We are so proud of our two little ones for gaining weight and doing so well this week! We have borrowed the baby-scale from Micheline and this morning Grace was 2,19kg and Eli was 2,41kg. Eli lost a tiny bit of weight whilst he was on the scale as he decided to urinate everywhere - it was funny moment for all of us! Grace just screamed, she hates it when we fiddle with her.
We have had tiny amounts of sleep, but are feeling strong. When parents at church hear about the screaming matches between the twins they just laugh, I guess it's a rite of passage that we must journey. Thank GOD we're doing with HIM on our side!!
We have found that after the 4/5am feed the twins settle really well in bed with us and we have a family 'lie-in' until 8am, the next feed time.
Ella popped out to the shops by herself this afternoon to buy some more bottles and pick up some things for lunch. We have now got 6 milk bottles and 2 for water which we use in between feeds if Eli or Grace get niggly. She loves the water but he moans if it's not milk!
They have both been registered with home-affairs, I sorted that out last week whilst Grace was still in ICU, so glad that I did it then! They tell you that it takes about 45min... after an hour and a half I went walking around to their back-offices and found my forms and got a lady to capture them, it only took another 5min after that! Grace Colgan Slatter and Eli Neil Slatter are now official South African babies.
We have had a few visitors, some planned, some not, but we're trying to lay low this weekend and recoup what little strength we can before the new week. Wednesday was our 3rd wedding anniversary and we tried to have some take-out and rent a DVD... we made it about 5min into the movie with about 5 mouthfuls of Thai food when the twins started their thing... so in the fridge went the take-out and when we finally got to watch the movie, I fell asleep...
We are loving our children so much, they are such a blessing from GOD. We can't wait till they're a little bigger and we can really start showing them off!
As we enter our fourth week as a family of four, I am certain, now more than ever, that parenting is not for sissies! Learning to operate around feed times and exist on a few hours of sleep in a week is actually possible, now that we've had both of our beautiful children home for almost a week. It's amazing how much love GOD gives us, even when screaming her head off at 3am, all we want to do is kiss our little Gracie and tell her how wonderful she is. Even when I'm changing Eli's nappy, for the second time in a row and he jet-propels poop into my hand, I still think he's the cutest little guy ever. And a little note to whoever said that breasmilk poop doesn't smell... it does.
Feeds at 2am seem to work best in the lounge with a hot cup of coffee and the movie channel on in the background. We tried doing the graveyard shifts in the bedroom, but wow, trying staying awake in a dark, warm, sweet smelling room with soft baby music on... not going to happen. Hence, lots of light, lots of action and we live through it. The best is when we've finally settled them, so chuffed that we've done everything in under an hour, slither into bed (because only two muscles are still operational) and then hear Grace or Eli start their pre-cry sob (which sound identical, by the way)... then race to the room to get the responsible child out in time before they wake their sibling... However, we have found that they seem to be resilient to one another's cries. It's almost like they lie awake in their cots planning who's turn it is next to get mom and dad to come racing through the door. We will look back and laugh, one day.
Whenever we wake them, which we actually try really hard not to do, both Grace and Eli have their stretches to do... it's important, you know. Generally they're really good about having their nappies changed but Grace likes to let you know if you've woken her too early. Eli normally just lies there and stares philosophically at the ceiling. One day he may actually define the meaning of life.
Eli is really enjoying his bathing, we wish Grace would too, but she'll get there. We keep telling her that one day we won't be able to get her out of the bathroom, I don't think she believes us, she's not really too responsive. We have put Eli into size 1 nappies now, they're still a little too big, but at least he's well covered!
After dressing them only in pink (just Gracie...), green and blue baby grows, we decided to venture outside of the cottage with them and took a walk around Clearwater mall in search of some cute clothes. Eli's new blue vest was modelled very nicely, Grace refused... hence no nice pic... The trip was a great success. We got to use our turbo pram and really turned heads. All the ladies stopped to comment to Ella and try peek at the twins (who were safely covered in blankets!). The guys were all impressed with the steering wheel of the pram, my favourite part. However, even with a steering wheel, I still managed to hit a few isle displays.
