Frosst Family

On Saturday the babies will be 1 month old. Wow! It seems like yesterday that I was waiting for them to be born.

Alex’s first month:

Alex has had quite a month.

On Friday July 3rd I had an ultrasound to check on the babies and it was discovered that Alex had basically no fluid left. They strapped monitors on me and we were booked in for a C section later that day.

The C section happened after midnight, so ended up being July 4th. Alex arrived 1st at 1:31. He came out silent and took close to 30 seconds before he started to cry. That doesn’t sound like a long time, but when you are waiting to hear it, those seconds drag by. Alex was a tiny baby. He weighed 1717g or 3 lbs 12 oz. He had lost weight the last while inside, so it was a really good thing he came out when he did.

Alex was taken to the NICU from the operating room (after I got to quickly say hello and give him a kiss). He was placed in an incubator (for warmth) and was hooked up to monitors to keep track of his respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen etc. He was able to breathe on his own, and had good oxygen levels, so he didn’t need any help there.

He had a tube placed in one of his nostrils to his stomach, in order to give him food without him having to use any energy. He didn’t have much of a suck reflex either, so eating himself would have been impossible at first. At first the tube feedings seemed to be working, but after a few hours he started puking everything back up. He hadn’t pooped, so they thought he might have a blockage of some kind. He Dr came to talk to us and said that due to his size he possibly could have a section of his intestines that was narrow. They did an x ray to check what was happening, but everything looked fine. He started pucking up greenish goop though, so they were getting worried. They decided to give him a couple of treatments with glycerin to see if that would get him pooping. Finally on day 3 he passed a tiny little black ball. It took another day for him to pass any more, and when he finally managed to poop it was a celebration!

Because he wasn’t keeping food down,they had to put him on an IV. They tried his hands first, but eventually they failed. They decided to put the IV in his scalp. This meant they had to shave his beautiful blond hair. It was a sad day. I kept his little blond curls in a jar. He now has an “old man haircut” which makes him look like he has a receding hairline. The IV on his head had to be replaced at least 5 different times over his stay in the NICU, so the poor little guy had lots of pokes in his head.

Alex was slow to learn to “nipple” he enjoyed learning to suck whether it was a soother, a boob or a bottle, but would quickly run out of energy. It wasn’t until a day or 2 before he was released from the NICU , that his eating took off. Before that he was fed by IV, feeding tube and nipple.

Alex was able from the start to breathe on his own, but on day 2 he had an apnea, where he stopped breathing. He stopped breathing a few minutes after he threw up, so that might have been the cause, but it was still scary to know he had stopped.

Alex scared us all again one day, by suddenly coming down with a fever. They discovered he had a infection (staff) and he was put on 10 days of antibiotics. They take infections very seriously in the NICU, because they can be so serious when the babies are so small. They did cultures of his blood and did a lumbar puncture and ran all kinds of tests to verify that they knew what the infection was and that he was on the appropriate antibiotics. He ended up having a blood infection which was probably caused when he was having an IV put in. The infection and the antibiotics really made him run down and tired, which didn’t help at all with him learning to eat for himself.

Finally after 2 ½ weeks in the NICU, they decided he was strong enough to come home with us. Such a happy day! He has continued to be a tricky eater, but has also continued to gain weight. At his last appointment 2 days ago he had hit the 5 pound mark.

Alex is a charming little guy. He loves to cuddle and hates when he is left alone. It can be difficult to get him to settle unless he has someone touching him, which is fine during the day but is a pain in the middle of the night. He is on demand feeding right now to try to get him eating a bit more. He likes to eat every 2 to 3 hours and sometimes takes close to an hour to eat, which is great for gaining weight, but not good for his parents getting much sleep. He loves his soother, but freaks out when he drops it, so it is a double edged sword. It is great to calm him down when he is hungry and his food is taking a little while to arrive, not so great when he wants it at 3 in the morning and keeps losing it and screaming to have you put it back in. I will be so happy when he can put it back in his mouth himself.

Alex is not the best at breast feeding, but likes to try. He usually gets tired out and ends up falling asleep within a few minutes, or freaks out because the milk is harder work to get than with a bottle, and he is hungry NOW. He is getting pumped breast milk and formula mixed at most feedings.

Anna’s first month:

Anna was baby B. She had the comfy penthouse apartment in the womb and spent the 35 weeks squishing down on her brother.

Anna was born at 1:32 am on July 4th, about 20 seconds after her brother. She came out of my stomach already screaming. She weighed in at 4 lbs 1 oz.

Anna was put in an incubator in the NICU, to keep her warm. She quickly progressed to a cot. She had no issues breathing from the start. She did have 2 cases of apneas on day 4, where she stopped breathing and set the alarms on her monitors off. She didn’t need to be revived or anything, and started breathing again on her own both times. Scary though!

Anna has been a little piglet from the start. She loves to eat and within days had ripped her feeding tube out herself and was taking her feedings from a bottle. She isn’t the best at breastfeeding and gets very frustrated quickly and starts to scream. She prefers the speed and ease that the milk arrives from a bottle nipple.

Anna loves to cuddle, but is often quite happy to be on her own as well. She is an uncomplicated little girl and as long as she is clean and dry and well fed she is pretty happy. Like any baby she has her moments, but she makes parenting pretty easy.

Anna came home a week before Alex, and for one week we got to experience having one baby at night. Anna made it easy for us, and it was a bit of a shock to us both when Alex came home and our sleep seemed to disappear.

Anna loves to poop, pee and barf on her Mommy. It is a good thing she is really cute!