No, no, no - not that kind of organization! I promised an explanation of the oft-used term, "organization" in relation to the girls. This may be a little technical, so hang with me.
If a person says the term, "fetal position", most people can visualize what that means. We imagine a person curled up in a ball with their head to their chest, arms pulled in and legs tucked to their chest. There's a reason this position is termed in this way. As the womb shrinks to an ever-growing baby, the baby is forced to assume this curled up position. There are practical reasons for this - space being the most obvious one. However, there are also physiological reasons as well - leading to the concept of organization and sensory integration.
The skin is the body's largest organ and the largest receptor of sensory information. It feels hot, cold, soft, and firm and takes all manners of information from the world and transmitting that information to the central nervous system and then to the brain. In most babies the central nervous system is developed enough to accept and process the information it receives. If the information is too much, the baby can "curl" to protect itself. Think about what happens when you get cold. You immediately pull your arms in to your body to minimize your skin's exposure to the cold. If you are really cold, you sit and pull your legs in and drop your head to your chest, aka the fetal position. It's also a protective position for emotional pain. When we are hurting emotionally, we crawl into bed and curl up. It's our body's way of saying it can not handle any more stimuli, and it's a way of the body calming itself. And herein lies the key to "organization".
Full-term babies are better able to recognize when they receive stimuli and can pull their hands and arms in to minimize stimulation and calm themselves. Their abilities to bring their hands to their mouths and suck on their fingers are also calming and organizational behaviors. Pre-term babies especially, are not automatically geared to do this. Perhaps because their living spaces never became cramped enough and they never had to spend time in the fetus position, it simply is not instinctive. Also, since they did not have time to finish developing their nervous systems, they simply don't know how to respond to excess stimuli. The result is disorganization.
There are many cues the babies give to indicate their disorganization and stress: Flailing arms and legs; open hands (opposed to fists); straight and locked arms and legs; and scared, wide-eyed looks on their faces among others. Organized cues include clenched fists, arms drawn into center of chest, hands at mouth and bent knees. For babies who are not organized, they have to be taught and encouraged how to do it.
Teaching Natalie and Abigail how to organize themselves involves a few different methods. They are usually kept wrapped up with their hands snuggled tightly at their faces so they can suck on them. Wrapping, called swaddling, also keeps their arms and hands centered in their chest. They are also swaddled with their legs in a "flexed" position. The babies also prefer firm, deep touches to light touches - think massage versus tickling. They also prefer quieter voices to loud, sudden ones. All of this is partly to re-create the conditions of the womb - quiet, cramped, and comfy.
For those who are still reading, congratulations. You've made it through Baby Organization 101. All this is important because the inability to organize can lead to future issues, like sensory-integration problems. That's exactly what it sounds like, the inability to process or integrate all the sensory information that the body receives. It mostly occurs in the areas of touch and sound. For instance, I have a few sensory issues myself. I hate for rough things to touch me. I also hate tight things. I've been like this since I was a child. It has and continues to do considerable damage to my wardrobe. I hate most fashionable clothes since I find them too tight or made of some weird yucky fabric. I'm a loose cotton t-shirt, elastic waistband type of girl. So, we are trying to prevent such weirdness in our girls.
Well, now you know what I'm talking about when I throw around big words like "organization" and "sensory integration". If you are completely lost and actually care, give me a call:-)
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