26 weeks twin preemies; Intro

CynRO12

Hello,

Our lil boy and girl were born 26 weeks/6 days June 13th.
What started with what I thought was the flu, brought us to the ER, changed into remainder of pregnancy in hospital bed rest, and finally delivery 3 days later due to contractions.
What a roller coaster this has been. I'm still recovering from the c-section, trying to balance my 9 yr old and getting back to the hospital to see the babies and be involved in care time/ skin to skin,
and my god . . . . Trying to get to sleep at night; it's been awful!

We fortunately have amazing nurses that don't mind the many phone calls my husband and I make to check in on the twins. Also the many questions we constantly have about what tube does what or why the machine if dinging. Their so patient and truely "care" about the kids well being; it makes it a little easier to leave the twins knowing that. Then again what choice do you have; you have to believe their in the best care possible!

Tommorow, the kids will be a week old, I'm very happy to say. But how do you do this? We try to live day by day and not worry about the what IF's of the future. Things change so fast; just when we think one is out of the woods on a certain test the other sprouts a new issue that their "keeping an eye on".
It's so hard.

Any advice or your own personal experience in the NICU? Or suggestions on how you try and clear your mind when you get home and not want to jump in the car and race back to hospital? Or any other tips/advice for this journey?

Thank you.

DavidStamps

Hang in there, I can't say it gets easier...we've been doing the NICU for a month now. Our adorable preemies just turned a month old and even though time flew by, it was rough. Driving back and forth and juggling our 21 month old's schedule is hard. He can't see his brothers and we can't leave him alone, so we're finding babysitters, etc.

Again, hang in there. The NICU staff always say, take it day-by-day, which sounds rough, but it's been the truth for us. We move three steps forward just to go one step back, but we know they are in great hands, are getting the care needed and are getting stronger everyday. We 

Missi576

Hi  We just got our 26 week 3 day twins home about a month ago.  You can do this.. in fact, amazingly enough as much as you will be soo done with the NICU by the time you are finished, you'll almost be scared to not have the nurses anymore!  

First, any time you need to talk, you are perfectly welcome to poke me.  Just been there done that. My two came out with almost no long term effects for having been so early.  We are working our way through the last of hypertension, umbilical hernia, pda in one, just a touch of ROP in one.  

Second, don't be afraid to go in to the hospital at night if it works best for you.  I have a 10 and 12 year old at home.  We were able to spend the time with the older girls in the evening, then leave them with our roommate and go in to the midnight cares together.  I think that did good things for our marriage as we were together and still prioritizing each other.  Of course, the side effect is your night shift nurses really have to advocate for you because many day shift nurses just can't comprehend why they don't see you as much.  I personally felt it was insanely important to continue to prioritize everyone in the family.. especially since you are in for a three to four month ride.  They need to sleep so much that I thought my time was better spent letting them sleep and spending 4 to 5 hours from 10 pm to about 2 or 3 am with them.  Then we'd head home, get a few hours of sleep and start over with work and other kids.  

Hmm.. I'm sure I'll think of other things later.  Again, you can do this!  Ask questions constantly, question why they are doing each and every thing  Learn what nurses you trust the most.  If you are pumping, ask for extra parts.  

My heart goes out to you.  It is one heck of a journey.  

Oh!  My husband wants me to tell you that if you are pumping and struggling with supply (the schedule of visits and family can be hard on pumping schedules) I finally found a supplement that works to help with supply.  It is from a company called "Motherlove" called "more milk plus".  

Melissa

Pips09

Congrats on your babies! The NICU is really, really hard. Just try to take it one day at a time, and don't be afraid to ask tons of questions and call to check on the babies when you are not there.

MyMorningCoffee

Congratulations on the birth of your twins! 

The NICU is, like everyone else has been saying, tough. I found that routine was something that really helped me and my family. We established a schedule early on and tweaked it when the girls' schedule changed. We tried to be there to see both their day and night nurse, but that didn't always happen. I felt like it really set my mind at ease to know who was taking care of them when I couldn't be there. 

The other thing I wish we did earlier was to accept help. If anyone asks if they can do something for you, say yes! It took us a long time to realize that people wanted to help us but didn't know how, so we needed to tell them what we needed. 

KTZ17

Congratulations and welcome! To echo PPs, the NICU is rough. I agree that getting into a routine helps, and what helped me was not setting up expectations, like she should be bottle feeding by x time or she should be in the open crib by whenever. It helped me take it day by day. Best of luck and I wish your twins a short and uneventful stay.

CynRO12

Thanks everyone for your kind words and suggestions.
My husband and I have put a schedule in place to balance our NICU time, home time with my 9 yr old, and hubby/wife time. It's already a relieving feeling having that in place.
On a happy note, my lil boy peed all over me twice now when I've changed his diaper; lil bugger
And my daughter looks like sleeping beauty sleeping on her tummy with that adorable bum in the air.
Moments like that makes all the stress and worry fade.

Again thank u all for the support!