Marcia's blog

They're 17 weeks today!

2009-11-03T16:57:00.000+02:00

They've now had three vaccinations; one more to go until 9 months!

poor Connor thinking about what's to come...

Well, it was horrible. Kendra's reaction this time was similar to last time (slightly more niggly but nothing major); Connor, on the other hand, was TRAUMATISED. He was quiet and out of it for a few hours but at 4pm exactly, he started screaming (and he's not a screamer) non-stop for hours and hours on end. Poor baby.

Kendra

Connor - does it bother anyone else that his vest is up around his armpits? I am trying very hard not to be a control freak so I don't boss the nanny's every move but oy!

that's how they numb their thighs for the jab

this was the calm before the storm...

And we have this same fun to look forward to in two weeks time!

Playmats and play dates

2009-11-02T18:13:00.000+02:00

Kendra was content to lay on the playmat first. Then again, she didn't have the patience to stay there for long periods like Connor has.

Here's Kendra - weeks and weeks ago... not really interested in looking at the balls, etc. but very interested in the frame!

Then David decided to visit Connor. The two of them had no idea of the other but the mums were excited. David is 17 days younger than the babies but he was born at 38 weeks so is way ahead of them.

In these three pics, the babies are 14 weeks old.

Our nanny trying a spot of match making with Kendra. David looks a bit scared :)

and here's where they realised what a rattle is for - making a noise!

Their first ride in the pram

2009-10-23T11:48:00.000+02:00

I waited until they were 11 weeks old before buying their pram - the Graco DuoRider for those who are interested.

We then waited another 12 days before taking them out, on a lovely crisp Sunday afternoon.

They're wearing their Baby Naartjie beanies which I love!

Kendra

Connor

More Kendra cuteness

2009-10-19T00:36:00.000+02:00

Kendra likes lots of kisses and cuddles so while changing her clothes or feeding her, there are lots of these moments...

Moments like this are rare.... so when she sleeps like this, we don't touch her!

This is her praying. When she does this with her hands, I tell her, "that's it, baby, pray and ask God to give your parents wisdom on how to deal with you" :)

Connor's thriving!

2009-10-17T21:49:00.000+02:00

When I first heard the doctor say the babies were thriving, I thought, "how nice of him to say that!"

Turns out it is actually a proper term these medical people use to describe babies who are doing well.

So here is my thriving Connor.

10 weeks - not a fan of bathing

11 weeks - protecting his modesty :)

he hates having his photo taken

so I have to catch him while asleep - look at his cute mouth

loves sitting in the feeding pillow -
very cute when he sits next to Dion and they watch TV together

12 weeks

in the morning when I get the babies from Mabel (night nanny), Connor's wrapped up like this :)

*sigh* "will you please stop with that camera?!"

What's wrong with these pics?

2009-10-12T15:32:00.000+02:00

That's right - Connor has a PINK blanket! And if you see their cupboard, it has a clear GIRL pile and BOY pile of blankets. No surprise to you if you know me in real life :)

Somehow this is not priority for the nanny as I often find this going on and it drives me batty. At least she doesn't dress him in pink!

Is this unique to my babies?

2009-10-10T16:29:00.000+02:00

or do babies not like the heat?

I told them they're African kids and need to get used to the heat - maybe they're like me? I also don't enjoy extreme heat.

Connor slept for a grand total of 30 mins yesterday from 7am to 7pm - he just couldn't get comfortable.

The windows are open, they're in short-sleeved vests, so I believe they're cool enough...

Does anybody have any tips to get babies comfortable in the heat?

The babies - prem medical updates

2009-10-07T21:06:00.000+02:00

They're 3 months old today!

The babies went to see the opthalmologist yesterday - 3rd time overall - and he pronounced their eyes perfect.

So they don't need to go back EVER!

This is so exciting - one less medical expense :)

We also saved one set of consultation fees at the audiologist as we booked their first two appointments together. Thank goodness both ears on both babies are perfect, including the nerves from the ears to the brain, so they have just one more appointment in January next year, a 6-month check-up, and then that's also DONE!

