We decided to stay an extra day at the hospital because we were learning a lot from the nurses about baby care and thought it would help to have the extra support of the nurses for another night. We probably would have gotten more rest at home than we got at the hospital for another night, but I was in better physical shape with another night in the hospital. I also co-slept (had the babies in my hospital bed with me to sleep at night) basically the entire time we were in the hospital, because the hospital cribs were too high and unwieldy for me to get the babies out myself and they wanted to nurse so often. In combination with all the nighttime visits to check on me and on the babies, neither Jeff nor I got very much sleep. So when we got home Wednesday evening, we were exhausted and had lots to set up at the house still, and hadn't been home to get groceries or anything else in five days. It was kind of a disaster. Uncle Jon was great with set-up and baby holding, but when he went home we felt pretty alone and helpless with these two little ones who were as exhausted and stressed as we were. We ended up calling Grandma Joanie in the middle of the night to come up and help out, and she took the night shift so we could sleep. I don't know what we would have done without her help!
Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Stu came up again Thursday night and stayed til Saturday morning. They took the first half of the night so that we could sleep a few hours in a row, which was amazing. Saturday night we were on our own for the first time, and managed just fine. It helps that the babies sleep from the 6:30am feeding until 10:30 or 11am, so we can finish up the night with a nice stretch of sleep. Things change every day but so far, they sleep and wake and get hungry at the same times in the night, which makes things a little easier.
More later--time for bed before another feeding in an hour!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Birth Story
So here is the story of how our babies were born:
Overnight on Friday, May 20-Saturday, May 21 I spoke to my doctor twice. I was absolutely crazed with the itchiness of the cholostasis and was completely miserable and exhausted. My doctor told me that there was no reason to deliver the babies early based only on the cholostasis, but that if I wanted to be reassured about the babies' condition, I could come in to the hospital on Saturday, May 21 while she was there on-call to undergo a non-stress test (fetal monitoring) to make sure the babies were still doing fine. Saturday was my dad's birthday and my parents were up for the day to celebrate with us, so Jeff and I left for the hospital around 3:30pm expecting to be back in a short while to enjoy some Dinosaur BBQ take out and cake.
When we got to the hospital all was calm and the babies looked great on the NST, but my blood pressure was borderline high, my platelet count was low, and so my doctor determined that I had preeclampsia (pregnancy-related high blood pressure). Because I now had three potential risk factors (disparate fetal weights, preeclampsia, and cholostasis), my doctor suggested an accelerated delivery. Because Baby A had flipped around and was now head-down, we had two options: an induction of labor or a cesarean birth. Induction of labor might have taken several days and because of my low platelet count, might have had to be done without the possibility of an epidural. I was already exhausted from three days of little to no sleep because of the cholostasis, and Jeff and I were concerned that two to three days of induction and no pain medication might have been too much for me. We chose to have a cesarean delivery, and my doctor said that it would be scheduled for the following day, Sunday, May 22. At about 7pm, Jeff and my dad left the hospital to pick up the Dinosaur BBQ takeout and bring it back to me and my mom.
While they were gone, my doctor came back in to my room and said that she had already assembled the entire team for the cesarean birth and that they would be ready to go around 8:30pm. Jeff and my dad got back around 8:00 and I broke the news that we would be having the babies that night. We both felt unprepared and as though we needed more time to get ready to be parents, but wouldn't we have no matter when it happened? It gave me less time to itch my feet and hands, and worry about the anesthesia and recovery and all of that. No anticipation, just moving right ahead!
At about 8:30 they began the prep for the cesarean. the anesthesiologist, Dr. Ren, was great and explained things just enough to make me feel prepared without grossing me out. Jeff was able to be with me for most it but was not allowed to be with me when I got the epidural, so my wonderful doctor, Dr. Berry, stayed with me in the OR as it was administered. I thanked everyone in the OR for spending their Saturday night with me and for helping get my babies born. I remember trying to take in the entire room, to remember where my babies were going to be born. I felt totally ecstatic and at peace, knowing that finally, after so many months of anticipation and worry, we were going to get to meet our babies. For all my worries, the surgery was totally uneventful. I detested the feeling of my body becoming tingly and kind-of numb but was grateful it worked! The strangest thing was hearing people say things like "incision" and realizing they were talking about what they were doing to my body, without me having any sensation of it! Dr. Ren narrated a lot of the surgery and made me feel very comfortable and safe. Jeff was with me for the entire surgery and cried right along with me as we realized we were finally going to meet our babies very soon.
