Ryad's Double Diapers

 Ryad was discharged from Children's Hospital three days after he got in. We were just happy we didn't have to travel 30 miles just to see him anymore. All we had to do now was take care of his super pubic catheter. To do that we kept him in one diaper of his regular size for his poop and covered that with a layer of a larger size diaper to wrap his catheter tube. I don't remember very often changing his diaper (or diapers) on my own, I always needed a hand to hold the tube so that his pee-pee wouldn't spill all over the place. It was connected to his bladder so it was continuously dripping. This had to go on for a month. Till the doctors made sure he was able to do his business through the usual tract. 
Here are pictures of him during the first few days at home.

Ryad, ready to see the Pediatrician

 Both Ryad and Nael received daily massages (which is supposed to be awesome for good bone and body growth). And no, I'm not squeezing is hands so hard that he is crying.

Ryad and the famous double diapers.

Ryad's tiny hands. 

We always tried keeping them close together. That is what they were used to in the womb. Didn't get a lot of chance to do it in the NICU

One of the many 15 minute power naps they used to take.

Babies At Home

Thirteen days after birth everybody was at home together for the first time (except for the 3 hours we bought Ryad and rushed him back to the hospital again).
Elated and overwhelmed we were trying not to desperately take pictures of their every move. Here are a few of us doting over them with our camera.

Brothers in their matching sweaters.

Note How Ryad is holding his paci all by himself. For that moment I had thought I might just have independent babies!

 

Shhh, babies at sleep

  

This has got be Ryad's first pic at home. He had lost a little weight but it was awesome to have him sleep in his own crib

 

One of my favorites. Dad (exhausted but not stirred) with Ryad (sleepy but not asleep)

Weather Report: Hazy, Blury, Cloudy for Next Two Weeks

So was the state of my mind. One baby was in the hospital, some 30 miles away and the other was at home. I wanted to breast feed both. I know, it sounds impossible to do but my family's support made it happen. So, feeding Nael was not  a problem because he was at home with me. I would pump and store milk for him so that his grandma could give him when I went to visit Ryad in the hospital. While I was there I would pump some for him so that he would have breast milk when I was at home. Of course we supplemented when needed, there was no way I could do it on my own. Now, I look back and wonder how I did it, must be the morphine. Or the great people around me that made it happen.

Here are pictures of Nael's first visit to the pediatrician while his brother was still at the hospital.

Mommy, I don't want to get up!!

Let me sleep some more, please

All set to go

From the NICU, with love

Mr R, barely an hour old. We joked that he wanted to really stretch after the cramped space he had to share with his brother

Mr R,  we found it amusing how he slept sideways for most of his stay in the NICU

Only at the hospital where they were born  does the Dad get to feed the babies before the Mother. Note Mr Daddy's Blackberry with the diapers. A sign of the things to follow in the next few months.

Poor Mr N had to be on the oxygen tube the first hour after birth.

Sleepy Nael in my arms. This picture was taken after I was discharged and the babies were still in the hospital. Although it was difficult to go home without them, I now reckon them as the luxury days, sleep wise at least.

Nael being burped in his incubator after his feed.