End of the year contemplations

This year has been extremely unpredictable and a little weird. Some things were expected, many were not. I expected to get pregnant, but not with twins. I never expected to have a kid with health problems, but there it is. I am very lucky that everything that Alice has gone through is fixable and she will grow up with no lasting effects. I know that everyone says when you have children your life will never be the same, but WHOA! I never expected it to be this different. For us there will never be normal again. Everyday is a new adventure.
Alice doesn't need a lot of attention unless she has just had a new cast or something, then all she wants is to be held and to know that we are there. She is a very sweet girl and bears her issues the best she can. She rarely cries and when she does it is because she is in pain or uncomfortable. She is easily comforted and loves to snuggle with her dad. Alice isn't a big fan of new people and new places.
Claire is fun and smiley, but demanding. When she wants something, she wants it NOW. Claire thrives on a schedule and does best when she is in her routine. She loves to eat, I think she is trying to grow as fast as she can. She is also a champion sleeper. Claire loves to be in the middle of the excitement and doesn't like to be alone.
It is incredible how different the girls are in looks and temperament, but we love them both so much and are amazed at how blessed we are.

Poor Alice

Alice finally got her casts off today and is now wearing the brace. As you can see in the picture, it is shoes connected to a bar. The shoes have to be pretty tight to prevent blisters and the bar keeps her feet spread. I didn't think it was possible, but she hates the brace more then the casts. She has been quite pitiful since we got home. At one point she was posing a hunger strike. It was obvious that she was hungry, but she wouldn't eat. The doctor told us to take the braces off for a few minutes at a time adding up to 1-2 hours a day to prevent sores. Because of her hunger strike we took her shoes off and she ate. Hopefully this doesn't last long and she is able to get used to the brace because she has a way of just making you want to cry when she looks at you. I just keep reminding her (and myself) that this is for her benefit and it really isn't that awful in the grand scheme of things. When they put the brace on for the first time she moaned while the shoes were put on, but was generally OK. As soon as she tried to move her legs and realized what was going on she got SO upset. She is still behaving that way. As long as she isn't trying to move around she is fine, but that never lasts long.

Happy Birthday to me!

I turned 27 today. I didn't really do anything special. I tried to convince my husband that I shouldn't have to change any diapers, but that didn't happen. The Inman's came up tonight with take-out from Chili's and we watched Kung Fu Panda. It was nice of them to come with dinner so I didn't have to worry about making anything. Marc and I will go out on Friday to officially celebrate.

Their own room

The last few nights we have been having the girls sleep in their own room in a crib together. Up to this point, they have been sleeping in a bassinet and a pack 'n play on both sides of our bed. We decided onthis change because we have been using the pack 'n play for a few outings and we are too lazy to set up and take down everything every day. There was an unexpected happy consequence of this arrangement. Claire started sleeping through the night. She slept for 10 hours last night and 9 hours the night before. We are not sure why this is the case, but we are very happy about it. Alice is still waking up once a night, but that is completely manageable. This is the best Christmas present ever. I just hope this continues.

Merry Christmas

For the girl's first Christmas we spent the day with the Inman's. We got to Melanie's house around 10:00 and her son Ryan had patiently (?) waited for us to open his presents. He had already opened everything from Santa, but we opened the rest together. We spent most of the day playing Guitar Hero, which Ryan got for Christmas, and playing with the girls. We also made gingerbread cookies.
The trip home was another story. Just after we started out it started to snow and it progressively got worse until we were driving up the canyon and could barely see the road. We were worried at one point that we would have to turn around because the visibility was so poor. Luckily there were tracks from a previous vehicle that Marc followed at about 15 miles an hour for most of the way up the canyon. Marc kept saying that if the tracks failed that he wouldn't go any further, but they kept going and so did we. We were so relieved to finally see our driveway. As we went up the driveway the car almost got stuck on the curve but Marc was too determined after we made it that far that he maneuvered us up there with a bit of effort. All in all it was a happy and safe Christmas.

