C-section/Hospital Stay
- If you're having a c-section, make sure you get up and start walking around as soon as they will let you. It will make recovery much easier and it just feels good to get out of bed!.
- This may be too much information...but if you haven't been able to go #2, make sure you tell the nurses before you leave the hospital and follow their instructions (even if you would rather not!).
- Have the lactation consultant come as soon as the babies arrive. Don't let her leave after 2 minutes. Two minutes is NOT enough time...especially with two babies!.
- If you're frustrated with the staff, speak up (or have your husband speak up for you). My hospital stay improved after we demanded some quality time from the nurses/lactation consultant. The stay still sucked, but it did improve.
- If they offer to take the babies the first night, let them...you won't be able to get out of bed and it would be too much for your husband to handle by himself. You can have the nurses bring the babies when they need to nurse.
At home:
Nothing better than coming home!. At least for us, everything improved once we got home.
- Follow-up with the lactation consultant if things don't seem to be going right. Stay flexible....do your best but know that breast feeding is HARD and it's especially hard with two preterm babies. If it works, enjoy it!. My boys did well nursing the first 1.5-2 weeks. I will treasure those moments forever and it's how I want to remember my breast feeding experience.
- If you live in a two-story home, have a changing and napping stations downstairs. You don't want to be going up and down the stairs all day! (and shouldn't if you have a c-section).
- I highly recommend having swaddle wraps (miracle blankets, Halo, etc). They work better than swaddle blankets, in my opinion. Swaddle the babies each night...they will start associating swaddle with night time!.
- During the day, don't let the babies sleep for too long. They need their biological clocks adjusted. If they are in deep sleep, tickle their feet or change their diapers. You don't have to fully wake them up, just enough to break the deep sleep. Before you know it they will understand the difference between night and day (most days anyway!).
- Ask and accept help. You will need it. Period.
- If you forget to brush your teeth for an entire day, just know you're not alone ;)
- Likewise, if you stay in your PJs all day (with spit ups and all)...know you're not alone there either!
- Even if you plan to breast feed, have a back -up plan (aka: have bottles, a drying rack, non-toxic dish washing soap, etc). I found the little disposable bottles they give you at the hospital worked best when we first got home. They are small, easy to clean and when the babies are eating tiny amounts 12 or more times a day you will be thankful you don't have to deal with big bottles with multiple parts!. Ask for them and get as many as they will give you!.
- Don't waste your money on newborn clothes (or shoes for that matter). Most of what I own has been passed down -- it's all in perfect condition and works great. In a matter of weeks they went from everything being way too big, to outgrowing some outfits!
- Take the babies out for walks. They love it and it will do wonders for your mood. It's amazing what a little sunshine and fresh air can do.
- Attempt to have a schedule from Day 1. It will change and you have to assess the babies needs. My boys were eating every 1-1.5 hours initially. They now eat every 3 hours and I try to make them stick to that schedule. Obviously, use common sense...if they are truly hungry (not sleepy, or needing a diaper change, etc)...then feed them!
- If one baby wakes up to eat, wake the other one up. This is if you want to get ANY sleep at all. I plan on stopping doing this at around 6-8 weeks...to start weaning them off night feedings and see how long each baby could go.
- Don't engage too much with the baby during night time feedings. You want them to be sleepy...so it's not time for play ;)
Have a log
- I can't stress this enough. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just something you use to keep track of everything. They first couple of weeks will be a blur and you will forget how much they ate, whether it was formula, nursing or pumped milk, which breast they ate from, etc. It won't only be helpful to know what/when to do the next feeding...but it will also be helpful in identifying trends. I make notes in my log such as: "bath", "really fussy", "first Dr appointment", etc.
- Now that my babies are a month old and on a more predictable schedule, I only log at night. During the day they pretty much eat every 3 hours on the dot, so I don't need to keep track of it. I still log at night and recently started to keep track of which baby is the one that wakes up to eat (which I think will help me when the time comes for sleep training).
You can easily create a log in Excel, or download mine (link on the right bar). I have a column for sleep, but never really used it. Other than that I used it as is.
***
Those are my tips, for now. I have more but it's time to eat and Alex is ready!.
Just two last ones:
ENJOY THEM!!!
and
Take tons of pictures!!!
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3 comments:
Your post remembered my first days with the girls.
The most important thing is trusting in yourself, no matter what people say.
Thanks for all the great BTDT pointers and tips! We'll be there very soon, and I'm looking for all the tips I can get!
Congrats on surviving--I know it can't be easy, but you seem to be doing really well!!!
All the best!
Two of them struck a major cord with me... I can't tell you how many days I think, "Have I even brushed my teeth yet?" and it's like 5pm. Oh, and getting into real clothes (other than yoga pants - which is a step up and I try to do this daily) is also a major accomplishment! I have ONE pair of jeans that I bought (in two sizes bigger, nonetheless) that have only seen the light of day a couple times :)
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