We have decided to use the blog as a baby book, but we are missing a post about surviving the first 3 months.
Eileen and Ewan had low birth weights due to preeclampsia and were considered late pre-term twins, born at 36 weeks and 4 days. Ewan’s birth weight was under 5lbs which is the threshold for being admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) so our new family was separated almost immediately after birth. We spent as much time as we could with Ewan in the NICU over the next 48 hours but then Kyle came down with the flu and was denied access to the NICU. Meanwhile my blood pressure remained dangerously high and there were concerns that Eileen could be developing jaundice and the prospect that Eileen, Ewan and I could end up in 2 separate hospitals was very real. Fortunately Ewan’s stay in the NICU was relatively brief at 5 days, Eileen’s potential jaundice began to clear up, and my blood pressure started to come down.
Even though both babies had strong latches, neither one had the stamina to express all required nutrients from the breast, so we topped up each feeding with bottles of expressed breast milk anywhere from 30-60 mls. This whole process would take over an hour between breast feeding, preparing bottles, bottle feeding, pumping, cleaning up and then sanitizing bottles and pumping equipment, and with the babies being fed every 2-3 hours, it felt like an unending cycle with little time to get anything done between feeds (including sleep). It was all worth it though as topping up with bottle feedings worked really well and both babies started gaining an ounce or more a day.
We were feeding about 10-12 times a day and I was pumping 6-8 times a day to keep my milk supply up and have enough breast milk for bottle feedings. As you can imagine it was a lot of work cleaning and sanitizing the bottles and pump equipment. Our parents were a huge help with cleaning, sanitizing and bottle feeding. The last day we topped up a feeding with a bottle was July 2 (last day of our first camping trip) and Ewan pukes it all up! About 2 weeks later I stopped pumping all together (after a 3 week progression of eliminating 2 pumps a week), my supply was strong and the babies were feeding really well.
Around 2 weeks old Ewan started suffering from gas pains. He would cry after every feeding. We even bought special bottles to help with gas pain and administered probiotics daily. These things helped lessen his pain but the only real cure was time. Eventually (around 3 and half to 4 months old) Ewan’s developed the ability to pass gas and digest breast milk without discomfort.
Those first 3 months were tough, Ewan was inconsolable and would cry for hours. It always seemed worse at night from 8:00 pm to 2:00 am. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see Ewan in such pain and not be able to do anything to stop it. We watched you tube videos on how to calm a crying baby and exercises to alleviate gas pain. Eileen would experience gas pain from time to time, but the majority of the time she would let out trucker farts and burps.
Throughout this time frame we were being supported by the Doctors and nurses in the postpartum unit, the NICU, public health nurses who came to our home more often than not, my OB, a Lactation Doctor, our family Doctor, and the Public Health clinic where the twins were vaccinated. It was great to have all that support but it also meant that our days were very full with many different medical appointments.
All the medical professionals commented on how calm and relaxed we were as first time parents and parents of twins to boot.
Around One month old
Around 2 months old
