First night home...

I'll come right out and say it--last night was AWFUL.  In capital letters.  

Everyone was out of sorts.  Lexi wanted nothing but to sniff Sebastian to death.  We wanted to kill Lexi, and Sebastian wanted to be held all night long.  He wouldn't breast feed (and he's a champ) and he would NOT sleep a wink if he was put down in the co-sleeper along side our bed.  I didn't sleep 5 minutes all night long.  Carlos probably slept 10 minutes if he was lucky.  I did hear him snoring a few times, so he managed some sleep, though!  

I was so stressed out in the morning that Carlos called in reinforcements without my even knowing.  He got my mom to come to the rescue and take Lexi for a few days until we can settle into a routine with Sebastian and Adrian (who may come home as early as Sunday or Monday, but we'll see).  My mom had been offering to take Lexi all along when the boys came home, but I wanted to at least see how bad it would be.  Now I know.  She actually wasn't bad.  She just has to get her fill of sniffing the boys.  And I don't have the patience for her drool everywhere right now, and her being underfoot all the time makes me worried about tripping over her.  But hopefully once both boys are in a routine of sorts here at home, Lexi can do all of her inspecting and sniffing, get it out of her system, and stop fussing so much about their presence at home.  

This morning we barely made it to our pediatrician appointment at 10:30.  It was so crazy.  Sebastian slept the second we put him in the car seat.  He just misses feeling like he's in a tight space.  We had him in a sleep sack to sleep (to prevent SIDS), but he's used to being swaddled in a blanket and then padded with a nice little preemie mattress and sometimes towels and blankets.  He was so "free" in his sleep sack that he could actually turn himself on his side, which sort of defeats the purpose of the sleep sack!  

I think he was also so tired from lack of sleep that he didn't have the energy to breast feed.  At first I couldn't get him to stop crying long enough to even try to feed (although he would take a bottle).  Finally, this afternoon after he'd calmed down a bit, Lexi was gone, and I felt more relaxed, he was able to feed well.  Then he slept in the co-sleeper and we took a nap for 3 hours.  I woke him up to feed and take his iron and vitamins and he went back to sleep in his bed again and is still sleeping.  I hope he can continue this during the night...

Today was the first day that we didn't go to the NICU to see the boys.  When I called to speak to the nurse earlier today, I actually asked for the nurse in charge of the "Kirkcaldy boys."  I completely forgot that one of them was home.  So, poor Adrian didn't get a visit today, and I felt terrible about it.  But, the visit was really about us, not him. The reality is they take wonderful care of him and it doesn't make much difference to him if we miss a day.  The nurse on duty (who we don't know) encouraged us to stay home today and nap and try to establish a routine with Sebastian instead of sending just me to the hospital and leaving Carlos alone with Sebastian.  As much  as I hated to not go see him, he'll be home soon enough, and the nap we took this afternoon was much appreciated and needed!  And, Adrian is a superstar all of a sudden--the transfusion did him a lot of good.

Let's hope tonight goes better.

Welcome home, Sebastian!!

The Little Engine that Could...that's Sebastian.  He was the small one, but he pulled together his eating before Adrian and is now home with us!

On Tuesday afternoon, we brought our Britax Chaperone car seat to the NICU for the car seat test.  All babies have to be put in the car seat for 90 minutes.  They are monitored for breathing problems while in the seat.  If there are any issues at all, they have to be tested in a car bed and go home in that.  I had spent an hour installing the low birth weight infant foam into the car seat to make it ready for babies weighing 4-11 pounds.  Sebastian is between 5 and 6 pounds (not sure of his exact weight today) so I was thinking he'd definitely need the foam.  Well, it turns out that when we placed him in the seat, the crotch straps were coming down to his knees and were over his thighs instead of his hips.  We could not for the life of us figure out how the heck to adjust the straps correctly.  So I called in reinforcement--my baby expert and friend Michelle LaRowe.  SHE HAS BEEN INVALUABLE.  Actually, here's a shameless plug for her and her services.  She knows more about babies than anyone I know.

http://thecapecodbabyplanner.com/Home.html
http://www.michellelarowe.com/

She also has various books published.  If you know anyone who is pregnant, her books or her services would be the best present you could give to the future mother and father.

Ok, so back to the story.  Within MINUTES, Michelle had a bunch of people, including the Car Seat Lady http://thecarseatlady.com/ helping me out.  I was texting her pictures of Sebastian in the seat, and she and all of her friends were figuring out the problem.  Eventually, we realized that the low birthweight foam actually needed to be removed!!!  After we took it out, Sebastian fit perfectly in the seat and we were able to start the car seat test.  He passed with no problem and was a good sport throughout all of our maneuvering and experimenting with the seat.  So he was ready to go home on Wednesday.

