Welcome home, Adrian!

Adrian has been home since about 7pm last night, and this is the FIRST time that both boys have been asleep at the same time without one of us holding one of them.  Phew!  It's been exhausting for a number of reasons:
1. Why wouldn't your first night with twins be exhausting?
2. Both boys had a bunch of vaccinations yesterday, including the one for pertussis which has side effects (mainly fever and fussiness).
3. Adrian is used to the NICU noises and lights (Sebastian had the same issue the first few nights we brought him home.).
4. Both boys are on different breast milk and/or formulas AND different vitamins. Plus we had to give them Tylenol every 4 hours last night to ward off fever caused by the vaccine.  So every time we prepare a bottle for one of the boys, the milk is prepared differently and the vitamins are different.
5. It was an emotional experience for me to finally bring Adrian home and to say goodbye to Marcy and Judy at the NICU.

So here's basically how the last 24 hours have gone:

1. After Carlos got out of work, we went to the NICU with Sebastian in tow to pick up Adrian.  I went in the NICU to feed Adrian and sign discharge papers with Marcy.  Carlos stayed in the waiting area with Sebastian because siblings are not allowed into the NICU during flu season.  It was bittersweet to pack up Adrian's things and say goodbye to the little cubby that has been his home away from home.

How I found Adrian when I entered NICU

 2. Marcy waited by the elevators with us in the waiting room for Transport to come to take us down to 75 Francis St. for discharge.  Judy was busy with a new admission, but did manage to sneak out for a few minutes to say goodbye.  I cried, and then we were gone, with two babies in the back seat.

Sebastian

Adrian, blanket courtesy of Judy

Home sweet home

And the crying begins...

3. At home, we fed the boys a bottle because they were starving.  Then we tried to get them to sleep.  Sebastian, who we had such a hard time getting to settle those first few nights he was home, was a perfect angel and fell asleep no problem for Carlos.  I had Adrian, though, and he was fussier than I've ever seen him.  He was definitely not himself, which we expected based on our experience with Sebastian.  He did not sleep a wink the whole night on his own--only cat napped in my arms.  The second I put him down, he'd start whimpering until it crescendoed into loud crying.  I was afraid to fall asleep completely with him in my arms in bed, so I didn't sleep all night.

4. Attempt to breast feed both babies at once around 5AM.  Didn't go well, but didn't go as bad as I had expected either.  Sebastian is a pro and will find a way to a boob no matter what.  Adrian acted like he'd never breast fed before and farted around until we finally bottle fed him.  There was a period of about 2-3 minutes where both boys were actually latched at the same time.  It was one of the funniest experiences of my whole life.  I laughed the whole time and felt like a pig with piglets attached.  It actually would have made a hysterical video, but I'm not going there in the blog.  Don't worry.

5.  7:45 got a call from the pediatrician--Can you come in at 9:45 instead of 2:30?  Sure...we hadn't slept a wink anyway.  Adrian is 8 pounds 9 oz.  Big!

6. Went to CVS to pick up Vitamin D for Adrian.  He started screaming in the car and Carlos was calling me in CVS telling me to hurry up...

7. Tried to breast feed both at once again.  Repeat performance of the early AM, only this time Sebastian was hitting Adrian in the face as he fed.  Adrian gave up after a bit and we ended up bottle feeding BOTH boys.

8. I tried to make phone calls while Carlos did some tummy/play time with the boys on the floor.

practicing their dance moves...

Sebastian actually seemed to think Adrian's ear was a nipple!!!!

9.  Quick canned soup heated in the microwave for lunch--both boys finally fell asleep.

10.  I'm blogging instead of napping; Carlos is asleep on the couch.  Ooops.  Not anymore.  Sebastian just woke up and is screaming.

So, that is basically it.  I did leave out a lot, but you get the idea.  I don't know what to do first: keep working at breast feeding both boys at once, just try to breast feed Adrian alone so that he can get the hang of it again (it's been a while for him since they gavaged him for 2 weeks after his initial swallow study.  I'd only breast fed him once since then.), breast feed one while Carlos bottles the other...just pump and bottle feed both....??  The problem is compounded by the different caloric needs, vitamins, and medicines that each one has.