Day 22: 3lb upset!

Tonight's weigh in was shocking! Miss Tara finally succeeded in besting her brother, and not only weighs 5 grams more but broke the 3lb mark first by a hair. Vivek was clearly perturbed by this news, because tonight he was so active and restless, throwing his limbs around, making faces, tossing his head back and forth, and even crying on occasion. I was in the other room at one point and realized it was actually my baby crying, because now he has the strength to cry loudly enough to where I can hear when I'm not right next to him, and he sounds more like a baby crying than an angry squirrel like before. I took many, many photos of my mighty man declaring his discontent tonight and of his general expressiveness. If he closed his eyes and rested more and burned less calories maybe he would catch back up to his sister. Sorry pics are blurry, but he wouldn't stay still tonite!


Pensive Vik



Drowsy Vik



Exasperated Vik



Surreptitious Vik



Contented Vik



Curious Vik

 

Annoyed Vik

Miss Tara on the other hand was as peaceful as ever. I have to say tonight holding them both I felt a sense of bonding take over, but partly it is because they seem more alert and I am more confident and less concerned about the monitors desatting so I can just focus on loving my babies. The thrilling news is that so far today I noticed no discernable difference from them being removed from caffeine! So far so good....


Smiling at winning the weight bout finally



Saving her energy for growing bigger



I'm definitely becoming a more confident mother. Miss Tara grunted while I was holding her and I thought I smelled something, and sure enough my detective skills correctly identified a full diaper for the second time. The first one was a loud bomb, so I can't take credit for my discernment on that occasion. I didn't wait for anyone to help and I transferred her back to the isollette and changed it myself. This may sound like no big deal, but at only 3lbs she is still delicate, there are wires hanging off her and she is tangled up in a blanket, and I have to get her off of my bare chest where my clothes are discombobulated and gently transition from sitting to standing with grace and ease. I've developed a method for transitioning to cradle hold first using the blanket for stability, then it is easier and safer to stand up without risking any jostling or bumping.  I was afraid to do much before this point because the nurses watch you like a hawk and don't initially trust you to do things like they would. I was partly waiting to handle my babies more independently until I watched how they did it and they were more comfortable with my handling.


Tara working something out

 I've figured out a new method to get me emotional to help me produce more milk, and so far it seems to be working. When you pump 15 min at a time for 8 times per day you can only stare at pics of your kiddos for so long trying to stir up emotion. So instead I started watching videos on YouTube of babies and then that transitioned into vids of soldiers coming home and greetings by family, children, and dogs. It does the trick! I'm happier with my production level, and if I can put out just a little more I know that the 2-3 teaspoons I can produce per pumping  right now will add up to something that helps my babies. I'm not trying to store and serve it to my babies right now because I lose so much in drops that stick to the sides of the plastic on the way to the bottle, and so focusing on when they attempt to breastfeed in a week or two may be more fruitful. It will also be easier than trying to collect all day for a tiny bit per baby that the nurses will find odd for me to push getting added to their feed of formula and be awkward with the language barrier.

Today Hitesh wasn't in, so still working on FMLA paperwork. It was a bad luck day with tuk-tuks and I must have chatted up 3 drivers for every 1 driver that knew where I wanted to go. This town is not that big, and I typically mention 3-4 nearby businesses to help them be sure the general area I want to go. Frustrating.  I also follow two more generally smart rules:

1. Always name your price first before you get in. Prevents surprises and rip-off's later.
2. If you don't have 40-70 rupees (cost of most rides) then check to make sure they have change if you have 100 bills. They pull this "no change" stuff on you sometimes, which is a load of horse hockey. If they know how to say "no change" they have change, which is typically in their front pocket or hidden in a locked compartment on the console of the tuk-tuk. Maybe if the tuk-tuk is real beat up and the driver looks like they haven't bathed in a few weeks they may have no change, but usually I think they are scamming you.

I went to Dawat again, but despite me seeing eggplant all over town they said no Baingan bartha available. That was the 1 reason I went there, so for the rest of my stay I'm abandoning Dawat and sticking with Decent Restaurant where they have it with corn in it at least.  I ordered spaghetti instead to try "Continental Fare." DO NOT FALL FOR THE SPAGHETTI!!! I've seen it all over menus around town, but it is spaghetti noodles with a super cheesy creamy sauce that is sweetened by pineapple juice. It is like a cheesy dessert thing trying to be savory. It was awful, but they love it around here. I took one bite and very politely told them I wasn't going to eat it, and to my suprise they didn't charge me for it. I felt bad. Then I walked over to Subway and got a veggie patty sandwich to go, where they gave and charged me for chips I didn't ask for, so I guess it evened out.

I met a guy from London and his twins tonight at the NICU, and I'm pretty sure his partner and mother in law. I'm pleased because I thought that Dr. Patel only helped heterosexual couples...but if my guess is correct then that isn't true. That was one serious criticism I had of Dr. Patel was that she wasn't open to homosexual couples or surrogates who were not married, but my surrogate is divorced and these two gentlemen appeared to be a couple.

But tonight ended with some special shots of me holding my son, because he was such a little bundle of energy and I realized I hadn't had many photos of me with the babies except for the first few days. I'll try to include more.

 

And my most favorite pic of all and my new Facebook profile pic: