Back to Work

Francie Pants sporting "the lip" and an equally unhappy Gracie (too cute!)

I followed up with the GI doc over the phone this past week (we have an in-person follow-up the beginning of November). The Similac Alimentum is working great! So we save a bunch of money going with that versus the Neocate - WHEW! I just started the girls on 5 ounces a feeding - still including rice cereal. We also just started to try and cut out the 2 a.m. feeding. The doc said most babies sleep through the night by 4 months. The girls will be three months on the 18th... very soon! So we're crossing fingers that in a month from now they will give us at least 6 hours straight sleep.

I started back to work last Wednesday. It was hard - Not because I was worried about the girls - But because I was sad to leave them :-( Our nanny, Ms. Esther, is awesome. Thanks to Carolyn for referring her to us! We would have gone B.R.O.K.E. going the daycare route here in Columbia, especially with TWO infants. And it's a plus having the nanny come to our house, so we don't have to pack the kids up and take them anywhere :-)

Due to my schedule, Richard has to do the 6 a.m. feeding by himself. But he's an expert at it now. He's here in the morning when the nanny gets here. It's funny because she only speaks spanish, and Richard doesn't know any spanish - but they manage to communicate. Lots of sign language haha. I've had to brush up on my dusty spanish skills... let's just say, they remain pretty dusty.

My folks were going to visit this weekend (my mom had a 3-day weekend) - but my mom came down with a cold. Ahh the consequences of working with germy little kids. We were sad they couldn't make it down, but there are lots more weekends to visit in the future :-)

In the meantime I've posted some more pictures of the gals. Here are links to the albums:

Trip to my work place (taken by my co-worker, Maureen) HERE.

A visit from Aunt Amy and cousin Aissa, and some miscellaneous HERE.

And a bit early, but 3 month photos HERE.

Including the picture at the top of this blog post, here are a few more of my favs...

Frances showing off her big brown eyes and Gracie avoiding eye contact:

Gracie sporting her "I Love Grandma and Grandpa(s) shirt" and a HUGE smile!My cousin, Joe, feeding Frances at work:

Me feeding Gracie:

Delivery Story

I posted two versions of my delivery story. One is a long (too much information) version - mainly for ladies who like reading that stuff. The other is a MUCH shorter and less detailed version for everyone else. See them listed to the Right under "Pages."

Frances Laughed Today!

So I was making my typical funny faces and various animal sounds - and Frances got one of her big grins on her face and then all of a sudden she laughed! I was so surprised, I cried! hahaha. I haven't been able to get her to do it again though, but I know eventually they both will be giggling and laughing like crazy.

In the mean time here are some more pictures (click on the picture below!!!):

What's Worse Than A Colicky Baby - How About TWO!

Sorrrryyyyyy soooo long in updating. Time has really been flying by! And a lot has happened since my last update.

On a family note - Richard became a US Citizen at the end of August! Auntie Amy babysat so I could go to the oath ceremony. Very cool :-)

It's been a LONG two months since the gals were born. We've been back and forth to doctors wayyy too much. But hopefully we've finally got the girls all figured out. We were dealing with some MAJOR colic issues. If you've had a colicky baby I'm sure you can sympathize with our dealing with TWO colicky babies. No sleep sucks! I felt like running away or just dying. It was so overwhelming with the constant screaming of two babies.

After experimenting with mylicon gas drops to no avail. Then switching formulas from EnfaCare to Gentlease. And then....... the bloody diarrhea. Oh that one was hard for Richard and I to deal with. I'm glad my mom was still here when that symptom developed - to keep us sane. That was when the doc suspected milk protein allergy. So we tried Enfamil hypoallergenic formula Nutramigen. Which did not set well with their intestinal track. They got yeast infections on top of diaper rash!! More to make them scream! Blah. So then we switched to Neocate - the "most" hypoallergenic formula out there. It worked! No more bloody poopies! But the Neocate can only be bought online and is SUPER expensive. $33 for a 14 oz. powder can - that only lasts a day with twins. Yikes! Richard's insurance won't cover it because his company is based in NY which doesn't require insurance companies to cover it. CRAP!

