Trip to the Doctor

The Wonder Twins hit the road on Tuesday to travel to the doctor for their four-month check up. I label this as a "trip," because unless they're going to nursery school, we really don't take them out much. First, it's way too cold outside. Second, there are lots of germy people out there who have no qualms about arbitrarily sharing their colds and viruses with others. The girls have already had colds this winter. We don't want them to catch another one. So, they stay home a lot in the warm, relatively germ-free house with us.

Their regular doctor, Emili Mack, is on maternity leave until late March, so they saw Dr. Angelica Swiersz. She poked and proded each baby as part of their examinations and found no problems. She said they looked great, but she would like their weights to be a little higher. Avery weighed almost 11 pounds 4 ounces, and Alexa weighed 11 pounds 1 ounce. Dr. Swiersz said she'd like to see them tip the scales at closer to 13 pounds at this point. She emphasized that there was nothing wrong with their current weights; they were average. She just thought with a slight change in diet we could get them to gain a little more a little faster.

On her recommendation, we're now adding a half teaspoon of baby formula to every two ounces of breastmilk in their bottles. Up until now, the twins have been fed breastmilk by bottle exclusively. Adding the extra formula, according to Dr. Swiersz, will add extra calories to the milk and help the girls grow bigger sooner.

I'll admit that I wasn't thrilled about this idea at first for a couple of reasons. I had really wanted to feed the girls 100% breastmilk for their first year and avoid the high cost of formula. But, of course, I'm no M.D. Plus, adding such small portions of formula to their milk wasn't taking away any part of my role as family food source. It was only adding to it. So, I caved. The babies are now gulping down Enfamil with their milk at every feeding with no problems. We'll see how long it takes for their tiny fat rolls to multiply!

The rest of the visit was routine. They got a shot in each leg, which made them scream and cry. I hate watching them get shots. It breaks my heart to see them in pain. Luckily, this time, part of their vaccine regiment included a sweet-tasting oral medication. Once the nurse put it in their mouths and got them to swish it over their taste buds, the tears stopped and smiles returned! Baby candy! I love it, and so do they!

The girls don't have to return to the pediatrition until they turn 6 months old. I can't imagine what they'll weight then! Perhaps at that visit, they'll be just as good as they were at this one. When both kids are crying, it's very hard for mommy to feed one, console the other and listen to the doctor explain important health information. That's why Geof and I try to tag team our visits. Like Tuesday's visit, however, crazy job schedules sometimes prevent us from doubling up. Thankfully, the nurses at the doctor's office don't mind helping us! They exemplify the most important lesson in raising infant twins - never turn down an offer for help. Especially when the babies outnumber you two to one!