We're going HOME

I just spoke with the pediatrician. She says Lydia can be discharged today. It is quite possible that as you read this we are sitting on our own couch watching our own movie on our own TV while eating our own popcorn and holding our own little girls.

This will be the last blog post for a while. I don't have the internet at home and I'll be pretty busy taking care of the twins. I told Brandon I'd like to get out of the apartment and go to the library to blog at least once a week. We'll see how that works out.

I'd like to thank all of you who have read along during these last 18 days. There are a lot of you. This blog has averaged over 100 page views a day during November. Knowing that you all are out there and interested in what I write helped me enjoy my time here.

I'd also like to thank those of you who visited. Thank you for stopping by. Every visit was the highlight of my day. Please don't stop visiting just because we are out of the hospital.

A special thanks goes to the staff of the Special Care Nursery at LDS hospital. Your dedication to our girls has been wonderful. Thank you for all the care you gave to them and us.

There are so many things I want to say right now, but I'm afraid I don't have the words to express my feelings. I keep thinking of the end of one of my favorite movies, Apollo 13. Somehow Jim Lovell's final words in that movie seem appropriate.

"I sometimes catch myself looking up at the Moon, remembering the changes of fortune in our long voyage, thinking of the thousands of people who worked to bring the three of us home."

I know that I too will remember the changes in fortune during our stay at the hospital, and I'll think often about the many people who worked and prayed to let the four of us go home.

Thanks for reading! This is only the beginning . . .

Full Circle

Today is our three and a half year wedding anniversary. I had been hoping to give birth to the girls today. Instead Charlotte was discharged this morning!!! She is now all mine. Now we are hanging out in my room and waiting for Lydia. If all goes well Lydia should be discharged tomorrow. Here is Lydia. It breaks my heart wheel out Charlotte's bed and leave Lydia all alone in her room. Thankfully she doesn't cry. Instead she just lays in her bed and looks around.

Rooming in with Charlotte last night was an adventure! She had trouble sleeping. I would nurse her, but she didn't eat as much as she normally does. Then when I would try to put her back in her bed she would act hungry. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. I thought maybe she was getting too used to being bottle fed. Around 4:00 am I fed her with a bottle and she drank 70 ccs (that's a lot) and then fell asleep. So then I really started thinking that she was too used to bottles. I had visions of needing to pump all my milk and then feed her through the bottle. I wasn't too happy about that idea.

This morning I decided to try to feed Charlotte while we were in Lydia's room. I talked to the nurse about what could be affecting Charlotte's nursing. The nurse didn't think it was the bottles because I nurse with a nipple shield that is very similar to a bottle. Neither of us could figure out the problem until I sat down to nurse with Charlotte. I immediately knew what had caused the problem last night. I was using a different nursing pillow.

The nursing pillow I use in the nursery is a brand called "My Brest friend." It has a flat surface. The pillow I used in my room is just a regular "boppy" brand. It has more of a curved surface. Charlotte and I are much more used to the flat surface. With the flat surface Charlotte nursed for 15 minutes and fell right asleep.

I'm glad I figured this out because I just barely ordered the "My Brest Friend Twin Plus Deluxe" nursing pillow on Amazon. I was wondering if I really needed it as bad as I thought I did. Well now I know that I absolutely need it.

I've now come full circle in one aspect of my life. Back on May 13th when went to the doctor's for my 10 week ultrasound I saw a magazine advertisement for the twin nursing pillow. I thought to myself, "well I won't need that." 15 minutes later I found out I was pregnant with twins. 6 months later I bought the nursing pillow.

Charlotte hung out with me and Brandon this evening. She watched The Simpsons with us.

Here I am with both my girls. The nurses asked us if we wanted Lydia to room in with us tonight. Unfortunately they asked right as we were going to bed for the night. It would have been fun to have them together, but not while we were trying to sleep. We'll save the fun for tomorrow when we are in our own home.

Charlotte is almost free!