I haven't left the house so quickly in a long time

For the last few days Alice has been miserable. Alice is such a sweet baby that when she cries and isn't hungry, something is wrong. We have been giving her Tylenol to help with the pain in her feet, but that stopped working on Thursday night. On Friday I decided to call the Orthopod to see if we could get in to change her casts (she was supposed to have them on for 3 weeks). Her thighs were popping out the top, making it pretty obvious that they were too tight. When I called, they told me they had some cancellations due to the weather, Dr Klatt was leaving for New Zealand that afternoon and could we come in right away. Luckily Alice had been fed recently and was already in a fresh outfit. I hadn't showered, but didn't really care. We were out the door in less than 10 minutes. When we got to the office we were whisked right in as the last appointment before he took off for the holidays. While removing the casts Dr Klatt told me that he was really glad we came in because the casts were definitely pinching her feet and there was no way she would have made it the full 3 weeks (no kidding). My theory is that the Dr takes into account normal baby growth when he puts the casts on, but Alice was a preemie and is growing faster than a normal baby. She just needs more room to grow. So Alice is happy again and we are relieved that she is not in pain.

Potica Day

Yesterday was the girls first Potica Day. Potica (poe-TEET-sah) is a Polish nut bread that Marc's mom and Aunt Dott make every year for the family. It is a very labor intensive process and takes all day, but it is amazing. When we were first married Marc insisted that I learn the art to pass on to our kids, so I have done it every year for the last 5 years. I think my help is appreciated since it is hard on your back to be bending to roll the dough out. It is fun to have traditions like that to pass on to your kids. When the girls are older we will have our own Potica Day, but until they can help we will just keep assisting.





This photo is in Aunt Dott's living room with their Christmas "Tree"

Full day

Yesterday was a long one. However it started out wonderful for me. Marc's mom spent the night and took care of one of the girls with Marc and I went downstairs and SLEPT! Nine hours of pure heaven. In the morning we took Alice down for her final casting. Surprisingly it was just an outpatient procedure done in the office. First they took her casts off and applied some numbing cream to her heels that sat there for 45 minutes. After it had taken effect she was taken back (we weren't invited to watch) and some lidocane was injected into her heels and they severed her tendons. It sound horrible, and it would be devastating in an adult, but babies are growing so fast and heal so easily that then tendon will grow back in about 3 weeks and will be the correct length. The incisions are so small that she didn't even need stitches. Blood did leak through her casts, so it looks terrible, but with a little Tylenol every few hours she is fine.
The next part of the saga was their 2 month checkup. We have been joking that since Alice got her casts the girls have weighed the same. We were right. They are both just under 10 lbs. Alice is of course smaller, but there is no way to know her exact weight until she gets the casts off. Also because of Alice's casts she was not able to get her immunizations, she will go back at the beginning of the year to do that. Not enough thigh is exposed for them to give her the shots. Claire, however, got her shots. She took the Rotovirus oral medicine really well, in fact she was mad when it was gone and she couldn't have any more. If only all of them were that way. The nurse was obviously very good at what she does since she got all 3 sticks in before Claire started freaking out. When Claire gets mad she "goes dark" and after the shot she was just about purple. We are glad that is over. She is also doing well with some occasional Tylenol.
The last stop of the day was a ward baby shower. It was fun for everyone in the ward to come and see the babies since we won't take them to church until spring to avoid all the germs. Our ward doesn't get too many babies so it is very exciting.

Recasting

Alice had her third casting done today. The doctor was so pleased with how everything is progressing that he is shaving two weeks off of her casting. So next week she will have her Achilles tendons released and get her final casts. These casts will be on for three weeks and then she will move on to braces. As the casts progress, she is less happy about them. Today she has been crying a lot and pretty clingy. Her cries aren't pain cries, but more "I'm uncomfortable" cries. It is very sad, but all for a worthy purpose.


