Happy New Year!! :)
This has been such a long eventful year! It has exactly been a year since I landed in the hospital for contractions and cervix shortening (and celebrated new years in the hospital)! What a journey it has been!
December 31, 2010
December 23, 2010
9 Months - Milestones!
We are celebrating 9 months here! Everyday there is a new milestone reached in our household. This month has been great so far...
-RT army crawls; rocks on all fours; pulls up and sits on her own; sits on bent knees... has started to pull herself up on furnitureand stands unassisted; can balance herself if she is about to fall; loves baths (not fond of getting her hair washed though!); talks and talks and talks; loves to roll over a pile of pillows and then turns around and redoes the circus; has a pretty good pincer grip... has transitioned from no food/1 meal to almost 4 meals a day (not all of them are very productive... but we do eat 4 times a day) - she can pretty much eat anything we eat (with various textures and (mild) spice levels)!
-RM has progressed from army crawling to rocking on all fours in less than a week; he can pull himself up and tries to stand unassisted... he seems to be 2-3 weeks behind RM but has been catching up at a great speed and strength; loves baths; talks and talks and talks; he has also transitioned from no food/1 meal a day to almost 4 meals a day - he can pretty much anything we eat (with various textures and (mild) spice levels).
-They still get up 1-2 times for a middle of the night feed, but have been generally sleeping better than the previous month. RT, who had big time nap issues (short naps) has finally transitioned to longer naps (1-2 hrs). Both of them take 2 (long?) naps in a day.
-Their first tooth popped last week. Both started showing their lower right side tooth... it should hopefully be completely out in a few days. RM has actually started showing his 2nd lower tooth.
-Both caught a bad cold last week. Teething with a cold ain't fun. Poor babies have been cranky and have had some issues with food and sleep.
-They have been doing great with this trip of ours and I am hoping it continues the same way. When Daddy arrived (2 weeks ago)... RM instantly recognized him and had a very big smile on his face... RT was a little scandalized as to how come Daddy popped out of the blue... but in a short while they were both all over him!
-RT army crawls; rocks on all fours; pulls up and sits on her own; sits on bent knees... has started to pull herself up on furnitureand stands unassisted; can balance herself if she is about to fall; loves baths (not fond of getting her hair washed though!); talks and talks and talks; loves to roll over a pile of pillows and then turns around and redoes the circus; has a pretty good pincer grip... has transitioned from no food/1 meal to almost 4 meals a day (not all of them are very productive... but we do eat 4 times a day) - she can pretty much eat anything we eat (with various textures and (mild) spice levels)!
-RM has progressed from army crawling to rocking on all fours in less than a week; he can pull himself up and tries to stand unassisted... he seems to be 2-3 weeks behind RM but has been catching up at a great speed and strength; loves baths; talks and talks and talks; he has also transitioned from no food/1 meal a day to almost 4 meals a day - he can pretty much anything we eat (with various textures and (mild) spice levels).
-They still get up 1-2 times for a middle of the night feed, but have been generally sleeping better than the previous month. RT, who had big time nap issues (short naps) has finally transitioned to longer naps (1-2 hrs). Both of them take 2 (long?) naps in a day.
-Their first tooth popped last week. Both started showing their lower right side tooth... it should hopefully be completely out in a few days. RM has actually started showing his 2nd lower tooth.
-Both caught a bad cold last week. Teething with a cold ain't fun. Poor babies have been cranky and have had some issues with food and sleep.
-They have been doing great with this trip of ours and I am hoping it continues the same way. When Daddy arrived (2 weeks ago)... RM instantly recognized him and had a very big smile on his face... RT was a little scandalized as to how come Daddy popped out of the blue... but in a short while they were both all over him!
-Reflux still exists... but all this mobility/activity... will it shrink the effect? Right now I am just holding tight till we head back before we can experiment with the medication. We are running short on the Prilosec because one of the medicine bottles froze and I am having to explore the option of using the local version of the medication - a little concerned of how that is going to go.
We are also observing 1 year of the beginning of my bedrest! I can't believe how fast it has flown by. Last year this time we were bombarded with the cervix and contractions issues, and we were so unsure of how things would progress. But, here we are today... and I feel blessed and humbled! I have loved every moment of being a SAHM and haven't missed the working world at all.