Last night I had a dream that I was doing a training session at my old job. I used to do training every couple months about how to avoid the various problems I found while auditing. Well in my dream last night I was training everyone on how to properly change diapers. Feel free to interpret that how ever you like. :)

Charlotte will be discharged as a patient tomorrow. In preparation for that she is able to do what's called "rooming in" with me and Brandon. That means she was taken off of all her monitors and able to come to our little room. The nurses periodically check on her, but she's basically been mine all day!

It's been an adjustment to figure out all the particulars of being with a baby so much. As you can see from the above picture it took me a bit longer than usual to get ready for the day. Overall though I am so happy to have her with me. I'm also glad she doesn't have any wires. I think she is happy to be with me. She's taking advantage of the situation and eating just about every hour.

Lydia should be discharged in a day or two and then we can all go home! I'm glad this will soon be over because it is getting complicated having one baby in my room and one in the nursery. If you notice I don't have any pictures of Lydia today. That's because I've hardly had time to spend with her in the nursery since taking Charlotte back to my room. For example, I'd just barely started nursing Charlotte when the nursery called and said Lydia was awake and hungry. Brandon went down and bottle fed Lydia so she could feel like she has parents. This will be easier when we are all in our apartment together.

Help and Preparation

Today was Brandon's day off from work. Our girls should be coming home soon so we took advantage of the fact that we can leave them with the nurses. We spent a lot of the day running errands. Tonight we went out to eat at Burger King. We've both been craving fries. We weren't disappointed.

Here I am with Charlotte. She might be released from the hospital as early as tomorrow, but it might not happen until Wednesday.

And here is Lydia. You can see that she doesn't have her NG tube on her face any more. Last night I "forgot" to wrap her hands up in her blankets. Instead I left them out. She is taking all her feedings by mouth now so I knew that if she pulled her tube out the nurse wouldn't put it back. Sure enough when I checked on her an hour later she had pulled her tube for the 6th and last time. Good girl!
Here is our little family. I'm so glad the girls are in the same room now. We spent about an hour with them tonight. It was nice to just hold them. I'm looking forward to chilling out with our girls at home while watching a movie.
Those are the only pictures we have today. So those of you who just like the pics can move on. Those of you who read this blog can stay. :)

Today's post is about the things that have helped me make it through this stay in the hospital. To me the past two weeks have been a crazy-fun adventure. Something that will be a cool story to tell later. However, this adventure could easily have been a nightmare if I didn't have help and preparation.

A great deal of help came from my Heavenly Father. I rarely get all mushy about faith and religion in this blog, but I'm making an exception today. I'd like to share a scripture that Brandon and I read last week in the Book of Mormon. It is Mosiah 24:14-15:

"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that you may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, to visit my people in their afflictions.

And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

When I read this scripture last week I thought back over all the things that had happened to us since the babies were born. There were some pretty scary things - Charlotte's collapsed lung, the possibility of Charlotte going to another hospital, the fact the babies were going to be in the hospital for so long, etc. But I didn't worry too much about these things at the time they happened. I just had a sense that everything would work out. And everything did work out. Looking back I could see that Brandon and I had been strengthened by the Lord to bear our burdens with ease. In fact we couldn't even tell they were burdens.

The other thing that helped me with this hospital stay was the preparation I received for it. There were many people in my life who shared things from their lives that prepared me for what was about to happen. Here is a list. I've tried to acknowledge as many people as possible, but this list is by no means comprehensive. So don't feel bad if you are left off.

The first person is my friend Lina. Lina blogged about the three weeks her newborn daughter spent at the hospital learning how to take all her feedings through her mouth. At the time Lina wrote her blog I wasn't even pregnant yet, but I followed her story closely. It was the first time I found out that premature newborns have to stay in the hospital if they have difficulty eating. Later when my own girls were born early I was prepared for what to expect in regard to feeding them. I even re-read Lina's blog with my mom so we could get an idea of what feelings to expect.