The cast comes off


Dr. Klatt and Erin put the new casts on

Cranky Babies

The last few days have been a little rough. Claire has always been a bit colicky, but she is usually manageable. The last few days however, she has been crazy at night. Last night she was crying for about 4 hours and screaming at the top of her lungs for roughly 2 hours. I was reading that colic peaks at 2 months (which is exactly how old she is) so maybe we are just at the worst part of it. We attempted to feed her partially broken down formula with no success, so next we will try the totally broken down, hypoallergenic formula to see if that works. It may not, but it is worth trying.
Alice has also been unusually grumpy these last couple of days. Our theory with her is that her casts are getting too tight. Her little thighs are popping out of the top of them, so you really can't blame her. She absolutely hates sitting up, because it pinches her. Luckily she is getting new casts tomorrow, so hopefully she will feel better soon.
When they are unhappy, both of them just want to be held. Up until this point I haven't held them both at the same time because their necks were not strong enough and I couldn't give them the support they needed. This week I have felt more comfortable attempting this with great success. Holding them both at the same time is so much better that leaving one to scream until the other is consoled. Juggling babies leaves everyone frustrated.

Thanksgiving

Yes, we did have Thanksgiving at our house. I know it sounds crazy, but we actually found if quite nice. My parents and Janell came up as did Marc's parents, sister and nephew. Dinner was great. I was really only in charge of the stuffing. The rest of the meal was brought by everyone else. We decided to have Thanksgiving at our house a long time ago and it turned out for the best. Because of the girls, it is much easier for people to come to us, then for us to go anywhere. After dinner we played the Wii and a new game of my Mom's, the Farming Game. It was really fun. The Farming Game is like Monopoly meets Settlers without the hostile takeover. It was a fun night.

Moving Up (and out)

It took two months, but yesterday we put away the newborn clothes and are now into 0-3 months!

Casting

As many already know, Alice was born with clubbed feet. Today she had her first casting. The process of fixing clubbed feet is a 3 year process. Over the course of about 6 weeks she will have a series of casts that will stretch and move her feet into a normal position. After the 6 weeks, she will have her Achilles tendon released and then have another cast for 3 weeks. When all this is finished she will get braces for her feet that she will wear full time for 2-3 months and then just at night until she is about 3 years old. When all is said and done you would never know she had clubbed feet. We also found out that it is better if both feet are clubbed because the foot will be smaller as well as the leg. So if both are clubbed then she will still be symmetrical instead of having one leg smaller then the other. It is a good thing that she is such a mellow baby. The doctor was warning us that most babies scream the whole time they are being cast and are really fussy for a few days after. Alice was so calm throughout the casting. She just laid of the table and looked and Marc and I. The only time she got upset was when they turned her so she couldn't see us, but even that just lasted for a few seconds. The doctor and nurse kept commenting on how well behaved she was and how she was one of their favorite patients. It is nice to have a child that everyone loves. It is a good thing that all of these medical problems have happened to Alice and not Claire. Claire would not be able to handle anything that Alice has gone through. She would just cry all day. She cries a lot anyway, but that has more to do with her sensitive tummy.


One nice thing about the casts is that they aren't too noticeable when she has an outfit on.

Baby Torture

My family has been putting together a calender for my brother Caleb who is on a mission in Korea. So I have been taking lots of funny pictures of the girls and thought I would share some of the funniest ones.

Outing

Yesterday the girls and I went on our first non-essential outing. I had a dentist appointment in Provo so my mom met me there to watch the babies while I had my teeth cleaned. (No cavities, thank you very much). Then I went to Utah Valley Hospital to say "Hi" to some friends of mine and begin exploring employment opportunities. After that, we went back to my mom's house and hung out for the rest of the day. My friend Su dropped by with her little boy and it was fun to catch up with her. My mom thought it was hilarious how much junk I need to take with me to be gone for the entire day. I needed the car seats, stroller, boucey seats, food, diapers, extra clothes, and blankets amoung other things. My Trooper was loaded to the hilt with stuff just to be gone for about 12 hours. When I went for my first ultrasound the Perinatologist asked me if we had a big car. I now understand why. My mom, Janell and I then headed up to North Salt Lake for my cousin Mackenzie's baby shower. It was fun to see her, and the girls got lots of attention from all the ladies. It is always fun to have babies at a baby shower. For the most part the girls were well behaved. The only real problem we had was with one of the rear windows in the car. Awhile back the windows in the car stopped working and it cost too much to have them fixed. So my dad rigged them to just be closed all the time. Apparently the window had slipped out of place and could no longer stay up. It was late, we needed to get home and it would be too much trouble for my husband to come and rescue us. Instead, my mom covered the window with a plastic garbage bag she had in the trunk of her car and away we went (after Claire needed a bottle in the parking lot before going anywehere, and there is no messing around when Claire decides to eat). I just drove slowly and went through town instead of the freeway. Luckily it wasn't too cold yet, dispite being after 9:00pm. We made it home in one piece, but I'm not sure we will be making a venture like that and time soon. I was way too tired at the end of the day.

