Yes, 7 months... we are already 7 months young! This month has flown by... it has been like a marathon!
We had quite a few doctor's appointments... all is well, but certain things had to be taken care of and everything was piled up for this month!
If you remember, RM went through Apnea monitoring after the freak episode that we had in the second week after birth. During the monitoring at the hospital, a cardiologist had performed EKG and an ultrasound to make sure everything was okay with his heart. They had heard a slight murmur and had noticed a small opening during the monitoring! So we were asked to follow up in 6 months. We had the follow up appointment on October 1st. Everything seems to be fine... there is a tiny-winy hole, but as per today's medicine and technology, no action needs to be taken. It does not need to be addressed and is not technically a health concern. We were asked to follow up with our pediatrician in a couple of years to see if any new medical findings warrant for a rescan or follow up.
October 8th was our 6 months vaccination. The babes got their first flu shot as well. They had fever for a day and half and were fine there after. Weight wise, we are staying steady... we got no 100 percentile babies here, but healthy chubby babies between 10-30% (reflux!). We will be going in again on November 8th for the 2nd flu shot.
RM had an undescended testicle during birth! We had hoped that it would descend during the first six months... but it didn't! It is recommended that it should be fixed before the baby turns 1.5 years old (in order to avoid any interference with fertility and for other such reasons) - earlier the better! We had the surgery (orchidopexy) performed on October 12th. The surgery went well and RM was a trooper! He was brave during the procedure and few hours of the hospital stay (between 0630 am to 1030am'ish). He was on tylenol for 2 days (just in case for pain) and has been as active as he possibly could be ever since then. We had a follow up appointment on October 25th and things seem to be fine post-op!
October 14th was RT's ear piercing at the pediatrician. She has these cute lil earrings (gold balls). She cried her eyes out! :) Poor child... she already has stranger anxiety (big time) and was not happy with people messing with her ears!
So in short... we have been crazy busy keeping appointments and making sure that the babes are comfortable!
There was another big decision that we made and have been implementing. We are weaning the babes off of breastmilk! Not something I would have liked to do in an ideal world. I still feel like if it were in my hands completely, I would nurse them till they turned 18! I have been fortunate enough to provide for them for 7 whole months! And I have been thankful enough to not face any of the supply issues I was dreading! But, it is time... we are traveling internationally next month and will be away for 2 months (would really love to hear about experiences about international travel, jet lag, flight journey). Space and privacy will be non-existent and exclusively pumping and feeding twins with all the logistics involved in storage and utilization... while trying not to get engorged (and have any infection)... and keeping two babies happy... I don't think I can handle it. I wish we could have pushed this trip... but the babes will be meeting their great-grandparents (who are aging) and we probably could not have delayed the trip very long. The transition has not been very smooth. RT is very picky with taste... we gave them formula every other day (one feed)... just to keep them used to it and then came the mega Similac recall! And boom... RT refused to drink the powder formula when it came back in the market. She was not happy with any other brand either. RM was okay with anything and everything. So eventually we had to mix formula and breastmilk and reintroduce formula to her. She is accepting formula again now and we are hoping that we can completely wean them off of breastmilk before we leave next month. Me trying to wean myself off of pumping is all together a different story. I am trying to reduce the volume, trying to use cabbage leaves as well. From 2 liters to 0 is going to be a big game! Any tips or advice will be highly appreciated.
We will be meeting the GI on November 2nd for reflux. Both of them are on Prilosec 2ml 2x day and things seem to be under control for now. We are off of Zantac! I just wish this was over and we were not worrying about reflux anymore. They have become so active now... that it would be nice for their bodies to take over control over their reflux.
And now for their activities...
-They are ACTIVE! They will flip over and roll over and flip over and turn around and on and on and on... They are not still for a moment!
-RT started sitting unassisted as of 10/12. I avoided RM from sitting unassisted because of his surgery... but we let him sit (unassisted) on 10/23! If we let them hold on to our hand while laying down... they will sit up and right away stand up! They love to stand (assisted). RM started jumping (literally) today (10/26) if we hold him at his armpits.
-Toys which light up and roll and make noises attract their attention like never before! We don't let them watch TV, but whenever they get a glimpse of it... they are glued to it!
-Their favorite song is "I am bringing home a baby bumble bee... ".
-They love car rides... they will go crazy when they figure out they are going out and will not stay still till we put them in to their car seats.
We had quite a few doctor's appointments... all is well, but certain things had to be taken care of and everything was piled up for this month!
If you remember, RM went through Apnea monitoring after the freak episode that we had in the second week after birth. During the monitoring at the hospital, a cardiologist had performed EKG and an ultrasound to make sure everything was okay with his heart. They had heard a slight murmur and had noticed a small opening during the monitoring! So we were asked to follow up in 6 months. We had the follow up appointment on October 1st. Everything seems to be fine... there is a tiny-winy hole, but as per today's medicine and technology, no action needs to be taken. It does not need to be addressed and is not technically a health concern. We were asked to follow up with our pediatrician in a couple of years to see if any new medical findings warrant for a rescan or follow up.
October 8th was our 6 months vaccination. The babes got their first flu shot as well. They had fever for a day and half and were fine there after. Weight wise, we are staying steady... we got no 100 percentile babies here, but healthy chubby babies between 10-30% (reflux!). We will be going in again on November 8th for the 2nd flu shot.