Anywho we had an appointment with the pediatric gastroenterologist on Tuesday to confirm the milk allergy - which she did. She was nervous about us affording Neocate, so she told us to try Similac's hypoallergenic version for a week, just to see if that might work for us. That's still $26 dollars for a 16 oz. can, but every dollar we can save is better than none. We have to test their poopies again in a week to make sure the blood hasn't returned. She said we'll do an allergy test at 11 months to see if they still have a reaction. And if they do, then we'll have another allergy test at a certain time intervals after that. She said most kids out grow the milk allergy by 3-5 years of age. Let's hope sooner! I asked about soy formula. She said 60% of kids allergic to milk protein are allergic to soy protein. And on top of that, she said they don't recommend soy formula, especially for female infants, because the natural estrogen in soy causes puberty-like symptoms. Yikes. So that's a definite no go on the soy.

The pedi GI also diagnosed them with acid reflux. They already are taking rice cereal in their formula to help it set better in their tummies. But she also prescribed Pepcid and the first night we gave it to them (last night) was the first night the girls S.L.E.P.T!!!! It was amazing!! So I'm crossing fingers on that as well.

So we follow up with the GI by phone in 2 weeks, and in person in 6 weeks.

In addition to all that... we all survived our first family cold. I feel so bad for the babies since they can't take the meds we do to feel better. But they survived. Oh so many more colds to "look forward to" in the years ahead. hahaha.

Today they had their TWO MONTH checkup (wow). Richard wasn't able to take off from work. So I took them by myself. And I survived - even though they got 4 shots a piece. I was impressed with myself I must say hehe. As for their current stats:

Frances weighs 10 pounds 9 ounces and is 21 1/2 inches long. This means that by tomorrow she will have doubled her birth weight! Woohoo!

Grace weighs in at 10 pounds 6 ounces and is also 21 1/2 inches long. She still has 6 ounces to double her birth weight, but she'll probably be there by the weekend!

So the girls are on the curve now. And for their "corrected"age - since they were preemies - they are a bit above the 50th percentile - just a bit. So that's great! Even better is that developmentally they are right on target for 2 month olds - so there is no need to "correct" their age for those. Woohoo! I'm so happy :-)

So I'm happy all is looking brighter. Just keeping those fingers crossed!!

More Pictures!

Here are some more pictures of the babies since they've been home. Click here to view all the new pics. Below are a few of my favorites...

The babies together again:

A sleeping baby Frances:
A cute baby doll Grace:

Baby Checkup!

The babies had another check-up at the pediatrician office today. They are both doing well. Both got their second dose of the Hep-B vaccine. Daddy doesn't like shots so mommy did the dirty work of holding them still.

Frances is 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 21 inches long.

Grace is 7 lbs. 15.5 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long.

So the gals are right on average for length (50th percentile). They are sooo close to 8 lbs. - they'll probably be there by tomorrow! They are in the 10th percentile for weight. But considering they would have been full-term 40 weeks on tuesday the nurse practitioner said they are doing excellent and gaining weight like champs! I think they are just going to be tall and skinny like daddy.

Well the girls have been getting fussier every day. We described the symptoms to the nurse and she said it sounds like colic - that it "usually" reaches its peak by 6 weeks and then tapers down from there. But because we have preemies the time will be extended - so it could be 16-17 weeks before they get over it. In the meantime we've done the karo syrup to help with constipation. Today she said to try some mylicon to help with gas. And we're also going to try a different formula for sensitive stomachs. Hopefully something helps. But who knows.

The girls can go out for walks now. We asked about visitors again. She said visitors are always fine - they should have common sense not to come visit if they are sick - no matter what age our kids are. I guess that's a big "duh" - I wouldn't want people visiting while they were sick whether we had kids or not - I don't wanna get sick! hahaha.

Anywho the fussing is commencing as I type so I must go back to mommy mode.

Sticker Shock!

So we've been steadily receiving the itemized bills from the hospital. It's not actually "our" bills, but the bills they will be sending to the insurance company.