Weighed and Measured

We had another doctor's appointment today. We were very curious to see how big the girls have gotten, mostly Claire. So, Claire weighs 7 lbs 6 oz and is 20 inches long. Alice is 6 lbs 8 oz and 19.25 inches. It is not surprising that Claire has passed Alice, but interesting that they have flip-flopped from their birth stats. They are both very respectable birth weights now and Claire is actually on the charts (7th percentile), Alice is still off the regular charts and only in the 10th percentile for weight and 40th for height when adjusted for her gestational age. I just hope that the treatments in the hospital haven't stunted Alice's growth. I guess we shall see.

I Voted Today

Today we got about 5 inches of snow at our house. The first real snow storm of the season. Apparently it only snowed in the valley, but that is the 'charm' of living in the canyon. Sandy was kind enough to come up and watch the girls while Marc and I went to vote. She then spent that afternoon with me and the girls. It is so wonderful to have family that is willing to help. When I am by myself I can get absolutly nothing done except feed and change the girls. When Sandy is here I can clean my kitchen, pick up the house and do laundry.
On another note, today is the girl's due date. This means that all of their development should be calculated from this day. We have an appointment with the pediatrician on Thursday, so it will be interesting to see how big the girls are. Looking at them, I can't imagine carring them to term. That would have been just aweful. Claire had her hip ultrasound yesterday and that was normal. We had that done because she was breech and there is a family history on Marc's side of congenetal hip defects. Alice had her hips scanned while in the hospital and hers were normal also. I feel so lucky that the girls are as healthy as they are. Dispite Alice's problems, they are remarkable healthy and beautiful.

Welcome home Alice

Alice was released from the hospital right on schedule. We are so excited to have her home and to be able to concentrate our time at home instead of trying to be several places at once. The last time they were both home together they were on the same schedule from the NICU and didn't eat a lot. Now they are on pretty different schedules and eat a lot more. i.e. much longer feedings. So last night was a little rough with Marc taking care of Alice and me taking Claire. We will figure it out. We just need to try and get them synced. It is really funny to look at them next to each other because Claire has gained a lot of weight and looks really healthy. With Alice not having eaten much in the last 2 1/2 weeks she has been surpassed in weight even though she was bigger at birth. She looks a little malnourished next to her sister, but is still adorable.

Happy Halloween!

Claire and Alice

Claire the athlete

A few days ago we were having "tummy time" with Claire and she rolled over. I thought it was a fluke so I put her back on her tummy and she did it again. I couldn't believe it. When she was doing it again this morning I needed documentation. She will only do it when she it calm. If she gets frustrated and upset she can't figure it out. I was so baffled that I had to look up when she should be doing this in my child development book. This task is usually accomplished around 15 weeks. Since she is a preemie we are supposed to gauge her development from her due date, which is Nov. 4th. This means developmentally she is -1 week. As she gets older it will be interesting to see how she develops.

Smiles

Both of the girls are so cute when they smile. Unfortunately, they only do this in their sleep, but we take it all the same. The lower one is Alice and the top one is of Claire 'laughing'. As you can imagine, the nurses could never get enough.

Alice

My grandparents came into town today from NYC for a funeral. We stopped by the hospital to visit Alice. She got off of her antibiotics yesterday and got to start eating again. At this point she will slowly work up her eating until she can take a few ounces. She started with about 1 tbsp and will gradually get more. We expect her to be released on Thursday.

Claire

Today after Claire's bath she was very awake and alert and so cute. Her cheeks seem to get bigger everyday. I guess she gets that from me. Alice is doing great. We expect her to get released next Saturday or Sunday. She will finish her antibiotics on Thursday and then will need a few days to reintroduce food and make sure she can tolerate that.

