Monday, August 2, 2010

Amelia comes home!

The long awaited day has finally arrived!


Actually, it arrived this past Wednesday, but we've been a little busy since then. Amelia Frances finally came home to live with the rest of her family. Wouldn't you know it, we had just started to get into a rhythm with Elena, who had a two-week head start on her sister at home. We thought we had it all figured out. Here's a short list of things we weren't prepared for...

1) Tubes and wires. Holy cow, cord management has never been so important. With one baby, we had to fight to keep monitor wires and oxygen tubing straight. With two babies, we're a tangled mess. After an hour of feeding and diaper changing the two of them, then putting one in this chair and the other on that--our living room ends up looking like something you'd need a machete to get out of. We're seriously looking forward to wireless children.


2) The relentless inevitability of the next feed, followed by the next one, followed by... I thought the hard part was going to be middle of the night feedings. Turns out, for us the hardest thing is knowing that everything we're doing right now is going to have to happen all over again in three hours. It's seemingly never ending.

3) Delerium. Speaking of late night feedings, apparently I'm so delerious when I wake up in the middle of the night that I feed invisible babies (with invisible bottles). One night I was so convincing in my confusion that I actually awoke Crissie and asked her to hold my invisible baby while I attended to the other one. She was so confused that she obliged--only to find that the invisible baby was actually a bundle of comforter. I wish I could say I was just kidding around, but I was dead serious. (It should be noted that all babies were safe in their beds at this point and were never in any danger from their sleep-deprived father)

Need sleep!!!

4) Ridiculous amounts of cuteness. So really, one tiny baby is cute enough, but two is almost nauseatingly adorable. It's non-stop. I think they're incapable of not being cute. Even when they're fussy and smell like a Port-a-let at Mardi Gras, they still find a way to be cute. Even my obnoxiously sarcastic demeanor is nearly moved to tears at just how beatiful they are--and God forbid they crack a smile.

Amelia's first bath at home.

Twin sisters holding twin sisters (Awwww!)

Zonked out in bed for the first time.

All kidding aside, the kids are doing great. Amelia's nearly seven pounds and Elena is around five and a half. They're doing well with their feeds and they're adjusting very well to life at home. Getting geared up to go anywhere with both of them plus their monitors and oxygen bottles can be a little much, but we're getting used to it. We also have developed even more respect for all those quad and triplet mommas out there. We talk all the time about how much more planning it must take to handle the additional... everything! Every time we think we're overwhelmed, well, you get my drift... 

I've said it 1000 times, but we can't say thanks enough to the staff at Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge. They did such an outstanding job with Amelia and Elena. We're so happy to have them both home, but Crissie and I genuinely miss our friends in Labor & Delivery and in the NICU--and not just because they would change a lot of diapers for us! 

Coming up on four months... I know, I can't believe it either...

7 comments:

  1. They are SOOO precious! I had to laugh at the part on sleep deprivation! :) As a mommy who's been sleep deprived for the last 28 weeks, I can't imagine that multiplied by two! :)

    I'm a stranger, but your story has really touched me and I continue to pray for your family and your BEAUTIFUL little girls!

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  2. Congratulations Alex & Crissie! So happy Amelia is home. Wow...this post brought me back real quick! Hang in there guys...you're doing great and the fog will be lifted soon.

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  3. Repeat with me.... it will get better, it will get better. I will sleep soon, I will sleep soon! So happy for you guys and hope you get some good rest soon!

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  4. Congrats!! I am so glad your two girls are home and healthy with you! What a beautiful blessing!

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  5. Congratulations!! We totally know what you mean about counting the day by with how many more feeds you have to do until... I never knew my life would revolve so much around eating! We are sooo excited for you and to see them growing!

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  6. Congratulations! The girls are absolutely adorable. So happy that you guys have them home. Enjoy...and sleep...EVERY chance you get :)

    Jac

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  7. Congratulations! The girls are absolutely adorable. So happy that you guys have them home.
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