Well, the girls are now just over a week old and we have already had 3 pediatrician appointments and Scott is on his way with Addison for another one right now. The reason, their weight and the complications that come with that.
Friday was our first one since we left the hospital on Thursday. Our pediatrician wanted to do a check-up, specifically on weight, since she had not seen them since the day they were born. We had seen her partner the other 2 days in the hospital. Addison weighed 4 lbs 2 oz which was a birth weight loss of 3.5 ounces. Caroline was 4 lbs, 13 oz which was a birth weight loss of 6 ounces. So we made a plan of nursing and supplementing over the weekend with a follow-up on Monday to see what their weight gain was.
Monday's appointment was not great but not horrible. Addison gained half an ounce and Caroline gained 1 ounce. A typical weight gain is 2-3 ounces a day so obviously either one of them did well considering that was over a 3 day period. So we made the plan of putting the sleep schedule on the back burner and feeding both of them every 3 hours. Additionally, I only nurse them for no more than 10 minutes since that takes a lot of effort on their part and then we switch to a bottle which is easier and is less work for them. One feeding tends to take 45 to 60 minutes to accomplish the milliliters that the Dr wants us to get to each feeding. So obviously, not a ton of time to sleep. It is not as bad as I thought it was going to be though. We made a follow-up appointment for the next day on Tuesday.
Tuesday's appt. was good and bad. Caroline did great and gained 4 ounces over a 24 hour period!! So we are sticking with this plan for the next couple weeks for her and will have a follow-up for Caroline next Tuesday. Addison is a different story but we are told by the Dr that one twin generally lags behind so I guess that Addison is the one for us. Addison did not gain any weight in a 24 hour period. The pediatrician decided to test her for severe jaundice as a precaution. We switched her game plan to feed every 2 to 2.5 hours and completely skip any nursing. Also, we switched to a higher calorie formula especially made for low birth weight babies. After the appt. we went to the lab to have her blood tested for jaundice. We got the results an hour later and the test showed her levels were normal!! Scott and I both felt like parents the most in that moment when we found out her levels were normal as we were both so relieved to hear that she is fine. We did not want her to have sever jaundice and have to spend a few days in the hospital.
You would think that having one baby on a 2.5 hour feeding schedule and one on a 3 hour schedule would have resulted in both of us not getting any sleep. It ended up working out because Scott fed Addison all night and I did Caroline since she is still nursing a little. When I got up in the morning I took care of both girls and let Scott sleep for several hours. Now he is on the way to the pediatrician with Addison and I am staying home with Caroline. No point in making Caroline go out in the cold since Scott can handle Addison. on his own. Plus, it gives me time to get some stuff done or sleep if I need to.
So we are hoping and praying that this time Addison has gained some weight. Her color is looking better but I was going over the numbers and she did eat slightly more but I don't think force feeding her every 2.5 hours is working. I went over the numbers with the Dr. this morning over the phone and he seemed to think she was getting a good amount. He also mentioned making the time between feedings a little longer so she aggressively feeds more which would be great if they were back to every 3 hours again because it would be easier for Scott and I throughout the night.
So that is the girls update. My update is that I am doing great!! I am moving and walking around a lot without feeling my incision which seems great to me considering the c-section was just a week ago. It makes things so much easier being able to help out more and run around to get things done in the random 30 minute periods of time I have sporadically throughout the day. I even ran an errand last night and left Scott with the girls!
So if you could pray for Caroline that she continues to do well and for Addison that she puts on some weight before any other complications happen. I don't want her to become dehydrated which would also result in a hospital stay but she does not appear to be.
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