The next person is my friend Melissa. Melissa's daughter spent about a week in the NICU. The ultrasound that revealed I was still pregnant with twins also showed that Baby B (Lydia) was very small. I figured that she would most likely end up in the NICU for some amount of time even if she was born full term. I asked Melissa what to expect. Melissa had a very positive attitude about the whole thing. She told me about the fact that there would be IV's and tubes and wires, but she didn't make them sound scary. Now I ask her for advise about what to do when I bring my babies home.

My aunt Cheryl is another person that prepared me. She had a calm attitude about her three C-sections. (She has a calm attitude about everything.) I knew that with twins there was a high chance of having a C-section. I'd mostly heard horror stories about emergency C-sections and so I was a little scared of the prospect. After talking to Cheryl about her experiences with her C-sections I felt very comfortable with the idea. My own C-section went very well, and I have no regrets. (except that I drank orange juice a few hours earlier)

My sisters Lindsey and Emily set great examples for me. Both of them had baby boys while they were in college. Lindsey graduated in April and Emily will graduate this coming April. I have no idea how they juggled everything. I often thing about them when I contemplate how busy my life will be with twins. I tell myself I should be grateful that I have already graduated.

My friend Lindsay influenced me in a tragic way. Her son died of SIDS recently. I've been following her blog and she has reminded me to enjoy every second I can with my little girls.

My mother-in-law, Jacque, had twins of her own. So of course she is a gold mine of information. I often ask her logistical questions like, did you have one crib or two? Answer: one crib for the first six months.

My Mom set an example by breastfeeding all five of her children. Since I'm the oldest I remember her nursing my younger brother and sisters. I've known all along that I want to breastfeed my girls. So far it is working out.

My Dad helped prepare me for something that could have been very scary to see. My Dad has a C-Pap machine that helps him breath at night. I've become adjusted to seeing his machine and the mask that goes with it. The very first time I saw Lydia she was wearing a C-Pap mask. Because of my Dad I knew a C-Pap wasn't as scary as it looked. I was able to ignore the mask and look at my little girl.

And finally I have to mention my greatest example and helper, Brandon. He has been in the hospital several times in his life starting with when he had a stroke when he was seven. (Odd, I know) He was also in the hospital twice as a teenager for surgery to remove a nasal tumor. (Yeah, also odd) Because of these hospital stays he had endless empathy for me. He also told me what to expect as far as IV's, catheters, blood clot preventer thingies, and hospital socks went. I'm so glad he was with me.

All this shows that you never know when you might influence somebody. Thanks for helping and preparing me. I hate to imagine what the past two weeks would have been like if I'd had to go through them alone and unprepared.

What a difference two weeks make

The babies are two weeks old today. I can't believe how much they have changed in the past 14 days. Here are some pictures to illustrate the change.

This is Charlotte when she was less than 12 hours old. She had just come off the ventilator and a C-Pap machine was helping her breath. At the time we took this picture we were excited by how well she was doing. Now I look at it in disbelief.

Here is Charlotte today. She is so cute. As you can see she no longer has any tubes on her face. That's right - she is eating all her meals through her mouth. She just has to prove that she can still gain weight, and she will be ready to come home.

Here is Lydia at less than 2 hours old. This is how she looked the first time I held her. The C-Pap was helping her breath as well.

Here is Lydia today. She is also starting to take all her meals by mouth, but she is about a day behind Charlotte. Hopefully she catches up and they can be discharged together. If not, Charlotte will move into our room while we wait for Lydia.

Here I am. I'm 35 weeks and 6 days pregnant in this picture. My water broke about 1/2 an hour before the picture was taken.

And here I am today. I don't fit my pre-pregnancy pants yet, but my maternity pants are hanging off of me. I feel skinny!

Here's Brandon about an hour and a half before my C-section. (The twins were born at 10:39 and 10:40)

And here is Brandon today! I think the video speaks for itself. Enjoy watching it!

Thanks for all the support and prayers that have helped us get through the last two weeks. Hopefully we will be home within the next week.