At 8:30 on Wednesday morning I got a call from the NICU, from Judy one of their primary nurses.  The doctors had tested both Adrian and Sebastian's red blood cell count (standard procedure) and they both came back extremely low.  This sounds scary, but here's the story.  ALL babies' red blood cell counts go down after they are born.  It guess the count actually hits a number in the 20s (with whatever scale they use) before their bone marrow kicks in and starts to produce the red blood cells.  So all babies are anemic to start out. Both boys were taking iron supplements to help their bodies out in producing the red blood cells, but the counts were still a little too low--their bone marrow simply hadn't kicked in enough yet.  Sebastian's was 22 and Adrian's was 20...way too low.  So they gave both boys a transfusion.  It's not as bad or as serious as an adult might think.  This is quite common in the NICU.  By the time the transfusion "wears off," they are old enough to produce their own red blood cells.  They just don't like to transfuse in the NICU if it's not absolutely necessary because there can be side effects.  Luckily, both boys had no issues with the transfusion, and they both looked so good after.  They were awfully pale before the transfusion.  We even think that the lack of energy and listlessness was affecting Adrian's eating.  After he got the transfusion, he took a bottle for ME without any problems.  And, he had one minor choke last night for Jill (the night nurse) and did fine with his feedings all day today with Marcy and Carlos.  Marcy is hoping we can get him home Sunday, which would be a great new year's present!  It would also be nice because both Marcy and Judy are working on Sunday.  That would be ideal for us, so that we can say goodbye and thanks to both of them.

We went to the hospital around 10:30AM today to spend some time with Adrian before Sebastian's discharge.  It was bittersweet for me for so many different reasons.  I hated to leave Adrian.  Hated it.  But at the same time, I was so grateful and so happy that Marcy was there to take care of him.  I felt so overwhelmed by gratitude that I cried and would have probably bawled my eyes out if I could have.  I wasn't crying when I left because I was sad or even scared--I was crying because I was so grateful to Marcy and Judy and all the other nurses who trained us well and who gave us peace of mind when taking care of our two boys.  Those two ladies were angels in our lives as far as I'm concerned, and I hate the idea of not seeing them every day!!  They've become an important part of our lives because they have been so patient, kind, and helpful to me and Carlos and absolutely wonderful to our boys.  I hope with all my heart we'll keep in touch.  I also hope they know what an impact they made on our lives.

The boys' NICU home.  Sebastian's on the left and Adrian's on the right.

This was Marcy with Sebastian as we were preparing to leave.  It brings tears to my eyes.  Thank you, Marcy.  

With Adrian before we left him.  This also brings tears to my eyes.

Home, finally.  I'll be living in those PJs for the next year.

In his car seat on the ride home.  He slept the whole way.

After we got home, we let Lexi sniff Sebastian's car seat and then slowly let her approach him.  She didn't get too close to him, but enough that she got his scent.  So far, she has been a royal pain in the neck, but she's ok when we let her be around us and Sebastian and don't try to block her off or keep her away.  She just likes to be a part of everything so much.  She was sitting in front of me and Sebastian as I breast fed him, supervising, I think.  Hopefully she'll get better and better and lose interest!  But that's probably wishful thinking.  The thing that has stressed me out the MOST about bringing the boys home is her, and I'm not convinced this is going to go well.  Hopefully, she'll be over the novelty by the time Adrian gets home and I have to take care of two babies.

I fed Sebastian at about 5:30-6 and then we called Marcy.  She told us to call her at the NICU once we were home.  Carlos has been a nervous wreck all day, and I think she wanted to put him at ease.  And she did when we talked to her.

Lastly, here's a picture of sweet Adrian.  I hope he's home soon...that's enough for now because I'm crying again and my heart is breaking for this little boy.

Merry Christmas!

It would have been lovely to have our boys with us for Christmas, but at the same time, it was nice to have a nice night out with the family.  If one or both of the boys had been home, we would not have been able to make the trip to my Aunt's in Amesbury.  I think they recommend not taking the babies for long rides in the car until they are 40+ weeks, even if they send them home before that.  It was super hard, though, to leave them at the hospital yesterday.  Even though they have no idea that it's Christmas, Carlos and I did, and it was painful to put them down and leave them.

Christmas Eve at my Auntie Carol's is always awesome.  She makes delicious food, and the highlight of the feast every year is her lobster pie.  It's probably the most decadent thing I've ever eaten.  Carlos dreams about it all year.  Literally.  For the past two years, she's made him his own individual sized lobster pie!  This year, the rest of the menu was beef tenderloin, a hot tortellini "salad," asparagus, rice pilaf, and red velvet cake for dessert.  And I'm not even mentioning the array of appetizers she put out!


I had already published the blog with the photo of me and my Nana below. As I was giving the published blog a glance, I noticed something in this photo and had to come back and edit the post.  I now know where Sebastian got his "Satan Swirl"/Cute boy curl from...look closely at Nana!

Me and Nana Banana, who is now a great-grandmother!!!  She looks to good to be a great-grandma!

Baby toys from my cousin Christian.

Overall sets from my Auntie Carol.  I love that the overalls are the same but the shirts are different.  I'm into almost the same, but not matching for my boys!  

These are the cutest hats ever.  They have little ears on the top of them if you look closely.

My mom knit them both sock money hats.  All the adults in the room wanted these hats too.  My mom has her work cut out for her!

Each boy got an enormous stuffed elephant with his name and birthdate on the ears from my Auntie Mimi.  

