The Good Life of having two babies.
It only took a few minutes before leaving the hospital before we were overwhelmed by the plural offspring. Because we had to rush home before my father-in-law came over, we were sort of rushed to get outta there. We realized that the baby carseat had not been realigned for Zoe, just for Alex when he outgrew it, so we were attempting to realign the carseat, which is a feat for the gods with the big brains and smallest hands. If you've ever had to realign or resize a car seat, you would know the frustration that comes with it - It's like trying to stick a rope through a needlepoint. So we were trying to do that, and then Alex decided to explode. Then Zoe decided, hey, I'll explode as well. And so it began.
Luckily, Zoe is pretty easy on the bilibed. The bilibed is like a tanning bed for babies with jaundice, the flourescent lights help to lower the levels of jaundice but the baby ends up having to lay in there for hours at end. Zoe sleeps most of the time, or just lays there staring into space and her new home. Which is a vast improvement from Alex, who wiggled and cried through that experience. It's still a little tough for us, because she spend the majority of her first few days in the nursery in the company of nurses, and now that she's home, she's slow-baking on the bili-bed.
Alex has adapted as well as we can tell. Whenever he sees her, he gets a smile on his face and he's curious to meet her. We try to let him check her out, but he gets excited and starts battering her or grabbing her. So we grab his hand, and mock pat her, saying incredibly silly things like, "Be nice to the baby. Be gentle." and he complies by assaulting her some more. So it might be a while before he's allowed to touch her. He's not being malicious by any means, but things are only classified in two ways to him - things to play with, and thing to put in his mouth. Zoe's far too big to fit in his mouth.
As for my wife, she's still suffering from headaches, which may be a result from her surgery from getting her tubes tied, and nausea, which is a side effect from the Percocet for that pain. On top of that, she's tired, and the area around the insertion from the surgery is turing a faint red, which is worrisome. As for me, I have transformed into the domesticated father/cook/husband/maid. I'm doing almost everything I can to help out everyone else. It's a tremendous job and a stressful undertaking. As long as I'm only watch for one baby, I do okay. Two babies - not so great. I'm naturally more patient with Zoe because she's younger, but also because she actually needs me on a basic level. Alex just needs me because he wants to swallow steakknives and I'm not letting him. Or he's just trying to play on the freeway and I stand in his path.
I'm taking three weeks off for paternity leave, and for anyone who might accuse me of being a slacker, well, don't be that envious. It'll be a busy, busy three weeks of trying to keep Alex occupied, letting my wife recover and adapt to the newer, busier schedule, and caving to Zoe's every need. I take the time to take a few pictures and video now and then to preserve the moment - that way I'll know what I was actually going on later, in a less busier time!
But I'm still very happy to be a father to a handsome young lad and a little baby girl.
