Tuesday, December 6, 2011
This is harder than I thought
Let me first start by saying that if anyone reads this who is still trying to conceive, you might want to skip this post. I always hated hearing someone talk about how hard it is to have a newborn(s). I love my babies more than anything in this whole wide world and thank God that he brought then into our lives!
So I have to be honest here, I thought I knew how hard twins would be but I was wrong, way wrong. But I don't know that anyone can explain how difficult this is. Between my little man being admitted to the NICU and no one giving us much information and not taking me to see him until he was over 24 hours old. Or the difficulty trying to balance your time between our baby girl who needs her parents and her brother who is pretty much all alone in the NICU and needs to bond with his mommy and daddy. Now that we have them both at home, getting a schedule down has been pretty good but just exhausting. They feed every 3 hours starting with breastfeeding, then I hand them off to daddy who bottle feeds formula for supplementation and then I pump. The whole process usually takes about an hour and a half. That leaves us an hour and a half to accomplish everything else. During the day it's not bad but only sleeping for a max of an hour an a half at a time is very hard. Plus the amount of swelling in my feet and legs is out of control! Super painful to walk with no improvement in sight. Oh and don't even get me started on the constipation!! I was so incredibly miserable the other day that I was in tears multiple times. This was definitely something I was unprepared for. How the problem got solved is something I never thought I would do in a million years but words cannot describe how desperate I was for some relief.
I know things will get better and I'm so thankful that our schedule is going fairly well. In a few months or even weeks I know I will look back and find it hard to even remember these days. Just getting to that point will be the hard part.
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It is sooo hard.
ReplyDeletePeople never talk about how hard recovery from delivery is, whether it is a c-section or vaginal birth. There is so much changing and you are not only trying to recover but also take care of two newborns.
I really struggled with one, so I cannot imagine.
It will get better! You will eventually feel like you are doing it right and they will start to smile and "talk" and play and it is all sooooo much easier.
Thinking of you!
People tell you it's hard with a newborn and you don't quite undertsand it until you go through it. I remember, vividly, how incredibly hard it was!
ReplyDeleteAnd people kept telling me it will get better. Again, I didn't believe them until I experienced it getting better.
Hang in there. You have two beautiful babies. Try to enjoy every minute with them.
My twins are now 2 and a half, and it does get much better. My husband and I found that sleeping in shifts worked well (I got after the 9pm feed until about 3am, skipping the midnight pump/feed; he slept after the midnight feed to 6 or 7am). Babies and "on call" person were downstairs and the sleeper was upstairs. Made a world of difference!
ReplyDeleteIt is totally hard and just because we suffered with infertility doesn't mean that we aren't allowed to think this newborn stuff is hard! I really can't imagine it with two! People were telling me that it would better and I didn't believe them until it actually started getting better. Hang in there! You are doing a great job!
ReplyDeleteIt is hard, especially that first month or so. Your story already sounds so similar to our experiences in the beginning, one in the nicu and one not, trying to do the whole bfeeding and figuring out a schedule, all while recovering from even having them. I didn't last with the nursing though unfortunetely, but if you can hang in there with it, that is awesome! Seriously, if you would like any advice at all, just let me know. I know we all have different ideas, but I could let ya know what worked for us. Hang in there!! I know everyone keeps saying it gets better, but it really does!!
ReplyDeleteNot at all! I actually only lasted a few days..if that. I pretty much gave up after the first night home sadly. To be honest, I didn't really even plan on nursing to begin with, but Baylee had some feeding issues while she was in the nicu, so it kinda got me to change my mind. It's not that I didn't want to to begin with, I just didn't think I'd really be able to do it with having two, so I didn't really think about it much beforehand. Sounds bad I know. Maybe if I had tried to prepare myself earlier, I may have lasted longer, but I kinda doubt it, so don't be too hard on yourself. I know that's probably much easier said than done. Seriously, email me and I'll answer any questions ya have. Well when you have time of course. =)Kaosnrok645@aol.com
ReplyDeleteIt gets better. Sleep in shifts. That worked well for us and swaddling help a great deal to. I know exactly what you are going through. Hang in there
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