Baby Shower and NICU Days 15&16

NICU Day 15: Bath Time!

They screamed bloody murder. Oh how they cried. It was so heart breaking that I wanted to cry with them! We planned on taking pictures of them in their "tubbies" but just couldnt. We were just trying to comfort them during their tears. We stroked their heads and talked to them. Both looked at us with sad eyes that begged us to stop the "torture". It was heartbreaking! However, when the hair washing started, oh how they changed! They were much more calm for that.

Clean (and very unhappy!) Babies! They were both trying to roll over. He almost made it before we caught him.

Bobby

Maya

We held them afterwards and they were both just wiped out. I dont think either of them even tried to move. And when it was time to put them back to bed, they didnt even stir. They had cried themselves out.

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NICU Day 16

By request... The babies with their snugglies...

Our sleeping Princess Maya...

Our sweet (and very awake!) Bobby

The babies were still wiped out by bath time. They apparently slept very well last night and didnt even stir during their assessments every three hours. Maya was still wiped out although she was awake for part of our morning visit. Tonight, when Peter was holding her, she had a few desats in a row, so she went back to bed early. She was sneezing and the nurse thinks she may have gotten some mucus in her airway. She suctioned her and elevated her head slightly and things went back to normal. Bobby was awake this morning after his assessment but after about 15 minutes was ready for night-nights again. When I held him tonight, he was awake for about 45 minutes. He played with my finger, sucked his thumb, watched Peter and I, and then, finally, began to doze. He was pretty much out like a light when he went back into bed.

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Baby Shower:

O. My. Goodness. There were so many people! When we walked in, the room was almost full. It took us almost an hour to meet and greet (and we actually didnt get to chat with a lot of folks). There were family and friends who drove in from out of town. But the craziest part was that it took us over an hour to go through the gifts. People were so generous. Our kitchen is full of bags and packages. Bobby and Maya will not be cold, dirty, or unable to ride in a car anytime soon. There were also beautiful handmade blankets, bonnets, booties... You name it. Everything was just beautiful. I will be spending the next week writing thank you notes. We set up a slideshow of baby pictures which was a hit. Everyone was just so kind. It was really sweet. So many people worked to pull it together and make it a success. My MIL got a lot of help to make the day work and I know people put so much into making it special. And it was.

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We drove to the hospital this morning, then the shower, then back to the hospital, and now, we are back home and I'm on the moo-chine. We are both just wiped out. We arent sure when we will go to Mass tomorrow, but we are planning on it. That will be nice...

My c-section. Yuck. The drainage started last night (which is apparently quasi-normal once the steristrips come off. Oh for joy. I have a pad against it. It's not a lot, but I dont want it on my panties. It's a clear-yellow, which is apparently fat! Yummy! (As Peter said, "You dont mind that fat is leaking out, right?" Actually, smartypants, I do mind that anything is leaking out of my (closed) incision. It's gross!) And, in even more gross news, my belly is so dry that it is flaking almost like a sunburn. The lotion bottle and I are now good friends. It helps with the itching too. (OMG, how it itches!!! Again, I'm told this is "great news" because it means it is healing.) I tried holding my incision pad in place with an ace bandage, which worked great, but because of the pressure, it made the area red. :( Since I'm supposed to be looking out for redness, I've decided this is a bad thing and perhaps I will just let my panties hold the pad in place (even though the ace worked soooo well...) On a positive note, the healing ridge is, well, healing. The hard-as-a-rock area is shrinking. It has left the upper part of my belly flabby (the lower part is still hard). I'm getting around better each day and find that I can walk and stand more frequently. I even did a quick grocery trip and made dinner last night. I was pretty proud of myself.

As a close, a follow-up from yesterday's post. Peter is such a sweetheart and romantic. When we initially exchanged vows, we found these beautiful rings, made out of some sort of metal (I think they were $8 a piece- we arent talking anything major here). They had infinity symbols alternating with starbursts. We wore them until our wedding 15 months later when we exchanged them for simple, gold bands. But we kept those rings and decided that one day, we'd have them recreated. Last year, for our 10th (June) anniversary, we decided to have them made. We priced them, etc, but so much was going on that we never got around to it. Well... For this 10th anniversary, Peter somehow found the time to have our local jeweler make the rings.

The picture doesnt do it justice. Suffice it to say, they are beautiful. We exchanged them last night, at our kitchen table, over a simple dinner (before leaving for "tubbie time" at the hospital). I love my husband. He is such a wonderful man.

And, on an unrelated note, I just got a text message from my dad. My brother called him. Apparently he's worried I'm going to be mad at him. His son's middle name is Nicholas... I dont know that he named him in memory of our Nicholas. But I think I will go with that and think that it is sweet. I love my little brother. I know that some people might think "of all the names in the world, why would he choose the 2 names that they chose for 2 of their sons". I'd prefer to think that our family is so close that we share the beauty of these strong names and that my son is being remembered in J's son's middle name, just as we chose to remember 2 very loved relatives- a brother and a cousin- in naming Bobby. And, speaking of my nephew, little Benjamin Nicholas is doing great. Thank you for thinking of him and keeping he and his parents in your prayers.