Christmas is not a very big grand festive season here and I am missing all the festivities back home! Daddy has headed back home now and it is making me want to go back again too. We should be home in 3 weeks. It is going to be challenging to reset their schedules and adjust to the brutal cold which is going to limit our outdoor activities. I also need to start thinking about our first birthday once we get back! How exciting!
Wishing you all Happy Holidays!
November 30, 2010
So much in Love - 8 Months!
This might sound cliche, but I am so much in love with my babies! And no, it hasn't taken me 8 months to realize it! I have loved every moment with them and I can't remember and imagine my life without them! The way they hug me or get excited to see me, their faith and unconditional true love - aah, I feel blessed!! They are growing so fast and I miss each passing day... though I look forward to the new day with even more vigour and I think that makes the last 8 months more of a fond memory than missing something that will not repeat!
In this past month their personalities have blossomed. Every day there is something new and it is so hard to keep track of all the new developments...
-RT has been army crawling and now getting on to all fours. She might just start crawling shortly. RM is starting to army crawl!
-They absolutely adore each other. They will hug each other, caress each other, giggle and laugh, roll over each other. At the same time, they have started wanting to have the same item (not always a toy - it could be a water bottle! :P)... they will yank it away from one another and sometimes cry over it too!
-They can handle a lot more solid solids - as in not completely mushed up food!
-Some of their 6-9 months clothes already seem to start to get (just a little) snug. Basically they are no longer loose like they were when we started using them at 6-7 months!
-Still in size 3 diapers, but we have been using size 4 for the nights (past 3 weeks), since size 3 started leaking!
-They have kinda lost their separation and stranger anxiety. They are social butterflies for now (with our trip)! :)
-They are extremely vocal! On random occasions, RM has called out for Daddy and Grandma and RT has called out for Mama! I doubt they understand what they are saying! Though RM for sure does say Nee-Nee when he is sleepy and he does call out Mamamama when he wants to come to me!
-If they realize that some one is stepping out of the house, they are ever ready to join them! RT can very nice wave good-bye and RM raises his hands to do so!
-They are continuing with Prilosec 3.0 ml x 2 days. Both weigh around 17.25 lbs.
In this past month their personalities have blossomed. Every day there is something new and it is so hard to keep track of all the new developments...
-RT has been army crawling and now getting on to all fours. She might just start crawling shortly. RM is starting to army crawl!
-They absolutely adore each other. They will hug each other, caress each other, giggle and laugh, roll over each other. At the same time, they have started wanting to have the same item (not always a toy - it could be a water bottle! :P)... they will yank it away from one another and sometimes cry over it too!
-They can handle a lot more solid solids - as in not completely mushed up food!
-Some of their 6-9 months clothes already seem to start to get (just a little) snug. Basically they are no longer loose like they were when we started using them at 6-7 months!
-Still in size 3 diapers, but we have been using size 4 for the nights (past 3 weeks), since size 3 started leaking!
-They have kinda lost their separation and stranger anxiety. They are social butterflies for now (with our trip)! :)
-They are extremely vocal! On random occasions, RM has called out for Daddy and Grandma and RT has called out for Mama! I doubt they understand what they are saying! Though RM for sure does say Nee-Nee when he is sleepy and he does call out Mamamama when he wants to come to me!
-If they realize that some one is stepping out of the house, they are ever ready to join them! RT can very nice wave good-bye and RM raises his hands to do so!
-They are continuing with Prilosec 3.0 ml x 2 days. Both weigh around 17.25 lbs.
A lot of my fellow blog sistas have started to heading towards project sibling! I just want to wish you all the very best!
November 26, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to every one!
And Happy 8 Months to my darlings! We had an awesome night too... the babes slept between 0900 pm and 0730 am!!! :)
November 24, 2010
The Anxiety!
Here I am... talking about anxiety for the babies and myself. Stranger anxiety, separation anxiety - for babies; and air travel anxiety, jet lag anxiety, food anxiety - for me!
