Happy Birthday- Day Zero

Happy Birthday to our little ones. Wednesday they were the equivalent of 40 weeks gestation so now they are officially full term. They start measuring things like developmental milestone based on this date not on their real birthday. In the preemie world they talk about real age and adjusted age. As of today, their real age is 9 weeks but their adjusted age is just born. Happy Birthday!



While I was still in the hospital last Thursday, Rich and Bambi took the babies to the pediatrician for their shots and a weigh-in. They have to be weighed naked and I guess it was wild with poop and pee everywhere. One of the babies peed on Rich and it ran down his leg into his shoe. The girls did fine with their shots but Beckett let out a blood-curdling scream which is really unusual because my little man rarely cries. Mini-me (Adeline) was 6 lbs and the other two are about 5 ½ lbs.



I came home from the hospital Thursday night and we were right back at the doctor visits on Friday. Beckett had to get a bilirubin level drawn Friday morning because he still is a little jaundiced. Then it was off the ophthalmologist for all three. But on the way there, the pediatrician called saying Beckett’s bili level was elevated and he had to go back to the hospital for a sonogram of his liver (no problems, just precaution). Luckily we had two cars and Rich took Beckett to the sonogram and Bambi and I stayed for the eye exam with the girls. Just a hint, if you ever have a chance to see a pediatric eye exam, don’t watch it. They dilated the eyes, put in an anesthetic, clamped their eyes open and moved their eyeballs around with a paperclip. Yes, I said paperclip. This was not a back alley operation; this is the same ophthalmologist who sees all the babies at the hospital and he has been using a sterilized paperclip for 26 years. He said it works better than any instrument to push the eyeball. I had been warned about the whole paperclip thing and been advised not to watch. Adeline’s eyes are fully developed and fine so she does not need to go back. Eloise’s eyes are not fully developed so she needs to go back in 6 weeks. We repeated this same thing with Beckett on Tuesday. His eyes are fine and he got to hang with mom dodging the other germy kids watching “Finding Nemo” in the waiting room for 1 ½ hours so he didn’t mind it so much.



The babies had a hard adjustment to the formula and I’m glad I missed it. Initially they were on a cow’s milk formula for 48 hours last week and they did not do well so they were switched to a soy formula. It was a little rough for a few days because of the new formula and fever and diarrhea from the shots. They are on a new reflux medication that is supposed to be broken in half and then dissolved in their cheek. It says not to crush or swallow. Who thinks this would work for babies? The first day I thought Eloise had taken it perfectly because she was the only one that didn’t spit it out and smear it on her face. But later that day I found something in the crib that looked like a tooth and it turned out to be the pill intact. I think she was trying to trick the tooth fairy into giving her a present. I hope the tooth fairy is better to these babies than she was to me. I distinctly remember getting 2 dimes, 6 raisins, and a few rusty nails in exchange for a tooth when I was little. Anyway, now I’m wetting the pills and holding it in their cheeks until it dissolves while they scream and gum my finger in order to get them to take the medication. That’s lots of fun twice a day.



I’ve been fortunate to have lots of help because I’m still not 100%. Bambi was here until Wednesday and then I had someone here helping with the babies on Wednesday and Thursday. Rich’s mom comes to help with feedings during the “grandma hour” around 5-7. I’m not sure what kind of force is at work in the universe at this time but between 5 and 10 pm all the babies like to be held, spit their pacifiers on the floor, spit up and squawk and grunt like pigs. Normally they eat at 5, 8 and 11 pm but I decided to add in a feeding and feed at 5, 7, 9, and 11. I hate to add in another feeding and it means I’m feeding babies non-stop between 7 and 10 but I wasn’t getting anything done at that time anyway and they seem much happier with smaller quantities at that time. I’m hoping that getting more food in their bellies will help them sleep better. And by better, I mean longer so we can work on cutting out one night feeding at some point. That’s just wishful thinking now but at least I have a goal. For the last 2 nights, Addy decided that between the hours of 11 pm and 1 am she wanted to practice for a lead role in a horror movie by screaming at the top of her lungs. After 1 am, she calms down if she can sleep in the big bed with us. She hasn't been in the crib in 2 nights.

I think the trauma of Thursday night got to Rich because last night he was in bed with Beckett and I woke him up for the 11 pm feed, gave him and bottle and went into the living room and feed the girls. I went back in at midnight and the both were sleeping. I asked if he feed Beckett and he said, "No, there was something that...not right, now." What??? Then with his eyes closed he leaned over and put the bottle about 4 inches from Beckett's face like he was feeding him. What? I honestly thought someone had slipped Rich a roofie.

They are starting to do things that are milestones for babies. For example, Eloise found her hand and was staring at it the other day. She got a little crosed eyed when she poked herself in the face 20 seconds later but it was fun to watch. Beckett is the first one to figure out to suck on his hands. It is not purposeful and he moves his hands out of his mouth and gets mad. My personal photographer, I mean my mom, is coming back to visit for a few days on Sunday so I’ll have more pictures of their exponential growth but here are a few from this week.


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So this is why he looks like he got into a fight with a cat and lost.
This is what our dining room looked like for a few weeks. It turned into the baby clothes closet. It is now all organized in their closet thanks to the night nanny, Miss Elizabeth. She likes projects to keep her busy so my linen closet is organized and all the baby clothes is in labeled bins according to size. Seriously, when I wake up in the morning and all my laundry is so perfectly folded it looks like it belongs on the shelf at the Gap, I'm wondering how I'll stay organized once the babies sleep through the night and I no longer have help at night.

"This is my little black dress" -Eloise


"If I pull my pants up really high, my legs will look longer." -Eloise





This is what kind of outfit Daddy puts on in middle of the night...


Or this...


Mini-Me. You could put my baby picture and Addy's pictures together and not be able to tell the difference. Oh yeah, except in all of my pictures I'm wearing blue because they thought I was a boy.


Our first walk took place last night. We could tell the babies loved it because there was very little grunting. We took another this morning this time with the pugs. Everyone did great except for Pickles the Pug who threw up and had to be carried home. Our neighbor calls the stroller "the Bentley." I knew I would get a mini-van out of this deal, but I didn't expect a Bentley.