Where we're at!

The boys are now 6 and a half weeks old and the days have passed so quickly that I've not had a chance to update the blog so this will be a long one!

The early days

The first week passed in a whirl of feeding and adjusting to two tiny babies in an already busy house. Bella had a tough time initially accepting her new siblings and the fact that the focus of attention had shifted from her being the centre, to now being shared. There were many tears from her initially but today she is pretty well adjusted and it almost seems like we've always been a family of five and she totally adores her baby brothers. Each morning she is excited to see one brother and then the other, and lavishes them with kisses and cuddles. She knows their names and talks about them all the time. There have been many heart melting moments with the three of them and I hope she continues to see them as a positive addition to her life.

Feeding

I'm exclusively breast feeding the boys and after a bit of a rocky start in the first week with them having latching issues from being premmies, they took to it so well. It was time consuming at first with them feeding slowly and constantly and I felt all I did was feed all day and night, but now they feed so well and we're on an established 7 feeds a day schedule and I finally get "time off" between feeds.. I had my usual doubts about "would I have enough milk", "were they taking enough milk" etc, but with the help of a lovely friend Simone, who is a breast feeding peer supporter and came to stay with us for 5 days to help with the feeding, I learned to trust myself and not worry so much. I know the proof is in the wet and dirty nappies, but I also bought some baby scales to do a weekly weigh-in just to satisfy any doubts.

Supersize me!

In the hospital both boys lost the usual initial amount of birth weight, with Sebastian losing the greater amount. He dropped around 350g and Felix about 150g. By the third week the boys had gained above and beyond their birth weights and now they just keep piling on the ounces! In week 4 they both gained 11 ounces, in week 5 Sebastian gained 9 ounces and Felix gained 12 ounces, and in the last week Sebastian gained 14 ounces and Felix 12 ounces...I guess I have good milk! Today my boys are weighing in at a healthy 8lb 6oz and 8lb 12oz. It's so reassuring especially after encountering so much negativity for exclusively breast feeding them. In the hospital they wouldn't hear of me feeding them just my breast milk and wanted me to supplement with formula. However, the boys have taken to the breast so well that I wouldn't consider feeding them another way and I honestly don't have time with twins and a toddler to make up formula and wash and sterilize bottles! They're also just too cute when they feed :)

We're wide awake!

We noticed when the boys reached their official due date, 4th March, they really started to change from their sleepy premmie state and become more alert and vocal with much more wide awake time. I'm not sure if they'll reach the "milestone markers" a bit later than normal as they're only 2 and a half weeks adjusted age right now. However, Felix gave his first proper smile yesterday and no wind followed so I'm pretty sure it was a genuine one! They have day and night sorted and are having extended periods of awake time and are now feeding every 4ish hours through the night. It's great when they do the longer period between feeds as I'm finally starting to feel human again. Day time is still on a 3 hour feed schedule with bouts of cluster feeding in the late afternoon/early evening. They're starting to enjoy looking around at all the goings on and are reaching out to grab things within their reach.

Doctor doctor...

The boys have been assigned their pediatrician and have been for two health checks with her so far. She is really happy with their progress and weight gain and has been the first health care professional to support me with feeding the boys myself. Such a refreshing change. She's so happy with them that we don't have a follow up appointment until they're 8 weeks old.

It's a twin thing

The debate is on as to whether Felix and Sebastian are actually identical even though they were in 2 sacs with 2 placentas. This technically means they're non-id but apparently 25% of all non-id same sex twins turn out to be identical. It's something to do with the egg splitting on the very first day. So far the boys look way too similar for me to think they're non-id. Apart from a small difference in weight and Felix having a slightly longer face it is so hard to tell them apart. Even after all this time I sometimes have to do a double take if I'm holding one of them. Sebastian has a very small red mark under his nose, but that will fade in time so maybe not the best way to tell them apart!

They do odd twin things as well. Even if they are in two separate rooms, if one cries the other will at the same time. If they're being fed separately, when one is being fed the other will make sucking noises, even if he can't see that his brother is being fed. One day I needed to wake Felix up more to feed so I gently squeezed his foot and Sebastian who was being held by Chris flinched and moved the same foot. They are so in tune with each other but I don't know if this is just from spending 8 months together in the womb or if it's something deeper than that. If they continue to look the same then we will have their DNA tested at 6 months to determine whether they are indeed identical.

Ok, so that will do for an update for now and I will continue to find 5 minutes from somewhere to keep updating the progress and the journey of the boys and Bella as they grow up together.