A (not so) typical day

Yesterday afternoon I had a great idea for today's post. I would keep a log of everything I did in one day. I'd log the girls' feeding schedule, how they were fed, what I did, any feelings I wanted to share, etc. That way I could have a record of what hospital life was like during our stay here.

Then today turned out to be not as predictable as I thought it would be. There is no such thing as a "typical" day in the special care nursery. So instead you get to read about how incredibly unpredictable this place can be. It's probably more entertaining this way anyway.

Today's not so typical day actually began with last night's not so typical evening. So I'm going to start the 24 hour clock at 8:00 PM on Friday, November 12.

8:00 PM Charlotte's Cares: At 8:00 Brandon and I go into the nursery. We see our favorite nurse, but she isn't in charge of our girls. Instead it is our least favorite nurse. She's not a bad nurse - we just don't have personalities that go well together. She micro-manages me WAY too much. I don't do well with micro-managers. Charlotte is already awake so the nurse has taken care of weighing her and changing her diaper. I start nursing Charlotte. Brandon and I talk a little bit but we are both pretty tired. I'm looking forward to sleeping because Charlotte learned how to take a bottle today. That means the nurse can bottle feed her at 11:00 and 2:00 and I wont have to come in until 5:00. Brandon is just about to fall asleep. I tell him to go on to bed, but he decides to stay around until I start nursing Lydia. This picture was taken a couple hours earlier when Brandon learned how to feed Charlotte with a bottle.

9:00 PM Lydia's Cares: At nine we move over to Lydia's room. I start changing her diaper. She's had a very bad diaper rash the past couple days. The night before she had a little bit of blood in her stool so she'd had an X-ray of her belly. The X-ray didn't show anything bad so we figured the blood was from the rash and started using cotton wipes and prescription diaper rash cream. Well tonight she has blood in her stool again. (And the same nurse finds it, maybe that's why I don't like her.)

9:15 PM Lydia is examined: The nurse calls in the Nurse Practitioner who examines Lydia. Lydia screams the whole time despite Brandon giving her a binky and holding her head with his palm. The whole time Lydia is screaming the NP is explaining to us why they are concerned. She is worried it could be a bowel problem that preemies are at risk for called NEC. She has some other theories about what it could be so she orders another X-ray and some blood and stool tests. I don't really listen because I'm so distracted by Lydia's crying. I just want to hold her.

9:40 PM Blood Tests: Lydia is wrapped up and put into my arms, but I can't feed her because if she really does have NEC feeding her would only make it worse. I start to tear up because I don't want my little girl to have any problems. Brandon says a quick prayer to calm our nerves. As soon as it is over Lydia gives me a look that says, "relax Mom, it's me - Baby B. They always worry about me, but I always turn out fine." This calms me down a little bit. Lydia also calms down and patiently sucks on her binky and looks around the room. She goes through her whole collection of crazy faces. Brandon says she is the Jim Carry of babies because she has so many funny faces. The lady from the lab shows up to draw Lydia's blood. Lydia cries a little bit when she has her heel stuck, but then she calms right back down.

10:00 PM X-Ray: The X-ray machine and tech come into the room. Brandon and I have to leave while Lydia is X-rayed. Brandon holds me while we wait outside. I'm worried Lydia will cry but she doesn't. Soon she is back in my arms. We all wait calmly for the results. Brandon even starts making me laugh about something. The nurse keeps bringing us information on all the things that Lydia might have. I tell Brandon I don't want to know anything about them until we find out what she has. I don't want anything extra to worry about.

10:40 PM Results: Our favorite nurse comes in to see how we are doing. She reminds us that she told us Special Care is a roller coaster ride. She's in there when the Nurse Practitioner comes in and tells us that Lydia does not have NEC. Our favorite nurse talks to the NP about what could be causing the problem and they decide it could be the milk fortifier we've been adding to Lydia's feedings to help her gain weight. They take her off the fortifier and get another prescription diaper cream. Lydia is cleared for a feeding. We figure she is too tired to try to nurse so we let the nurse tube feed her. Lydia's falling asleep so we leave her.