Improvement

Alice is doing much better. Today she got the tube removed from her throat which means they are seeing definite improvement. She also had a hip ultrasound done today which was scheduled for an outpatient procedure, but we might as well do it while we are here. This was done because she was breech and there is a history of hip problems in Marc's family. That was normal. Claire will still need one done, but at least Alice's is out of the way. Claire is doing great and taking care of only one baby has been like a vacation.

Back to the hospital

Yesterday morning at about 1:00 Alice threw up her entire bottle. It was a lot more than normal spit-up and really freaked her out. After that she was hungry, but refused the bottle so I breast fed her the rest of the night. Also about this time we noticed some blood in her diaper. Luckily we already had an appointment with the pediatrician scheduled for that morning. At the appointment both girls have surpassed their birth weight and are growing well. When we mentioned the blood in Alice's diaper the doctor was very concerned. So we got some blood work done and an X-ray. Unfortunately the X-ray was inconclusive and we were sent up to Primary Children's ER where they did more blood work and more X-rays. From these tests they determined that Alice has a bowel infection. These infections are not uncommon for preemie babies, can not be prevented and are not contagious. So Alice spent the night at Primary's to do a round of antibiotics and serial X-rays, a tube was also put down her throat to decompress her stomach. The last time she had eaten was at 7:00am and was not allowed to eat so her bowels could be cleared and the bacteria would lose their food source. She ended up looking so sad and after awhile just gave up. By the end she had been so poked and prodded. Her little heels are just hashed with all of the sticks. And since her feet cannot dorsal flex well it was obviously very painful every time they tried to squeeze blood out of her heels. Once they got IV fluids going she started looking better, but was still very lathargic and basically slept all day. Only one parent can stay in the hospital and we didn't want Claire to be exposed to any illness that was floating around so I went home and Marc stayed with Alice last night. As of this morning her X-rays have not changed and it looks like she will stay in the hospital for about 10 days to do an antibiotic series and for observation.

Twin Bond

As we were leaving the hospital the discharging nurse extolled all the virtues of co-bedding and convinced me that we should try it. We bought a Pack 'n Play with a bassinet. The bassinet is just the elevated mattress which means it is plenty big for the two of them. When I put them into the bassinet I put them a bit apart so they wouldn't smother each other, but they make their way over so they are not lonely. When I checked on them once they were just too cute that I had to get a picture of them snuggling.

Both girls love to stretch. I think they were so cramped that they are trying to take advantage of all the space they have now. This little video is mostly of Alice stretching. Marc bought these outfits yesterday and they are just too cute.

Bye Bye NICU

We are out of the NICU! Alice must have gotten lonely because she started eating really well as of Sunday. I do wonder if she ate better because I spent more time with her after Claire left. Both of them have  been on the same eating schedule with half regular feedings and half of the feedings with fortified breast milk. This way I was spending the days feeding Alice in the hospital and the night feeding Claire. When they were both in the NICU I felt like there was more of a time crunch and wanted to get done quicker, because of this I would stop feeding them as soon as they showed signs of being done. We were regularly spending 1.5 to 2 hours for each feeding. When we were doing this every 3 hours, there was not much time for anything else. When Claire went home I felt that I had a lot more time to make sure Alice was getting what she needed. The hardest part of splitting them up was that Marc was unable to see Alice for a while since he would watch Claire. We are glad to have them here and together. 

Another big moment today was our first family excursion. It was just to the pediatrician, but still, it was an event. The poor girls look so miserable in their car seats. They are just big enough to fit in the car seats and sure look tiny in them. It is obviously uncomfortable.

The pediatrician appointment went well. They were just weighed, measured and checked

 out. This was the first time meeting Dr. Baar since the girls came so early. We had our "prenatal appointment" scheduled with her last Tuesday and obviously couldn't make that. We really like her though and have heard only good things about her from those who know her. Our bishop is a doctor in the same building as her and my OBGYN takes her girls to her. That was good enough for me. I tried to feed the girls and change their diapers before hand so they would

behave at the appointment. It was all for naught. Claire needed to be changed and both needed a bottle while we were there. This is a picture of Marc feeding both simontaneiouly. Claire needed a blood test and she jumped when her heel was stuck, but didn't cry and hardly woke up before going back to sleep. I guess that is where the bottle comes in handy. Marc says that after that excursion he is not sure about having any more kids.

