The Day After...

Yesterday was another great day for the new O'Malley family. I was allowed to be off the 'liquid diet' which consisted of broth, popsicles, juice and tea and was given permission to eat real food. Even though the 'real food' was hospital food and therefore not that great, it was definitely much more satisfying than another bowl of chicken broth. They also removed the leg-squeezers and my epidural and I started to get feeling back in my legs and abdomen. I'm now taking two prescription painkillers every 4 hours and although there's still a little pain, I prefer the pain over total body numbness. They removed the dressing from my wound too so I can see it. It's about 6 inches long and held together by staples, gross! And I finally got the IV taken out too. That was especially uncomfortable since I had to bend my arm every time I attempted to feed the babies and that stopped up the IV line. Later yesterday afternoon, after all feeling returned to my legs and I could walk again, they finally removed the catheter too. I don't have any more cords or bags attached to me and that feels fabulous! I was also able to take a shower last night and I now feel like a new woman!

I was pretty surprised and disappointed to see that I hadn't deflated as much as I'd hoped. I still look like I'm about 4 months along and my belly is much softer and saggier and covered in stretch marks, blech! The bleeding has already begun to decrease but I am still stuck wearing paper underwear and a pad that's bigger than my kids' diapers. I know, I know, too much information!

Moving on to happier things, the boys are still doing great. They had lost 8% of their birth weight by yesterday afternoon. This is perfectly normal, however that combined with the fact that my milk hasn't come in yet caused us to have to supplement with formula last night. A teaspoon here and there of colostrum isn't quite cutting it for the boys, they need more nutrition. Hopefully by tonight my milk will begin coming in and we can start trying to exclusively breastfeed. We're also hoping that the formula will help them gain weight and become strong enough to breastfeed better. After attempting to breastfeed yesterday though, I got some really painful contractions. Luckily the lactation consultant was here and she assured me that this was normal. Apparently, breastfeeding causes your uterus to contract which causes pains similar to hard labor pains. Why did nobody tell me that? I had a c-section and now I still have to experience labor pains? The only thing that was slightly encouraging about these painful contractions was that it meant that the breastfeeding was working at least a little.

The boys were also circumcised yesterday but they seem to be doing great. We slather on the vaseline so they're not in pain during diaper changes and have been doing alot of extra cuddling and loving on them. Brandon was shocked at how calm they both were immediately afterwards.

We spent New Year's Eve cuddling in bed with our boys and watching the ball drop on tv. Best New Year's Eve EVER! Also, can I just say how glad I am to have such a wonderful husband who loves me despite the fact that I still look like I'm in my 2nd trimester and am currently wearing a diaper :-)

A close up of the boys together. Although they're not identical, they look an awful lot alike. Brandon and I can't really tell them apart, we often have to look at their ankle bracelets to be sure!

One happy dad!

One happy mom!

One happy Jackson!

One mad Cullen!