10:50 PM Ice cream and laughter: To relieve tension we make root beer floats and take them back to our room. We watch 2 episodes of the Simpsons from a DVD a friend let us borrow. I also pump milk while we do this. The Simpsons end just in time to turn on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" at 11:40. Laughing at his monologue makes us feel good enough to go to bed. We read scriptures, say prayers and fall asleep after midnight.

2:00 AM Pumping: My alarm goes off and I pump milk for about 20 minutes. I run it down to the nursery, and head back to bed.

4:30 AM Time to Get Up: Brandon's alarm goes off and he gets up and starts getting ready for work. I get up just as he's about to leave at 5:00.

5:00 AM Lydia's Cares: I head into the nursery and go into Charlotte's room. She is sleeping soundly. The nurse (still my least favorite one) comes in and tells me that Charlotte and Lydia switched care times over night. It's actually Lydia's turn. I go into Lydia's room. The nurse takes care of changing Lydia's diaper because it is basically a medical procedure now. She hands her to me and I nurse her. Lydia sucks for about 5 minutes and then conks out. I hold her to see if she wakes up and wants more, but she doesn't. The nurse tube feeds her the rest.

6:00 AM Pumping: The nurse said that Charlotte would wake up around 6:30 for cares. There is a breast pump in Charlotte's room so I go in there and finish pumping out the milk that Lydia didn't get. I read "The Family" by Kitty Kelly while I do that. It's about the Bush family. I don't really care for the subject but I love the biographer. This is the third Kitty Kelly book I've read.

6:30 AM Charlotte's Cares: Charlotte wakes up and I change her diaper and nurse her. She's been on room air all night and has been doing fine without the oxygen tubes up her nose. She also has her NG tube out. So she doesn't have anything taped to her face. She falls asleep after about 13 minutes so I put her back and head to my room for some sleep.

7:00 AM Internet: Before falling asleep I decide I need to check my e-mail. I do that and then I take a quick cat nap.

8:00 AM Lydia's Cares: The day nurse is on duty when I get to Lydia's room. I've never met her before, but she seems nice. She lets me know that the 12 bed nursery is quickly filling up. She says if they need to they will move the girls to an over flow room in the back. It isn't the nicest room, but at least they will be together. I'm all for this idea. I start nursing Lydia. Lydia doesn't seem interested in nursing. I tell the nurse to heat up some milk and we will tube feed Lydia. As soon as she starts warming up the milk Lydia starts sucking. She goes for 13 minutes and conks out. We decide that Charlotte will be bottle fed instead of nursed at her 9:00 cares. That way she can have the warm milk. While I'm nursing we hear a call come in that a baby needs to come to special care. This means we need to move. Charlotte gets moved first and then Lydia.

9:00 AM Charlotte's Cares: I go into the new room and start taking Charlotte's temp and changing her diaper. The pediatrician comes in and checks Charlotte. We talk about Lydia and the pediatrician says that everyone is pretty sure the blood is coming from the diaper rash. The nurse brings Lydia back and gets her all hooked up. My girls are in the same room! The nurse adds fortifier to Charlotte's milk and hands me the bottle. I feed Charlotte. Here you can see both beds in the same room.

9:30 AM Breakfast/Shower/Pumping: Once Charlotte is fed and wrapped up in her bed again I head over to the kitchen and eat breakfast (cheerios). Then I go to my room and take a shower. After the shower I pump milk while typing the first part of this blog with one hand.

10:50 AM Relaxing: I run the milk over to the nursery before Lydia's 11:00 o'clock cares. She gets tube fed for these cares so I don't need to be there. I head back to my room and work some more on this blog. I also do my make up, blow dry my hair and straighten up the room a little.