All in all we are settling in and are looking forward to finding a rhythm.

Just a quick update

We have been so busy these last few days that I have had no time to update my blog. Exciting news though, Claire was released today! She has been eating really well, her temperature has been normal for several days, and she finally started to gain instead of lose weight. I thought having both of them in the NICU was difficult, it is much more of a challenge splitting them up. The nice thing is that my parents were able to find us a furnished apartment about 2 blocks from the hospital that we are renting for 2 weeks. This way it is much easier to run between the girls. It has been such a blessing to have a place so close that I can go and nap and have privacy, but still be close. We will stay here for the full time we have rented this place just because it is nice to be close to stores and resteraunts while we are making this adjustment. At the cabin it is a huge ordeal to try and leave to get anything, even without babies. By the time we get home, hopefully we will be in a routine and have picked up all of those incidentals that you forget about.

Updates on the girls

Alice Antonina Inman

5 lbs 3 oz   19"

Claire Bathsheba Inman

4 lbs 13 oz   17.75" 

We are all doing really well. The girls are still in the NICU, but are doing fine. They are not sick babies, but need to be eating better and growing. Right now they are losing a bit of weight, which is normal for all babies. Alice is out of the warming bed and regulating her own temperature well. Claire is still trying to get the temperature thing down and occasionally needs the warming bed. If they were full term, we wouldn't be concerned about them losing weight, but since they are so small, they are being supplemented with formula through an NG tube for awhile. We go down and feed them about every 3 hours to help them get used to breastfeeding and while they are latched they get their supplemented formula. Last night however, we decided to give up on the 2 am feeding in lieu of sleep. Currently we are spending about half of our time in our room and the other half with the girls. If anyone wants to call they can. My room number is 801-507-7319, or you can try my cell phone 801-644-4508. If I am not there, I am with the girls and try back later. We will be here until Thursday and after that there is a possibility we will stay here in a "Parent Room" if they are available and the girls are not ready to leave. I will try to continue the updates. Also, thank you Melanie for posting the pics to my blog yesterday, and Marc for taking dication while I was laying in bed.

They're here!

Last night I started having contractions at 7:30pm that were 5-10 minutes apart. I called my doctor. Luckily, she was the on-call and not someone else from her practice. She said, "If the contractions get more intense or closer together, come into the hospital." Around 5:30 this morning, they did. But I still wasn't convinced that I was in labor. So, I got up, showered, packed my bag and waited for Marc to wake up. We made it to the hosptial by about 10am. There, they hooked me to monitors where my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. And when my doctor checked me, I was 3.5 cm and 90% effaced. Since we were past 34 weeks, she had no problem taking them today. And if we had any doubt, my water broke on the operating table right before they started. I was happy that the anesthesiologist was someone that I had worked with before and I knew he would do a good job.

They were born by c-section at 12:15 and 12:16. They were doing really well right off and were both crying when they came out. Baby A, the one we were worried about, weighed 4 pounds 14 ounces and was really healthy. Baby B weighed 5 pounds 2 ounces and had her cord wrapped around her neck 3 times. Despite that, she was still crying and doing well. Because they were so early, Marc got to see them before they were passed into the NICU, but I didn't. They were really fast sewing me back up. When we got back to the recovery room, Marc's family was just showing up. They visited with me for about an hour until I was taken up to my regular room.

When we got to the regular room, Pete and Colleen and their family dropped by as they were on their way to Idaho. It was nice of them to come and get pictures of the girls so that my parents could see them, since they are in Idaho.

While I was resting, Marc went down with all the visitors to the NICU and decided that they definetly looked like him since they have dark curly hair.

Around 4:00pm, I got the okay to go visit them. When we got to the NICU, Baby A was awake and moving around and acting hungry. So we tried feeding her. She did really well and was on for about 30 minutes. Then we tried Baby B, who was a lot sleepier and was not really interested in eating. At this point, they appear to be doing great but will stay in the NICU to be monitored. As soon as they can regulate their temperature and are eating well, they will join us. We are happy that things turned out so well and that everyone is healthy.