It’s funny to look back on the changes that our little family has gone through in last 9 months. Sometimes I look at pictures of the babies when they were only a few days or weeks old and I can hardly believe that those tiny, frail, little monkey-like human beings are the same ones that are now rolling, crawling and scooting around on our living room floor while screaming at the tops of their lungs or making each other (and us!) laugh. As parents, Robyn and I have changed a lot as well…actually, it’s not so much a change, it’s more like an evolution – change and adaptation in response to the environment, I guess. When Chloe first came home, everything seemed so difficult. Each feeding was a project and each diaper change required getting prepared and setting things in motion. Every little whimper was something to be discussed and pointed out – “Is she okay?” was asked about 100 times a day. Those things are now old-hat and other soon-to-be-minor issues have taken their place.
When Chloe first came home from the hospital after 7 days in the NICU, our bedroom was the command center of our little universe. We all ate, slept and entertained ourselves in there – mostly sitting on the bed. Except for quick trips into the “nursery” for diaper changes and into the kitchen to prep a bottle, all the action took place in the bedroom. Chloe slept on one side of the playpen’s add-on double bassinet. Of course, having her all the way over by our closet was too far from the bed (if you’ve seen our bedroom, you know that [i]nothing[/i] is very far from our bed!), so we actually dragged the playpen closer to us and strategically angled it so that we could see Chloe in the bassinet without having to raise our heads very far from our pillows. We also kept our bedroom light on every night, all night, for the first few weeks. This was a good idea, because one of us was checking on her every 14 seconds due to her unexpected ability to roll from side to side even while fully swaddled.
By the time Gabriel came home (after exactly 1 month in the NICU), we were pretty used to this sleeping arrangement and we assumed that we could just put him down in his side of the bassinet and we would all sleep blissfully. Then [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastroesophageal_reflux_disease#Children]reflux[/url] happened. This required changes to the kids’ sleep position. We tried sliding wedge-shaped cushions under them. We tried folded blankets to prop them up. I think we went through a whole series of stuff and then finally decided to try to get them to sleep in their little bouncy seat and swing. Those two things were like gifts from the gods! The kids seemed to get some relief from their reflux symptoms and they generally slept very comfortably for the 2 hours between each feeding. At this point, our bedroom was barely a bedroom anymore. With the playpen, bouncy seat and swing, it was more like a mini jungle gym!
In late December, we decided it was about time that we try to get the kids to sleep through the night without any overnight feedings. Behold! Another miracle! For the first time in four months, Robyn and I both got a solid 6+ hours of sleep. This was a little bit of light at the end of a loooooong tunnel. We were refreshed and felt alive again. After a few days, we were on a schedule – the kids were going to sleep around 10pm and waking up at 6am. Away went the playpen and bassinet and mommy and daddy now had an hour or so of free time each night.
The next big change (as far as sleeping habits go) was to move the bedtimes to earlier in the evening. As the babies were getting more active, they seemed to become cranky and tired earlier in the evening, so we tried an 8pm bedtime and it worked! They both slept from 8pm to 6am – sometimes even longer! These were some tired babies. We also moved Chloe from her swing into her new deluxe-model bouncy seat. Now mommy and daddy had 3 hours of free time plus a good night’s sleep!
The most recent change, but one that has not been 100% successful, was Chloe and Gabriel’s move out of our room and into their own cribs. This was a big change for us because we could not just glance over and see the babies or listen for their breathing during the night. It also necessitated getting up out of bed in the case of a crying kiddie. We prepared and bought a video monitor which we decided against and then returned to the store in favor of the audio-only model. Gabriel has been less than impressed with his crib since this move. He wakes up quite frequently during the night and doesn’t seem to like laying flat on his back. This could be due, at least in part, to his reflux issues. Chloe, however, took to the change like a champ and has been sleeping very well.
Since that move, we’ve lowered each crib mattress in order to ensure that the kiddies stay in them during the night and Gabriel has returned off-and-on to using Chloe’s bouncy seat. Since Chloe is now pulling herself up using the rails of her crib, I’m sure we’re going to have to put some kind of “ceiling” on the thing to keep her from climbing out…that should be fun!
