Tommy did come home on Friday. The doctor came in and told us at 5 PM on Friday afternoon. By 9 PM, we were home and missing Liam, but I do now see how taking one home first can make things easier. The doctor was very reassuring telling us that it is extremely rare for premie twins in the NICU to come home together. It was bittersweet going home without Liam, but telling ourselves that this was Step 1 of "Operation The New Normal" helped us. Plus having just Tommy around has helped us get to know his cues and routine.
The first night was tough, as when we went to bed, the apnea monitor alarms kept going off, saying there was a loose lead. We finally figured out that both of the pads on his chest needed to be replaced, but we were exhausted at this point. Note to self and others: the pads for the home monitors can only be placed once. After that the sticky is no good and will cause issues. I also learned that if the "loose lead" alarm is going off and you put your hands on the pads through their clothes and the alarms turn off, it must be that the pads need to be replaced. After that the first night was smooth sailing. Tommy slept unless he was hungry.
Last night was completely different. Tommy did decide that sleep was for the weak and I needed to toughen up. Between the hours of 3 to 5 AM, Tommy was hungry enough to be fussy, not awake enough to nurse long enough to be really full. So he kept waking up, crying his head off, nursing a little, falling asleep on me, I'd burp him and lay him back down to sleep, this would last all about 15 minutes, until he'd repeat the whole process. After 5 AM, he slept until about 7:30 AM and now he's been asleep for the past hour.
Believe it or not, I'm feeling fine. After he went back to sleep this morning, I made coffee, cleaned out the top drawer in the nursery and started a load of laundry. I need to clean out the drawers in the nursery as I have all the sizes of the baby clothes in there and now I want to make sure that I only have out what size they are wearing right now. I'll put the other sizes aside and make sure they are organized, so I can pull out the next size of clothes when I'm ready for it.
With Liam, we've been calling the NICU in the morning for an update and coming in for one of the care times later in the day. He's almost ready to be fed on demand instead of on a schedule and fully on bottles or nursing. Once that happens, he can be home in a day or two. So at this point, we're thinking he might come home around Wednesday of this week.
The first night was tough, as when we went to bed, the apnea monitor alarms kept going off, saying there was a loose lead. We finally figured out that both of the pads on his chest needed to be replaced, but we were exhausted at this point. Note to self and others: the pads for the home monitors can only be placed once. After that the sticky is no good and will cause issues. I also learned that if the "loose lead" alarm is going off and you put your hands on the pads through their clothes and the alarms turn off, it must be that the pads need to be replaced. After that the first night was smooth sailing. Tommy slept unless he was hungry.
Last night was completely different. Tommy did decide that sleep was for the weak and I needed to toughen up. Between the hours of 3 to 5 AM, Tommy was hungry enough to be fussy, not awake enough to nurse long enough to be really full. So he kept waking up, crying his head off, nursing a little, falling asleep on me, I'd burp him and lay him back down to sleep, this would last all about 15 minutes, until he'd repeat the whole process. After 5 AM, he slept until about 7:30 AM and now he's been asleep for the past hour.
Believe it or not, I'm feeling fine. After he went back to sleep this morning, I made coffee, cleaned out the top drawer in the nursery and started a load of laundry. I need to clean out the drawers in the nursery as I have all the sizes of the baby clothes in there and now I want to make sure that I only have out what size they are wearing right now. I'll put the other sizes aside and make sure they are organized, so I can pull out the next size of clothes when I'm ready for it.
With Liam, we've been calling the NICU in the morning for an update and coming in for one of the care times later in the day. He's almost ready to be fed on demand instead of on a schedule and fully on bottles or nursing. Once that happens, he can be home in a day or two. So at this point, we're thinking he might come home around Wednesday of this week.
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And I'm right there with you, mama on the whole night time feeding routine. It's like S. has to have a boob in his mouth to fall asleep. Sounds like you're doing great! Liam will be home with you in no time at all. *hugs*
My two are in NICU right now after being born at 32 weeks on Tuesday. I can't WAIT to bring them home too.