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Babies Everything Else

So Much, So Little Time

I figured post babies I’d keep up with the blog. I’d fill this place up with stories & photos. & I plan to. I have four plus posts in draft on breastfeeding, me post babies, updated photos, a day in our life. But when there’s down time, & I can chose a 30 minute nap or pulling out the laptop/camera to upload pictures, I’ve been choosing nap. My dark circles thank you for baring with me.

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Babies Family/Travel

Feeding the Babes {part one}

I’ll cover feeding at the hospital for now & catch yall up on feeding since we’ve been home soon.

I started pumping & hand expressing around 5p the Monday they were born. I’d put Z to breast just hours after L was born, but then I chose couple hours of sleep over immediately pumping. I knew that with tiny NICU babies, I’d be pumping like crazy from the start. So my mom had helped make sure a hospital Medela Symphony was in my room right after delivery. The NICU had pumps I kept between the babies beds. My aunt had picked up a Symphony for me to have once I got home {rented for three months from a local LC for cheaper than from hospital}. I’d read & soaked in all the feeding/pumping for NICU babies info I could & took advantage of the LCs at the hospital daily if not multiple times a day. I think we saw four different LCs & hear a few different tips from all. And I’ve used it all.

So Mon-Thurs that first week. I pumped every 3 hours for 15 minutes, getting pretty much nothing or just a drop. Then I’d hand massage/express & get a few more drops ~like a couple mLs total. Each precious one I’d refrigerate & bring to the NICU nourishment room the next morning. My worst moment: spilling those few drops that first Wed night on my nursing gown. Crying over spilled milk isn’t just a saying. But that Thurs I felt bigger by the afternoon & Fri I realized what ‘engorged’ was. Pumping was suddenly effective & I begin to start making snappy bottles half full to bring in. The babes had been getting donor breast milk from a local hospital bank {I chose donor over formula Mon morning}. Luckily my supply kicked in within the five day period when they stop giving donor milk. Seeing my milk being tubed into the babies warmed my heart. Making all those late night hours of expressing & pumping worth it.

The babies would go to breast as often as possible at the beginning. But there wasn’t anything there so they’d hang out while getting tubed. Once Z started sucking, we tried feeding some in his mouth while latched. He was doing better breastfeeding at first since he’d had a head start while Lucy had the bubble CPAP. The LCs were all impressed at how well both our 34 weekers were doing at the breast though {I was so proud}. At some point that first Saturday at the NICU, the weekend LC mentioned trying to tandem feed. I was a bit nervous but with her & Jason’s help, we got both latched {Lucy needed more help with that} & they ate together! I think that was the first time they’d been close together since in utero too.

By the time they’d moved into the feed/grow step down NICU, they had bottle feeding pretty much down & we were coming along pretty well with breastfeeding. I’d breastfeed one at a time or both while we were there for the day. It was because they were eating so well & gaining weight that they were able to come home sooner than we expected. They came home with literally bins full of bottled breast milk. I didn’t realize just how much I’d been making & dropping off til I was carrying out a bin of milk heavier than my baby from the hospital.

Categories
Babies Family/Travel

Everyday Victories

Everyday Victories logo

Thank you to P&G and Kroger stores for celebrating “Team Mom’s Everyday Victories”! Please visit the to play games, win money off your next Kroger trip and more fun!

When Clever Girls emailed about Kroger’s Team Mom Everyday Victories campaign, I was on the verge of giving birth to Zach & Lucy. At that time, I could only imagine the Everyday Victories that I would be facing in the coming days & weeks.

Victories like the first time we successfully tandem breastfed, the first time I got dressed in something other than a gown in weeks, & the huge victory of bringing Lucy home from the NICU & soon after, having Zach join us at home. But Sunday night, my husband & I celebrated another victory. Our first overnight with the twins with it being just us {my parents left Sunday & his mom came up Monday afternoon for a visit}. We stayed up together caring, cuddling & feeding for the babes {& watching True Blood!} until 2am. At that point, I pumped & hit the sheets, promising to wake up at 530 to help with feedings & to pump again. Except that I hit snooze/dismiss on my alarm & slept til 745a. The Husband had a victory of handling babies on his own for over five hours while he let me sleep. And goodness knows I needed that stretch of rest. But my Team Mom Victory is this moment.

Zach & Lucy napping!

Two happily sleeping babies at 930a. Because from the time I came in the den at 8a, I’ve been off & running. Rock-hard boobs plus two hungry babies meant feeding Zach while rocking Lucy with my toes then switching & then switching again as they both wanted a little extra. Zach requires mid-feed burping & Lucy is quite the messy eater. Both either peed or pooped during or just after eating, so post-breastfeeding clean up required total outfit, diaper & changing table cover changes thanks to Zach peeing on the table. But then, they were back dressed & swaddled & happily snoring away in their rock-n-play sleepers while I pumped my most ever. And fifteen minutes later, I was able to grab another table cover, throw wet clothes, blankets, & burp clothes in the washer, & make & eat {in one sitting!} a bowl of cereal for myself. That, my friends, is Victory!

Hurry in to Kroger and Kroger Banner Stores for P&G’s big sale event, June 10–23!

At Kroger and its banner stores, more than 30 of your favorite P&G brands are at HOT sale prices through June 23, including Tide, Charmin, Cascade, Pampers, Crest and Olay. Look for tags with special prices throughout the household needs and health and beauty aisles, and be on the lookout for even bigger offers – like getting serious dollars off when you buy a bundle of products.

Before hitting the store, visit P&G’s event page on Kroger.com: http://bit.ly/KG6dw5 You can play games like basketball, track and gymnastics to win money off your next Kroger trip, download digital coupons, print a shopping list, and learn more about P&G products! And as part of this event, consider trying one of these fab products from P&G: Vicks Nature Fusion, Charmin Basic, Downy Unstopables, and Swiffer Duster Extenders!

I was selected for participation in this campaign as a member of Clever Girls Collective.