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The mornings look like this at our house - it's one of the only times they are both equally awake and wanting attention, so this is how I do it...

and this is how Mabel (the night nanny we have twice a week) does it

Cute feet

2009-10-06T17:41:00.000+02:00

When I went to check on Kendra, look what I found...

I don't actually leave my children half-dressed. She was wearing leggings when I put her down to sleep but she wiggled out of them :)

The eye doctor

2009-09-24T20:07:00.000+02:00

I'm learning so much about premature babies.

When Connor was discharged the paediatrician told me to make an appt for him with the opthalmologist.

Which I eventually did.

Those appts are horrible. We went in an hour before our appointment time to have his pupils dilated. When the doctor eventually saw him, he used a speculum (otherwise called metal instrument of torture) to pry Connor's eyelids open. The poor baby was understandably distraught.

Kendra's initial eye check was done while she was still in the NICU so I didn't have to witness the torture.

Everything was okay at that point but he wanted to see both of them a few weeks later.

So this time I was clever and took Chelesile, our nanny, with me. The dilation took even longer than before (this time 2 hours and 15 minutes) so I took some pics while we were waiting.

Connor asleep on Chelesile's lap
"don't bother me"

Kendra, still for once

Kendra in my arms just after finishing her bottle

This time I was prepared so I asked him exactly what was he looking for. Apparently there are membranes and blood vessels in the eye that develop right up until birth. When babies are born early, those things don't always continue to develop properly and in some cases, can actually burst because the eye is working now that the baby's born.

Hmmm.

So we're checking to see that everything is normal (as at their 40 weeks gestation everything was fine).

We now have one more appointment with him in about 3 weeks time. I can't wait for this to be over - he checks their eyes for less than 5 minutes and charges us R398 per baby!

This guy only works in the afternoons from 3pm (lovely job, isn't it?) and I swear he sees about 10 people in 15 - 20 minutes. Trust me, I was counting... R400, R800, R1200, etc. :)

The many faces of Connor

2009-09-21T14:37:00.000+02:00

You can see he's not the happiest of campers when I start snapping away :)

Sweet Kendra

2009-09-17T13:10:00.000+02:00

this pink top says "friendly bunny" :)

How do you handle two babies at once?

2009-09-13T18:29:00.000+02:00

This is a question I get from a lot of people and the truth is, I try not to :)

I was under no illusions when I found out they were twins and knew I'd need lots of help.

So we have a day nanny Monday - Thursday from 8am to 5pm (she started on 1 Sept), and a night nanny twice a week from 7pm to 7am. Last week we transitioned to the day nanny working Friday nights for us, also from 7 to 7.

Yes, it is a lot of money (the night nanny was totally unbudgeted but we found out very quickly that we need our sleep to function) but hopefully they'll start sleeping for longer soon and she won't be needed any longer.

On Friday we went for their 8-week check-up (at 9 weeks because their paed was on holiday) and after Dion dropped us back at home, this is more or less what it looked like the whole day.

My left arm is under Connor, supporting Kendra's back while I try burp her
and simultaneously hold the bottle for Connor

Kendra drinks her bottle in fits and starts - needs about 3 burps along the way. Here we are with her drinking again. You'll see Connor hasn't changed position (thank God for one "chilled" baby) but my right hand is now holding Kendra's bottle

Pics taken by D just before he dashed off to work.

The babies' stats
Connor
Weight 4.08 kg
Height 57 cm
Head circumference 38cm

Kendra
Weight 3.14 kg
Height 50 cm
Head circumference 37cm

They're now on new formula - Kendra on Nan lactose-free because we want to see if it's the milk causing the screaming - and Connor on Nan lactogen "for the hungry baby" since he is easily polishing off 8 X 100 ml feeds, enough for a 5.3 kg baby!

Apparently the lactogen will keep him full for longer, which means he should sleep better! They started the new formula on Sat at 8am and last night woke every 2 - 2 1/2 hours. Hmmm...

