The past two days have been rough...they have caught the crud from William and as of this morning I can feel my body starting to succumb to the unfriendly lingering crud too. Two babies who don't feel good at the same time is not easy. They both wanted to be held constantly and cried any time I put them down. If I was holding them, they just whined and whimpered. We laid back on the couch with both of them on my chest the whole day. Tuesday was no different only William was home for a good part of the day since he flew late last night. Neither one of us have gotten a whole lot of sleep bc they are super cranky at night! Poor little babies.
On another note, I am trying the best I can to keep up with their feeding demands. They are both taking about 5 ounces every 4 hours...that is 30 oz/child/day...so I need to give them 60 oz of breast milk a day! That is a lot of milk and often times as the day goes by I wonder if I have even drank half of their demand in water or other kind of drink. We have depleted my frozen supply since they eat so much at one time now, so I am pumping like crazy to stay ahead at least one feeding. I need to just break down and breastfeed them but it sounds daunting for me. Lindley Kate is a great breastfeeder however she gets awfully cozy and likes to fall asleep. It is hard for me to know how much she is getting and I know it isn't as much if I pumped and gave it to her bc she wakes up sooner. I need to get over it but literally all I do all day is feed babies! Ellie and I would have to have a battle of the wills bc she does not like to breastfeed and when I try she roots around frantically, sucks for a second and then just burst into the loudest cry. Eventually she just lays there and shuts her mouth and I can't even pry it open with my finger...needless to say she has "outwilled" (if that is even a word) me thus far and I don't know if I have it in me to battle her. I am already suckered and for now, I am suckered by convenience...there is so much to do around the house, wash clothes, put away clean clothes (yea that hasn't happened yet ),clean up the dishes, find time to eat myself, oh and GET OUT OF THE HOUSE bc we all need fresh air, change of pace, and a change of scenery. By the time I get us all loaded up and head out, I wonder what was I thinking bc getting out with them is difficult and so much work and really I know why I stay home most of the day.
*Sidenote...I say "really" a lot! William tells me this all the time but going back and reading my post, he is right, there honey, really, I said it you are RIGHT!
Anyways, I digress...so we'll see how it goes but getting up to pump every 3-4 hours is exhausting too...really what is a mom to do? Any advice? Feeding two babies is WORK, WORK, WORK and bc my girls spent so much time in the NICU they did become accustom the to the bottle and its amazing ability to just drip milk right into their mouths with no effort, so breastfeeding is WORK for them and it obvious they aren't as inclined to work for it. Can you blame them?
Lastly, Leelee is here! We have already put her to work...LKB had major meltdowns last night every time we put her to bed, so she held her a lot so I could wash bottles, sterilize breast pump supplies and of course eat or really devour ;) Ben and Jerry's coffee heath bar crunch ice cream...that stuff is awesome and I don't even like coffee! I blame Julie, my dad's wife for introducing me to that addicting stuff, plus it was on sale... I couldn't resist. William put a serious dent in the carton the night before and I was so disappointed to see how little was left for me so I went ahead and polished it off!
Ok, I am done pumping and I need to get back to sleep or finish feeding LKB, I can sense William's frustration and exhaustion. I will post some pictures later today of the girls! Have a great day blog world! Oh and by the way, this is one hard job but I love it and they are the sunshine in my life!
7 comments:
I agree, Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch is the BOMB.
Good luck with the babies! I know you're doing the best job possible!
xoxo
Pumping for two is hard, hard work. I pumped for 12 months, and I can honestly say it got so much easier, in that I went from pumping every 3-4 hours to only 3 times a day around the 4? month mark. I found that if I waited longer, I was able to pump just as much milk (ex. 6 oz's every 3 hours, or 12 oz's every 6 hours), so once my supply was established, this is how I did it. Also, 60oz's a day was where my kiddo's peaked in their consumsion of Breastmilk. They started dropping night feedings, but still ate every 3 hours during the day, just larger and larger quantities. We went from 3 oz's every 2.5-3 hours, to 4oz's 7x's a day, to 5oz's 6x's a day, etc.
