Tubeless and Officially Discharged from the Hospital

It has been a full week since either of our monoamniotic twins has had a feeding tube in her nose. The final medical equipment from their time in the neonatal unit is gone and my babies are just babies. As each cord, wire or tube was removed while we were in the hospital a bit of relief set in. I felt happy that the removal of equipment meant the babies were doing well and happy that it was incrementally easier to hold my babies without fear of hurting them, disconecting monitors or tangling cords. When I took Aviva's feeding tube out last Tuesday and could look at my little girls' faces without funny tubes taped to them, it felt fantastic.

No more tubes means that the girls are eating all they need on their own. They are growing and thriving. Violet weighs just over 6 lbs and Aviva is catching up quickly at about 5.8 lbs. This Tuesday we received our final visit from the neonatal nurse and she officially discharged the girls from the hospital. With a hug and good wishes for our future, Lise walked out of our apartment and closed the hospital chapter of Aviva and Violet's story. (Hopefully permanently)

I am more exhausted now as I am solely responsible for all the feedings, but it's a good kind of exhaustion that only comes with new babies. Soon, we will introduce some bottles and start using our milk supply in the freezer from all the pumping I did before they could eat on their own. It will be nice to have a little more freedom to do things without worrying the girls will go hungry.

Because we are in Denmark, we will have a home health visitor (a nurse trained to work with babies who comes to check on Violet and Aviva every week or so. Unlike in the US, where we had to take Riley out to the pediatrician for check ups when he was really small, here the healthcare professionals come to us as much as possible. I remember having Riley at the pediatrician when he was a few days old and feeling incredibly uncomfortable and nervous about him getting germs from one of the sick kids in the waiting room. The system here is so much better in this way.

As the weather improves and Danes are getting outside and occupying every spec of bare grass in the parks, Aviva, Violet and I are getting out more, too. Hopefully we will get a few more nice days before the rainy summer begins. In a way, it feels like my life is beginning again as I climb out from the shadow of worry that nearly consumed me since last fall. It's nice to feel this way and have it complimented by sunny weather.