John David Pate-3years old

James Daniel Pate-3years old

Saturday, February 21, 2009

All in DUE time!

Just finished nursing, both boys so relaxed and peaceful...for a moment anyways.




I have finally made it to my due date with the boys. It seems so surreal that they have been in this world for 10 weeks and should really be entering the world this weekend. I am so proud of how far they have come. I praise God every single day for the miracle in their lives HE has performed.

Now that the boys are gestationally "newborn" we have made it to newborn diapers and clothes. In a crazy kind of way, I am going to miss the tiny preemie clothes and diapers. But so happy they are growing and chunking up!

I wanted to post some cute things I have noticed about the boys lately. Although they are identical twins and seem the same in so many ways...they are also showing differences too.

EATING: James: doesn't give warning that he is awakening to eat, he just goes from deep sleep to ear piercing scream when he is hungry. John David: will give you a bit of a warning when he is about to wake up hungry, he grunts and roots around, will fuss a little bit and doze back off to sleep for a short moment. So usually James eats first because I can postpone John David for a little bit. If not, I nurse them at the same time together. Which is quite comical, they snuggle their heads together on the inside of the Boppy pillow and actually start to suck simultaneously TOGETHER...it is hilarious. I swear they can sense each other and have their own way of communicating. They start out nursing the same and then usually John David picks up speed and James tries to catch up, then chokes and has to sit up to burp; which is difficult to do with one hand because brother is still going to town!!! But really to be so small (5 and 6 pounds) they are handling it wonderfully. I am secretly glad that they are nursing well together because it is much faster. Instead of feeding time taking 2 hours, it only takes 1 hour now!

THE PACI: James seems to be a bit lazy here, he wants it but likes to have you hold it for him or prop it against his face with a blanket. John David sucks his paci as if he were going to devour the thing.
SLEEPING: Both boys are excellent sleepers (thank goodness) They are going every 3-4 hours during the day and will make it from 11pm-5am at night. I have noticed recently though, that James really prefers to sleep on his belly (probably because of the REFLUX) and John David could care less. He'll sleep any position. James LOVES to drape across the Boppy and sleep and John David likes to be crammed in the center of the Boppy.

MEDICINE: The boys are on Zantac for Reflux and an iron supplement. We have to sneak in the iron while I am nursing them (funny to watch them stop and take a moment to "figure" out what I am doing) James seems a bit smarter on this task. He is harder to fake off. John David (after the 4th time of the bitter Zantac medicine still has a hard time swallowing it but does it and seems a bit clueless as to what I am doing) James (after the 4th time) has figured out he HATES that stuff and struggles much more with swallowing it because he knows what is coming.


I think the boys are finally "waking up". They do still sleep a great deal but are starting to have awake moments for about 20 min. after they eat. And by the way, any advice on REFLUX please pass along.

James' results from his liver function test all came back normal...Praise God! He is still a bit jaundice, probably from breastmilk.

3 comments:

Brooke said...

Dana,

I love hearing about your boys! I feel like it gives me a little glimpse of what to expect! I can't believe you've been nursing them one at a time... I'm nursing John & pumping for Adam and it's driving me nuts... I feel like that's ALL I do - I'm hoping just to be able to nurse them at the same time! Let me know how it goes! They are precious! I'm so glad they're both doing so well. We're still praying for them (and all of you!) daily.
love, brooke

SouthernDogwoods said...

Great post - such fun to read about their personalities, alikes & dislikes. Ah, Zantac & iron supplement - I remember those days.
Have you tasted the Zantac - it is HORRIBLE. I used to get the girls flavored and it was still bad.

Once the girls started taking
Zantac that is when they started sleeping through the night.

So glad to hear all is well. What an adorable picture!!!

Anonymous said...

So glad you all are doing so well. Hang in there with the reflux. Reflux and sleep deprivation were the hardest part of having twins. My boys did best when they ate very slowly (which is hard to control breast feeding) and then I always left them propped up for at least 30 minutes after eating. That seemed to help some.