However, Connor's just slept for 5 hours so maybe this is it?

Random baby pics from my phone

2009-09-13T17:44:00.000+02:00

Connor loves to stretch out on the changing table.
He's much bigger now - those babygrows don't fit anymore
21 Aug

One of my favourites of my two men
24 July - the day after Connor was discharged

29 August - look at the start of Kendra's double chin :) and the cheeks
- she's fattening up nicely

15 Aug - we're propping Connor up in the feeding pillow

10 August - I'd just bought The Sling Thing and I was testing it out

16 Aug - Connor fast asleep on my chest

Today is their due date and they're 8 weeks old

2009-09-02T16:26:00.000+02:00

At first with all the photos I'd look for ones where Kendra was not crying. Since those are virtually impossible to find, I've now accepted that she will have LOTS of pics looking like this.

The babies were 8 weeks old yesterday - amazing. On the one hand it feels like time's just flown and then again, those nights are so, so long...

We have a night nanny on Mondays and Thursdays. One of her jobs is to give them a bath before bedtime. I don't think she could find the normal babygrows so she dressed Kendra in cute clothes. This is also the one she came home from the hospital in.

She was still totally sleepy but sleepy or not, the attitude is all there - "back off lady, get that camera away from me" :)

And then later that day once she'd been changed, we decided to put them together. They are NOT into one another at all as you can see.

Connor is totally not bothered and Kendra didn't like posing with her brother either.

She gets more upset - see how red her face is getting. Connor still unimpressed - "as long as I have my dummy, I'm a happy camper"

We did manage to get one peaceful-looking shot later in the evening and of course, we treasure these moments where she's looking like an angel. Don't be fooled.

They're 6 weeks old

2009-08-21T22:43:00.000+02:00

Well, the babies are 6 weeks old.

Which means Connor's been home for 4 weeks and Kendra 2 weeks.

Kendra went for her check-up last week and weighed 2,23 kg - it was only an "acceptable" weight gain so we upped her feeds a bit and this week, her weight gain was "good" as she now weighs exactly2,5 kg . The new weight enabled her to be immunized. She screamed so loud the sound echoed all round Bedford Gardens hospital and surrounding areas. If you were in the vicinity, you probably heard her :)

Connor was immunized two weeks ago when he was 2,57 kg. I weighed him today (both of us on the scale, then only me.... so not very scientific) and he weighed 3,4 kg. Take off the heavy nappy and clothes and a more accurate number is probably 3,2 kg.

So they're growing nicely but are still considered prem.

Guess who this is?

Kendra, of course - the only pic I could get of her and such a familiar sight :)

And this is Connor

The first nappy I ever changed in my life was Kendra's and then Connor's. Since then, I feel like I've changed millions. On the bright side, I am now a pro. I think nothing of grabbing the baby and lifting its bum to sniff if there's a poo.
Connor has tried his best to aim his pee at me but I'm too fast for him :) He nearly got me today but my super fast reflexes beat him to it. That's a joke - I have the worst reflexes ever.
Another thing I am a pro at is the bottle thing. I (kind of) joked with D and said my life consists of bottles, babygrows and babies (maybe I should start a new blog?). I wash, sterilise and make 16 bottles a day, sometimes more, because when Kendra cries, I give her a bottle whether it's her time to feed or not. We checked with the paediatrician to see if you can overfeed a baby and she said no, the baby will vomit what she doesn't want/ need.

Kendra comes home after 27 days in NICU

2009-08-11T14:15:00.000+02:00

Kendra reached the goal I set her (by 3 days) which was to come home before my birthday (yesterday).

Incidentally, Connor came home 4 days before his goal of coming home before Dion's birthday :)

Last week we knew Kendra was about ready to come home because they'd moved her to a bassinet (which means she was regulating her temperature) and she was feeding from the bottle on almost all the feeds.

She still had the feeding tube though.

