thetadpoles.com

Yes the Tadpoles are 5 months old now. When people ask how old they are I often debate whether to tell them their real age or their adjusted age (how old they would be if born on their due date). Even saying they are a month gets comments like “Ohhh, they are so small”. They may be small but they have some mighty spirit and even mightier lungs. Some of Derby’s wails could wake the dead. God forbid he has to wait a minute while I change his sister and HE is hungry. Tadd and I have loved the past month with both of them at home. It is easier than we thought it was going to be, probably compared to everything we went through in the beginning. While the NICU was a hard and long experience I feel like we got through it without any major emotional scarring (at least I did). I believe it was harder for Tadd than it was for me. I’m not sure if it was because I am more comfortable in a hospital setting than he is or what. He recently said he feels as if he is finally starting to decompress from all of the stress and anxiety of the first few months. Well, it all melts away when your sitting and cuddling them both at once. Our new emotional drain is health insurance. My insurance stopped the day I resigned which is unlike many insurance companies that will give you till the end of the month. Tadd and I have been dealing with COBRA and trying to get the twins RSV vaccine Synagis covered. RSV is a huge scare with preemies. While regular infants can be hospitalized with RSV it can kill a preemie. The vaccine helps prevent severe RSV in preemies. It is also ridiculously expensive. One vial can be $2000 now times that by two and the twins need the vaccine monthly during RSV season (usually October thru March or April). We were told our co-pay would be $900, it is mind boggling. They were supposed to receive the vaccine a couple of weeks after coming home. We are now 3 weeks overdue and still trying to get it. They say it will probably be approved by next week. Guess what we will be going from my COBRA insurance to Tadd’s insurance meaning the pediatricians office will need to start the approval process all over again. Did I mention that health insurance is the DEVIL?!!

Updates:

• Loen: She is the bigger, older and we think she will soon be the bossier twin. Weighing in at an impressive 7 pounds 11 ounces and 20 1/2 inches (as of 3/14). She had a big growth spurt. In regards to that she went from pooping several times a day to pooping every 3-4 days. The advice nurse said sometimes when they are going through a growth spurt they will use all of their food with very little waste. That must have been what happened because Loen gained a pound in 2 weeks.She is smiling more often, mainly for her Daddy. Tadd will talk to her in what I like to call the “freaky clown voice” and she will smile. It just freaks me out though. She is alert more and will just lie awake looking at things.

• Derby: At his last weight check he was 7 lbs 8 ounces and 18 1/2″. That boy is all brawn. He had to go get his eyes checked and I had him swaddled tight and was holding his head so the doctor could assess him. He was yanking his head around and it was all I could do to hold him still without leaving indents in his skull. Then he had to get a blood draw to check his electrolytes. Katie and Martha came down to the lab to draw his blood (they really came down to fawn over the twins!). Anyways they were saying he has gotten so strong. Like I have said before we think Loen will dream up the plans and convince Derby to execute them. “Oh Derby, I bet you cant climb up to the top of the refrigerator and get the cookies down.” Time will only tell. Back to the blood draw. Some of Derby’s lab values were off so we went to a pediatric gastroenterologist. A very nice doctor who suggested we increase the amount of formula we fortify the breast milk with. That way they get a little more bang for the buck. Loen doesn’t really need that but it is easier for me to keep them on the same routine and it doesn’t hurt her. The bad thing is I really don’t breastfeed them much. With the push for them to gain weight I know they get more when they use the bottle vs the boob. The nutritionist said the first 8 months is the most important time for them to try and gain weight. I still try and sneak it in here and there. Like when the bottles are warming I will nurse Loen for a few minutes Derby still doesn’t have the patience for it. That kid likes his milk flowing. I bet you could put milk in a ziplock bag and cut off the tip so it would pour into his mouth and he would be fine. We are also dealing with his alkaline phosphate being too high. He will probably need to take vitamin D to help correct it. And then we will take him to get his blood drawn again in a couple of weeks to see if it is getting better. Derbs is also the king of the fake cough. You know he is going to go south when you hear the “cough, cough, sputter, cough”. When it is the middle of the night Tadd and I try to will him back to sleep when we wake up to his little coughs. So far no such luck. The other day I heard Loen do the fake cough. She figures if it works for Derby……

I have found it is next to impossible to get a picture where they are simultaneously opening their eyes and looking content. Now I have eyes open and one screaming or looking content but with eyes closed. Derby is the usual culprit. He likes to yell with his little tongue hanging out and eyes squinted. Funny thing, if he is alone he looks adorable. Put his sister next to him and “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”. I think he is afraid she will still his thunder.

Well I lied this photo they look content (it only lasted a couple of minutes)

Derby “Ohhhh a mobile”

“Hey Derby, were 5 months old now. I think mom should buy us a big prize…..like a pony”

I never got a picture of the two of them together on Easter. Sooo I dressed them back up in their outifts to try and get a photo. Not the best results

Only with the binkers in their mouth

Cute outfits