Double Trouble

Quite a bit has changed since last night. It seems so much can change in so little time. Late last night I went to the NICU with my Mom for their 11pm feeding. Annabel took 26 milliliters from the bottle in less than five minutes and her little sis (in size only) took 12 milliliters through the milk bong. Both of their little bellies were completely empty as were their diapers which mean they REALLY need to relax those bowels. I’ve had several poop talks with them but those girls just refuse to listen to their regular wise ole dad.



My mom went back to the NICU for their 5am feeding (thank you Mom!) and unfortunately Annabel didn’t want to wake up for a good dose of unpasteurized Montero Milk. Annabel “nippled” a bit of it and then she joined her sister in the world of milk bongs (a baby version of the ever-popular beer bong I frequently used in college). However, when we arrived this morning at 8am Annabel had digested all of her 2^nd breakfast and was ready for breakfast number 3. Sophia had 5 milliliters of food left in her tummy which was eloquently shown to me by the nurse on duty. They both looked so sweet. For the past 3 days we have seen them in their birthday suit tanning and flailing about. But today they were swaddled tightly and sleeping like little angels with no billi lights. YAY!


Angel Sophia

Angel Annabel

We prepped Annabel for her bottle and once again another new nurse wanted to do the head to toe $19.99 jiffy lube check on her. I wish they would just keep the same people around so we wouldn’t have to hear a dozen different ideas of how one should hold, swaddle, diaper, burp, and feed a baby. For goodness sakes, people have fed their babies for nearly 26,000 years – I think WE can figure this out on our own! Hmmm let’s see … if the baby cries, don’t do it! If the baby chokes, take the bottle out! If the baby flails, wrap her up! Its rocket science I tell you, rocket science!  While nurse number umpteen completed her inspection, we moved on to prep Sophia for said nurse to do her inspection on her too. Sophia began to show signs of feeding readiness and I was able to convince nurse umpteen to get a bottle for Sophia instead of allowing the nurse to suck her stomach and then milk bong her 3^rd breakfast for her. This was very exciting for me and Mary. It meant that we could actually feed both girls at once. After, finagling a half dozen tubes and wires for each girl we finally managed to create enough slack in the leads and lines so that we could remove the babies from their “cribs” ,which look more like an incubator than a crib, and sit next to each other for the feeding session. I found this particularly fun. It was a full on milk guzzling contest. I have to say that me and little Sophia left the competition in the dust! We then swaddled the little ones up for a good rest while we partook in some good ole hospital food – oh how I missed that food over the last 24 hours – NOT!

We returned from our “nutritional” supplementation just in time to meet with the nurse practitioner about Annabel’s heart murmur. Heart murmur! What?!?! I know, we didn’t mention it yet to many of our friends and family only because we were unsure of its severity. Luckily, it turned out to only a small hole which will eventually seal itself up and it has nothing to do with her prematurity. Phew, one less worry! I guess we are going to have a lot of these worries to face in the coming years. It was time to feed our little angels again. And the excitement returned. This time I had Annabel in my lap and Mary took Sophia. A true test of my daddy skills! Could I win another milk race? Once again, BAM! Not a chance team Daddy smoked team Mommy! I must admit this was more of a buy for our team due to the fact that the guzzler from the competition failed to wake up! Oh well, Sophia is definitely ahead on the milk bonging – I guess one could consider this an early start to college. Let’s hope this isn’t an indicator of how our savings will be spent! After I soaked up the sweet sound of victory (a burping baby) we were able to have some kangaroo care with the girls. Kangaroo care is the act of stripping (without a pole and topless only) and allowing your naked roo to sleep on your chest. I never thought that I would be fond of a marsupial’s maternity magic but it was quite magical. We stayed with our little ‘roos in marsupial form for half an hour of total bliss for parents and babies alike.

I've spared you from my 'roo anatomy!

It’s been a very stressful 5 days but now that we are starting to see double trouble in action, it’s really more like double the pleasure. I can’t wait for our babes to be home so we can enjoy many more of these special moments as a family.

Male Marsupial Montero