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- slender limbs - small, but proportionally long relative to their bodies.
- transparent skin - their skin pigment is not showing yet. You can see the red and blue blood vessels.
- downy fur - they have fine hairs on their ears, shoulder and back.
- soft ears - the cartilage are not harden yet, the ears just stick to the side of the head.
This journal is about raising identical twins.
First three months
Previous entriesWednesday, Aug 6, 1997
Joanne and Jasmine were born three minutes apart.
At birth,
Joanne weighed 4 lb. and 8 oz.
Jasmine weighed 4 lb. and 7 oz.
Both were 18" long.
The twins are 6 weeks premature. They show many characteristics of premature babies including:
Today is the 52nd anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. It is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar with 147 days remaining.
Thursday, Aug 7, 1997 (2nd day)
The laboratory results show that the babies are identical twins, but yet they look quite different. Perhaps their heads were reshaped differently during birth, the first one was pushed out and the second was pulled out by the legs.Mommy was discharged from the hospital. Because the twins stayed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the longer we stayed in the hospital, the longer time we could spend with the twins. The nurses in the maternity ward were very nice, they let us stay in the room past dinnertime. The hospital administrator offered to reserve for us one of the waiting room outside of the NICU. These rooms are open during the day time for all parents with a child in the NICU. They can be reserved for overnight stay after 10pm. There was only one small cot for the mom, and daddy had to sleep on the couch. Mommy decided that she could not get a good rest on a cot, so we cancelled our reservation with the nurse and packed up. We were home by 10pm.
Monday, Aug 11, 1997 (5th day)
Since the babies were born 6 weeks premature, they are still in incubators under observation. They were off the IV and started eating special formula on the second day and they switched to regular baby formula on the fourth day. They are doing so well that the nurses said they may be able to come home in a week or so.Mommy is doing fine at home. We rented a pump for the breast milk. We bottle feed the babies with breast milk whenever we visit them in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Thursday, Aug 14, 1997 (8th day)
The babies were discharged from the hospital today. They stayed for 8 days.During the eight day period, we went to the hospital as often as we have time. We went there not only to see our twins, but also to learn all the baby caring skills from the nurses. They taught us how to sponge bath, how to hold, how to feed, how to wrap the babies etc. We tried to match with the feeding schedule so that we could stay for at least two feedings in each visit. The nurses in the NICU are very experienced, they had already trained our twins on a four hours feeding schedule. We felt very lucky because I was told that most new born starts with a two hour feeding schedule. With two babies to feed, we wouldn't get any sleep time between each feeding if they started on a two hour schedule.
Saturday, Aug 16, 1997 (10th day)
Jasmine's cord fell off.
Monday, Aug 18, 1997 (12th day)
We took the twins to Dr. Amy Oro for a well check.Joanne weighed 4 lb. and 11 oz.
Jasmine weighed 4 lb. and 9 oz.
Monday, Aug 25, 1997 (19th day)
We took the twins to the pediatrian for another well check.Joanne weighed 5 lb. and 6 oz.
Jasmine weighed 5 lb.
In spite of my objection, mommy stopped breast feeding the babies after about two weeks. Reasons: inconvenience and it is too much work with 2 babies.
Tuesday, Sep 2, 1997 (27th day)
The babies are doing very well despite they were 6 weeks premature. When they were discharged from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit after 8 days of stay, their weight dropped down to around 4 lb. 5 oz and 4 lb. 3 oz respectively. They weighed 5 lb 6 oz and 5 lb as of last week's visit to the doctor's office. They are meeting their weight gain quota. Joanne actually doubles hers. They may be around 6 lb by now. They are also getting stronger day by day, we can tell by the volume of their cry. When they first came home, they didn't cry that much because they didn't have the energy to spare. Now we start to lose sleep. :-(They both have the same favorite sleeping posture, with both hands above the head. And they make the same face too, they pucker their lips together so tight until only a small dot is left. I guess they would have no trouble inviting kisses when they grow up. :-)
After their skin pigment has developed, the transparency of their skin is gone, their true skin color shows.
However, Jasmine got more blood than Joanne when they were born.
As a result, Jasmine's skin is quite red while Joanne's skin is more like regular babies.
We nicknamed them Pocahontas and Snow White respectively.
Jasmine already learned sign language, she was saying: "I'm baby number 2"
while Joanne still had trouble counting her fingers.
Saturday, Sep 6, 1997 (31st day)
The twins are one month old today.
Sunday, Sep 7, 1997 (32nd day)
Babies met many relatives today. We had a big dinner (3 tables full) at May Flower Restaurant.
Thursday, Sep 11, 1997 (36th day)
The babies had a weight check at the doctor's office today
Joanne weighed 7 lb. and ½ oz.
Jasmine weighed 6 lb. and 11 oz.
Monday, Sep 15, 1997 (40th day)
Today would have been the twins due date if they came on schedule.Tuesday, Sep 16, 1997 (41st day)
Today is the Mid-Autumn festival (aka the Harvest Moon in some culture). The twins were too young to join us when we ate the "moon cakes".
Friday, Sep 26, 1997 (51st day)
Joanne slept 6 hours during the night. Jasmine slept 5½ hour during the night.
Saturday, Sep 27, 1997 (52nd day)
The babies reached another milestone today, they slept overnight for the first time. Both babies slept 7½ hour. Mommy needs not wake up in the middle of the night to feed them.Daddy and mommy held an open house today. Friends came to visit the babies and brought many gifts. Whoever held the babies got a photo opp. Snacks and drinks were served and the traditional Cantonese treat "Ginger in Vinegar" was very well received.
Guests include:
Simon & Annie L., with Jocelyn and Carolyn
Ray & Maria C., with two boys (Kevin & ?)
Louis & Angella L.
Doris C. with Josephine & Anita
Frank L. (My high school classmate) & his wife Winnie with two girls
Joyce Y.
Angel Y.
Poon & Sharleen L.
Dick K.
Ronald & Evon L.
Lambert F. with fiancee Sandy
Claudia & Jonathan L. with Jessica
Thursday, Oct 2, 1997 (57th day)
The babies took a step back today, they woke up in the middle of the night again. They returned to the 4 hours feeding schedule for some reasons.
Saturday, Oct 4, 1997 (59th day)
Jasmine caught a cold, she kicked off her blanket during the night and she didn't cry for help. She was wrapped up again by 4am. Her breathing is a little congested, but she doesn't have a fever.
Monday, Oct 6, 1997 (61st day)
When they were a few weeks old, they had a habit of looking around the room without moving their heads. Their eyes move left, right, left, right, left, right like a search light. It was cute and funny. Recently, probably because their necks are stronger now, they changed the habit to looking around by turning their heads. They can turn their heads left, right, left, right, left, right non-stop for hours or until they fall asleep. It is very funny too, especially when you see the bald spot on the back of their heads from rubbing against the pillows.The babies had their two month check up today. Everything is fine except Jasmine's cold is not recovered yet. Each had 4 shots today. The doctor warned us about their possible reaction to the immunization. They may become fussy for the next 48 hours. They may have a fever too.
Joanne weighed 8 lb. and 14 oz.
Jasmine weighed 8 lb. and 8 oz.
Both measured 20¾ inches in length.
The doctor said their weight and height are in the 10th percentile among other babies. If the age is adjusted for their premature birth, then they would be in the 50th percentile.
Saturday, Oct 18, 1997 (73rd day)
First long trip for the twins. We took the twins to the in-laws home in the morning. It was a 45 minute drive. Mommy's good friend Michelle C. is getting married today. Mommy wants to attend the wedding and banquet. The in-laws babysit for us while we are in the wedding banquet.
Saturday, Oct 19, 1997 (74th day)
Mommy's Cousin Winnie came back from Vancouver. She and her husband Simon came to see the twins for the first time.
Monday, Nov 3, 1997 (89th day)
Both babies had been sleeping overnight for sometimes now. We try not to wake them up for the sake of feeding. As the doctor said, if they are hungry, they will wake up and cry. If they sleep well, we'll let the feeding schedule slip. The longest time between feedings was about 12 hours (from 9pm to 9am)We took the babies to the doctor's office again today. Jasmine has recovered from her cold for sometime now. However, both Jasmine and Joanne have a lot of nasal discharge (booger) almost everyday. Sometimes, their noses were so congested that they had to gasp for air. We use the blub syringe to pump out the mucus, but sometime it is not effective, especially when the booger is dried inside the sinus. On the nurses' advice, we put a couple drops of saline water (¼ teaspoon of table salt in 8 fl. oz. of luke warm water) into their nostrils and pump out the excessive water. It works quite amazingly, when the booger softens, they just sneeze it out with the saline solution.
They had another weight check today:
Joanne weighed 10 lb. and 10½ oz.
Jasmine weighed 10 lb. and 5½ oz.
The doctor said their weight are now in the 25th percentile among other babies.
Thursday, Nov 6, 1997
Babies are three months old today.The babies love to bathe. They smile when they are lowered to the tub and they just lay there quietly to be washed.
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