What do you do with one baby while the other is still in the NICU?

royalcrown1

At this point, because of mono-mono twins, I am going to have a schedule C-section at 34 weeks.  While the doctor says it is possible for 34 weekers to go home with Moms, I am not expecting that.  If both babies are in the NICU, and one gets discharged, how do you balance being at home to take care of/breastfeed one baby, while also being in the NICU to take care of the other baby?

lisa&andy

For us, I was pumping for DS who was in the NICU and DD who was home with us. DH was off for 3 weeks and we had to take turns watching DD while the other went and saw DS since she couldn't go back there. The last week, my mom visited since DH had to go back to work and she watched DD while I was back there and they we switched so she got to see him.

My pumping schedule revolved around visiting DS, I pumped before going, then when I got home, I visited 2-3 times a day for at least 1 hour. I became an expert at pumping in the car while DH drove.

abbzy85

I spent most of the time at home with the first baby that was discharged and then I planned to go visit my other baby each night. I always made sure someone visited him even if it wasn't me. You just have to make sure that you don't put too much pressure on yourself. You can't cut yourself in half so you will inevitably spend more time with one baby. It's okay though, the baby will not be mad at you if you aren't in the hospital with him all day. Trust me.

FemmeNat01

Honestly, it's the hardest thing. I always felt like I was depriving one baby because I couldn't be in two places at once. I want to be with both of them but clearly, that wasn't possible. I would wake up early and go to the NICU for a couple hours while Nate was home and then go in the evening for a couple hours. I spent the majority of the afternoon with Luke. I cried almost every single day because of it. I had to do it for 3 weeks.

meldoo2002

Our boys were both in the NICU for awhile, but Nathan came home a week before Joey.  Our NICU was great and left Nathan's crib set up in Joey's area and I was able to bring him with me.  So everyday I brought him back to the NICU with me and basically did the same thing I did when they were both there... the only weird things were having to take Nathan with me to pump (if I did it in a mother's room) or go to the bathroom.. that kind of thing.  Other than that we just hung out with Joey each day.

benkari

It is sooooo hard!  2 of ours were discharged the same day and Ben would go one day and I would go the next to the NICU while the other would stay home.  Once Aubrey was discharged 3 days later it was a little more difficult for one to stay with all three so my mom came and helped out.  It was so nice when Cameron was discharged a week later!  They would have allowed us to bring them back in but there was no place for them to be other than in their car seats or stroller so we chose to do it this way.

efhoping2010

We were able to bring the discharged twin back in with us to visit the still hospitalized twin.  They left her crib set up and it worked perfectly.  Maybe ask if they will allow that for you?