After the festivities at my Auntie Carol's house, we came home and hit the party going on downstairs at our neighbor's house.  This is the same neighbor we were fighting with last fall and Christmas.  I am so thankful that we are getting along now.  We actually genuinely like each other now!  What a difference a year can make!  I went down only quickly because I was exhausted, but Carlos stayed a while and schmoozed with all the Latinos and ate Ecuadorian and Argentinian food.

Christmas morning I usually host a nice brunch for the family.  This year things were up in the air because of the boys.  I actually bought all the stuff I needed to cook an egg casserole and potatoes, but by the time we got home last night, I was pooped and didn't prepare it ahead of time to sit in the fridge overnight like the recipe says.  In the end, it was just me and Carlos and my Dad so we ate a quick breakfast and went to the hospital to see the babies instead.  He got about 2 hours of time with Adrian, who seemed to love being held by his Grandpa again.

I was all up in poor Adrian's face taking pictures until he finally put his hand out and blocked me...

Sebastian

Sebastian

Baby Shower

Like the last post, I wanted to have some baby shower pictures in the blog so that we have all the important milestones and events in the same place for us all to look back at someday.

My mom and dad threw us the baby shower on October 2 at Stoneforge in Raynham.  Thank God it was early on in my pregnancy because only 2 weeks later I was on bed rest at the hospital!  We invited men and women, and we were so pleased that nearly every single person we invited showed up.  That was the best baby shower gift of all!!!  We are lucky to have such amazing friends and family.

Centerpieces, made by my mom.

Cake made by my mom's very talented friend Sharon.  Thank you, Sharon!!!

Yummy brunch buffet!

Practicing holding two kids at once...

Three generations of Levasseurs

I don't have many pictures of me pregnant at all...Carlos took some with the iPhone camera and the What to Expect app every week from around 14 weeks to 26 weeks when I ended up on bedrest.  But for whatever reason, we stopped taking the weekly photo once I was in the hospital.  My belly did get bigger than this, but not as large as I expected for twins.  

I don't know what we were doing here...

What a goofy look...

Ultrasound photos

I've been wanting to post ultrasound photos for a while now, mainly so that I have them on the blog so that the boys can see them someday (when they are bad and I try to make them feel guilty by forcing them for the 1,000 time to read about how they caused me to be on bed rest for 6 weeks).  I have a TON of ultrasound photos from when I was at the Brigham (I had an ultrasound nearly every other day!), but ironically the best ones seem to be from before I was on bed rest. 

At 12 weeks, they did an early risk assessment.  This is a better alternative (at least to start with) than amniocentesis which carries a relatively substantial risk to it (at least in my mind it does).  By measuring the fluid behind the neck of the baby, they can give you the odds of whether your baby has Down Syndrome or not.  I actually went to MGH for this test since the Brigham doesn't do it.  Carlos unfortunately missed this ultrasound because he was in Mexico, but it was the first time I saw the babies where they looked like babies.

This is Baby Two, Upper Right, AKA Sebastian Diego.

Baby One, Lower Left, AKA Adrian Jonathan 

The only ultrasound picture I have with the two babies together.  Sebastian is on top, Adrian on the bottom.

This is now 18 weeks, the day we found out we were having two boys.  This is Sebastian.  Note his little fingers by his head.  

Adrian at 18 weeks.

We never got a 3-D ultrasound picture, although a few of the technicians did try.  Before Adrian's water broke, he had poor Sebastian wedged so high into my rib cage that I couldn't breathe and Sebastian couldn't even show his face to us in an ultrasound.  They couldn't get a profile for me!  After Adrian's water broke, Sebastian took his revenge and had Adrian squished into the lower left corner of my uterus, but Sebastian still refused to show his face for us!  They tried once to get a 3-D picture of Adrian after the water broke, but you really need fluid around the face for the image to come out.  It ended up looking like a werewolf baby...I had to have the nurse reassure me a few times that my baby wouldn't look like the baby in the image!  ;)  Maybe I'll scan that picture and put it up later...it's actually quite hysterical.

Two steps forward, one step back

Both boys' circumcisions went well.  Enough about that topic.  (I was nervous about this all day...)

I gave Sebastian a bottle for the first time tonight.  He drank most but not all of it.  Also, both boys had their feeding tubes back in today.  Technically, this is a step backward for both boys.  But honestly, I was glad to see it.  I don't think they were ready to have them taken out yet or to come home this weekend,  Adrian especially since he was still choking on this bottle for the nurse today.  I'm in no hurry to have them home before they are ready--I don't want them not finishing their bottles or choking on me.

Apparently, in Adrian's case, the problem solves itself--it's not necessarily about training them to take a bottle properly.  One day soon, he will simply be mature enough to coordinate his drinking, breathing, and swallowing.  It will probably happen all of a sudden and perhaps overnight from one day to the next.  They are still talking about him probably going home next week.  By then, Sebastian may very well be ready too and our regular nurses will probably be back.  So things happen for a reason.  We'll see!

Tomorrow, if I have a chance, I'll post some pictures of ultrasounds (which are funny for me to look at now!) and the baby shower.

Carlos and Sebastian.

Sebastian

Sebastian

Adrian