Pediatrician's office

The twins had their second car ride this morning as we all packed up for the 2 mile drive to the pediatrician's office. Ryan is now 20 inches, 5 lbs 14 ozs and Lucie is 19.5 inches, 5 lbs 6 ozs*. Very good sign that each is now above their birth and discharge weight -- some milk must actually be getting into their stomachs rather than just dribbling down their chins. I guess Pediatricians watch to make sure babies gain weight after going home, both to insure no health issues and gauge parenting. Everyone passed the test.

Our only complaint was the excruciating wait. Their doctor was 90 minutes behind schedule by 11am. Personally, I think order of visit should be inversely proportional to number of babies. Singletons at the back of the line, super multiples move to the front. Knowing the craziness of twins, I'd gladly let parents with triplets go on ahead.

* Did you know that you can type "50 cm in inches" into google and it will return the conversion? Is there anything that company does that isn't ridiculously cool?

Belly Buttons

Because of the extra risks with the c-section delivery, I wasn't allowed to cut the cord for either of the twins. Far from disappointing, the rule meant avoiding an upclose look at Megan's abdomen pulled apart. Instead, after the initial health assessments, I cut the 'ceremonial' cord. The doctors intentionally leave an extra 3 inches on the baby-side just for dads. Very rubbery stuff, but the job was quickly completed.

That still left about an inch of umbilical cord attached to each baby. These remants naturally fall off in 7 to 10 days leaving only the belly button. Lucie's fell off on Friday and Ryan's fell off this afternoon. Dried umbilical cord is not particularly attractive as it dries up and discolors so we were happy to see them go.

Is dried umbilical cord appropriate baby-book material?

Bathing

With all of their baby skin folds, it took a good twenty minutes each to bathe Lucie and Ryan. Of course, most of that time was spent debating whether or not we should get their ears wet (we decided against), their belling-buttons wet (yes, but we'll ask the Pediatrician tomorrow), or use soap on their faces (baby books say just warm water). If Dr. Spock had a 1-800 number, then we would have called several times.

Fortunately for us, the twins tolerated the sponge bath and sink rinse pretty well. I only wish they made those towels with the built-in hoods for adults.

Family Visitation

Since Lucie and Ryan are the first grandchildren in both families, they have had lots of welcomed visitors over their first two weeks. Rachel and Jason's arrival this afternoon means that the twins have now met all of their grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Based on initial reactions, Rachel has staked out a clear position are favorite aunt...

Not only did they buy groceries, cook dinner, and provide opportunities for me and Megan to nap (many, many thanks), but Rachel and Jason also got valuable practice for the future.

Sleeping Arrangement

So far, the Lucie and Ryan are successfully sharing a cosleeper — think of a crib with an elevated floor and one side lower than the other three. The height of the lower side is even with the height of our mattress. The idea is to provide an easy way to check in on and extract the twins from the cosleeper without getting out of bed. The cosleeper provides the closeness of actually cosleeper (the entire family sharing a bed), but avoids the rollover/suffocate scenario. Obviously that's a trade worth making.

Hopefully Lucie and Ryan can continue this arrangement until they are big enough to each need their own crib. For the time being, at least Ryan doesn't mind sharing his blanket with Lucie (thanks Jen!).