They sleep in their own cots, but when Grace came home on Wednesday, we put them in Eli's bed for a little while. He smiled (probably just a wind) but she didn't look too impressed.
Today we made a second trip to the shops, this time we needed to start buying Christmas things. We bought an awesome tree from Pick 'n Pay Hyper and will be following our family's cue and setting up our house this evening - our first Christmas in JHB and our first Christmas with the twins - AWESOME!
We stopped off at the Woolies cafe for some coffee and had a moment to feed the twins, they were so well behaved! We need to keep them wrapped up because people can't resist the urge to try and touch them, something we were warned about in ICU. Either way, we're getting more and more confident in taking them out on trips. We're going to try some more shopping on Thursday morning - will let you know how that goes!
We are so happy to share with you that Eli came home yesterday morning! Grace was very dignified about the whole process and promised her brother that she'd be home soon - and we're holding her to that promise! GOD is so good and Eli has been putting on weight and drinking well from the bottle (of milk...). Yesterday he was weighing just under 2.1kg and the doctor was really happy with his progress. Grace is still on all sucks and is weighing about 1.93kg, she is loving her bottle feeds and is very enthusiastic. She is a noisy eater and makes US work for it!! Her little personality is so strong already, but as her father, I will not crumble, ever...
The procedure for taking your baby home is that you need to have the piccolo ready for the nurse to carry your baby to the car. This is to make sure that the baby doesn't go home in an unsafe manner. So, whilst Ella packed his bags, I settled him in the car seat and strapped him in. I then went to fetch the car whilst Ella finished off paperwork and we were re-united at the front of the hospital. We had to pop into Baby City so El and Eli stayed in the car whilst I ran in to buy more bottles. He was such a champ, he didn't cry once!!
In the afternoon, Ella went back to the hospital to be with Gracie and I stayed to look after my son. We had an awesome little bonding time, it was so nice doing everything without the nurses hovering. Paul and Catherine popped around for a quick cup of coffee and spent some time with us. It was such a nice and relaxed afternoon, which was broken just after 17h00 when Eli decided to start crying... until about 20h00! It was only after we'd fed him, burped him and cuddled him extensively that Ella checked his nappy... shortly after that the crying ceased! It's always the most obvious things that we overlook!!
Ella bonded with Eli in the evening and I spent time at the hospital. It was quite lonely only having half the family there, hopefully, GOD willing, it won't be long.
Our first night went so well, Eli ate, pooped and slept on cue. We leapt out of bed every noise he made, but I guess that's part of the fun of the first night... which we'll have again when Grace arrives! Please pray that she keeps gaining weight and managing on all sucks - then she'll be home REALLY soon!! We thought it was hard leaving both of our children at the hospital, it's even harder leaving one.
Since Wednesday we've had looong days! On Thursday evening the nurses were quite concerned that Grace was so niggly after feeds and told us, rather unsympathetically, that it was probably due to Ella's milk. They decided to try her on NAN formula for a night and see how she responded and she put on a lot of weight which was really encouraging, but we were not happy that she was not on mom's milk. We were quite worried about her as each evening we would leave the hospital really late as we didn't want to leave whilst she was screaming from tummy cramps. We prayed hard and asked their GOD-parents to pray and about 5 minutes later the nurse phoned and really encouraged Ella to be strong and assured her that Grace would be back on breast milk soon!
Thank the Lord, by Saturday morning, little Gracie was happily back to nature's source of goodness for babies! She has been putting on weight steadily and went on to all sucks yesterday morning.
