Our First Outing

Hasn’t the weather we’re having just been amazing! We even managed to venture out of the house for the first time last week which was even better. I’ve started getting cabin fever from all the long days and nights spent at home just feeding and sleeping, and so the first chance we had I took the opportunity to get out with the family.

Operation Park was a lot less of a stress than I had first thought it may be, but it did involve help from two nannies, Granny and Aunty Bron. All snuggled in their buggies (two doubles as the quad buggy I looked at was just to big and shouted look at me!!!) we set of with Luke on his balance bike to the park which is only 5 mins away. As the boys are still on a lot of meds we aren’t able to feed whilst out at the moment so it needs to be in-between feeds. We we had about a two hour window and we made the most of all the time we had. Luke was so excited to be going to the park with mummy and his brothers as the last month he’s not had the pleasure. It was amazing to spend some time together.

We did get some funny looks from people as we wondered through, but thankfully no-one stopped us to ask the million and one questions I've answered time and time again. I know people are just trying to be friendly but I just wanted some time with the family and to get to the park and back without to much hassle. Thankfully we were able to!

The boys continue to grow by the day and are now; Sam 8lbs 8oz, Ru 8lbs 4oz, Zac and Josh 7lbs 11oz. They have quite bad reflux at the moment so a lot of time is spent winding and moping up sick but despite this it thankfully hasn’t had any impact on their weight gain. We have been very lucky to have Marts mum and aunt with us over the last 6 weeks to help with the mass of washing and feeding but they sadly go home today. Thanks Granny and Anuty Bron for all the love and help over the last 6 weeks we're really going to miss you! We also have help at the moment from trainee students during the day who are just fantastic! Thanks girls for all the hard work, you are making life a lot more bearable at the moment. The students will be going off for the summer hols so we won’t have anyone for 3 months until the colleges start back again. I wanted to put it out there for anyone who would be interested in coming to help with the care of the boys from July to Sep we are desperately looking for some willing volunteers. 

 Off we go

Left to right: Sam, Josh, Ru & Zac

Sam

Zac

Ru

Josh

Luke riding the ramps in the skate park

Luke driving the park quad

It's my due date today!

As I sit here with a baby in my arms I can't help reflect on how different my life is now, Its these rare moments when I can actually stop for 5 mins from the continuous action and busyness which now fills each 24hr period that others call a day. There is no day or night for me any more, just 4 hour blocks in which I may or may not be able to grab an hour or twos sleep. The number 4 now seems to run my life, 4 moses baskets, 4 blankets, 4 bottles every 4 hours, the list goes on... Honestly it’s crazy!

Today is actually a very special day, my due date, the 15th May!. We were all discharged from St Michaels hospital 3 weeks ago after an 8 week stay. It’s quite incredible  how quickly it went and the fact that I brought all my little stars home together. It nearly didnt happen as Josh was still on a tiny bit of oxygen right up until 3 days before we left. I kept being told that I would only be taking Sam, Ru and Zac home which was very difficult to try and come to terms with. I had given birth to four babies and wanted to take four babies home! The thought of leaving him there on his own made me cry, but thankfully he suddenly turned a corner as was able to come off his oxygen and was ready to go on our discharge day. The sense of emotion and achievement I felt when I put them into their cars seats was overwhelming. All those months in hospital before hand and the 8 weeks in the neonatal unit were finally coming to an end and all my boys were fit and healthy. Where had the last four months of my life gone!

Home life is amazing but incredibly hard. We are slowly getting used to our new lives and so is their big brother. He has been amazing with them and although he isn't particularly fused by their presence and obviously feels a little left out at times you can see that he is starting to enjoy them. He even went over to Zacs cot yesterday and told me he needed to pat him to make him feel better which I though was so sweet.

I  think in the last 3 weeks Martin and I have managed about 3 nights of sleep in the same bed. When we first came home the idea was to take the moses baskets upstairs every night, but we soon realised that traipsing up and down the stairs three times night to make bottles and trying to find a comfortable position to feed on the bed wasn't going to work. Not to mention the boys new found lungs, you certainly know when four boys are hungry! and we didnt want Luke to suffer for it. We have resorted to taking it in turns to sleep upstairs with the other sleeping with the boys in the lounge. It’s quite a lonely arrangement but it has to be done and saves up about 20mins on feeding times which equates to more sleep!I don't think I’ve ever been so time efficient in all my life, trying desperately to cut any unnecessary time from the process where I can.  

We are slowly getting into some kind of routine and most of the time we manage to stick to it. I say most of the time as there are some days when everything just goes wrong and you end up with four screaming babies a ton of dirty nappies and more sicky clothes than your washing machine can handle.

The boys are thriving though (their latest weights are; Sam - 7lbs 1oz, Ru -  6lbs 13oz, Zac - 6lbs 9oz and Josh 6lbs 8oz)  and they’re really starting to wake up and be more alert between feeds. We had a visit from the health visitor today and she thinks it wont be long before we start seeing some smiles, I can't wait! I remember with Luke how amazing it felt when he first smiled, so I feel very privileged to be able to experience that four times over!

Ready for home

 

Dad with Zac and Josh

Luke and Sam

 Sam

Zac

Josh

Ru

Having a cuddle

Nap time