Tomorrow will hopefully be the end of all of our hospital stays. Elijah is doing really well with the Neocate (formula) and I am on the mend from my surgery. I am being discharged this afternoon and the NICU has told us that Eli should be coming home tomorrow or Monday. Yay!!
I can't wait to have our little family together, finally.
My surgery went well, the IV was the worst part. With my crappy veins it took 4 tries to get one in, and finally they found the most uncomfortable spot for it -inner arm right on my wrist so that we I bend my hand it pokes. The surgery pain is minimal compared to the c-section, but my abdomen is tender and the gas pains suck, just like with the c-section.
Elijah's belly is much happier and we are getting a referral to a gastroenterologist at Children's Hospital for follow-up with his suspected milk/protein allergies. And quite surprisingly our insurance is covering a two month supply of the Neocate, which I have heard call Gold Dust b/c of how expensive it is. That will be a huge help.
Hazel continues to do well and is now officially a pound heavier than she was at birth, our little chunker is now 4 lbs 14 oz, beating her bro by 2 oz. She has started wanting to eat sooner than every 4 hours and I am struggling with thinking it might be easier for us to keep on a semi feeding schedule with both of them. I guess we will see when Eli comes home what works best for us. Any suggestions welcome.
Lastly, on the pumping front, I think the fenugreek may finally be kicking in. I pumped 4! ounces this morning and am starting to consistently get over 2 ounces a session. I am still leaving the possibility of quitting on the table b/c once both babies are home I don't want to feel stressed by trying to fed both and pump. I have tried Hazel a few more times at the breast and she does okay, but still no latch. I will continue to try, we will see what happens.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Awesome news! So glad to hear Eli is doing better and that you are recovering.
As far as feedings, we stuck with feeding both at the same time. Our twins started out at every 4 hours but that only lasted about 3 weeks and then they started eating every 3 hours. I continued to pump every 3 hours until they were 12 weeks and it did get hard because I just wanted to go back to bed during the night feedings and would have to stay up an extra 20 minutes or so. I'm not going to lie - there was many a night when DH and I were getting naps all night (about 1 1/2 hrs at a time). We kept the twins in their Pack 'n Play in the dining room for their first month and one of us would sleep on the couch and the other would go up to the bedroom for "uninterruped" sleep. When they hit 8 lbs, our pediatrician told us we could start feeding them on demand. We've been doing that for the last 3 months or so but they seem to still want to eat about every 3 hours. When I was home with them by myself, I did try to stagger them because it's easier than propping them up on pillows and feeding at the same time.
Anyway, that's what worked for us. They both started sleeping through the night around 14 weeks.
so so SO happy for you guys.
we had to keep them on a 3 hour schedule. i set an alarm to wake up at night to feed them. in the beginning it was tough: try to breastfeed one while B fed the other with pumped milk. then B would supplement the one that i breastfed with additional pumped milk while i pumped. then we'd change them and go to sleep. the process seemed to take 1.5 hours, then we'd get 1.5 hours of sleep and get up and do it again. B thinks that lasted about 8 weeks...i honestly can't remember (our kids were born at 34 wks).
then...all of a sudden both kids started being able to nurse better and more effectively. they didn't need any more supplements afterward. so i slowly stopped pumping, first just during the night, then all together. the schedule was still every 3 hours, but now they would eat 10 minutes at the most, then go back to sleep. we would get 2.5 hours of sleep between feedings.
now? at 4 months? during the day i still keep them on every 3 hours (unless they want to eat sooner...which sometimes they do!!!), and at night they will go 4-6 hours before they wake up. they eat, and go right back to sleep....mostly. (right now everyone has colds, so it's a little different).
holy long response. your kids will help you set a schedule. i really wanted my kids to follow the same schedule my friend had b/c her kids seemed to do so well on it. um....yeah....my kids don't like it. you have to be somewhat flexible.
oh. and TOTALLY feed both at the same time. otherwise you will be up all night and day. :(
ok. REALLY long response. sorry for the novel.
i'll leave you with this: you can do it! email if you have questions! :)
xox
Congrats on the going home news! I am so happy for you!
fenugreek is good for breast feeding? Thats interesting... it is a common ingredient in Nepali food.
I'm glad your little family will be together soon. :)
Great News!!!!
BTW, have you tried the MotherLove BF supplements? They worked wonders for me with our twins.
Post a Comment