12:00 PM Charlotte's Cares: Normally Charlotte would take a bottle during this feeding instead of the prior one, but everything has become a little screwed up. I decide she should nurse this time. I get to her room a little early. I can't figure out which baby I am there for. Once I remember it is Charlotte I spend the next few minutes writing a schedule on the window. I include what kind of feeding we would do for each cares. I do all of Charlotte's cares and am on minute 8 of nursing before the nurse comes back to check on me. I think this back room will fit my independent nature perfectly.

12:30 PM Lunch: I'm done nursing Charlotte and so I grab some lunch (Cup of Noodles). Then I remember I need to pump so I go do that.

1:00 PM Relaxing: I enter a few items into this blog post and then take a 1/2 hour nap.

2:00 PM Charlotte AND Lydia's Cares: According to the new schedule it is time to nurse Lydia. She's awake when I come in. The nurse changes her diaper and says the rash is looking smaller. I'm about ready to start nursing Lydia when we hear Charlotte wake up. 2:00 has been her feeding time almost from the beginning so I'm not surprised that she's waking up. We decide to try nursing them simultaneously. I'm a little nervous because 1. I've never done this. 2. I've never even tried the football hold with either of them. 3. I'm pretty certain Lydia will do okay, but I don't know about Charlotte. Thankfully the nurse is really patient and helps position the girls. Soon I have one girl under each arm and they are both sucking hungrily. After a while they start to open their eyes and stare at each other. Lydia seems especially interested in Charlotte. Charlotte seems more interested in nursing.

3:00 An extra free hour: We finish nursing and suddenly I find myself with an extra free hour. I think I'll try nursing them simultaneously more often. I head back to my room and pump the remaining milk. (There's not much). I call my sister Emily to see if she has read my swaddle bath post. Her baby hated baths for a long time so I want to make sure she reads the post. We talk for a while.

4:15 Visitors: I head out into the lobby because I'm expecting visitors. Soon my Aunt Vera and my cousins Alex and Melissa show up. They come bearing fresh fruit and other goodies. We head back to the nursery so they can see the girls.

4:30 Charlotte AND Lydia's cares again: We go to the back and take a peek at the girls. Charlotte is awake and within a few seconds Lydia is too! It becomes apparent that both of them are hungry. I hurry and find the nurse and ask her to start heating up milk for the feeding. I change both diapers. Lydia's diaper rash is looking better. Melissa holds Lydia while Lydia gets fed through her tube. I bottle feed Charlotte. I'm glad both girls are awake because the are more fun that way.

5:15 Back in my room: Both girls start falling asleep once they are fed. We leave them and head back to my room. I show everyone the pictures of my C-section because Melissa wants to see them. Vera is a nurse and tells us about what we can see in the pictures. We talk and laugh for a while. Brandon comes home and is excited that he was able to see our visitors.

6:00 Dinner: Vera and my cousins leave. Brandon and I go through the goodie bag and eat some of the food. We also have left overs from last night's dinner provided by our branch.

6:30 Nap Time: Brandon and I take a nap on our bed. At one point Brandon's phone rings. It is someone from our Bountiful Branch presidency asking if we will say the prayers in Sacrament Meeting the next day. Brandon tells him that we probably wont be there tomorrow.

7:50 Charlotte's Cares: We wake up and go over to the nursery. Charlotte is awake so we take care of her and I nurse her until she falls asleep after 13 minutes. Here is Brandon helping take care of Charlotte.

8:30 Lydia's Cares: When Charlotte is done nursing we wake Lydia up and do her cares. Her diaper rash is much smaller and looks less red. Thank goodness! I nurse her until she falls asleep after 8 minutes.

And so ends 24 hours in the hospital. I can't believe what a day this was. I read over the stuff I wrote at the beginning of the post and I think to myself, "was that really last night? It feels like a week ago." I can hardly remember the stuff from early this morning. What a day!

