Day 43 Update

Good Morning! Sorry about the missed post yesterday. I had my six week post-partum check at 1 pm and it seems that whenever we try to actually leave the house we run ridiculously late!

My appointment went well. They were very happy to see Leah and Micah and one of the nurses even disappeared with Micah for a while - to show him off! I was given a clean bill of health and can resume normal activities as my body allows. It will take some time to be back to normal especially with the extended bed rest I was on (thankfully not strict bed rest or I would be really a mess now!), but I am making progress. The shocking thing for me is that I am now back to my pre-pregnancy weight! Of course, my clothes still fit badly since everything is about three inches lower now! Ah the joys of pregnancy, especially multiple pregnancy. Oh well, it's not like I was wearin' bikinis before this.

After my appointment, we went to see Golda but the entire unit was closed. They were doing a surgical procedure in one of the rooms and so there were no visitors allowed for about two hours! That is the worst part of Golda being in a NICU - being barred from seeing her during the short time we have allotted for a visit. We went home and fed the babies; it had been almost five hours between feeds for them and they were starting to really complain. They both gobbled down their bottles and fell asleep. Micah woke up about two hours later and screamed bloody murder. We realized after a bit that he was hungry (for those of you that heard Harry, Micah is learning the "hun-gee" cry too! really weird) and gave him two ounces. He ate it slowly but steadily and then fell back asleep. We put him in a rocker and ate dinner ourselves. Then he started crying again! It was time for the regular feed now so we decided to try giving him the full 3.5 oz. Well. That little piggie ate all of it making a grand total of 5.5 oz! This morning I gave in and filled a large bottle with 5.5 oz and he ate it all. Leah took 3.5 oz and almost seemed to be looking for more too. I can't believe how much they are eating now.

On that note, we have become a little worried about their eating habits over the last week. Both of them, but especially Leah, grunt and groan and squeak while eating. They turn their heads all over like they are trying to get away from the bottle and sometimes actually shove the bottle out of their mouths. But if you try to take it out they suck it back in and if they shove it out then they open their mouths right up for more (after burping). And if you lay them down after eating too soon hiccups will start inevitably and sometimes even while you are burping them. I posted about this on the triplet site and got four responses. One was "it's normal, they'll outgrow it" and the other three were "mine did the same until we got them zantac or prevacid for reflux". Grr. Just when we thought we had escaped that this time around. Oh well. We have an appointment with the pediatrician today at noon to discuss this.

Golda is doing really well. The antibiotics and Ilex are working their magic and her g-tube site is looking significantly better. They increased her feeds to 33 ml over an hour every three hours yesterday. She is finally gaining really nicely too - her weight yesterday was 1574 g (3 lbs. 7.52 oz.) and today is 1607 g (3 lbs. 8.68 oz.)! And I spoke to her new attending yesterday and was told that she will most likely be ready to transfer to St. Mary's or Blythedale on Monday. That was a surprise, but I called the liaison at St. Mary's to get everything rolling. She is going to let us know if a bed will be available - fingers crossed everyone! LIJ will let us wait until Friday for a bed without too much of a fight, but more than that might be an uphill battle, so, really, cross those fingers, toes, eyes, whatever you can!

Harry has his first class trip today. They are going to a farm for the usual fall activities and because of the need to wear clothes that can get dirty, he got to go to school in regular non-uniform clothes! He was quite pleased! And tomorrow they are allowed to wear their costumes to school for the parade (8:45 am in the school yard, weather permitting) and the carnival (starting at 9 am for school kids only). They will be trick or treating in the carnival I think. Harry's costume arrived yesterday - he is going to be a train engineer. The costume fits perfectly and he looks adorable in it. I will take lots of photos of him and post them tomorrow.

That's it here! I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm. Oh, and for those of you who got snow, digging out! I can't believe we are talking snow already!