Home!

Sorry for the lack of blogging, we have been very busy now that we're home from the hospital. We checked out Saturday afternoon and got the boys home safe and sound. My Mom also came Thursday and has been a tremendous help to us! She stayed one night in the hospital with me so that Brandon could go home and get a good night's sleep. She has also helped with the middle of the night feedings ever since we got home.

Nursing Update (males may want to skip down to the pictures):

Good news! My milk finally started to come in on Saturday. Very, very slowly at first but I think the supply has been steadily increasing. My colostrum started to dry up on Thursday so I didn't have really anything to feed the boys for a day and a half. They were also losing weight so we had to supplement with formula during that time. They haven't had any problems at all adjusting to breastfeeding or any of the 'nipple confusion' that I was warned about. However, the formula has had some bad side effects such as giving the poor boys bad gas and constipation. We had two nights in a row where they barely slept and were up all night in pain and discomfort. Their poops weren't looking the way the books said they should (this is how I know I'm a mom now, I'm blogging about my kids poop) and they were shrinking up their legs every few minutes and writhing in pain.

So we've been working very hard on building up my milk supply so as to avoid any further formula for the boys. Unfortunately the only way to build it up is to nurse and pump as often as possible. I now spend the majority of my days on the couch with my EZ to Nurse pillow nursing and pumping. I am still learning how to do it so I nurse each separately. I also let them go as long as they want which is usually about 30 minutes each. I try to nurse them every 2 1/2 to 3 hours so by the time I nurse both and then get them burped and changed I usually have about an hour break before it's time to start the whole process over again. My mom and Brandon help as much as possible with this but it's still very time consuming for me. It seems to be working though, it's been 36 hours since we've had to give either of the boys any formula. Their poops are getting to be the right consistency and they appear to be in a lot less pain and discomfort. I am also getting more and more milk out at each pumping session and have even started leaking a few drops here and there if I wait too long to nurse or pump.

All in all, the nursing is alot of work but totally worth it and love getting to spend some quality time with each boy curled up next to me for a few hours each day. We are hoping that they might sleep for at least 3 hours in a row tonight as long as they don't have gas. That would be wonderful!!

Other than the nursing, things at home are going great. My mom cooks delicious meals for us and I've been getting a little more sleep since she stays up with the boys and their gas until the 3 or 4 am feeding. The cats also seem to like the boys so far. They have thoroughly smelled them have even tried to come over and cuddle with us while I'm nursing. While we're relieved that the cats seem to like the boys, we don't want them to get too comfortable around them. We're very careful to close the door to the boys' room while they're sleeping and not let the cats around us when we're sleeping with the boys. Hopefully, we can find a good balance between the cats and the twins where the cats aren't jealous but also mostly leave the boys alone.


Ok and now for some pictures :-)

This is the nurse cutting off their hospital bracelets before we go home

Here's the boys being dressed for their ride home from the hospital

Their outfits were waaayyy too big (even though I grabbed the smallest clothes I could find) and they looked a little ridiculous, but still insanely cute!

Here's the classic 'leaving the hospital' shot

They didn't seem to like their car seats too much. I don't blame them, they were so small that they didn't fit well in them and the straps were hitting them in the face.

Here's one of them crying on the couch, I honestly don't know which one though.

Don't know which one this is either... it's hard to tell in pictures unless they're right next to each other

Snuggled next to each other their first night in their crib

Ok, now I'm off to nurse again!!