For a time, Eli and Grace had their own little room. There is an isolated, glassed in room that they keep open for high risk babies that they let us use. It was so nice to go in and plonk our stuff down and just relax with no interruptions... it definately made those days easier. They were then moved to the other side of ICU where all the stable babies go for feeding only, so we lost our 'private room' but at least our two babies were doing so well!
Eli was eating really well and you can see him here with no tubes attached! That was an awesome feeling, to see his cheeks filling out and have no sticker on them! One of our friends at church said that they're like celebrity babies, everyone is checking them out online and talking about them, but no-one's actually seen them yet! But that'll change - because GOD is good and they'll be home soon :).
After making it through the first three days (we don't know if it was harder for the twins or us!) things just keep getting better. We find ourselves repeating to the nurses, "That is good news!" at every visit. The best thing we overheard was on Thursday evening, El's first night out of the ward, when one of the maternity sisters came to the ward and asked after the twins, the PICU sister said that they were exceeding all expectations - an awesome thing to hear! And it's all because of GOD's amazing hand in their lives.
Grace developed jaundice on Wednesday and had to spend two days with her 'spa eye protection' on and lay in front of the blue light as if she was on the beach... hopefully a sign of things to come! They took her off the light on Friday morning and were so pleased that she kept up her feeds so well.
On Friday our doctor wanted to try turning off their heaters and see whether or not they could maintain their own body heat. This was the first time that they were able try out their new clothes and they looked absolutely adorable in the 'large' prem vests and babygros!! Grace was not impressed with hers, though, she has issues with pink clothes... so she's now in yellow :). Eli on the other hand was so chilled and content to be in his little outfit. Since then, they've been wrapped in blankets and oversized socks and maintained their own heat! The nurse takes their temperatures regularly - Thank you Lord!!!
They have both been feeding from a bottle, a little more each day. By Sunday morning, Eli was on 30ml per feed, (bottle-tube-bottle) whilst Grace was on 25ml per feed, (tube-tube-bottle). Ella and I have changed their nappies and given them top and tails almost every time we visit (3 times a day). We have also started to give them their bottles and hold their tubes during feeds, primarily because they're in our arms at the time :).
We have held them so much since Friday and are feeling far more positive about their stay in PICU. The first few days were a constant silent battle between us and the PICU sisters, where unspoken gestures made us feel like we were in the way. On Wednesday evening I had a chat with the staff and explained our needs and they have since been far more accommodating - which has made all the difference for us. For a while I was thinking that a new parent's worst nightmare is a Peads ICU sister but then I realised that their worst nightmare is a new parent... things improved thereafter.
On Saturday evening they removed a drip from Grace's head, she screamed so much but I stuck by her as Ella was holding Eli at the time. We were both talking her through it and I was rubbing her tummy and kissing her hands, after a few sobs (which are really tiny) she fell asleep from the exertion of crying so much. I held her for the rest of the evening and sat next to Ella, who was cuddling Eli all evening.
Our prayer is that they will continue to exceed expectations, that GOD would protect and guide them and that soon the drips will be out and they will be able to feed on their own! Grace is just under 1.8kg and Eli has put on a little and is 1.957kg!
We cannot believe that Grace and Eli are already four weeks - two days shy of a month old! They have their first Paediatrician checkup tomorrow morning at 9, then I'm doing a funeral at 10 and then we have a tea appointment at 11! So it's going to be a busy morning!
Eli is still loving his bathtime, Gracie not so much! We bathed them yesterday afternoon before heading out to watch Tarryn in her waterpolo tournament. Unfortunately the JHB storms were raging and their match had been postponed and we needed to get home with the twins, so we missed the match - hopefully we'll be able to watch one this evening.
Eli and Grace are starting to enjoy awake time far more now, we are able to cuddle them for longer whilst they just look intently around the room. They seem to want to be held more as well, sometimes they refuse to just lie in their cots and only stop crying if they're in our arms - which is an awesome feeling! They are also slowly starting to focus on us more, you can see Gracie looking straight at El in this pic, we can't wait for the first smiles!
