Alrighty Star, here's the scoop...
They are fraternal twins, in other words, coming from different eggs, fertilized separately. Identical twins start out as a single fertilized egg that spontaneously divides into 2.
Both babies are a lovely pale caramel colour, with very dark brown hair.
Paulina has curly locks. Basil's are also curly, but slightly looser curls and his hair is a bit silkier. Boys always get the nice hair and eyelashes, so I can't say I'm surprised.
Paulina looks like her mummy, even down to the eye colour. I know babies' eye colour can change, but right now her eyes are the same shade of green as mine. Her mouth, hands and feet are all the same shape as mine. Basil looks very much like Little easy child did as a newborn, and he resembles husband. His eyes are blue, like husband's, and I really hope they stay that way, as they're quite an arresting colour.
I think the little T thingy you're referring to is the doodad they use to clamp the umbilical cord. At the outset, they were each hooked up to a bunch of wires and tubes. Paulina still has the heart monitor, pulse monitor, blood oxygen thingy and feeding tube in, but Basil only has the feeding tube now. They are both out of the isolettes and in the little warming cots now, so they're making good progress.
Wet lung is a condition when the babies' lungs are full of liquid. Normally, when babies are pushed through the birth canal, the fluid is compressed out of their lungs. Sometimes with preemies, and with babies born by c-section, they don't get the squeezing and their lungs have fluid in them, making it hard to breathe. Since my little ones are both preemie AND c-section babies, they had a bit of a double whammy. The condition is clearing up nicely, and they're no longer fighting for each breath like they were the first day.
They are in the NICU, so I've been spending a lot of time in there as well. Today I got to feed both of them and give Paulina a bath. She did not like her bath at all (little diva, takes after her mummy), but seemed to feel much better once she was squeaky clean and dressed in fresh clothes. Basil is eating like it's an olympic sport, and starting to fill out very nicely. And yes, I did get to hold both of them together for the first time tonight. husband and I were with them in the NICU, and decided to swap babies for a moment. He gave them both to me while he adjusted their tubes and such. It was lovely to see them with their little heads together.
I'm not quite sure about the discharge dates. I will likely be sent home tomorrow or Saturday, but they're going to keep the babies in until they are certain that all breathing and feeding issues have been resolved. Possibly another week, maybe a bit longer.
I am not back in real clothes yet. My belly is still quite distended, but it's shrinking by the day. With the surgical staples and other gunk, I'm actually perfectly happy to be in the maternity clothes which are nice and loose around the middle and don't press on the incision. After I heal, I will be hitting the gym in search of my long-lost waist, but there's plenty of time for that.
As for kids, I think this is it. At this point, husband and I have 5 children between us, which seems to be the right number for us. Interestingly, difficult child has started talking about getting married and having children sometime soon, something he was never interested in before. I think he's starting to see having children from more of the dad's perspective. He helped put the nursery together, and he's been so soft and gentle with the babies when he came to visit. He really viewed Little easy child as a rival, so it's wonderful to see him with a different attitude this time around. Maybe I'll have some grandbabies to spoil sooner than I ever thought.
I am so very happy.
Trinity