Then the most amazing thing happened: Dr. Ren announced that they were pulling Baby A out of my belly, and I heard the most beautiful sound--our little 4 lb, 13 oz baby crying! The little guy was crying! Soon they had handed him to Jeff and I realized, this baby is totally healthy. Good Apgar scores, no NICU, just a healthy but little baby! Jeff held him up to me and I couldn't get enough of his gorgeous little face. We quickly agreed that this would be baby Theo. Then Dr. Ren announced that Baby B was about to be lifted out of my belly. And then I heard him cry, almost like a little duckling. Soon he was being handed to Jeff, and I realized that both babies were perfectly healthy, with beautiful little lungs. This became baby Beckett. I got to stare at him for another few minutes and didn't want to give him up either, but they were ready to finish up the surgery and Jeff left with the babies to the recovery room to wait for me. When I got there the babies were happily in his arms and he was smiling from ear to ear. I took each one and finally just gazed and gazed into their gorgeous little faces. Within about 20 minutes of me getting to the recovery room they were tandem nursing. I felt as though it would not be possible to be happier than I was at that moment: with the babies, with Jeff, with the relief of knowing they were healthy and that everything had gone as well as it could have. My parents, who had been waiting patiently during the surgery, soon joined us and got to meet their grandchildren. My mom and Jeff also got to examine the babies' placenta, which they found to be quite impressive. I finally saw the picture today and whoa, it is pretty impressive. Apparently the two placentas merge at some point late in the pregnancy and it becomes a 10-pound whopper of an organ. And it did its job, because all together I grew more than ten pounds of baby in my belly! We had about two hours in the recovery room before we all got moved to my postpartum room, where I would spend the next four days.
The rest of the hospital stay went as well as it could have, but hospitals are just not the best places for promoting rest and recovery. When you have to be there, you have to be there; but having people in and out of your room every hour or two around the clock just does not help with getting enough sleep to recover from surgery and begin your life as a parent. We were extremely lucky that we were placed in a double room where Jeff could stay over every night in a hospital bed, so it was private from other patients but we had our own good space and bathroom and room for the babies. The nurses were really wonderful and I felt like my pain was managed as well as it could have. The recovery from my cesarean birth has been difficult, but I still find it amazing that you can have major abdominal surgery and be walking around 8 hours later. I'm grateful that it continues to go well and that I feel better every day. Truly, I felt better the first day after the cesarean than I had for most of the last few weeks of pregnancy, so I was grateful for that from the beginning. We were also lucky to have a private newborn care class, because when Jeff went to the class on Tuesday morning he was the only one there, so the instructor just came to our room and gave us the class privately! I also had fantastic lactation support there, from both Carol and Cindy, which made me feel great about the nutrition I was giving the babies. Cindy also helped me learn how to use a breast pump Wednesday morning when my milk hadn't yet come in and the babies were hungry, which was awesome because now I have been pumping regularly and have enough that someone else can feed the babies sometimes when I am sleeping or have to be away from them. What freedom!
I got my first criticism as a mother from a complete stranger before we were even out of the hospital on Wednesday. I was in the elevator with a transport person and a nurse, carrying out the babies in their carseats while Jeff went out to get the car. It was 3:00 pm, sunny, and warm--about 80 degrees outside, much hotter in our car. The babies were dressed in long-sleeved sleep sacks but no blankets or hats. A nurse who was getting off her shift said to me, in a judgy tone, "Wow, you're taking the babies out dressed like that? Why don't you have any blankets on them?" I kind of laughed and said that when we came to the hospital we hadn't expected to have the babies come home with us, and that we didn't have blankets for them (the truth was I had packed blankets but they were in the bag Jeff had already carried out and it was hot and sunny out so I didn't think they needed them). A nice lady in the elevator stood up for me and said that it was pretty hot outside and she didn't think they needed any blankets. In the car Jeff and I came up with various rejoinders I could have used, like, "Do you know how hot it is outside? Only a total idiot would put a baby in a blanket or a hat in this weather!" or a more simple, "F-U". Future judgers of our parenting ability, look out--we have been primed to be feisty.
As I'm typing this post Jeff is asleep on the couch with a previously hiccupy Theo on his chest, sleeping happily. Beck is sleeping in the pack and play about five feet away from us. This will be our first night home without any nighttime support, so I think we need to go to sleep now in order to start the night off right. I will write more later!
Overnight on Friday, May 20-Saturday, May 21 I spoke to my doctor twice. I was absolutely crazed with the itchiness of the cholostasis and was completely miserable and exhausted. My doctor told me that there was no reason to deliver the babies early based only on the cholostasis, but that if I wanted to be reassured about the babies' condition, I could come in to the hospital on Saturday, May 21 while she was there on-call to undergo a non-stress test (fetal monitoring) to make sure the babies were still doing fine. Saturday was my dad's birthday and my parents were up for the day to celebrate with us, so Jeff and I left for the hospital around 3:30pm expecting to be back in a short while to enjoy some Dinosaur BBQ take out and cake.
