Este post va en inglés a pedido de mis resobrinos (los hijos de la hermana del esposo de mi hermana). Algunas cosas (llamadas "llamadas") están en español, y mañana seguimos en espánish (con llamadas en ingléi).

It's been a long day, so I hope I get all my facts straight. If not, at least you'll get the general impression.

The run from home to the hospital
Sábado, osea que puedo ir con Lore al hospital todas las veces. La primera ni pudimos entrar que ya nos hecharon, pero al mediodía entramos y hablamos con una doctora que nos dijo que Joaquín parecía estar mejor, subió de peso respecto de ayer. Tenía color, también.

Today being Saturday I was able to go with Lorena to all her extractions. That means leaving for the hospital shortly before half past eight, and going from our flat at the top red dot in the map, down across the heart of town (which can be chaotic at that time, although less so than on weekdays) and out again the other side to the hospital at the bottom red dot. The lactario, as they call the special room where mums go and extract their milk, is inside the pediatric intensive care unit, which includes neonatology. As Lorena goes in, I have to ring the bell for neonatology and wait (trying to make myself seen just in case they forget I'm impatient to see my babies). Today they saw me and warned me I'd have to wait, so I went outside to the waiting room and chatted with another dad who was waiting too. Half an hour later Lore came out, and we waited a while longer; the other dad was called in but we had to wait a bit longer before being called in as well. Once inside Lore washed and robed up, and we were having a word about how Joaquín actually had colour in his skin today, when a nurse told us rather brusquely that I'd have to wash and robe up if I wanted to be with the baby. It seems this made give her the "I know, stoopid" look, but I wasn't aware of it at the time; Lore tried to explain what the nurse had tried to tell me which only made matters worse: it seems I was grumpy, or just fed up with all the waiting. Anyway I went and started washing, but I had only just gotten my arms wet when a nurse told us we'd have to leave (visiting for parents to neonatology has no timetable, only certain conditions that have to be met; this means we can go in at any time, but might have to leave at any time also). I'm afraid I left in a bit of a huff, and went outside to the balcony to cool down. I guess Lore isn't the only one who has her feelings closer to the surface these days. Anyhow, Lore tracked me down and we talked/sobbed over the unfairness of it all for a while, then went back to the neo waiting room, where the other dad and his wife were waiting and they mentioned, it being a quarter to ten, that if they didn't let us in by half past ten we'd probably have to wait until eleven, because the nurses changed shifts at that time. Seeing as how we'd forgotten some stuff back at home, and we'd have to be back at about half eleven for the next extraction, we decided to go rather than wait and get all worked up in the waiting room. We did that, and when we got back at half past eleven we were able to go straight in, Lore to the lactario and I to see the boys. Only a short visit because we were meeting up with Lore's newphews for lunch, but still it was very nice to be with the boys for a while, and the doctor who was there was able to tell me that Joaquín is now weighing 1030g, up 30g from yesterday, so although it's a bit early to tell, this in combination with him having colour again does make it seem as though the medicine they're giving him is working it's magic. I probably ought to start tracking their weight more...

Almuerzo con la ciénaga minimal, y un problemita con el papelito del estacionamiento justo sobre la hora de una extracción. Muchos nervios. Después: siesta!

For lunch, we met up with all of Lore's side of the (nuclear) family, including nephews whom she hadn't seen in a while and was missing. After lunch we headed back to the hospital for the 3 o'clock; we had a little trouble with the car in the parking lot, due to the parking paper falling out the bottom of where I (thought I) had put it, but anyway we were able to get to the hospital only shortly after three. The boys were fine, and in general an uneventful visit (in comparison), and we went home for a quick siesta.

A las 18 fue Dori, y Clarisa nos esperaba con Pedro cambiado. Lore lo sostuvo y le hablaba y besuqueaba, mientras yo lo manoseaba a Joaquín, tratando de hablarle (cosa que me custa un poco, esta última).

When we got there at 6 Dori (Lore's best friend) was waiting for us, and we sat down to chat for a while because the lactario was full. Clarisa came out and told us we could go in, and Lore was about to go to the lactario when Clarisa told her that she should go to be with the boys first, because Pedro was already changed into his clothes (which means we get to hold him in our arms for a while). Joaquín We obviously did as suggested, and Lore held Pedro and talked to him and kissed him and generally drooled over him, while I tried to do the same with Joaquín; this was a bit more difficult for me because of the incubator, but I think I managed fairly well, considering.

Después me tocó a mí estar con Pedro...

After half an hour it was my turn with Pedro, so I hung up my gown, washed up again, and did a three-point switch with Lore, Pedro, Clarisa, and the gown Lore had on, so that at the end I was wearing the gown that Lore had, and I was holding Pedro, but at no time had neither Lore nor I held Pedro without the gown. Pedro with John Anyway, I held Pedro, and Lore went off to the lactario before she burst, and came back half an hour later, was with Joaquín for a while, talking to him (something I find much harder to do), and I still held Pedro; I was all cramped up but it was so beautiful just holding him, sometimes talking to him a bit, sometimes singing odd bits of songs, or looking at him, or just thinking about stuff with him in my arms. Indescribably beautiful.

...y guardarlo.

We were ready to go, it seems, or at least it was time to put Pedro back into the incubator, and as I was holding him it was my turn to put him in, and change him out of his out-of-the-incubator clothes. For some reason I found it a lot easier than I'd thought it would be, and easier than Lore found it the day before; maybe it's because I'm a natural, or maybe because there was nothing to it, and I Undressing Pedro was told step by step what to do, and the clothes were easier than yesterday's to take off. Lore says the latter, but I think the former has some minuscule probability of being true, so I'll stick with it.

A las 21, mi mamá los pudo entrar a ver! (y el secreto militar de que Elena ya los había podido ver antes deja de serlo)

Last week at some point Lore had been in neo and she had mentioned that she'd better leave because her mother was outside and was probably getting antsy, and the nurse had looked around neo and said that Elena could come in to see them, which she did, and was obviously very pleased with it. This was a grade A military secret until today, when we asked the nurse and she said that if Mummy went along for the 9 o'clock, and everything was quiet, she could go in. We told her, and she did, and it was, so she did, and I'm not sure what she thought of it but she seemed to get all wobbly around the knees when she saw Joaquín, and told Clarisa that I slept in exactly the same posture Pedro was in, and the only comment I heard from her on the way out was "they're so tiny!" or words to that effect. Lore says she then said more afterwards, but I didn't hear it. I do know she seemed a lot happier on going out than on going in, so it can't have been that bad. In fact, I'm pretty sure she loved it.

Cuando nos íbamos, Lore tenía la presión alta así que se tuvo que tomar una pepa.

On the way out Lore admitted to having a headache, and she aught to be keeping an eye on her pressure but she hasn't been doing so yesterday and today, and it was a long day full of all kind of exciting things, so we stopped by emergency to take her pressure. After sitting down quietly for ten minutes in a darkish corridor her pressure was 14/10, which is a lot, so she had to take a pressure pill. Tomorrow we'll probably do a lot less, and take things slower, but it certainly was nice to do so much today!