I bottle fed much more than breastfed, but I did work on bf especially on the weekend when my husband was there to help. During the week, I tried to nurse each baby once a day (sometimes every other.) My son loved to nurse, my daughter would clench her fists and scream and scratch me. Eventually, it started working okay, and then I was very grateful that it did. When they were only nursing 5 times a day, it was way easier to nurse my daughter (my son stopped BFing around 4 months) than haul the pump with me if we were going to be out for part of the day. I could give my pumped bottles to my son, and nurse my daughter, and not get uncomfortably full of milk.
In 12 months of nursing, I think I worried about my supply for 11 of the 12 months! It is hard, but it sounds like you are doing a great job!
I believe there is going to be a post on Friday at "How Do You Do It?" about breastfeeding multiples and milk supply with pumping.
www.howdoyoudoit.wordpress.com
Lastly, I wrote a post about leaving the house with infant twins that might be an encouragement...
http://howdoyoudoit.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/the-first-months-actually-leaving-the-house/
I am sorry you guys are sick and stressed right now...my friend said it well the other day "Babies are the only gift that you will every receive that you have to do so much work for!"
I am sure you and your hubby could use a break...it is hard to nuture your spouse and yourself when you feel so responsible for the feeding and caring needs of two little people. But I am sure short little jaunts out without the babies would be great for you and your hubby. Any chance, when you are feeling better, that you could meet your husband for lunch while leaving the babies with the very capable Lee Lee? Or only taking one baby at a time?
Sorry this is a book...I just resonated so much with what you wrote. Blessings to you!
DEJAVU! That's all I have to say. I will say, I cut back pumping around 3 months and added in formula and boys did great. No issues, no more spit-up, etc. Don't beat yourself up over not making enough. You are doing such an amazing job!!! Wish we would have gone through this together. Bfeeding was so intimidating for me too. That's why I just pumped. Hang in there. Your girls are beautiful!
hang in there Kerry- i not having been a mother before (except if you count a doggie!) can't really offer you any advice- only encouragement that you have two gorgeous little girlies and if you have time to blog- then that means you are doing pretty well! i'm amazed you blog as often as you do (i love it, so keep it up!) but you truly are doing an amazing job!!!
Oh goodness girl! Amen to all of that! :)
I had tons of issues with breastfeeding-probably the same issues that everyone else has (I won't go in to them here) but with everything else going on (NICU, 2 babies, etc) it was so overwhelming to me so I just pumped. However I barely got anything when I pumped so I also did formula from the very beginning. By 2 months it got so hard to pump all the time and take care of them especially when I was only getting enough to feed them breastmilk maybe once a day that I ended up going to formula only. All that said....you are doing an AMAZING job giving them that much breastmilk for this long! I am very impressed. Keep up the great WORK (b/c yes, it is work...rewarding, wonderful work but work all the same) ! :)
AShley
Kerry, I am exhausted after just reading what you are tackling right now. Hang in there--you are amazing! What I love is that your words don't come across as complaining at all, just BUSY. Yet in the midst of them, I truly get a real sense for your love for the girls. I know you are in heaven right now, but a tired heaven! lol. Keep up the amazing work!
Just going from my sister's twin experience with feeding--around 2 months or so, she started feeding the boys formula before bedtime to really "tank them up" and make them full so that they'd sleep longer. This would give you the chance to pump during that feeding and have extra for the day. She would breastfeed/pump exclusively during the day and save the formula for the nighttimes. The boys ended up sleeping for longer and longer bouts, which gave her such a break! I will pray for the same for you... Blessings! :)
You are AMAZING! No advice from me...it sounds like you are doing an incredible job. I wish I still had a freezer full of milk to send you. Hang in there.
Post a Comment