So when the feeding tube came out she would have needed to finish her complete feeds from the bottle for an entire day.

I got a call from the paed on Friday telling me her haemoglobin levels were a bit low and they wanted to do a blood transfusion if that was okay with us (of course it's okay). They went ahead and everything was well so she was "nice and pink" again on Saturday.

Then came the snotty nose.

She'd needed to be suctioned (gross!) before each feed because her nostrils were so blocked and we had atrocious weather on the weekend so they wanted to keep her in until her nose was better.

That happened to be Monday and is when she was finally discharged.

we'd just arrived home

displaying some awesome lung capacity - my word, this girl can SCREAM!

Connor having a bath

2009-08-05T16:07:00.000+02:00

The nice thing about having only one baby at home is that one of us was free to take pictures while the other held the baby.

Connor is not a fan of getting cold so we have to be VERY quick when we give him a bath. On this particular day, Dion just snapped away while I bathed and changed him and these were some of my favourite shots.

look at how he just watches me

giving me the "evil eye" :)

and now for my absolute favourites...

don't these three look like he's doing karate?!

One...

Two...
Three!

those creasy little legs have now filled out - he has fattened up very nicely in the last two weeks.

Kendra's home

2009-08-04T12:59:00.000+02:00

Hi all

Kendra was discharged yesterday after 27 days in NICU.

Life is hectic so will post more when things calm down (in about two years' time)!

JOKE! Hopefully in a few days' time :)

3 weeks - 1 out, 1 to go

2009-07-29T21:46:00.000+02:00

The babies were three weeks yesterday - time is going oh so fast!

C doing his traffic cop impression :)

Well, dear friends, this has been an eventful week.

The babies get weighed every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning so on Wednesday morning, I phoned to get an update and the nurse said that Connor was ready to be discharged the following day (Thursday).

We were shocked because we knew he wasn't at 2kg yet (he was 1,93kg). It seems like a small difference but since babies pick up around 20g a day, it would have been days until he reached 2kg. Everything else was well with him - maintaining his temperature, sucking well, etc.

Anyway, we were told we needed to come in and learn how to bath him that evening and then I raced off to the shops to buy formula, more nappies, etc, etc.

The bathing went well and eventually Thursday rolled round. They called us at about 12 to come collect him where we got a list of instructions and then we were finally allowed to take our son home.

I don't have a pic of his outfit because my gorgeous pink camera fell on the floor in ICU and now needs repairs.

What a difference a week makes!

D feeding C by tube on 17th

D & Connor sleeping in bed on 24th

The first night was, um, interesting because we were both scared he'd stop breathing so kept getting up to check on him. Also the house is literally freezing cold.

After that we brought him into our own bed and all 3 of us have slept very well since then.

K on Sunday 26th

Poor Kendra seems to be blissfully unaware that she needs to be home with us - she is doing her growing at her own pace.

When C first came home, Dion and I did separate trips to the NICU to visit K.

Then he got the flu so I've been the only parent visiting her. Hectic! Although he instructs me to tell her he loves her and to take pics every evening (either with my phone or my horrible old camera).

K on Tues 28th - 3 weeks old!
Look at the cheeks - she's getting fatter

Kendra's weight today is 1,81 kg so she is doing brilliantly. They've moved her to a normal bassinet as she is also maintaining her body temperature.

So if she finishes her whole bottle all the time she can come home. That will probably happen within the next week.

I'd given her a goal to be home before my birthday (next Thurs) so she's being a very good girl and following in her mother's footsteps.

K tonight (would have been 35 weeks pregnant today)

And to end off this post, this is the first batch of photos of them together - Sun 19th - they both look like they couldn't care less about the other.

The babies - two weeks already!

2009-07-22T18:06:00.000+02:00

The babies were two weeks old yesterday. I can't believe we've been doing the NICU thing for 19 days already.

We are officially NICU veterans. Last night we saw a husband from our ante-natal class; his wife had had their baby who was also in the ICU and he looked shattered. I wondered if we'd looked the same on the day ours were born.

