I'm experiencing hyper-tension, which is also pretty common with pre-eclampsia (which is why I was admitted earlier than expected for my c-section). So my blood pressure has been higher than normal, and they're still trying to figure out what to do about that. Yesterday was a bit of an adventure in medical care...I had a constant stream of nurses, doctors, lab technicians, all coming for various biomarkers of illness and well-being. I had an IV put back in again (HATE those), and then left in with fluid pumping into me for 30 minutes longer than necessary, which didn't help with my fluid retention issues (cankles? Ha! Now I've got basketballs for feet...).
We were also given all kinds of conflicting advice about nursing vs. formula feeding the girls, and were presented with stress regarding their weight loss (which, I will emphasize, is super common among newborns, especially premies, and especially babies of moms with hyper-tension... mom retains fluid, babies retain fluid.). So they lost weight at first, probably due to losing the fluid they retained while I was hypertensive. And then they started losing weight because we were getting conflicting advice about formula vs. nursing, and found out that while we thought Monica had been nursing, she was just suckling and not actually pulling in very much. Argh again. Then we spent the afternoon with a fantastic lactatian consultant who was ENORMOUSLY helpful, and we figured out a system that is working, and....low and behold, they have started gaining weight again!! You should hear Stella burp...she's like a truck-driver!
Today was *much* more peaceful. The girls spent the night in the nursery (so that sick Momma could get some rest), and I woke at 7am already missing them. So I retrieved them from the nursery and did a good walk around the 5th floor while Eric slept some more. He's finally caught up on his sleep... for the 40 hours surrounding the delivery he only got 1 hour of sleep.
We've spent the day getting used to systems- nursing, diapering, sleeping, feeding ourselves... its a lot. And then of course these systems are all reliant upon hospital resources, so that will all change once we are discharged.
Hopefully I'll get to go home tomorrow.
For those of you who were waiting to hear from us, I hope this was a useful patch to the Full Story! We will probably cocoon-up at home for a while longer once we get there. But we will come out at some point, and cannot wait for you to meet these little bells.
Love to you all,
Betsy
Monica
Stella
Monica practices her snowboard moves
Stella naps.
Monica tires of the papparazzi.
Your girls are so beautiful! congratulations, and they came out good weights, too! That 5lb mark makes a difference in how easily they learn to nurse, and it sounds like you're finally getting good help and advice. I swear my good lactation consultant saved our collective bacon. Please feel free to get in touch with twin questions! There're some good Boston area resources, too, I think, and I'm sure you're already plugged in.
ReplyDeleteHope the C-sec recovery goes well. Even though I was in good health before giving birth, I was surprised how long it took me to recover. Good luck with the hypertension, too.