Man, it has been interesting. A million miles away from home, hoping that things fall in to a routine. It has been exactly a week since we arrived and we are still working on getting in to a schedule.
The babes are in the stage where they had stranger anxiety and separation anxiety. I was pretty worried as to how they would cope with a million people around them, with relatives and neighbors frequently visiting and trying to hold and play with them. Would they cry, throw a tantrum? Nope, the kids are loving the attention. Their stranger and separation anxiety seems to have vanished in less than a week! It will be nice to continue with it once we get back home. They seem to be managing pretty well! We have quite a bit of local travel coming up and it will be interesting to see how that goes. Daddy dearest will be joining us in 2 weeks from now and will be with us for 3 weeks. Then he goes back and we will return in 3 weeks from then. We timed it such that they are not separated from Daddy for too long!
As far as my anxiety is concerned. The babes were wonderful during the flight ride. They slept for over half the flight journey, which is less than their usual sleep time, but definitely commendable for the noise and crowd that was around them. So, I would say the journey was successful! I pumped once while they were sleeping and I was good for the rest of the journey (I am just pumping twice now (instead of 4 times) and producing around 30 oz)
Jet lag - phew! It is expected of them to take a week to get over it! But, we seem to be no where close to it! There are times when we feel that they are almost settled in and then - bam! RM has been sleeping at around 11 pm and getting up at 4-5'ish am and sleeps for approx 8 hrs during day time. RT, who is the light sleeper has actually been sleeping better at night from around midnight to 0630-0700'ish am and then another 8-9 hrs during day time. I don't blame them for the whacked up sleep cycle, but this better get over soon. It is messing up with their day time activities. As for RT's frequent night wake ups - they have pretty much vanished (I hope I am not speaking too soon) and makes me feel better that we did not CIO her! Every time I am inching towards CIO, we end up in a situation where we feel better for not going that route because some thing pops up and shows us why she has been the way she has. May be the lack of separation anxiety is helping her this time? May be these are just phases and I need to cope up with it than expect her to change.
We are hardly getting to prep any food for them since there are no guarantees when they will be up and not be sleepy enough to munch down their meals. So they have been getting either ready or quick meal options on a very random non-existant schedule. There are no guarantees when they will drink milk and their night time routine is shot.
One may ask why we decided to whack up their oh so perfect (?!?) routine and make them go across the globe! At times I feel guilty for doing this to them. I feel guilty for having to decide on cutting short bf'ing (pumping)! So why did we do it? We have been away from most of our relatives for ever. More than anybody else, we really wanted to bring the babies to their great grandparents (GGP). I have been blessed to see most of my GGP alive while I could understand things. I doubt the babies will remember anything. But the GGP have been more than thrilled to see the babies. Their blessings will always remain with the babies and this will be another milestone in the GGP's life... since these are pretty much their first great grand kids! So, we did this for family! And I hope the babies will cherish the videos and the pictures we take for years to come!
Tomorrow we will be celebrating the 8 month birthday! :)
More to come...!
Man, it has been interesting. A million miles away from home, hoping that things fall in to a routine. It has been exactly a week since we arrived and we are still working on getting in to a schedule.
The babes are in the stage where they had stranger anxiety and separation anxiety. I was pretty worried as to how they would cope with a million people around them, with relatives and neighbors frequently visiting and trying to hold and play with them. Would they cry, throw a tantrum? Nope, the kids are loving the attention. Their stranger and separation anxiety seems to have vanished in less than a week! It will be nice to continue with it once we get back home. They seem to be managing pretty well! We have quite a bit of local travel coming up and it will be interesting to see how that goes. Daddy dearest will be joining us in 2 weeks from now and will be with us for 3 weeks. Then he goes back and we will return in 3 weeks from then. We timed it such that they are not separated from Daddy for too long!