My hospital charge: $10,600

My doctor's charge for surgery: $6,500

9 day NICU charge for Frances: $14,600

9 day NICU charge for Grace: $14,700

TV/phone: $40 <-- just added this because it's amusing compared to the others

I'm sure there will be more charges from the anesthesiologist, maybe the neonatologists... who knows who/what else.

So while we don't have to pay that all out of pocket - I still thought the figures were pretty amazing - in the wholly crap, glad we have some insurance-sense!

My charges are covered under my insurance. The girls are under Richard's insurance. The unfortunate part is that because Richard has a family deductible for his insurance - we'll have to pay a pretty penny for the NICU. I think his deductible is $7,000? We're pretty sure we'll be charged the full deductible. Even with the insurance company's contracted rate for services, we doubt the cost of the NICU charges will come down below the deductible. Oh well. Whew! Good thing we've been saving every cent in anticipation that something like this might happen. It definitely helped to find out we were having twins early on in the pregnancy. It helps to plan ahead!

Note to Visitors

Many people have asked about visiting the girls. People are welcome to visit. They are preemies so if you are feeling at all under the weather... or suspicious that you may be coming down with something - we ask that you postpone any visit until you are feeling better. They are too vulnerable at this time to be exposed to anything. Also, just as in the NICU we ask that people with children under 4 postpone visiting with their kids until we get the all clear on the preemie front. As long as the child understands handwashing and the importance of not spreading germs - we're cool.

The fact that they are preemies also means they are on a strict feeding and sleeping schedule. This is to conserve energy so they gain weight. We feed at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m. during the day. If you want to see them "awake" - I suggest arranging a visit with us around those times. Otherwise, they are sleeping - we just wanted to give people the heads up on that. We don't get play time with the babies like parents of regular newborns.

We're crossing fingers that by their next appointment (the end of August) they'll be off the preemie formula and we'll be able to have some more play time. Which will be more fun for potential visitors as well.

Luck o' the Draw

The babies turned 3 weeks on Sunday - feels like they are older than that. Maybe that's the sleep deprivation kicking in? hahaha. Actually they are doing fairly well on their schedule. My mom has been a huge help with cooking dinner, doing laundry, house cleaning, etc. Richard went back to work the week after they came home. But he was still getting up to help with the night changing/feedings. We realize we'll be sharing the task anyway when I head back to work.

This past weekend was a bit more difficult. My mom went back home for a long weekend (and much needed break). And on top of that Richard got sick. Seriously, he's rarely sick, so ain't that the luck o' the draw? With the babies being preemies and so vulnerable we wanted to play it safe, so Richard went to the doctor. He mentioned that we have preemies, so the doc put him on antibiotics right away and ordered him to "stay away from the babies" until today. He's still on the antibiotics and still recovering, but doing better. Anywho, with mom being gone and Richard off baby duty - I was doing all the baby stuff since Friday. It's hard work anyway with two people feeding, cleaning, changing, etc. But when you are alone, you can only take care of one baby at a time - everything takes twice as long. And one baby is screaming while you feed the other one, which makes you feel horrible. So I was getting even less sleep. And my body is still recovering from surgery so I tire easily. I can't wait till they are big enough to "prop" with their bottles - that will make things much easier! ....... of course, by then we'll have new issues to deal with hahaha.

My mom came back this afternoon. And Richard is back on baby duty. So things are feeling less hectic :-) But I did survive on my own and there is some satisfaction and comfort in knowing that it can be done!

On another note... I stepped on the scale with the babies and I'm guessing they are about 6 pounds now. It's by no means accurate. They definitely look a lot fatter and feel heavier. They have that double chin coming and dimples on their hands. They still have a lot of growing to go though.

Also, I'm down 34 pounds! I had reached 190 pounds the Thursday right before I delivered. I still have 13 pounds to go before I reach my pre-pregnancy weight. I can't believe it! Although it's all in the stomach and seems like it will take a long while to disappear. The swelling in my legs and face has gone down soooooo much! I feel like a new person!

