have any dietary suggestions for nursing moms with spitty babies, I would like to hear them. I know that if I eat ice cream or milk his spit up is much worse.

Reflux...

Henry is suffering with reflux. He spits up about an ounce every feeding, which is very frustrating because we work so hard to feed him 3 oz to 4 oz!

He's been on Zantac for two weeks and it doesn't work.

Any suggestions?

BTW-formula or rice cereal in formula, etc... are not an option at this point. Any other suggestions are welcomed. :)

I think it's for real...

Okay, last night was night eleven of sleeping through the night, if I go back to last Friday night when they slept until after 5 am.

So, I believe it's no longer a fluke and it's offical... my babies are sleeping through the night!

Woo-Hoo!

Now we just have about another month of 10:30 pm feedings and they'll be going from 8 pm-7 am!

We'll have to figure out how this is going to work once they are going to bed that early. Right now they sleep in our room until the 10:30 feeding and then out in the living room until morning.

We anticipate putting them in Jack's room at night, but we'll have to put them all down at the same time and he listens to music and they listen to white noise.

We'll figure out something I'm sure.

Sleeping Through the Night?

Last night was the sixth night in a row...

They ate at 11 pm and slept until 6:00 am.

Can I now say they are sleeping through the night?

Is it here to stay?

I am going to try to make that last feeding more near 10 pm. It was later because sometimes they don't sleep very well earlier in the evening so I want them to get a nap in before I wake them.

It's all a work in progress, but I am very happy. :)

BTW- yeast issue is improving, but still here...

Five in a Row...

The babies slept from their 10:15 pm feeding until 6:45 am.

I cannot even believe it!

Yesterday was not a great day however. They were pretty much awake from their 4:30 pm feeding until that 10:15 feeding. There were a few moments of sleep, but not many.

Mary Catherine finally got about 30 mins in a swing, but then we tried it again later and it didn't work.

It is very difficult to have two babies awake and fussy. The babies are becoming more aware each day and they are not as comforted when the girls hold them as they used to be in the early days. They want Jason or I to hold them, which is not always possible.

I hope tonight is not like that because Jason and the kids are gone for the day and night.

As a side note~the yeast is not worse, but it is not gone either. We are currently all on Nystatin and I'm doing genetian violet once a day, which turns their entire mouths purple as well as anything else it touches, even spit up.

8 hours...

The twins went eight hours in between meals last night!! Unbelievable.

It is the fourth night in a row of good sleep for everyone. I'm starting to get spoiled, so I sure hope it continues.

We fed them bottles at 10:30 ish last night and they woke up at 6:40 am!

My other three were doing this same schedule at this age (10 weeks), but I thought the twins would be later since they were born early and I have not been as regimented with their schedule. I have fed them every three hours all day long since birth, but it has only been the last couple of weeks that I have made it the same time each day.

I followed Babywise with the other three and with the twins it has been a modified version. I know that there is more than one way to skin a cat and following a schedule is not for everyone. I enjoy following a schedule. It helps to know what to expect during the day, especially with twins.

Every three hours (from the start of the last feeding) I wake them to eat, keep them awake for a bit and then put them down for a nap. Eat, Wake, Sleep.

They are usually up for an hour total, including their feeding time. A couple of times a day they might be up for an hour and a half, but never longer. After their feedings and diaper changes, as soon as they start to fuss at all or need any intervention for happiness I put them down for a nap. I don't want to miss the 'window' or they will flip their lids when I put them down in their crib.

This is their schedule, which might vary by 30 mins at any time during the day. I do have three other children to attend to so I am not glued to this schedule. This is more of a skeleton goal for the day. Usually we are pretty close to it, but we may be late or early.

7 am eat

(if they wake at 5 am like yesterday, then I would wake them at 7:30 am so they get a little bit more sleep. Today they woke up at 6:40 am, but i will make their next feeding 10 am to preserve the schedule. It's not usually an issue b/c in the morning they sleep so well. )

10 am eat, wake sleep

1 pm eat, wake, sleep

4 pm eat, wake, sleep

7 pm eat, wake, sleep

10 pm eat-back to sleep; no wake time at this time of night or in the middle of the night. Even at 5 am they go right back to bed. Wake time starts after the 7 am feeding.

I'm trying to prepare myself that this might not last, but I know that now I will be sad because I have tasted the joy of sleep...

&*@!!! Yeast!

Pray for me.

Yeast is not gone. The dr. called yesterday and I cannot take the medicine anymore because of my levels in my liver. I can feel it creeping back. It started yesterday and today I'm so grumpy.

Still trying everything I know to do via internet because the doctors are completely and utterly ignorant. My ped and ob both have lovely advice...'wean'... Really? You went to med school all those years and that's all you got?

This experience is really putting a bad taste in my mouth for 'modern' medicine. I might just stop shaving my legs and armpits and turn into a homeopathic hippie.

Might have to throw out their favorite pacifiers that were $12 each... very sad about that. I have been sanitizing but due to the fact we've had this stuff for so long, something is not working.

They have been on meds for almost a week.

I also have a blister today from the yeast. I cannot express how much it hurts to feed my baby right now.

I just want to nurse my babies without issue, without pain...

I also want to stop complaining. I'm so whiny today. Pray for my kids.

Just a thought...

Isn't it amazing how God gives you such a strong love for your baby that you think that your baby is the cutest, sweetest baby there is out there?

Even if your baby isn't all that cute to others, you still think your baby is sooo cute.

It is just amazing to me.

Maybe God does that so we won't eat our young...

Just kidding.

Sometimes I crack myself up.

Sleep?

Yesterday was a crazy day. Jason found out very last minute after church that he had to go to out of town for the rest of the day and night. In his rush to leave he forgot some keys he needed. So, after I nursed the twins we packed up the gang and went to work (30 mins away) to give him the keys.