As far as my anxiety is concerned. The babes were wonderful during the flight ride. They slept for over half the flight journey, which is less than their usual sleep time, but definitely commendable for the noise and crowd that was around them. So, I would say the journey was successful! I pumped once while they were sleeping and I was good for the rest of the journey (I am just pumping twice now (instead of 4 times) and producing around 30 oz)
Jet lag - phew! It is expected of them to take a week to get over it! But, we seem to be no where close to it! There are times when we feel that they are almost settled in and then - bam! RM has been sleeping at around 11 pm and getting up at 4-5'ish am and sleeps for approx 8 hrs during day time. RT, who is the light sleeper has actually been sleeping better at night from around midnight to 0630-0700'ish am and then another 8-9 hrs during day time. I don't blame them for the whacked up sleep cycle, but this better get over soon. It is messing up with their day time activities. As for RT's frequent night wake ups - they have pretty much vanished (I hope I am not speaking too soon) and makes me feel better that we did not CIO her! Every time I am inching towards CIO, we end up in a situation where we feel better for not going that route because some thing pops up and shows us why she has been the way she has. May be the lack of separation anxiety is helping her this time? May be these are just phases and I need to cope up with it than expect her to change.
We are hardly getting to prep any food for them since there are no guarantees when they will be up and not be sleepy enough to munch down their meals. So they have been getting either ready or quick meal options on a very random non-existant schedule. There are no guarantees when they will drink milk and their night time routine is shot.
One may ask why we decided to whack up their oh so perfect (?!?) routine and make them go across the globe! At times I feel guilty for doing this to them. I feel guilty for having to decide on cutting short bf'ing (pumping)! So why did we do it? We have been away from most of our relatives for ever. More than anybody else, we really wanted to bring the babies to their great grandparents (GGP). I have been blessed to see most of my GGP alive while I could understand things. I doubt the babies will remember anything. But the GGP have been more than thrilled to see the babies. Their blessings will always remain with the babies and this will be another milestone in the GGP's life... since these are pretty much their first great grand kids! So, we did this for family! And I hope the babies will cherish the videos and the pictures we take for years to come!
Tomorrow we will be celebrating the 8 month birthday! :)
More to come...!
November 15, 2010
Herbs & Spices
We started with solids a little after 4 months. Their first food was rice cereal, which they very quickly got bored off. There was a time when they were "happy" with the food being repeated (butternut squash, sweet potato, carrot etc)... and all these things more or less tasted sweet! There came a point where they just refused to eat this same old baby food. Cereal was a big no no! That's when we started introducing stage 2 food and also started mixing and matching items. A couple of weeks ago when I was speaking with the Ped, he said it was okay to start introducing them with any ethnic/traditional foods that we might be eating. We use quite a bit of spices and herbs in our food... so we have recently started introducing various things and they are loving it. Their food has started tasting so much like ours (only milder). We have so far introduced black pepper, cumin, garlic, turmeric (in that order). They are also munching on some of our foods since they are so interested in what we are eating and they seem to be doing fine!
November 13, 2010
BM and Zzz...
Lots happening around here. We are leaving on Wednesday and we are still packing. Our house seems like a tornado ripped through... with all the stuff laying all around... I wonder when we will finish packing. I have already shipped 3 bags full stuff for babies and we will be taking 6 more bags with us!
Half - is where I am as far as pumping is concerned. I was pumping 4 times a day and producing 60+ oz of milk for all these months. In the last 3 weeks or so, I have come down to around 34 oz and approximately 2 pump sessions. It has not been easy... but it has not been as rough as I had imagined. I am definitely not going to be weaning myself off of the pump before we leave... it just isn't happening in the next 4 days! I will be pumping in the PLANE! Yes... exciting... my mom is flying with the babies and I... so I have to some how sneak in to the "toilets" and pump around half a litre of milk and hope that the babies sleep while I am gone! And I hope there are no delays and our bags arrive on time... I hope I am not speaking too soon! Because, if not... I really would not like to pump more than once in the whole journey! We shall see. As far as reducing the volume is concerned... increasing the time between pump sessions from 6 hrs to 8 hrs and then to 10 hrs is what has helped. Yes, I am engorged at times... but it has been manageable. I try not to empty myself out completely... but I am not keeping completely full either... because then I have to pump sooner and that has not helped in reducing the volume. Some how this whole thing seems to be working. On a hindsight this seems to be good, because I didn't really want to get the babes off of breastmilk so soon. This way they will continue to get at least 50% breastmilk for few more months.