Pictures Update

Finally got the pictures online. Here's from the day of delivery through now... enjoy.

Click on the link below:

See Pictures

Welcome Home!

The girls officially came home Tuesday afternoon. So we've survived two nights as new parents with twins! The neonatologist said they are doing well. We almost weren't able to bring both babies home since they weren't gaining weight fast enough. So the last couple days in the NICU we were advised to just let them sleep. So we did a lot of staring at them versus holding them.

Now that they are home, we've been ordered to keep them on that strict eating and sleeping schedule so they gain a lot of weight. The doctor said 22 hours of sleep a day - so we feed them every four hours. As in the NICU, they told us no over stimulating or playing with the babies - feed them and put them to bed - so we don't get cuddle time outside of feedings. :-( But we're willing to sacrifice it so they gain weight. So far they are gaining about an ounce day. They have been very good babies ... so far. But we've only had them for a couple days - not even a week of adjustment under our belts. Cross fingers they keep cooperating!

They had their first pediatrician appointment yesterday. Both had gained an ounce from the day before. She reiterated the feeding and sleeping schedule to encourage weight gain. I can't wait for them to get fat - then we can have more play time. :-)

A lot of the clothes we have for them are so big - even the newborn ones haha. They are such little dolls. And I can't believe they will be 2 weeks old on Sunday!

Sweet Sleepers

These are a couple pics from my mom's cell phone - a bit blurry - but cute (I'm biased of course hehehe). The nurse said they are scheduled to come home tomorrow! Cross fingers!! :-)

Grace (above) and Frances (below)

The Wacha Gals Have Arrived!

We wish to announce the birth of our identical twin girls!

Born on Sunday, July 18 at 9:06 p.m. and 9:07 p.m. at 34 weeks and 5 days old.

Frances Akor Wacha

(left side of picture)

5 lbs. 5 oz. and 18 7/8 inches long

Grace Apio Wacha

(right side of picture)

5 lbs. 6 oz. and 19 1/4 inches long

The babies are a week old today! Sorry for the delay in posting but I was in the hospital recovering until discharge Thursday evening, and have been visiting the babies in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) every free second. They are doing GREAT though and should be home soon!!!! :-) I will update with more pictures at some point. I have a few my mom took. We have some on our camera too, but Richard does not know how to download from my camera to the computer in the basement (no railing, so I'm not walking down there!). Haha, one of the things I was going to show him before the babies arrived. Whoops!

I'll update with the birth story later -- it's definitely amusing.

34 Week Check-up

Well I'm 34 weeks and 2 days preggers. I had my OB checkup today. My mom went with me. BTW - Why do they have the most uncomfortable chairs in an OB office??? Sorry, digressing.

Anywho, all is well. I've gained 47 pounds so far... up 4 pounds from two weeks ago. Blood pressure is great. The doctor measured my belly and I'm measuring the equivalent of 47 weeks pregnant!! Whew! So I'm measuring the equivalent of a regular pregnancy overdue by 7 weeks. It's crazy. I remember in June when I had my 30 week checkup I was measuring 10 weeks ahead, and they said the growth would slow down and I wouldn't measure so far ahead anymore. Well, jokes on them! Last time, at 32 weeks, I was 11 weeks ahead and this time, at 34 weeks, I'm 13 weeks ahead. Sumo babies indeed.

Mobility has reached a wall. I pulled a muscle last night trying to adjust my belly during sleep... doh. It's just too darned heavy. I had a hard time sitting up from the doctor's table too. I know I only have two weeks from tomorrow left -- but it's taking forever. It feels more like two months. I just keep on chugging along -- looking forward to breathing, eating, not itching, and sleeping however I want! (.......And of course, seeing the babies hehe).

We managed to take my mom out for her birthday last week. We went to Clyde's in Columbia. They tried to sit us at a booth. So I slid in butt first and tried to turn and "boink" -- nope -- no room for the belly. We laughed. Sometimes I really don't have any concept of how big my belly is! Fortunately there was a table with chairs open! I can't reach to eat over the table though, so I wear half my food. hahaha. We had a great dinner though!

