We are going through about 21 plus nappies per day, lots of loads of washing, and even though I am still expressing after each feed we are needing to top up the bottles with formula, and much to my surprise we are more than half way through our second tin in a week.
They are still feeding 3-4 hourly on demand and when they are feeding 3 hourly it is really hard work! If there are 2 of us doing the feeds it takes a good hour to get everyone fed, burped, changed and back to bed. Then following this I express If I attempt this on my own it takes a good hour and a half. By the time I get back to bed it is only 90 minutes before we start again. They fed 3 hourly 2 nights in a row over the weekend and tempers were short. When Oliver is out for the day or asleep it is much easier to manage, when he is home however and I am stuck feeding he tends to destroy the place. Regardless of how much television or snacks I have available to him. We have a one up, all up policy for feeds, and I have been trying like mad to master the art of prop feeding (supervised) so I can manage feeds on my own but so far no luck. Both of the boys have each picked a different 3 hour window to be whinge and unsettled. For Hudson it is from about 4-7ish and Spencer has chosen the 10pm-1am window, Thankfully so far Addison is still quite content and is a very placid easy baby. Although at times they do set each other off and we do have quite a regular chorus happening.
Last week I ventured out with them for their first check up and all is well. They are all gaining weight steadily and the doctors are happy. They are all now 2 weeks corrected or nearly 12 weeks old actual age. Won't that get confusing! Addison and Spencer's umbilical hernias still look fine. Addison as of a week ago now weighs in at 3380grams, Spencer 3970 grams and Hudson or chubby cheeks as Oliver affectionately calls him is 4170 grams. The boys have their follow up hearing checks at the end of the month as they both failed the initial one in one ear, from what I hear is quite common to fail initially and can be for a number of reasons.
On the way to the appointment I had a bright idea of stopping and having lunch in a popular cafe strip. I can see why seasoned HOM parents soon have a long list of responses to nosey (rude) people's comments. Yes I do have my hands full, and yes even my heart full. Lucky I didn't have their big brother with me too. So if you see someone with a very big pram with her head down to avoid talking to people it is probably me, but I really don't fancy stopping to speak to every single person about how awful it must be to be blessed with 4 lovely children even if I do spend most of the day and night feeding.
Until next time here is a picture of them taken this morning after their feed. From L-R is Hudson, Addison and Spencer