Charlotte and Lydia go to the spa

I don't know much about taking care of babies - at least I didn't until I had two of my own. I still would be pretty lost though if it weren't for the amazing staff at LDS Hospital's Special Care Nursery. They have taught me everything! From changing a diaper to burping a preemie to putting bows in hair with Elmer's glue. On Wednesday they taught me how to give our girls a bath that they loved. Just look at the content face on Charlotte. Both she and Lydia were perfectly calm during their swaddle baths. I know that quite a few newborns cry during baths so I'm going to share all the details of how to do a swaddle bath. That way those of you with little babies, or babies on the way, can learn how to do it. I'm also going into detail because this was probably the most fun activity we've done at the hospital, and I want to remember how to do it when we get home.

Before I start I have to give credit where credit is due. This is a picture of Charlotte, me, and Stacy. Stacy is an Early Intervention Specialist. Which has to do with language therapy. Of course our girls aren't learning how to talk, but she is an expert on other things related to language development. For instance she gave the girls their hearing tests - which they both passed. She also taught me basically everything I know about nursing. And to top it all off she is the nicest person. She taught me about swaddle baths and every thing I write here I learned from her.

Okay here is the list of supplies.

• Square or triangle of fleece for swaddling
• Infant tub with angled surface or sling (We used a storage bin with an angled baby sling.)
• Baby wash
• Cotton Wipes/Washcloths
• Small container for water
• Warm towels and blankets
• New diaper and clean outfit

Preparation:

• Gather needed supplies
• Decrease lights and noise
• Prepare water with a depth of about 2 inches and a temperature of 99 to 101 degrees Fahrenheit
• Slowly undress baby.
• Remove diaper.
• Turn baby so she is on her side.

Steps:

1. Place triangle of fleece on you chest with the longest side on top.
2. Pick up the baby while the baby is on her side. Babies prefer to be transported on their sides because it keeps their arms and legs together instead of flailing around. It makes them feel more collected.
3. Place the baby on the fleece so that her neck is touching the top of the fleece. Wrap the baby up in the fleece.
4. Place the baby on the seat in the water. Place her high because she'll have a tendency to scoot lower.
5. Get the fleece wet by scooping up water with your hands. You want the fleece soaking wet. The wet fleece will create heavy pressure which reminds babies of being in the womb. Since the water is warm it will help keep the babies warm which they love as well. You can see in this picture that Lydia loves the way the warm fleece feels.
6. Start washing body parts one at a time. Beginning with the legs.
7. Only unwrap one part at a time and keep the others wrapped up. This is why you want to use a triangle piece of fabric (or a square folded in a triangle) All the edges make it easy to keep your baby wrapped up.
8. Don't forget to rinse as you go.
9. Wash the baby's neck by putting soap on one of the cotton washcloths. Carefully wipe around her neck in the folds under her head.
10. Wash her eyes by wiping them with a wrung out wash cloth. Don't use soap. Wipe from the inside out.
11. To wash the hair you first have to fold up a wash cloth and place it across the baby's hairline. This will keep soap and water out of her eyes. Then wet her hair by wiping it with a wet cloth. Rub the soap in the wet hair. (A little goes a long way). Rinse hair by gently pouring water from the clean container onto your baby's head. You will want to hold the folded washcloth down so it doesn't slip.
12. Once your baby is clean get two warm towels and place them across your chest. You will want one just a little bit higher than the other.
13. Unwrap the baby from the fleece. (She will cry when she feels cold and you will know what a regular bath could have been like) Pick her up and place her in the towels on your chest. The higher towel should cover her head and the lower one should be around her neck.
14. Dry your baby off starting with the hair. Make sure you dry off all the creases on her body.
15. Once she is dry you can put her diaper back on, dress her, and wrap her up in blankets.

I asked Stacy how long babies enjoy this type of bath. She said until about 4 months or when they start playing with the water.

Brandon and I both loved bathing our girls this way. It was so relaxing. I helped with Charlotte's bath and Brandon did Lydia's. This is the type of situation where I love having twins. We both get a turn to try something new with our girls.

Anyway, I hope you learned something.