17.9.2010
Today is the day! We are rooming in!
We arrived at the hospital at 7.30am with all of our bags. And food!
William woke first this morning and so I fed him first, after his cares. He has gained 20 grams and now weighs 2.13kg, which is 4lb 11oz. Esther’s weight has stayed the same. Both babies had a good first feed this morning, William at 8.45am and Esther at about 9. They will be due again at or before 12.45 and 1.30pm.
Esther has had her tube removed and so she really is demand feeding now! I hope that she does well, I hope that they both do well. The other twins are now demand feeding, without top ups, so they are queueing for the double room!
The room is nice. I have put our stuff in there, and we get mobile signal which will please David. I am so looking forward to our weekend.
Elizabeth had the twins (our twins) again last night. She said that Esther had a quieter night. She also said that Esther and William like being together, they like to be close and often times touching. That was very nice to hear.
Today is going to be a long day! The nurses are nice enough but not ones that we really know. I want to take the twins off to our bedroom but I promised David that I wouldn’t, that I would wait for him. I am going to wait for him.
4.30pm
The nurse is very annoying! She keeps cuddling the babies without asking and though it has been handed over that we are rooming in she keeps questioning whether or not that is the case. She asked me if I feel confident to have the babies in the room. I think that she thinks that they should stay in the nursery. Also, Esther is a bit cold, 36.1, and if her temperature does not improve then she will not be allowed to the room anyway. The nurse is very interfering. I think that she thinks she is helpful but she is just making me nervous and making me doubt myself. I am not relaxed and that is affecting the babies. She is back on tomorrow and I am not looking forward to spending time with her. Neither Tina or Louise are here today to tell her that David and I are confident and competent and we are rooming in with our babies. When she started questioning and doubting I pointed out that parents a lot less competent and confident than us have roomed in and their babies all survived!!!
Hopefully at Hand Over this will all be sorted out and I can be happy again instead of feeling like a school girl who is not quite good enough!
I have lost track a bit of who fed when today. I have made myself a chart to record details in from now on. A good habit to get into ready for home.
I think that a lot of the problems today are because the nurse does not really know me or the babies. I hope that there are some good people on tonight.
Both babies have been wakeful today. They have been waking for feeds at similar times. It has been a busy day.
Both babies are now on phosphate supplements. This is to help their bones and is something that they will continue to have at home along with their vitamins and iron.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007231.htm
http://www.vitamin-update.com/definition.cfm/id/37.html
Both babies have seemed to be feeding well today. I have had a brief go at feeding them together. It has been a bit fractious at times when the nurse got involved but once it is David and I, I think it will be fine. I need to try it and see. Feeding both twins at the same time is hard enough without an audience and nurses fussing around you. We need a chance to do it on our own.
I have been asked today to remove my breast milk from the hospital freezer. I have no idea where I am going to put it. David and I have been talking about buying a new freezer, we may have no option now!
I cannot wait for David to get here. I hope that Esther warms up so that we can escape to our room. Today has been a long day. I wish that Caroline was here, or Tracy, someone who knows us and who we feel comfortable with. Almira is on tonight so maybe she will be with us or Anu! I like Anu very much and have brought in some Kerala snacks for her!
We came to the room at 7pm. Both babies were awake. William fed for 1o minutes but then I took him off because Esther was hungry. She had a 10 minute feed too. After that I expressed a tiny bit as my breasts were too hard making it difficult for the babies to latch on and feed.
Our nurse is Ann tonight who is perfectly nice but I don’t really know her that well. She helped with Esther’s initial latching on though. That seems such a long time ago now.
The cot is so high that you can’t see the babies from the bed. I have to keep standing up to look at them. They are asleep but grunting. Well, William is. I am so nervous and worried that they won’t do well and it will be my fault. I am not sure that I will be able to get any sleep tonight.
David has popped to Tesco. I cannot relax. It is so strange being alone with them. I just feel really weird! Just listening to the quiet and their breathing. Touching their chests to make sure they are moving …
in, out, in, out ….