Stay Tuned

We haven't forgotten about the blog. Unfortunately, when one considers Maslow's Heirachy of Needs, blogging is higher up the pyramid than food and sleep. We'll catch up soon...

Shift Work

Since I was up until 6 with the babies, Sarah let me sleep in during the morning. A friend came over for a couple of hours to help her out with diapers and feeding. I got up and hit the ground running, as Sarah was fried by then. We got the kids to sleep and she got to take a shower. Who has time for showers, anymore?

Anyway, we also started feeding the babies breastmilk (or when it's not available, formula) by bottle with those new-fangled orthodontic nipples. We'd really like to get them nursing primarily with bottled breastmilk filling in the gaps. Hopefully it will get easier as Sarah is able to produce more milk.

Anyway, I wanted to post this shot of the kids.



I had just fed, changed, and washed them, and got them all swaddled up for a nap. They do well right next to each other, and slept for most of three hours. Sarah also slept during this time, since she's dealing with sleep deprivation, recovering from a c-section, epidural, and spinal block, as well as producing milk. I didn't wake her for an hour and a half past when she told me to get her up, because I knew she needed the rest. I was able to feed/change/clean up/put down the kids so she could have another few hours without needing to worry about the babies. They're all asleep in our room now, as I was able to get the kids to sleep in the bassinet, something they resisted yesterday. So hopefully tonight will be easier. We pick up Sarah's mom tomorrow and head straight to the pediatrician for their post-discharge check-up, and of course we'll let you know how they're doing. As for me, I'm going to eat some dinner. Honey Bunches of Oats sounds good...

Homies and Shorties

So we came home from the hospital Wednesday afternoon. I picked up Sarah and the kids just before the next feeding was scheduled, but that takes an hour, so we just loaded up and headed home. It turns out we had to make a few stops, so they didn't get their food until almost 2 hours later. They didn't seem to mind, though, as it appears that riding in the car makes them sleepy. They hardly made a peep the whole drive home.

As you can tell by the timestamp, sleep won't be happening much for me tonight. For much of the night, Emma has been inconsolable. we've changed her diaper 3 times since 11 PM and have fed her, burped her, etc. Little Joe was doing pretty well, but he wouldn't lay down without fussing either. So I took the little man away and let Sarah work with Emma. After about an hour, he was consistently out (as long as he was held), so I swapped with her. Currently Emma is laying across my lap, completely sweet and asleep. And now Lil Joe is crying for Sarah. It just isn't right. Maybe he's hungry...

[Twenty minutes later]

It turns out that he, indeed, was hungry. So, I put Emma in her car seat, in which she is sleeping fantastically (owing, partly, to just having been fed by Sarah). I told Sarah to get some sleep, and brought the little man into the office with me and Emma and fed him some formula. We would like to feed them breast milk exclusively, but when they were in the hospital we couldn't wait for Sarah's milk to come in to feed them, as we needed to stop their weight loss. Now, unfortunately, rather than nurse, they like to take the easy way out and get syringe fed. Tonight we were able to feed them some pumped milk by syringe feeding, so we're trying to get them hooked on the taste of breast milk so that formula will be a last resort. It's a bit tougher with preemies, as nursing isn't quite as instinctive for them as it is for full-term babies.

Now everyone is sleeping away, Joseph comfortably on my lap, Emma in her carseat, and Sarah in our bed. At least until the next alarm goes off at 4:15 and Emma has to be fed...

A Short Report

After losing a bit of weight since they've been born (which is completely normal, as many of you know), the twins have started to gain it back again. They're a little jaundiced right now, probably because they're not nursing as efficiently as they will shortly. We've been supplementing with formula, which we've always expected to have to do for the first little bit until Sarah can keep up. Already Little Joe has had to switch to a soy based formula as the cow's milk-based one curdles in his poor little tummy.

I got some good pictures since the blog post yesterday. There are many more in the Sweet Babies James set on flickr site, but some of these are too good to pass up for the blog.

