After being separated so abruptly, and being apart for so long, neither C nor I want to be very far from each other.
In the hospital, she mostly only woke to feed and always settled quite easily with a soother. Â But as the nurses say, “Babies are smart.” Â It didn’t take C very long to figure out that if she fusses with a bit of consistency, I will pick her up and she gets to snooze in my lap instead of a pack and play. Â Unlike my first two, so far she does not need to be rocked, or shushed, or bounced to quiet down. Â She just needs a snuggle, and any position will do – lying on my chest while I watch 30 Rock, cradled in my arm as I unload the dishwasher, or sprawled on my lap as I sit at the computer table.
P and M love having her nearby too, and and I’m willing to bet that she is the most-kissed baby in the universe.
We are hoping to spring Bea later this week and I am so much looking forward to a time when the three of us are together again and the hospital is not a part of our daily routine. Â We’ll still be there pretty often for follow-up, but at least it won’t be a daily thing. Â There are some wonderful people there, but I never wanted to become an expert on newborn infections, or overhear conversations about babies who will never be able to swallow food on their own.
I also won’t miss watching the mountains of healthy twins come into the Intermediate Nursery. Â There seems to be at least one set of 34-weekers that come through every day. What an enormous difference those few weeks make. Â I can’t help but feel a little jealous when I know that they will be there for only a few days or a week and will likely suffer none of the interventions or health issues that my girls have as a result of being two and a half months early.
It is pretty interesting to hear what people name their children. Â In the NICU, they have poignant names like “Precious” or “Angel” or “Hope”. Â In the IN, I have learned that people like to name their twins with matching first letters, or better yet – with names that rhyme.
Bea: she’s thinking “Well, it sucks that I was born over 2 months early, but at least she didn’t name us Cora and Lora.”
