The First Month

Ah, the first month! What a learning experience! We brought the girls home when they were 13 days old (more on that in a later post) ... We had a pack and play (PNP) downstairs and another in our room. During the day, they would sleep downstairs and then we'd move the operation upstairs at night.

At that point, the girls were eating every three hours and this would consume our entire lives for the first 6 weeks. Our scheudle went a little somthing like this: I would nurse them, they'd fall asleep while eating, we'd have to wake them up (usually by undressing them), top them off with a bottle which as usually around 2 ounces (Side note: after only being allowed to feed them 30 ml in the hospital, we thought that they were such big girls when they could take 2 ounces!), burp them every 10 ml, change their diaper, swaddle them, lay them down back in their PNP and let them sleep. We used a Snugli from the hospital, the girls loved it (see photo below). Then I would have to pump for 20 minutes. Basically, they ate and slept for the first month they were home. When they were sleeping, they were growing -- and that was our goal.

So this routine took around an 1.5 hours. By the time we were done, rested for a couple mintues, it was time to start all over! It was exhausting, to say the least.

Our biggest challenge this month was, obviously, having them in the hospital for the first 13 days of their life (again, more on this later) ... and then it was the lack of sleep and the constant pumping.

Our biggest reward ... having our beautiful babies home so we could play with them and nourish their growth.

1 Month Well Child Visit Stats:

Emma

Date: 8.4.08

Weight: 6 pounds, 12 ounces (3rd percentile)

Length: 19 3/8 inches (3rd percentile)

Head Circumfrence: 13 1/2 inches (3rd percentile)

Olivia

Date: 8.4.08
Weight: 6 pounds, 7 ounces (3rd percentile)
Length: 18 1/2 inches (<3rd percentile)
Head Circumfrence: 13 1/2 inches (3rd percentile)