Three Week Well Baby

We had our three week check up with Dr. Troy on Friday afternoon. The babies are doing great! Noah weighed 6 lbs 15 oz (25th %tile) and was 20 inches long (50th %tile) and his head was 13 3/4” (60th %tile). Nathanial weighed 5 lbs 12 oz (almost 5th %), was 18 ½ inches (~20th %) and his head was 13 ¼” (20th %). Ethan weighed 5 lbs 15 oz (almost 5th %), was 19 ½” inches (~20th %) and his head was 13 ½ (20th %). They all gained about a pound since we last went, which was at one week. They are putting them on a different chart since they are preemies that goes by gestational age and compares them to others at that same age, instead of just a full term baby chart. Which makes me feel better because it seems more accurate. All three have thrush, which I believe started with Ethan about a week ago, but now they all have it. Ethan and Nathanial don’t mind the medicine at all…Noah does not like it one bit. It smells like bananas, so it shouldn’t taste too bad, but Noah makes a horrible little face with it and doesn’t enjoy it at all.They are all eating well. I am no longer nursing any of them…it got to be way too much once we were home with everyone. Nathanial and Ethan have a “preemie suck,” according to the LC, which in my words means they DON’T suck at all. Ethan is especially horrible. He is really slack jawed and won’t even latch onto a bottle. We wanted Ethan and Nathanial to be fed from a bottle because of their weight issues, so we would know exactly what they were getting. It became much easier to pump for all three of them once I quit doing those two, plus it is less frustrating because I know exactly what they are all getting. So now I pump after every feeding, except their 4 am feeding, because Steve takes that one so I can sleep (I take the 1 am feeding). They get about half formula and half breastmilk. I feel extremely guilty about this, but I am reminding myself there are three of them and they are at least getting some breastmilk. And at this point, I am having a hate-hate relationship with the pump, so it is really pretty good that they are getting any breastmilk. I just cherished that relationship with Aidan and I was so sad when it ended, as was he, but I am quickly discovering that bottle feeding is as rewarding if you take the time with each baby AND it has the bonus of other people being able to help with feedings. Which is VERY nice! Nathanial and Ethan still take forever to eat even from a bottle, but Noah downs it pretty quick. Noah makes up for it in that he will not just be put down when he is finished eating…he wants to be held and snuggled. Noah really is our high-maintenance baby. A few nights he has decided that 1 am is the time that he wants to stay awake for a while and has been up until 3 am. Not fun at all. That does not make for a very happy mommy. Nathanial is the one who likes to be with others. He knows the second he is alone in the crib and he will cry if he is. We are concerned about what happens when we move them into their own cribs, but hopefully by then he will be ready for some room of his own. Right now, though, he isn’t. We have been keeping them all on the same schedule. When one wakes up to eat, then we get up the other two to eat as soon as we are finished. Twice now I have had to figure out how to feed three at once, which actually worked better than I thought. None of them would be held off at all and all were screaming to eat at once. As for me, I am doing great. My incision still isn’t healed in a few spots, but it also isn’t infected so that is good. I keep going back to Dr. Hintz for him to check it…I don’t know what he is planning if it doesn’t heal. I am very proud of myself. I am currently down 65 pounds, which means I weigh about 50 pounds less than I did prior to pregnancy! I weigh less now than I did when Steve and I got married! I am so thrilled and so determined to keep this up. I am just waiting for the go-ahead to start exercising and hoping that will help to maintain this weight loss. We have had so much help from everyone at church with meals and people stopping by to help with the babies in the morning after Steve goes to work. Both have been so helpful. We get meals every day of the week, except Wednesday and Thursday…we need some leftover days! Then my MOPS group brought us an entire freezer full of meals. We haven’t touched those yet because we are still getting church meals, but they look so good! Just not having to cook has been immensely helpful! Our neighbors are also still a huge help. Mary comes over on Thursdays to help me with the boys during each feeding, takes Austin to school and picks him up, plus she takes Aidan to the baitshop still and takes him when we have appointments. I do not know what we would have done through the pregnancy, hospital stay, or even now without them. We have been so blessed with all the help we are getting from everyone. It makes it much easier to manage when we don’t have family to help nearby.The newspaper (Sumner) came this week to do an interview for the paper on us. We are interested to see what is printed as she wasn’t here very long and didn’t seem to get a lot of information. I guess we’ll see. We figured enough people have told us they are getting asked in public about us it would be a good idea to do the article and then everyone can see them. I am still trying to get pictures posted. For some reason it is telling me I am trying to post something that isn’t a picture. I will keep trying, but if I can’t, I will set up an account somewhere else to put the pictures. We have gotten some really cute ones of the boys. We got one last night at the 1 am feeding of Noah and Nathanial laying next to each other, with Noah’s arm around Nathanial. It is so cute!