Well the boys are five months old already! This is a day or so late but better late than never. They're growing way too fast! They're learning something new everyday and it's so much fun to watch. Over the last two weeks, I find myself constantly saying, "aw poor babies." This really sums up their past couple of days. They've had a rough go of it and partly because they got their shots. They reacted badly and had high fevers, rash, and overall just didn't feel well. Not to mention Bentley was in so much pain, he wouldn't let me touch his leg at all! We were in and out of the hospital for three days straight after their shots. Poor babies were so over being there and I don't blame them.
We just recently had their four month check up. I was so excited to go in and see how much they had grown.
Liam:
11 lbs 13 oz (Birth: 5 lbs 11 oz)...0 Percentile
23.7 in (Birth: 19.5 in)
Temperature: 98.1
Heart Rate: 130 bpm
O2 Levels: 99
Head Circumference: 41.3 cm
Bentley:
12 lbs 6 oz (Birth: 5 lbs 8 oz)...10th Percentile
23.5 in (Birth: 19 in)
Temperature: 98
Heart Rate: 132 bpm
O2 Levels: 99
Head Circumference: 41.4 cm
They've come a long way since they were born. Although, they still seem so small to me for being five months old.
Eat
Bentley seems to be the piggie of the two and they're eating every few hours. Especially throughout the night, Bentley seems to eat much more than Liam does. We've also started slowly introducing solids which was super fun! Sweet potato to be exact. We started off with mixing it with my breast milk. They loved it! Although a few hours later they didn't love it at all. They got gassy and uncomfortable and we had some fussy babies on our hands. So we decided to stop solids for now and maybe try in a month.
Well then Liam fell and we had a follow up appointment with his PCM. She was concerned about his weight and wanted us to try avocado with him. So back to trying solids we went. I mixed avocado with my breast milk and tried giving that. They weren't uncomfortable and gassy which was awesome! BUT they HATED it. Especially Bentley. He made a terrible face every time it touched his tongue. It's been a struggle. We're trying our best to put some weight on Liam, so crossing our fingers.
Sleep
They're doing better and better with sleep the older they get. We had a slight regression, but it's getting better. They don't seem to nap as much anymore, which makes getting things done during the day more challenging, but they do sleep better at night which gives me sometime to catch up on things and get more sleep. We just recently tried transitioning the boys from our bed to their Pack N' Play. We put the Pack N' Play right next to my side of the bed so I could still see them and keep an eye on them, but so I could have more room in bed to sleep comfortably. My poor husband was so excited to just cuddle baby free for once! Bentley is super easy to put to bed and he usually goes to bed by 9:30 pm. Liam on the other hand, he's my more challenging twin. He likes to stay up later, but I can usually have him in bed by 10:30 pm. They're doing so much better than I thought they would. They only wake up two to three times at night and once or twice in the early morning. Yay boys!
They love snuggling and cuddling with mama and daddy. Liam especially is my little snuggle bear. I could snuggle them all day! They're so sweet and showing more and more of their personalities. Liam is definitely my go getter. He wants to do everything first and Bentley is more easy going and just goes with the flow. He's more independent and Liam is more needy. Liam is days away from crawling! This little man rocks back and forth on his hands and knees. He's just itchin' to get moving. Once he figures out how to move his hands and knees, he'll be off! They're both doing so well with their assisted sitting and soon I think they'll try to sit up on their own. I can't wait to see what else they learn this month!
Liam's Fall
The boy were going through their sleep regression and safe to say, I was a walking zombie. I looked the part too. One day, I had Liam and Bentley on the bed. I went to put Bentley in the crib and next thing I heard is Liam screaming in pain on the ground. My heart immediately sank and I ran over to my husband's side of the bed. I saw him laying there on his back screaming and I immediately scooped him up and started crying along with him. Scariest moment of my life. I don't know what I was thinking. I knew better. I knew to never leave for even a second. I was so tired from these last couple of days I honestly can't tell you what I was thinking or where my head was at. It's almost as if I blacked out and that's the thing...I wasn't thinking. If I was, I would have never left him there pillows or no pillows. Being tired and stressed is no excuse. I should've never left him and I'll always beat myself up about it. People tell me to take it easy and not to blame myself so much, but I can't help it. I'm his mother, I'm the one who is supposed to protect him and I failed him. All of these thoughts were running through my head as I was piling the babies in my car and speeding to the hospital.
Thank the good Lord for Chasity, because she was there when it all happened. She, along with her baby, came with me to the ER. She even rode in the back to make sure he was ok. He was getting sleepy and not wanting to stay awake. When she lifted his eye lid he wouldn't even move his eye and that's when I saw the panic and fear in her voice. When she told me to put hazards on and just go, I knew something was wrong and my heart sank even more.
I put my hazards on and flew to the hospital. At that point I was thinking, "If a cop wants to follow me he can follow me to the ER and give me a ticket there I. Don't. Care." I pulled in fast and stopped in front of the doors. I took his carseat out and let Chasity park. When I pulled up to the window the nurse asked what happened and I was answering questions and signing things while also trying to wake him up. Liam would not move. He went limp. I couldn't wake him up. I immediately started crying. A nurse from the back came through the doors and swooped him up out of his carseat and told me to just follow him. I wasn't even done with the papers, but he said he didn't like what he was seeing. This whole time I'm praying to God that my baby's ok. He started crying and I just sign a breath of relief. THANK GOD. They did vitals and he seemed fine. He started to slowly act more like himself, although they wanted to monitor him for another 3 hours after that. We got their around 1:00pm and didn't get home until almost 6:00 pm. It was a long and scary day, but thankfully he didn't need scans or anything invasive. He's one tough cookie.
I was a panicked mess the rest of the night. He was fussy and needy and for a good reason. I cuddled him, rocked him and made sure he was ok. He went to sleep (along with Bentley) in their crib next to our bed for the first time! It was a success! Besides me not getting any sleep and checking on him more than once every two hours.
We had a follow up appointment for him at the hospital and all went well! She said she didn't see any reason for scans and that he was acting himself so she doesn't think there is anything wrong with him at all. That is, except his weight.
My mama radar was going off at their last appointment when I saw his weight was in the 0 percentile. Everyone kept assuring me "Oh he's ok, he's fine, I'm not worried about it." Well I was. I knew something was off. Sure enough he hasn't gained any weight at all since last week. At this age they should be gaining a quarter to a half of an ounce a day. So we had to make another appointment for him next week to check his weight again. If he hasn't gained anything again, then she wants to run labs as well as talk about doing scans. I am hoping and praying he puts on weight and that we have nothing to worry about. We could definitely use prayers headed this way.
Thanks for taking the time to read this!
Here are a few of their five month pics. I think they're starting to look more and more like each other every month.