RM had an undescended testicle during birth! We had hoped that it would descend during the first six months... but it didn't! It is recommended that it should be fixed before the baby turns 1.5 years old (in order to avoid any interference with fertility and for other such reasons) - earlier the better! We had the surgery (orchidopexy) performed on October 12th. The surgery went well and RM was a trooper! He was brave during the procedure and few hours of the hospital stay (between 0630 am to 1030am'ish). He was on tylenol for 2 days (just in case for pain) and has been as active as he possibly could be ever since then. We had a follow up appointment on October 25th and things seem to be fine post-op!
October 14th was RT's ear piercing at the pediatrician. She has these cute lil earrings (gold balls). She cried her eyes out! :) Poor child... she already has stranger anxiety (big time) and was not happy with people messing with her ears!
So in short... we have been crazy busy keeping appointments and making sure that the babes are comfortable!
There was another big decision that we made and have been implementing. We are weaning the babes off of breastmilk! Not something I would have liked to do in an ideal world. I still feel like if it were in my hands completely, I would nurse them till they turned 18! I have been fortunate enough to provide for them for 7 whole months! And I have been thankful enough to not face any of the supply issues I was dreading! But, it is time... we are traveling internationally next month and will be away for 2 months (would really love to hear about experiences about international travel, jet lag, flight journey). Space and privacy will be non-existent and exclusively pumping and feeding twins with all the logistics involved in storage and utilization... while trying not to get engorged (and have any infection)... and keeping two babies happy... I don't think I can handle it. I wish we could have pushed this trip... but the babes will be meeting their great-grandparents (who are aging) and we probably could not have delayed the trip very long. The transition has not been very smooth. RT is very picky with taste... we gave them formula every other day (one feed)... just to keep them used to it and then came the mega Similac recall! And boom... RT refused to drink the powder formula when it came back in the market. She was not happy with any other brand either. RM was okay with anything and everything. So eventually we had to mix formula and breastmilk and reintroduce formula to her. She is accepting formula again now and we are hoping that we can completely wean them off of breastmilk before we leave next month. Me trying to wean myself off of pumping is all together a different story. I am trying to reduce the volume, trying to use cabbage leaves as well. From 2 liters to 0 is going to be a big game! Any tips or advice will be highly appreciated.
We will be meeting the GI on November 2nd for reflux. Both of them are on Prilosec 2ml 2x day and things seem to be under control for now. We are off of Zantac! I just wish this was over and we were not worrying about reflux anymore. They have become so active now... that it would be nice for their bodies to take over control over their reflux.
And now for their activities...
-They are ACTIVE! They will flip over and roll over and flip over and turn around and on and on and on... They are not still for a moment!
-RT started sitting unassisted as of 10/12. I avoided RM from sitting unassisted because of his surgery... but we let him sit (unassisted) on 10/23! If we let them hold on to our hand while laying down... they will sit up and right away stand up! They love to stand (assisted). RM started jumping (literally) today (10/26) if we hold him at his armpits.
-Toys which light up and roll and make noises attract their attention like never before! We don't let them watch TV, but whenever they get a glimpse of it... they are glued to it!
-Their favorite song is "I am bringing home a baby bumble bee... ".
-They love car rides... they will go crazy when they figure out they are going out and will not stay still till we put them in to their car seats.
-RT has been teething... I say so because, she has swollen gums and there is this small protrusion sticking out of her gums, but the tooth won't come out! She had a swollen cheek for few days because of that... and has been super cranky and uncomfortable. She has been chewing on anything that her little hands fall upon. I hope she gets that tooth out soon. On the other hand RM has had his first cough/sore throat. He was coughing for 2-3 days and has a little bit of hoarseness in his voice. We went and saw the pediatrician, specially since it was in a couple of days after his surgery. The pediatrician doesn't think it is related to the surgery (medication/anesthesia) and asked us to watch out for fever or ear infection et al. He seems to be fine so far... I just hope he gets his sweet little voice back soon.
-RM's normally naps twice a day with a cat nap somewhere in between. RT still has her 30-40 minute naps. They are awake longer which helps so much in getting out of the house and getting things done! They both sleep on their sides at night and are all over the crib! Night time sleep is still around 12 hours... though things have been a little wacked up with all our medical adventures!
-They have tried rice, lentil, egg yolk, chicken, avocado, carrot, butternut squash, peas, sweet potato, banana, rice and oat cereal so far. They are getting more and more attracted to fancy foods. They are very much interested in what we eat. They are starting to drink water after meals, and we are trying to introduce a sippy cup. We are still doing one meal a day... I would like to bump it up to 2/3 meals a day... but with all the medical stuff that was going on this month, I was a little hesitant to introduce another meal or two.
I love you my honey buns!
-They have tried rice, lentil, egg yolk, chicken, avocado, carrot, butternut squash, peas, sweet potato, banana, rice and oat cereal so far. They are getting more and more attracted to fancy foods. They are very much interested in what we eat. They are starting to drink water after meals, and we are trying to introduce a sippy cup. We are still doing one meal a day... I would like to bump it up to 2/3 meals a day... but with all the medical stuff that was going on this month, I was a little hesitant to introduce another meal or two.
I love you my honey buns!
