Minivan

We discovered that my teeny Ford Focus just does not fit two infant carseats...unless you want to sit so close to the dashboard that you could lick it without bending over. So, we need to trade it in and get a minivan. I researched online and have discovered that the three safest minivans are the Kia Sedona, Hyundai Entourage and the Honda Odyssey. After checking prices and features, I've narrowed it down to the Sedona and the Entourage. We've already test-driven the Entourage and I'll be test-driving the Sedona on Sunday. Is anyone out there in blogland familiar with either of these two minivans? Want to give an opinion?

The twins are doing well. They feed every 2-4 hours, but since my family is so awesome, I don't have to take a night shift. :-) I am nursing, so if I skip all the night shifts it means I have to pump after the twins' morning feeding...it's a VERY small price to pay for getting decent sleep. As of their last weight check, they're both just about 5 1/2 pounds, so at least we know they're gaining weight appropriately! They still sleep most of the time, thank G-d, but I think they're starting to be more alert during the daytime, so I'm going to start leaving them out of their cribs. It should be interesting!

Baby Boy's Bris

Well, he survived. I nearly didn't though...that was scary as anything. I was very impressed with my hubby, who didn't faint! Although when the rabbi was changing the bloody dressing (ew) I told Shmuel not to look, but he did anyway and got that "oy vey I'm going to pass out" look. So I told him again not to look and to sit down. Even I felt faint when I looked, and I don't get squeamish from blood. Anyways, he's doing great.

Ok, ok...you want to know his name. We named him Dovid Yitzchok after my father and my husband's father. My father's name was Daniel, but I don't particularly like that name so we changed it to Dovid (which is the Yiddish version of David and is pronounced 'DUH-vid'). Shmuel's father's Hebrew name was Yitzchok, so we kept that. (Yitzchok is the Hebrew version of Isaac and is pronounced 'YITZ-chuk'...the 'ch' is like in Bach--as if you're getting phlegm out of your throat--and the 'o' is pronounced the same as in Dovid.) :-)

And now an explanation of my daughter's name. We named her Chana Brocha after my maternal grandmother and my husband's maternal grandmother. Chana was Shmuel's grandmother's name. (Chana is the Hebrew version of the name Hannah and is pronounced the way it is spelled with the 'ch' pronounced the same as in Yitzchok.) My grandmother's Yiddish name was Shayna Bashe, but she always went by "Bess." We decided to change Bashe to Brocha because it sounds better with Chana, and Brocha means blessing...and both of our babies are blessings. (Brocha doesn't have an English version and is pronounced the way it is spelled with the 'ch' pronounced the same as in Yitzchok and the 'o' pronounced the same as in Dovid.)

Close Call

In the Talmud Yerushalmi it says, "...whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world" --Sanhedrin 4:8 (37a). So apparently I am the newest superhero and have saved the whole world.

My mom and I decided to have waffles for lunch, and while I was searching for the syrup, my mother started to choke on a piece of waffle. And I mean *really* choke. Not one of these "put your hands in the air and you'll stop coughing" deals. Even before I asked "are you choking," I knew she couldn't answer me with more than a nod of the head. Talk about terrifying. Superhero Elana didn't even have time to put on her bright red superhero cape before flying in to do the Heimlich maneuver. Looking back I have no idea if my hand positioning was correct, but I learned how to do this most recently in the infant/child CPR course I took with my husband this past December, so I knew what I was doing. Honestly, the only thing going through my head was "when this doesn't work, I'll call 911." (And you thought I was an optimist!) :-) Well, apparently I have really amazing Heimlich skills, because it worked. My mom coughed up the offending food and started breathing normally. WHEW! Not a skill I ever thought I'd really need in real life, and not one I ever want to have to use again, but thank G-d for knowing how to do it.

The moral of this story is: Take a First Aid/CPR course for infants, children and adults. You never know when you might have to know something important.

Click HERE for more Hebrew & Yiddish word definitions

Eating, Sleeping & Pooping

That's basically what the babies do 24/7 right now. I'm getting spoiled because they don't really have any awake time apart from eating and I know that's going to change sooner than I'm going to like. :-)

We had our first pediatrician appointment on Friday afternoon. Both babies lost a little weight, so the doctor put us on a pretty strict feeding regimen. We tried feeding every 2 hours (10 mins on one breast, switch breasts & go for another 10 mins and then 10 mins with a bottle), but the babies were not into that. They weren't getting enough sleep, so they were too tired to eat--and then it's just a vicious cycle. So now we're just keeping watch to make sure they eat at least every 3 hours during the day and setting our alarms for every 2 1/2 hours at night, since that's approximately how often they were waking up to eat last night. Luckily with my mom here we're able to rotate shifts and get some sleep. The system does need a bit of tweaking so my hubby isn't always the one to get up when someone cries, but my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are both coming in next week, so that will make things a lot easier as well.

Bris

I just want everyone to know that Baby Boy's bris is scheduled for next Wednesday (April 1) at 7:15AM. It will be held at Congregation Chai Odom, 77 Englewood Avenue, Brighton, MA 02135. If you need directions, use mapquest. :-)

Click HERE for more Hebrew & Yiddish word definitions

Babies are Home!

Just thought everyone would like to know that the babies are home! It took several hours for the whole discharge process, and even though I was STARVING when we got home, the babies were also starving. So I had a really quick plate of spaghetti, nursed both and then had another plate of spaghetti. I'm still hungry though, so I may go and see what else is in the fridge. And then, I'm going to try to get some sleep...zzzzz

Home, Sweet Home

I was finally discharged from the hospital today! They were keeping me for extra time because my gastric system hadn't woken up quick enough for their liking (and the gas pains were pretty horrific) and they needed to treat me for that (on top of everything else). I know you've all been waiting for pictures, and now that I'm home I can finally upload them to my blog. So here goes!

This is a picture of the happy family. You can ignore the fact that I look like something the cat dragged in...


This is a picture of my daughter. We named her Chana Brocha.


This is a picture of my son, who won't be named until his circumcision.


That's all for now. I believe my brother-in-law has much better pictures. :-)