California closets came last week too, to install the nursery closet. So we're almost ready to start getting everything together!!

My dad came down this past weekend to accompany my mom to her follow up scan at Johns Hopkins -- everything is A-Okay! So that's good news! She'll have another scan in 6 months.

So all in all, we're chugging along.

I have two more OB appointments before delivery. Next Thursday, July 22 and then Thursday, July 29 (the day before delivery). And then of course the perinatology appointment on Tuesday, July 27. Final countdown! Two weeks from tomorrow!

Sumo Babies

I'm 33 weeks today. Only 3 and 1/2 weeks to go (seems like forever though)! I had my perinatology appointment today. My mom was able to go with me. I told her she wouldn't be able to see much since the babies are so big and jumbled up now. And that was pretty much the case - just a tangled web of babies. They were moving around like crazy, as usual. The technician was able to see the profile of one of the babies and pointed out that the baby had hair on her head already. Too cute! And both babies are head down now - I can't believe that Baby B still had room enough to flip, but she did it.

Soooo... the babies are doing excellent! Baby A weighs 5 lbs. 7 oz. and Baby B weighs 5 lbs. 4 oz. The doctor came in and asked if I'm trying for some record holders. hehe. My mom's reaction was pretty much: wholly crap that's a lot of babies. The average for twins at 33 weeks is 4 lbs. 12 oz. -- so my babies are definitely above average! Even more amazing considering identicals tend to measure a bit smaller than fraternals. And they are sharing even better now, as you can tell by their similar weights.

So I'm carrying a combined baby weight of 10 lbs. 11 oz. Sumo babies! The doctor guesstimated that at 36 weeks they'll be about 6-7 pounds a piece. We'll see! Only one more perinatology appointment before I deliver, woohoo :-)

So my next OB appointment is Thursday, July 15. And my next (and LAST) perinatology appointment is Tuesday, July 27 at 9 a.m.

Fourth of July Weekend

Kenneth, Heidi, me, Arianna,

Grant and Emma at the playground

Since I'm pretty much house/Columbia bound at this point - we had the Larchars and the Dorsheimers over for some BBQ on Saturday. You can view all the pics from the get together here. I'm sad because both families are moving soon!! But it's nice to be able to get together before the big moves. My folks are down here too. My mom will be staying through my delivery - which is a HUGE help. My dad just headed back up north today.

We had a fun time. Richard BBQ'd and made his famous beans. We all gobbled down the food. And then the Larchars, Amy, my mom and I, took the kids to the playground by Jackson Pond. (Well, my mom took the Larchars - Amy rode with me. I had to drive because I can't walk that far - and yes it's less than a mile from our house and I still can't make it!) The kids had fun at the playground. Too cute! We love those Larchar kiddies!!! :-)

Joe, Amy, me and Richard

After we got back from the playground we had some delicious mini cherry and blueberry pies that Heidi made - with a 4th of July flare! They were sooooo good. And we had some equally delicious and very juicy watermelon that Amy brought. All in all it was a great get together!

Yesterday, the Dorsheimers came back over. Amy is teaching me how to knit - something to keep me occupied during my free time stuck in the house. Joe went for a 50 mile bike ride - because he's CRAZY! hahaha. And afterwards came back to the house and hung out with Richard and my dad in the man cave.

Today, we're just chilling out INSIDE enjoying the AC! Time is still going by soooo slowly. Can't wait for my perinatology appointment tomorrow - my mom is going with me - we'll see how big the babies are getting.

Richard's Surprise Baby Shower

On Wednesday, Richard's co-workers threw him a surprise baby shower! His boss called him into a meeting as a distraction so the others could decorate the kitchen for the shower. Then another co-worker came into the meeting and hoodwinked Richard into the kitchen, under the ruse of donuts. Apparently there were pink streamers in the door way and Richard just burst through without a second thought. Then he's like "hey where's the donuts?!" Then he notices a pink cake with little baby booties on it and the 'it's a girl' balloons -- and still being oblivious -- asks who's birthday party it is and how come he wasn't invited. hahaha. Then everyone says "surprise!" And Richard finally realizes it's a surprise baby shower for him! Oh classic Richard.

