Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Hopsital Prison Break

Yeah!  The babies are free.  After meeting with their pediatrician (Dr. Deepak, who is wonderful), the kids were successfully discharged from the hospital this morning (a ten day stay).  Both were exactly back to their birth weights (1.73 kg for Jenny and 2.06 kg for Kaden).   Both also received oral polio meds (not too bad) and had another jaundice test just to be sure all is functioning well (two very unhappy babies during the procedure).  For poor Kaden, it didn't stop there as he also started his Hep-B vaccines (Jenny is still a bit too tiny).  He was not a happy camper at all when he got the shot.  Poor  baby.  But, fortunately, he quickly forgot.

We wove through Delhi's chaotic traffic back to the B&B for a late feeding.  (Aside: seriously, how do they make 5 lanes out of 3 with motorcycles flying past like an army of gnats and not get into more accidents?  I'll probably have a heart attack driving from appointment to appointment with the kids in the car.)  After all of the commotion this morning and the physical examination, Kaden was ready for his bottle and sucked it down right away.  Jenny, on the other hand, was perfectly content just sleeping away in her new cocoon.  It took about 5 minutes to wake her up for her feeding.

Okay, so enough of the blather, here is their first post-hospital picture:


Okay, not the best, but after all of today's excitement, we just wanted to let them sleep.

And here are some pics from yesterday afternoon.  First, Kaden with his mittens (Bong: this shot is for you and Lori):


And another one of Jenny in her burrito wrap:


Of everything that has happened so far (other than their birth), what has been my favorite memory?  Easy; watching either of them fall asleep in Jeff A's arms after a feeding.  Compared to them, he's a giant ... a very loving, nurturing giant.  They're lucky to have him watching over them and we are both so blessed to be able to care for them.

Now the real excitement starts.  Over the next couple of weeks, in addition to navigating Delhi traffic, we get to navigate two government administrations.  Our next step is at the US Embassy for their emergency passports.  The Embassy personnel have been great.  The individual who heads up the American Services section, Nancy Hamilton, has been nothing short of terrific, answering multiple emails, setting up appointments, and allaying our concerns.  We have an appointment tomorrow morning and, if we have all of our paperwork in order, we will be able to pick up our emergency passports the same day (only good for a one-way trip back to the States; no international travel for awhile for you, kiddos).  We have our fingers crossed that it works as well as the Indian birth certificate process.  Then, with their passports in hand, we move on to the Ministry of Home Affairs and FRRO.  More on that later.

1 comment:

  1. Oooh, those babies are growing! They look so sweet and happy; daddies must be working overtime! Okay, here's the secret to waking up Jenny for her feedings: put a cold wet washcloth on her head. It will KILL you to do it the first couple of times, but those babies need to eat! love you all!

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