The Crying Chorus

UNTIL the other night, the feed and change cycle had been sequential. One child would rouse, be fed, and changed and then the next child would rouse for feeding and changing. This works well when only one parent is on duty as is the case between 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. Last night, however, the inevitable happened. Both children needed feeding simultaneously. This was fine and expected as the parents are trying to get them on the same schedule anyway (hard to do when has a larger appetite than the other and can go longer between feedings).

If you don’t know the joy of trying to prepare for, feed, burp and change two infants at the same time, you are really missing out on a challenging experience. It could be an Olympic sport in that it requires dexterity and balance surpassing that of most ball sports. Plus, the two part screaming harmony is more stressful than opposing team fan jeers are to a basketball player when he is trying to shoot a free throw.

Their cries stoked an acute urgency in Dad. As result of this pressure and his novice squirmy-worm handling skills, he had a brief scare when trying to wrangle both into his arms for transport from the crib to the couch. It only took a moment of precarious balance in conjunction with her reflexive arm spasm for him to lose his grip on her. She is fine, cribs are soft, but it scared him more than her and sent him into thoughtful reflection. Losing control is something that happens to others, those people you see and hear about on the news, not him, not Mr. Conscientious.

However, the sentinel event did happen. Thus, he adopted new rules to prevent further mishaps, part of which involves earplugs, the other involves handling them one at a time. Once fed and soothed, peace and tranquility returned and a deep satisfaction set in. And they are so cute when they are quietly sleeping.

On another topic, Mom and Dad have tried almost all of the equipment pictured in an older post. Neither child really seems to like it. Neither swinging, bouncing, nor rocking are as soothing as simply being held. Liesel does enjoy her pacifier as long as it stays in or until she falls asleep. EJ liked it at first, but has since abandoned it since it doesn’t deliver food. He gives it four or five good sucks and if there is no milk, he spits it out and won’t take it again.

They are both growing, in weight and appetite.  Mom is recovering nicely and her milk production is increasing in response to demand. It is still nowhere near what it should be, but every little bit helps. Jake the cat misses individualized attention and is no fan the crying chorus, but he is doing as well as can be expected given the circumstances and his declining health. Dad, author of these posts, is fine. The night shift suits him well, but he has not kept up with his workout routine, and the ice cream and other high carb convenience foods he has consumed over the last week and half are making the scale angry.

As an aside, necessity is the mother of invention. Having little other fresh veg in the house, Dad decided to chop and combine romaine, spinach and cilantro into a salad mix. Mmm, mmm. He’ll do that again.

The parents are still eager to venture out into public for more than a doctor’s appointment or a few minutes meeting and greeting neighbors with their little rock stars. Now that the hot weather has subsided for a few days, that might happen sooner than later. It’ll be an exciting learning experience for all.