Our hospital stay...

This was our first time having a baby at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center... Abby and Kaley were born at Mountain View Hospital which doesn't have a NICU and with the likelihood of twins needing time at the NICU we knew we had to go to EIRMC.  We haven't always heard good things about it, so we were kind of nervous and were really crossing our fingers for good nurses, since that makes all the difference.  We had super sweet day nurses the first two days and we had our most favorite nurse for all 3 nights we were there, Kristina.  We seriously felt so excited and relieved when she walked in for her shift the second and third night.  Our day nurse for our third and forth (last day) was our least favorite and we just didn't like her but it worked out ok.  

On day one after the kids left, we tried to get some rest and the babies got checked by the pediatrician which said they both looked great.  They both got baths too which I got to see for the first time in all of my children because they did it in our room, which was so nice!  They even got bows, Riley: purple and Madelyn: pink.  They cried of course but loved when they got to sit under the warmer.  Since they were under 37 weeks, they had to have their blood sugar checked with a prick in the heel before every feeding for the first 24 hours.  They also had to check their temperature A LOT.  They kept dipping a little low so we had to do a lot of skin to skin to warm them up and they went to the nursery a few times to lay under the warmer.  

Our first night at the hospital was the worst part for me... I was in A LOT of pain even though I had kept up with my pain meds, it just wasn't enough.  When they always ask what your pain level is between 1 and 10 (which I am horrible at answering and always second guess my answer!), Steve often knows where I am at better than I do, and he said I was at a 12!  My nurse was worried about me and did everything she could think of.  She came in later saying she had called my doctor (all on her own) and was asking if I could get more pain meds.  My doctor gave the go ahead for me to have some morphine through my IV.  It seriously saved me and got me through the worst part of my pain.  

 My mom and the kids came each day and they were so excited each time.  Preston made sure he held each baby and Kaley loved to point out each baby and let us know when they were crying.

I have TWO babies?!?  Holy moly!!

The kids got to help Daddy take the babies on walks in the hall.  They were so stinking cute holding on, especially Kaley who would not let go. On their last visit Kaley started to cry when it was time to leave because she didn't want to leave the babies.  Melted my heart!

Oh I love these kids!  The little emoji pillow that Preston is holding was a gift he got when he broke his arm to help him feel better.  He slept with it for weeks!  When they first came to visit he brought it, it's name is Sunny, because he wanted to help me feel better.  He is just so sweet. 

Showing off her Big Sister sticker!

Both girls have what the nurses called "stork bites" on their faces.  They said that they usually go away but it could take days, weeks or months and that they could show up still when they cry or get upset.  They kind of looked like they beat each other up before they were born! Their marks are a little different from each other.

My pretty flowers from my mom!

This picture shows the difference in their hair really well... one of the easiest ways to tell them apart.  Riley has a little bit more and it is darker than Madelyn's.

The girls did so great the entire time at the hospital.  We got so many comments about how good their size was and how well they were doing, especially for twins.  The nurses told us that while we were there that they had 4 sets of twins and one set of triplets in the NICU.  We felt so incredibly blessed that we didn't even have to worry about that.  They passed all of their tests like the hearing screening and to test for jaundice.  The only thing we had to watch for was their weight.  They of course lost weight after birth and the percentage lost by the last full day was borderline for concerning so on the last night we supplemented their feedings with a little formula.  Oh and I even tandem nursed a handful of times.  That felt like such a big accomplishment, yet something I couldn't exactly take a picture of, haha!

Overall, we had a good hospital stay.  This recovery seemed more difficult than with Kaley but I think that is probably because my body was already so worn out and had been through so much with the pregnancy.  I enjoyed LOTS of water, juice, snacks, not so great hospital food, and gotta love when nurses just bring you pain medication every 4 hours!  Steve is always awesome and was so great to help with the babies and get me what I needed since I could barely move.  He is an amazing support and I just love him so much.  It is always a special time for he and I to bond with baby (babies this time!) and I really cherish that.

Next up, coming home, yikes!!