Recording the life of Twins

So I thought I'd be a little better with keeping up on the blog since V & H still sleep so much during the day but between constantly downloading all the pictures I take of them, making 2 different "Before Birth" photobooks, staying on top of 2 different "First Year" photobooks, 2 baby books, and 2 special journals I'm writing to each of them, and our blog it just becomes a bit much. So until I figure out the balancing act with all of these the blog clearly is going to be the one lacking. And maybe I'm a bit too ambitious with all these recordings but hey if I'm only going to do it once I want to do it thoroughly and not forget any second of all the new happenings!

But I'm going to try to be a bit better so I'm not constantly in the "catch up" mode because I also want this blog to be something they can read in the future. Maybe I'm being such a freak about recording every last detail I can because I wish that was something I had myself. I remember so little of the past, especially when I was much younger and unfortunately most of the things I do remember are the not so happy times. But anywho here's a look back on our last 7 weeks...

First Valentine's Day

Even preemie clothes were a little big!

First sponge baths


First real baths


Too big for preemie clothes, still too small for newborn!


1 Month Old



First St. Patrick's Day

I made them 4 leaf clover hair clips


6 Weeks Old


Mimi had a tea for everyone to meet them


Rachel & Lily (twins) holding our twins!

7 Weeks Old


Opening Day, cheering on the Mets (even though they lost their first game)


Some of our favorite pastimes
[other than the obvious eating and pooping]
Napping



Hanging out


They love looking out the window



Tummy Time

They're getting really good at holding their heads up and turning them back and forth.

Going for strolls

The down and dirty - My Labor and Birthing Story

37 wk. 2d.

I went in for my 37 week OB appointment with much anticipation to learn of when they were going to induce me in the next week, since I had been told waaaaay back at 18 weeks pregnant they don't have woman carrying twins go past 38 weeks, only to now be told, "We're going to let you go to 40 weeks unless something happens on it's own sooner." So I left in not such a great mood to do some walking around the mall! And not 30 min. later the Dr. called me to make an appointment for the next week to go over a plan since he saw the growth results of the babies that week and while there was nothing concerning, Baby B was almost a pound smaller than Baby A so for peace of mind I'd have to continue to go for growth and non-stress tests up until the babies decided to come and since they were already at full term he didn't see the sense in that. FINE WITH ME!!!

I was stillll hoping something would happen on it's own so I wouldn't have to go through another entire week and I was told it's just better if you don't have to deal with all the induction nonsense. But of course I made it through the week and to my Dr.'s appointment only to be told I was showing signs of preeclampsia (high blood pressure and protein in my urine) and that I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. So of course I went from being excited to get permission to get these kids out to scared shitless! We were given the ok to stop home and get our bags (well I had to get my bag, Dave still had to pack his!) and then we were off to the hospital!

When we got to the hospital they did blood tests and came to the conclusion I had a moderate case of preeclampsia and the cure was to deliver the babies. Which is when I found out the Dr. was going to have me come in the following day to be induced anyhow! So I was officially admitted and hooked up to the fetal heart rate and contraction monitors and IV's including Magnesium Sulfate to prevent me from having a seizure or any of the other effects of preeclampsia.

A few hours later we were brought to our labor/birthing suite and I was hooked up to another IV with Pictocin which induces labor. And we waited...

Around 4:30pm my midwife, Margaret came in to check me and I was 3cm dilated and she broke my water to get things moving and had my dose of Pictocin increased. And we waited...

By 6:30pm I was having contractions that were strong enough for me to start asking for my epidural and of course the anesthesiologist was no where to be found at that point. I thought I was going to die! I went into my own world of concentrating on surviving! The best I could describe the pain is like a period cramp times 1,000,000! The energy of the room (my laid back, giggling, chatty self) went dark. Then FINALLY 45 min. later the anesthesiologist came to FINALLY give me my drugs! And I didn't even care that it took him 2 tries to get the needle in the right spot because when he was done it was like walking on rainbows! And I went back to "normal".

Shortly after that Margaret came in to check me and I'd progressed to 7cm. So I guess waiting it out as long as I could and then having no choice waiting that extra 45 min. did good, since they had told me to try to hold off on the epidural as long as I could because sometimes the epidural counteracts the Pictocin and I did not want to stop progressing especially because at that point I was on the highest dose of Pictocin allowed without a special order. And we continued waiting...

