Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Loved and being a (pretend) mother of twins

First off, I have about 6 started blog posts. Its often difficult to finish them because I lose my train of thought or I decide I'm tired and will finish it in the morning. I am going to start making a serious effort to finish those up.

Next, most of you were able to see the beautiful set of twins I am taking care of.  (If you haven't seen them... here's a photo of their first day on this big old earth).
Meet George and Sarah (yes, I'm aware George is in pink)


This picture is somewhat deceiving... In fact, in this picture they look normal newborn size.  Let me assure you. They are in no way normal. These babies are tiny little miracles.  Neither of them could weigh over three pounds. I bet they are barely two pounds. In the town I am living in, we can't even find diapers small enough to fit them, so we use 'newborn' diapers, which I could effectively wrap them both in with room to spare. 

George and Sarah are miracles.  If not for the mere fact that they are so tiny. Their mother is incredibly sick.  She is HIV+ and has cancer that is spreading and causing the severe inflammation of her limbs. We had been working on getting her treatment.  Sunday, we got a call saying that she had just given birth to twins at the main hospital in Mityana.  We sent our social worker up with clothes for the babies, as is customary, and then our social worker came home with the babies (after much discussion with our director and probation officer).  Mom is simply to sick to care for them and the hospital doesn't have the tools to keep these babies healthy. We had our Ugandan doctor check them out and fix their umbilical cords (as the main hospital did a terrible job) and now they are my sweet roommates. (Later, we have found out that the midwife who delivered them assumed (that's right, did not make the effort to check) George was dead at first, and did not do a good job for that reason on tying the umbilical cord. In fact we are fairly certain the main hospital did not care about these two precious lives, as they received little attention after the birth).  

Currently, they sleep in my room.  If you have ever lived with me, you know that staying asleep isn't exactly my thing. Well, this just in, being woken up isn't really my thing either... BUT it is totally worth it to feed and take care of these precious children.  In my crash course of being a mom, which is at a total of 48 hours. The following is what I have learned:

  • Babies have no concept of this is night time and this is day time. Infact, mine like to sleep silently through the day and cry at me at night. 
  • Sometimes when you think they are done eating, they aren't. So it is best to check and see before putting your complicated crib warming device (read: tons of blankets, and heating pads) back in place.
  • I'm tired. I give props to those moms out there who are also working. I mean, I have the opportunity to take a nap at 3ish every day, but the thing is I wake up and then I am like I have school to do too, and all this morning I was practically useless.