Sleep Monster - Has been going around our house! Is it the 7 month sleep regression or separation anxiety or teething or reflux?!? I am lost! RT has always been a poor sleeper. She barely naps (30 min napper) and I have come to terms with it... but for the past 1 week she has been getting up very very frequently! Like every hour! Like every time you put her down in her crib! There have been time when she has ended up in our bed, because she just wouldn't settle down at all and would wake her brother up! I have not wanted to do CIO... but I feel like we are inching towards that. She needs the sleep - waking up every hour crying is not healthy for her! Though, I am scared to try anything new now. With the whole travel situation, jet lag and moving places... whatever "training" we try... it is going to get blown off every time a new parameter kicks in! So I am just hoping we reach some equilibrium again soon, and if not CIO will be our option when we settle back in after our 2 month long trip! Besides CIO, I have also considered co-sleeping, but then why should she co-sleep and not her brother. And, can you imagine how hard it will be to co-sleep with twins. I mean forget our personal space (DH and I)... but they will probably fall asleep only when we will... will get up when we will. If dealing with a single baby is tough, how hard will twins be? When, oh when will I take care of all the stuff that needs to be taken care of... not household chores, but all that has to be done for the babes too!
Half - is where I am as far as pumping is concerned. I was pumping 4 times a day and producing 60+ oz of milk for all these months. In the last 3 weeks or so, I have come down to around 34 oz and approximately 2 pump sessions. It has not been easy... but it has not been as rough as I had imagined. I am definitely not going to be weaning myself off of the pump before we leave... it just isn't happening in the next 4 days! I will be pumping in the PLANE! Yes... exciting... my mom is flying with the babies and I... so I have to some how sneak in to the "toilets" and pump around half a litre of milk and hope that the babies sleep while I am gone! And I hope there are no delays and our bags arrive on time... I hope I am not speaking too soon! Because, if not... I really would not like to pump more than once in the whole journey! We shall see. As far as reducing the volume is concerned... increasing the time between pump sessions from 6 hrs to 8 hrs and then to 10 hrs is what has helped. Yes, I am engorged at times... but it has been manageable. I try not to empty myself out completely... but I am not keeping completely full either... because then I have to pump sooner and that has not helped in reducing the volume. Some how this whole thing seems to be working. On a hindsight this seems to be good, because I didn't really want to get the babes off of breastmilk so soon. This way they will continue to get at least 50% breastmilk for few more months.
Sleep Monster - Has been going around our house! Is it the 7 month sleep regression or separation anxiety or teething or reflux?!? I am lost! RT has always been a poor sleeper. She barely naps (30 min napper) and I have come to terms with it... but for the past 1 week she has been getting up very very frequently! Like every hour! Like every time you put her down in her crib! There have been time when she has ended up in our bed, because she just wouldn't settle down at all and would wake her brother up! I have not wanted to do CIO... but I feel like we are inching towards that. She needs the sleep - waking up every hour crying is not healthy for her! Though, I am scared to try anything new now. With the whole travel situation, jet lag and moving places... whatever "training" we try... it is going to get blown off every time a new parameter kicks in! So I am just hoping we reach some equilibrium again soon, and if not CIO will be our option when we settle back in after our 2 month long trip! Besides CIO, I have also considered co-sleeping, but then why should she co-sleep and not her brother. And, can you imagine how hard it will be to co-sleep with twins. I mean forget our personal space (DH and I)... but they will probably fall asleep only when we will... will get up when we will. If dealing with a single baby is tough, how hard will twins be? When, oh when will I take care of all the stuff that needs to be taken care of... not household chores, but all that has to be done for the babes too!
November 8, 2010
The Darn Insurance
We got a call from our RE's finance department saying that a part of our IVF was not being paid for by our insurance! According to our insurance plane "one" IVF was covered! We had a pre-approval and everything! It seems ER, fertilization and ET codes were not covered. WHAT Besides These 3 main things consist of an IVF!?! We have a freakin 7.4k bill to fight 16 months after the procedure!
October 25, 2010
7 Months ...like a Marathon!
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!
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