Since I already had the gang packed up and we decided to go the mall so I could return some things that were the wrong size at Baby Gap. The children did very well and I was able to get what I needed, with exception of a sound machine.

I am trying to find a sound machine that is louder than the one I have now. Jason got the one we have and it's for babies so I am assuming that is why it isn't too loud. They don't want you deafening your child, but I need to drown out the noise of the other three since the babies sleep in our room which is right off the kitchen. Right now we have the sound machine and a box fan going which works well, but we have to keep dragging the box fan from room to room b/c they sleep in the living room at night. I would like to just use two sound machines because then I don't have to worry about moving anything.

Okay, so after the mall, I called some friends who live near the mall to see if we could drop by since I had not seen them since the twins were born. We ended up having dinner with them-Pei Wei- yummy.

We got home around 7ish and I fed the babies and put them in their crib for the first time all day around 8:30 pm. They had pretty much cat napped in their car seats all day. I was hoping they would sleep well until the 10:30ish feeding. Mary Catherine had other ideas. She got up around 9:30 and was so miserable. I would normally follow the whole cry it out method, because after a few minutes she will go back to sleep, but I just know it's related to this medicine they are taking. She is burping out both ends and just pitifully sad.

The only thing that will calm her is to nurse her, so for the next hour she nurses. Yes, I said hour. She's usually finished in 20 minutes. As soon as she's finished and finally happy, it's time to wake up Henry. Since I am alone, I decide to wait until MC is completely asleep because I won't be able to tend to her if I'm nursing Henry. I got him up before 11:30 pm and he nurses for an hour, which is not that unusual for him.

By the time I am in bed and Henry is asleep it is 1:00 am. I am praying that Mary Catherine does not wake up soon. Usually at night they go around 4 hrs, maybe 5 hrs at the most and since she had started eating at 9:30 pm, that was going to be very soon. This is why it is very important to keep twins on the same schedule.

Well, much to my surprise, the first I heard anyone was 5 AM! It wasn't even MC, it was Henry stirring and crying out. I got up and started to get my stuff ready and then I decided to wait until he was full blown crying. They are usually in the den, so we don't hear all the little stuff leading up to the crying. I forced myself to go back to sleep. Henry started to really cry at 6:40 am. That's right folks, 6:40 am! Mary Catherine went from 9:30 pm until 6:40 am and she wasn't even the one crying. I could not believe it.

The best part is that even though Jason wasn't here to help I didn't have the middle of the night feeding anyway.

I am not expecting the same results tonight because they won't be completely exhausted like they were yesterday. I would rather they get good sleep all the time than wear them out so I can get a couple of extra hours at night. In the long run having a good nap schedule is more important because the night time sleep will come.

Well, I'm off to do some laundry with all this new found energy...

Sadly, I really don't feel anymore rested than normal... oh well.

Two Month Check-Up

We went to the twins' check up today. I was kind of disappointed that I had my appointment with the same doctor as last week's visit. I really thought it was going to be a different doctor. I am trying to find one that isn't pompous and patronizing.

Their overall visit went well. The main concerns at this point are Henry's weight gain, his acid reflux and his skull growth. Mary Catherine checks out well with no issues. The doctor wants me to try to have Henry drink 4 oz at each feeding, which means I will have to continue to measure them each feeding, so the scale rental will continue. Henry easily gets 3 oz, but usually is done after that and is happy until the next feeding, but we'll keep nursing and try to get him to get 4 oz.

He wants me to give the zantac one more week and then 'touch base' whatever that means. It probably means, "Can I have your $25 so I can tell you there's nothing we can do?"

He said he wants to keep an eye on Henry's weight gain and that I am to come in if it drops to less than 1/2 ounce per day. I assured him that I was more concerned about Henry's weight gain than he was so didn't have to remind me. He wanted me to come in next week for a weight check but I told him that I wasn't going to do that because I have a scale (which I had already mentioned at least twice) and I weighed him enough at home.

The main crux of the appointment was our discussion on yeast. He was the same doctor I saw last week that would not give the babies anything because he didn't see anything. Well, this week when I came back I told him that I am still suffering with the yeast issue myself and that I had read and spoken with many women who had dealt with this and they say over and over that both the mother and child need to be treated, even if there are no symptoms. I mean, how can I have yeast for the last six weeks in my milk ducts and they not be affected??

I ever so calmly said to him, "If it felt like shards of glass were coming out of one of your body parts and someone sucked on that body part for 40 mins eight times a day I bet you would be singing a different tune about prescribing something when you don't see anything. "

So, he would not give them what I wanted him to give them, but he gave me the prescription that works 40% of the time. Good Gravy. He said that maybe I don't have yeast, maybe it's something else. I said, "What could it be?" He said, "I don't know, I'm not an adult doctor."

Umm...that is lame. There is such a disconnect between pediatricians and ob-gyns. We are talking about an issue that is critical in nursing and he seems clueless. Shouldn't a pediatrician know a thing or two about nursing?

It's as if his attitude, (and the other dr.) is breastfeeding is best until there is any hiccup at all and then we are completely ignorant so here is some formula because we aren't adult doctors.

On a more positive note, the twins are developing perfectly. They are right on track mentally and socially for a two month old. The dr. said that they were technically full term for twins at 37 weeks. However, out of the other side of his mouth, he said we had to make allowances for their growth because they were so small. He said they would catch up eventually. I don't know what that means. Jason is a twin and he (and Karl) was the smallest kid in his class until ninth grade. Let's hope they catch up before then...

Henry's stats:

8 lbs 15 oz (3%)

23 1/8 in. (50%)

Mary Catherine

8 lbs 5 1/2 oz (10%)

21 3/4 in. (25%)