After Josh left for work and Caleb left for daycare, I ate breakfast while William and Mollie kept sleeping. I watched over there bassinet as they dreamt sweetly.
As they stirred I moved them to the living room and changed them into new outfits. I nursed one and bottle-fed the other, and then began pumping when my mom stopped in. She was there to help us get into the car for our first trip. Mollie had an audiology appointment at 10, followed by us all visiting Sue, from lactation, for a weigh in at 11.
It all really went quite smooth. I finished pumping in the time needed to get to our appointment on time. They really don't seem to mind their car seats. Mom helped me get them into the van and then followed us to the clinic. Once at the clinic we quickly got them into the double stroller and safely inside. On the way in I ran into my high school classmate Tana and her daughter, but it was too cold for her to really see the babies. Hopefully next time we see them it is at the park on a beautiful summer day.
Molly referred, meaning she didn't pass, on all three of her hearing tests in the nursery for her left ear, so we were sent to the audiology department for a follow up test. Once again, Molly referred on her left ear but passed on her right. This means she will now have a longer, more specific test done by an audiologist in a couple weeks. I don't know how I feel about this. Part of me is just glad to know what's going on. Another part of me wishes to cry and grieve that something might be wrong. However, I know many wonderfully talented people with hearing needs and hearing loss. As we strolled out of the exam room I said, "Little hearing aids are cute." And, "Well, as long as she can still sing."
Luckily the specialty clinic is attached the hospital so we didn't have to go back outside. We registered at the front desk for our appointment and then took the familiar ride to the fifth floor. I felt nostalgic as I walked out of the elevator and saw my old room 5010. I knew I belonged, but somehow felt odd. The room had moved on, staff had changed, more babies had been born, and we now belonged in the real world. I felt like I was cheating, to come back to something familiar and safe. I wanted to go to the nursery and give all the nurses a hug but restrained myself, knowing they had their jobs to do. Checking in at the nurses station to let Sue know I was there, and then went to the waiting room. The social worker walked by and then came back to say hi, curious to see how moving home had gone. I assured her it had been a great transition, and both Mollie and William were doing wonderfully.
Then Nurses Christina and Debbie walked by too. They both stopped and came in to give me a hug. It's exactly what I hoped they would do. They were excited to see Mollie and William and hear that things had gone well at home. Both said they would be checking out the blog, so here's a shout out to Christina and Debbie. :) They had just finished a training, so they weren't in their typical blue scrubs. It kind of feels like when kids see a teacher at the grocery store, they looked like regular people. ;)
Next Sue came in for our lactation follow-up appointment, and my mom left to return to work. She had helped us with many of the transitions in the morning, and I was grateful for it. But I was confident we could get home by ourselves too.
It was great to see Sue again. During our appointment we found that both babies had gained weight. William gained 1.1 ounces. The expected gain would be about a half an ounce to an ounce per day. Sue was satisfied seeing as we have been home for two days, with a major transition. Mollie gained almost 3 ounces. What a Rockstar!
William nursed okay, and after a short break and diaper change continued to feed well. Sue told Lisa that we were in her office while I nursed Mollie. She stopped in. It was great to see Lisa. She got to hold and snuggle with William for a while. It's like I never left. We easily struck up conversation again. It clinched the feeling I've had though. We won't be losing touch with one another. She's part of our lives now:)
I grabbed something to eat on the way home, and got us safely inside our home once again. Then I moved us to the couch for pumping and napping. We were beat.
Caleb and Josh got home and shortly thereafter my mom and Gene left. When Caleb comes home he always greets me with a big smile. So glad to be home. Josh made supper, and was a great daddy the whole night. He gave me nap, a glorious nap. It's the first time I've been out of the room, away from babies for more than five minutes. I slept hard and fast.
I woke to pump at 10:00pm, after having slept almost 3 hours! I've had cat naps since. Josh was supposed to have his long stretch from midnight to 6am, but Mollie didn't settle well. So his quiet sleep finally started at 2:45am. Hopefully he gets quickly to sleep. And I'm writing this now at the 3 AM feeding. No time like the present. Always good to be efficient. But now the feeding is done, it is 4:04 AM, and it's time for another nap:)
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