Around 1am Margaret came in again and checked me and I was 10+cm and she told me try to get some sleep because we were going to start pushing around 3am. Well that was a total joke. It's nearly impossible to get any sleep with nurses poking at your fetal monitors and doing your vital signs every hour thanks to the preecalmpsia.

At 3am on the dot Margaret came back with a couple more nurses and the resident Dr. that was going to help with the delivery. So I pushed in our quaint, dimly lit birthing suite for an hour and half before going to the sterile, bright white operating room, which was where I was going to deliver just in case anything were to happen and I needed an emergency c-section. I pushed for another half an hour and then Baby A , Vera made her grand entrance into the world.

As soon as Vera came out the sonogram technicians swooped in to check on Baby B who had already entered the birthing canal and while they thought I may have a little break, I actually had to continue pushing. And 10min. later Baby B, Harper made her entrance.

2 perfect, beautiful little cheesy girls! And a normal [almost drama free] vaginal delivery! I say almost because the girls came out without a problem but their placentas got stuck. So the Dr. literally was elbow deep "up there" manually detaching and pulling them out. Good thing for the epidural because I didn't feel a thing! It was pretty gruesome and I ended up losing a lot of blood which landed me in the maternal care maternity ward with my 2 healthy little girls. So much so that they were talking blood transfusions and an extra night hospital stay. And since I still had to be on the Magnesium Sulfate I found out I wasn't allowed to eat, which was so disheartening. I had thought I wasn't allowed to eat while I was laboring just in case I needed surgery, when actually I wasn't allowed to eat anything during that time because of the medicine - it was even making me throw up my fluids. But as the days went on and I was taken off the Magnesium Sulfate and eating solid foods I got stronger and we opted out of getting a blood transfusion and staying any longer than we needed at the hospital. All I wanted to do was get home and get on our own routine and sleep in my own bed.

And now life is so busy, even with 2 really good babies, that is literally took me five and a half weeks to write and post this!

Thanks to one of the many wonderful nurses we had we have all these great pictures from when Vera and Harper were born:

Vera Anne
5:09am, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011
5lb. 3oz., 18 inches


Harper Grace
5:19am, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011
4lb. 5oz., 17 inches

Proud Parents:

Sisters:



Home Sweet Home:

Almost 37 weeks and waiting

So far we've made it through 5 winter storms (each of which I kept really still with my legs clenched tight). Two were major dumpings - one categorized as a blizzard which took down a major tree limb on my sister's poor little Beetle convertible & another that just dumped a bunch more snow.

Today we had a lovely ice storm and they are calling for more snow on Saturday! I don't think I've seen this much snow in my life, maybe when I lived in New Hampshire for 4 years during college, maybe! My teacher friends are freaking out because they've already had 7 snow days and we are just starting February!

Our poor new gutters have been iced over for a month now!

I can't complain too much because I've just been stuck inside anyhow. Poor Dave is the one walking the mutts 2x a day, guess I'll be on winter duty all next winter (fingers crossed it's a little more mild!) The worse part is we just don't have anywhere to put all this snow! Driving to my Dr.'s appointments has been an adventure because I can barely see over the snow banks. I'm already freaking out about what's to come in the spring when all this starts to melt. We didn't get nearly as much snow last year and when that first big spring rain came and starting thawing everything we had seepage issues in the basement that took a lot of our time maintaining.

Apparently these kids already take after us and they'd rather stay nice and warm inside than come out to face reality. I can't say I blame them, this isn't the ideal time I'd want to make my arrival either. But sorry kids, time to come out, so I can stop freaking out about how I'm going to get you out!!

Dave thinks my voo-doo rituals may actually be doing the trick which I have a few different people to thank for.

Maybe so or maybe the Dr.'s actually did know what they were doing when they put me on "home arrest" at 24 weeks. Combination of the two?! Quite possibly! Either way I never thought I'd have made it this far and I'm a little proud of myself.

And without the help of my wonderful husband and my great friends and family I wouldn't have been able to keep my sanity for this long either. All the phone calls and visits are more appreciated than anyone could ever know.