He had some issues opening gifts and keeping things in order. But we got soooo much stuff. Seriously, money, high chair, gift cards, swaddlers, towels, onesies, clothes, you name it! It meant so much to both of us that people went all out for the girls! Richard's boss made the favors and the cake. The favors were so cute and funny. And the cake was amazing.

It was so cool for Richard to get a shower since baby showers aren't as common for dads-to-be.

Kathy took pictures, you can see them by clicking here.

Thank you to everyone that contributed! :-) We can't wait for you all to babysit hehehe ;-)

Lucky Number 32

(Click on picture to view it bigger)

So I'm 8 months preggers now. Remember how I used to say "time is flying by"? Well... not so much anymore. It seems as soon as 28 weeks hit, time just slowed to a crawl. I knew it would happen eventually, but man, it's still hard.

I had my 32 week check-up at my OB's office today. My belly is measuring at 43 weeks!! W.O.W. Keep in mind that a full term single pregnancy is 40 weeks. Crazy I tell you! So my belly has grown 5 centimeters from a month ago, and I'm measuring 11 weeks ahead.

I'm up 44 pounds so far, whew! My blood pressure is excellent. Baby A's heart rate was 147 and Baby B's heart rate was 155 -- both excellent. :-)

So all in all, everything is looking good.

My dad is driving my mom down here this week, to stay for the rest of my pregnancy and post-delivery. It will be a HUGE help. Thank goodness for public school summer vacation! Right now I'm driving into work every other day. Starting July 6th I'll be strictly telecommuting (hopefully up until delivery day). So it will be nice to have someone here during the day -- just incase something happens. Plus, it's helpful since the larger I get, the more immobile and uncoordinated I am. Oh, and I have California Closets coming to install the nursery closet next week. I'm soooo excited!!

Here are a couple random candids from this past month...

Attack of the Cankles!!!

My new recliner helps keep the swelling down. YAY!

(And the belly is a good lap tray hehehe.)

My next OB appointment is Thursday, July 15 at 2:20 p.m. -- I'll be 34 weeks! My next perinatology appointment is next Tuesday, July 6 at 2:30 p.m. Can't wait to see the babies again :-)

Houston, We Have a Delivery Day!

Yay! The doctors finally rescheduled my c-section for Friday, July 30 at 8:30 a.m. I'll be 36 weeks and 3 days preggers. It's my OB's last work day before her vacation. If you remember from previous posts, the perinatologist said the latest delivery for identicals would be 37 weeks, which fell right in the middle of my OB's vacation - hence the reason the original 38 week date was canceled and this earlier date was preferred.

So yay! Only 6 weeks to go!! Let's hope I hold on till then!

Large and (working on the) In Charge

How Twins Are Made:(Whitney sent that pic to me,

I thought it was hilarious!)

Well I had my 30-week OB check up this morning. I've only gained a couple ounces in weight since my appointment 2 weeks ago. The nurse said I'm doing excellent weight-wise for twins. My glucose screening test came back negative for gestational diabetes. Woohoo! Bring on more sugar! I also tested negative for anemia. Woohoo again! My belly is officially measuring the equivalent of a 40-week (full term) single pregnancy. Yes, you read that right... Whew! But the babies will start slowing down in growth soon so I don't think I will keep measuring 10 weeks ahead for much longer... but I definitely still have some growing left to do.

The OB and my perinatologist haven't had a chance to talk about my new c-section date yet, so I'm still waiting on that.

I'm going to try to make it in to work a couple days next week and work from home the other days. I'm supposed to see how I feel at the end of the week and decide if I can do a similar schedule the week following. BUT for the rest of July I'm not supposed to commute to work anymore. I'm hoping I'll be able to continue working from home up until delivery day. But really, it's all wait and see depending on how my future appointments go.

My next OB appointment is June 29 (32 weeks) at 8 a.m.