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We took our newborn twins home from the NICU on Wednesday night, and they’ve been punishing us ever since.

I’ve heard somewhere that someone said the human body only needs three hours of sleep per day in order to survive. I would like to meet the person who said this and punch them square in the face.  I don’t even remember what three hours of sleep feels like.

As I write this, someone in the house is shrieking. It could be my son, or maybe my daughter. Probably my wife, actually. It could even be me, I don’t know.

The babies are so angry… So very, very angry… and hungry. Babies hungry. Angry… hungry, angry…

So tired…

The kids are now officially 1 week old and doing fine.

Continue reading “Update from the incubator.” »

Pronunciation: "en-"I-(")sE-'yü, 'nik-(")yü
Function: abbreviation
neonatal intensive care unit

N.: a special care nursery that uses advanced technology and trained health professionals to care for sick and premature newborns.

Note those keywords: sick and premature. People seem to be forgetting this part. We’ve been getting a lot of requests from people who want to “come by and see the babies”. While we appreciate the sentiment, we’d rather not entertain visitors right now while the kids are in the NICU. They’re in there to stay warm and gain weight. We want less exposure to other people’s germs, not more.

We understand everyone’s desire to see them. We really do, honest. Their own mother would like to see them, but she’s been confined to her bed because her blood pressure is so high, so even she can’t see the babies right now. And that’s a special type of torture right there.

So, until she can see her own children again, neither can you.

Thanks in advance for your understanding.

I got to feed my daughter for the first time today.

Holding this fragile little child is both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. Am I holding her right? Is she burping or coughing or what is that? Is that a hiccup? Wait, she looks like she’s uncomfortable, is this normal?

Then she looks up at me while she eats and my heart melts. I realize she probably can’t really focus well on what she’s looking at, but I like to think her reassuring gaze was meant to make me shut up so she could finish eating in peace.

It’s been 24 hours and the kids are doing great.  They’re breathing room air on their own and are feeding from a bottle. Not bad for 33-week preemies.

My son sleeps a lot and is a pretty quiet guy.  I’m sure that will change soon enough.

My daughter is very vocal and does not hesitate to let everyone know when she is unhappy.

Mom got to hold her son today…

…and her daughter.

This has been a fantastic, exciting and surreal experience.  Everything is new to me.  Here I sit across from my wife, typing away in cadence with the unfamiliar steady slurp of a breast pump.