date: Thu 15 May 2025 09:33:25 PM PDT
subj: new parent -- twins, what happens being new Ps

-------------------------------------------------

Growing humans. This is what we are doing. 


Lots of water use. Lots of water thrown away. 


Here is what happens when you have a newborn at home. If you are
using formula its like your house is on 24 hours a day mixing
formula every 6 to 12 hours. Then feeding the baby, and in my
case its babies, which uses a lot of bottles and a lot of hot
water. I boil water to heat bottles, and boil water to mix
formula, then wash bottles, and sterilize bottles; which could
mean biol more water for that. For me, my wife was smart to get
a bottle sterilizer but it doesn't wash them, so I still have to
wash the bottles and all their little parts. So there is a lot
of water use, and a lot of throwing water away. I hate to toss
away water. 

You must boil the water to make sure all bacteria is killed
before mixing formula. Babies don't have the stomach to deal
with bacteria like adults or even toddlers, so all this is
critical to ensure babes don't get sick, and if you want to risk
bacteria, then think of the time and cost you must deal with
taking a trip to the doctors office. 

Then there are clothes washing. Burp rags, baby outfits that get
soiled or urinated on, changing table towels, just incredible
amounts of laundry and water use all day long. 

Washing hands. I've washed my hands more in a few weeks than I
have in a year. Always must have clean hands dealing with babies
and their food. 

Then build bottles. Right now I'm using DocBrown bottles because
that's what was in the NICU. They have a cylinder for the
milk/formula, an air raider to keep the flow correct, a nipple,
a coupling for the nipple to attach to the cylinder, and a cap
for the nipple. Its a production line here. I clean all the
bottles and parts, and then put everything together to prep for
filling. Markings on bottles are in ml and oz. I like the ml
because doctors and nurses usually talk in ml or grams. So read
the bottle poor the formula and put in fridge in a line for
oldest to the left and newest to the right. This way we know
what bottles are going to expire first. 


Mix formula. First boil the water in the kettle. Poor it into a
measuring cup (medium glass cup), and let it cool to 120 degrees
Fahrenheit. Then most of the time poor the water into the mixing
bottle and then scoop the formula, close up the mixing bottle
and shake it all up. I place it in the fridge and let it settle
so all the air doesn't get into the bottles when I'm ready to
poor it in. Getting the correct ratios are important because if
you have too much water the child isn't getting enough calories,
and if you add to much formula, you'll hurt their little
kidneys. So if you try adding formula before water, make sure
you've marked the spot on the bottle where the water line
formula mixed would be if it was done by adding the formula to
the water. In this way you account for the volume of dry
formula. Usually for 8oz it will increase it to 8.5 oz (4
scoops). 



At night I do my best to catch up on making formula, and try to
judge how much to make so I don't waste it. Formula where I live
is costly about $0.6 per ounce, and it could be more if you have
special needs formula. Its supper important to try not to waste
it, because formula once mixed with water only lasts 24 hours,
so you can't just make a gallon of it like milk if you baby
doesn't eat it all in 24 hours you must toss it out.

Breast feeding is such a great thing if you can do it. It saves
cleanup, water, formula cost and is good for the baby. Not all
moms can make enough breast milk to feed their child, and in
our case, not even coming close. The down side with breast
feeding is its not easy, and moms have to be awake more to feed
the baby. This makes them very tired and sad after awhile. 

Almost everything we do is rushed. There is no time to get it
all done so it must be done correctly as well as the right thing
to do. Yesterday we gave our daughter a bath and wrapped her in
a towel to dry, but she was also hungry at the same moment. My
wife breast fed her a bit, and next thing you know, the towel is
now soiled so we have to spend extra time washing the towel and
clean up the baby. With lack of sleep the right decision isn't
always chosen. Leaving things undone, or cutting corners becomes
an attractive option. 


Its all great fun, or something like that. I don't feel its
something that hurts me, or upsets me, or has me thinking I
rather be doing other things. Being a parent at this point is
amazing and spans the spectrum of events in ones life in terms
of happy, sad, excited, joyful, scared, fearful, wonderment,
confounded, just about everything you can imagine happens. I've
done so many things in life. I miss my computing, and radio
stuff, and most important to me, ZaZen. Working out, and my
fitness I don't miss it, I wish I could do it more to remain
healthy. My family needs me to stay healthy, but I find myself
not missing it. Cycling I'm barely doing it enough to have some
fitness but not enough to ride 100 miles in a day over all the
climbs in my area. Maybe some day I will again. I hope with my
children.