Wed 15th - D & Connor

Look at his little hand on D's gigantic hand :)

Thurs 16th - Kendra with her hands again

and Connor "oh stop making me think so much"

Friday 17th - Kendra smiling

(I know it's not a real smile or maybe it is and she's dreaming)

Sat 18th - my mother and Nelson Mandela's birthdays

Kendra's little hand in mine

she sleeps with her legs all over the place

holding Connor

Sunday 19th - the first pictures of the two of them together
Connor on the left and Kendra on the right
They had NO awareness of their siblings but we were excited!

Also on Sunday - holding Kendra after her feed

Tues 21st - holding Connor - look at his hand;

I can see he's growing because those fingers look fatter :)

and so do those cheeks. He looks like a proper baby now!

Kendra - in a pretty little girly babygrow

look at the hands!

look at those long legs

Their weights today:

Connor - 1.93 kg

Kendra - 1.60 kg exactly

They've now surpassed their birth weights so they'll gain weight nicely from this point.

And now I'm off - have to have supper and then we have an appointment to learn how to bath them!

Baby pictures - first week

2009-07-19T11:38:00.000+02:00

Kendra and Connor were born at 2.50 and 2.51 on 7th July.

Kendra under the lights - Fri 10th

Holding Connor - Sunday 12th

Their two isolettes finally next to each other with teddy bears from their Aunty Chrystal on the top

Holding Kendra - I love that little hand clutching the blanket - Sunday 12th

and this stubborn little mouth - "no more food"

Dion holding Kendra - also Sun 12th

Feeding Connor a bottle - Monday 13th

Breathing in Connor's sweet-smelling baby head

Connor and Dion hold their hands exactly the same when they sleep

Kendra being sassy - "enough with the photos already" - Wed 15th

The babies are now a week old, actually 8 days, and getting cuter every day.

This morning we were treated to some sass from Kendra who has decided she’s had enough of all the photos. See photo labelled “K being sassy”.

They’ve set goals for the babies – they must be breathing on their own (which they have been doing since day 2), must be sucking properly (K is on a feeding tube half the time but C is taking a bottle all the time) and of course, the main one, they must be 2kg or more (K is 1.4 and C is 1.7kg).

Love from

Which colour makes you feel happy?

2009-07-02T21:19:00.000+02:00

yellow does it for me

These pics were taken at a baby shower I attended.

Is this lemon meringue pie not BEAUTIFUL?! Not only is it gorgeous to look at, but was delicious too :)

Does anyone know how to rescue fudge?

2009-07-01T21:29:00.000+02:00

I've been very good, which means I buy 3 pieces of fudge every week and make it stretch :)

Then I got the bright idea to make my own. Just call me Frugal Barbie!

I followed the recipe on the condensed milk can and the bit of fudge I dropped into the glass of water wasn't setting into a "soft ball" so I boiled it for another 45 minutes. The original recipe said 40 - 45 minutes.

It kind of set after that so I thought all was well.

Um, no.

It is now a consistency like toffee and goes even more gooey when I leave it out of the fridge.

It tastes yummy - it's just not fudge!

Any ideas on how to fix it?

Small things like self-care make all the difference

2009-06-16T20:32:00.000+02:00

28 weeks pregnant

Due to the growing bump, I haven't been able to reach down to touch my toes or even easily cross my one leg over my other.

So a few weeks ago I removed my nail polish on my toes and resigned myself to boring toe nails for the rest of this pregnancy.

Well, a strange thing happened - I started resting more (as per the doctor's orders "Marcia, we want to keep those babies in there as long as possible") and amazingly enough, instead of feeling more like a granny, I feel much more flexible.

After a day or two, I noticed I could pick up things from the floor much easier than before so I decided to paint those toe nails a lovely, bright red.

And do you know how cheered up I am? Every time I'm in the shower or getting dressed and I see those lovely, bright nails, I smile :)

Which just goes to show, small things make a big difference.

Now what can you do to cheer yourself up?