This is a good one of Sarah and Emma. Their similarities are even more apparent in person, but this gives you a pretty good idea.




Here are our two little angels, all swaddled up and sleepy. Precious, no?




Finally, the best shot I've gotten so far. Such sweet babies!




Thanks again to everyone who has emailed and commented. We love you all and appreciate your interest in our little world. We should be coming home soon, but I'm not sure when we'll really be ready for visitors yet. We'll be learning how to juggle everything without the hospital staff around to help us out, so give us a little bit to get settled. It is our intention to keep the blog going so everyone can stay up to date.

But right now, this tired daddy is going to sleep.

Announcing: Emma Christina and Joseph Bedford

After 36 weeks and 2 days, Sarah's water broke around 2 AM, and in we went.



Our OB was the doc on call, and Emma and Joseph were born on December 9, 2007, at 5:04 and 5:05 AM respectively. At birth she weighed 5 lb, 2.4 oz, was 18.5" long, her head was 11.5" around, and her chest was 11" around. He weighed, 5 lb, 7 oz, was 18" long, his head was 13.25" around, and his chest was 11.25" around.



Emma's head is a little cone-shaped right now, a result of her long term engagement. She has Sarah's dimples and cheeks and definitely looks a lot like her mom.




As my family said when they saw him, Little Joe looks like I did when I was born, except he's not ugly. Seriously. I have quite the reputation for looking like a little old man as a newborn. The nurses in the delivery room said he looked like a miniature 9-year old.




They've already been visited by grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts, and a few friends. And the only people I called after they were born were my parents and my pastor at church, figuring both were excellent methods of spreading the news, absent an Internet connection at the hospital.




Since they're technically premature, they don't quite have nursing down just yet. They're making progress, though, and we're working with the lactation specialist for some hints and tips. Thankfully, they won't require time in the NICU, although they will need more care once they get home than other newborns, due to being early.

While this has all been very exciting, it's really exhausting. I hear the knowing chuckles of all you parents out there, but feeding two newborns every 2 hours is a lot more hectic than feeding 1. Especially since my preemies aren't good at it yet. Sarah and I are both whipped out. I'm writing this post enjoying my first meal of the day, and I've been up for a long time. We are definitely taking advantage of the nursery staff being there so we can catch a little shut-eye every now and again.

If all goes according to plan, we should be able to go home Wednesday afternoon. Sarah's mom is coming in on Friday through the holidays, and we'll appreciate the extra help around the house. She also has been doing her OB rotation in nursing school, so we'll have an expert around (all you moms out there, that's half a joke, because most of you have become "experts" by now).

I've only included a few pictures in this post, but there are may more on my flickr site for you to look over. New photos will also be added to this set in the future. Thanks to all of you for your prayers. Our babies truly are miracles. Please forgive me if I can't return your call or email immediately, but know that we are appreciative and are blessed to count you all as friends.

Stay tuned!

36 weeks

Since over 50% of twins are born before 36 weeks of gestation, Joseph and Emma have really beat the odds. That's pretty amazing considering what we've been through so far. I was hoping to pop out a few babies that first night after the doctor's appointment that allowed me to stop taking the anti-contraction meds. Unfortunately, I only got 4-5 hours of consistent contractions that were about 7-8 min apart. Then, they went to about 10 minutes apart. After about 12 hours they returned to their normal 2-3 an hour. Maybe they'll come back today...Fridays are good days to have babies, right??? :)

Doctor's Appointment

We just got back from another doctor's appointment. Everything looked great, as always, and the doc gave me the okay to stop taking my anti-contraction meds...starting tomorrow. He said he's heading to Mobile this afternoon, but is on call tomorrow night. So to increase the chances of him doing the c-section, I'll be drugged until tomorrow.
We couldn't get pictures from the ultrasounds today because both babies were uncooperative and choose not to look in the correct direction. Also, my belly, which is over 4 feet in circumference, now measures the size of a 45 week singleton pregnancy. Ugh!