Most parents have nine months of pregnancy with which they can interview, meet and choose a pediatrician. Something highly I'd recommend. But when your two babies spend only 25 weeks - six months - in there, well, things get pushed aside because there is only so much time in each day. The earliest weeks are a fight for their lives, tests, transfusions, isolettes and when they are finally ready, kangaroo care. Three hours each day that you can just hold them, feel their little hearts beating against yours and share skin contact with these amazing little people that have fought so hard to be here. And most parents are back to work during this time so that they can use that precious maternity leave when their sweet babies are home. Which is a great thing for the parents AND the babies. It can also be a time when family can meet the new babies for the first time. It is a great time for friends and family to help out, cook, clean, lend a hand even hold a baby if that is what is needed. Sometimes it is nicest for parents if the help is focused on chores rather than holding, diapering and feeding because they have been sharing all of that with nurses and are excited to do it themselves.
If there is a nanny entering the picture, like me, this is an amazing opportunity to get to know one another better. Personal histories, relationships, likes and dislikes, it all builds communication and trust and aids in bonding. I love the first few weeks of this so much. With each family I have enjoyed it more. My current position, opportunity number sixteen, has been the best by far. Both Roger and Sara have spent time just talking with me as well as Norah (she spent the first week here as the babies came home sooner than expected and I was finishing with my last family). But as it comes to an end, I'm always ready.
I'm not sure whether I begin to distance myself because I know the end is near or whether it just starts to get annoying. There is no way to separate the two. In this case Roger and Sara aren't the ones I'm ready to get space from, grandmommie is. She's been visiting for nearly three weeks now. And while she is extremely kind, pleasant and caring, she's started pushing my buttons a bit. But, she leaves on Monday, and I can handle that.
In other news Early Intervention (EI) came today to evaluate the tomatoes. Jackson, who always seems a bit ahead of Tabitha, physically, wanted nothing to do with the EI people. He just wanted to sleep and actually fell asleep during the assessment. Tabitha on the other hand (to be fair she had the better person,Jackson's was dull and reserved) performed better than ever. She couldn't do everything she was asked but she was a great sport and made it through the entire assessment. We had to wake both of them for it. Next week they will return with a plan of action (called an Individualized Family Service Plan, IFSP) for each baby.
Which brings me back to the pediatrician. As much as I enjoyed the experiemce of meeting with this new person, I detested each moment I had to spend with the last. He was young, cocky and absent-minded. Not at all worth my sweet tomatoes (seems silly but everyone wants a chance to work with them because they were 25 weekers). Let's hope these Early Intervention people don't disappoint me because nanny or not I wield a pretty big pull from where I stand.
Until next time.