When we got to the hospital all was calm and the babies looked great on the NST, but my blood pressure was borderline high, my platelet count was low, and so my doctor determined that I had preeclampsia (pregnancy-related high blood pressure). Because I now had three potential risk factors (disparate fetal weights, preeclampsia, and cholostasis), my doctor suggested an accelerated delivery. Because Baby A had flipped around and was now head-down, we had two options: an induction of labor or a cesarean birth. Induction of labor might have taken several days and because of my low platelet count, might have had to be done without the possibility of an epidural. I was already exhausted from three days of little to no sleep because of the cholostasis, and Jeff and I were concerned that two to three days of induction and no pain medication might have been too much for me. We chose to have a cesarean delivery, and my doctor said that it would be scheduled for the following day, Sunday, May 22. At about 7pm, Jeff and my dad left the hospital to pick up the Dinosaur BBQ takeout and bring it back to me and my mom.
While they were gone, my doctor came back in to my room and said that she had already assembled the entire team for the cesarean birth and that they would be ready to go around 8:30pm. Jeff and my dad got back around 8:00 and I broke the news that we would be having the babies that night. We both felt unprepared and as though we needed more time to get ready to be parents, but wouldn't we have no matter when it happened? It gave me less time to itch my feet and hands, and worry about the anesthesia and recovery and all of that. No anticipation, just moving right ahead!
At about 8:30 they began the prep for the cesarean. the anesthesiologist, Dr. Ren, was great and explained things just enough to make me feel prepared without grossing me out. Jeff was able to be with me for most it but was not allowed to be with me when I got the epidural, so my wonderful doctor, Dr. Berry, stayed with me in the OR as it was administered. I thanked everyone in the OR for spending their Saturday night with me and for helping get my babies born. I remember trying to take in the entire room, to remember where my babies were going to be born. I felt totally ecstatic and at peace, knowing that finally, after so many months of anticipation and worry, we were going to get to meet our babies. For all my worries, the surgery was totally uneventful. I detested the feeling of my body becoming tingly and kind-of numb but was grateful it worked! The strangest thing was hearing people say things like "incision" and realizing they were talking about what they were doing to my body, without me having any sensation of it! Dr. Ren narrated a lot of the surgery and made me feel very comfortable and safe. Jeff was with me for the entire surgery and cried right along with me as we realized we were finally going to meet our babies very soon.
Then the most amazing thing happened: Dr. Ren announced that they were pulling Baby A out of my belly, and I heard the most beautiful sound--our little 4 lb, 13 oz baby crying! The little guy was crying! Soon they had handed him to Jeff and I realized, this baby is totally healthy. Good Apgar scores, no NICU, just a healthy but little baby! Jeff held him up to me and I couldn't get enough of his gorgeous little face. We quickly agreed that this would be baby Theo. Then Dr. Ren announced that Baby B was about to be lifted out of my belly. And then I heard him cry, almost like a little duckling. Soon he was being handed to Jeff, and I realized that both babies were perfectly healthy, with beautiful little lungs. This became baby Beckett. I got to stare at him for another few minutes and didn't want to give him up either, but they were ready to finish up the surgery and Jeff left with the babies to the recovery room to wait for me. When I got there the babies were happily in his arms and he was smiling from ear to ear. I took each one and finally just gazed and gazed into their gorgeous little faces. Within about 20 minutes of me getting to the recovery room they were tandem nursing. I felt as though it would not be possible to be happier than I was at that moment: with the babies, with Jeff, with the relief of knowing they were healthy and that everything had gone as well as it could have. My parents, who had been waiting patiently during the surgery, soon joined us and got to meet their grandchildren. My mom and Jeff also got to examine the babies' placenta, which they found to be quite impressive. I finally saw the picture today and whoa, it is pretty impressive. Apparently the two placentas merge at some point late in the pregnancy and it becomes a 10-pound whopper of an organ. And it did its job, because all together I grew more than ten pounds of baby in my belly! We had about two hours in the recovery room before we all got moved to my postpartum room, where I would spend the next four days.
The rest of the hospital stay went as well as it could have, but hospitals are just not the best places for promoting rest and recovery. When you have to be there, you have to be there; but having people in and out of your room every hour or two around the clock just does not help with getting enough sleep to recover from surgery and begin your life as a parent. We were extremely lucky that we were placed in a double room where Jeff could stay over every night in a hospital bed, so it was private from other patients but we had our own good space and bathroom and room for the babies. The nurses were really wonderful and I felt like my pain was managed as well as it could have. The recovery from my cesarean birth has been difficult, but I still find it amazing that you can have major abdominal surgery and be walking around 8 hours later. I'm grateful that it continues to go well and that I feel better every day. Truly, I felt better the first day after the cesarean than I had for most of the last few weeks of pregnancy, so I was grateful for that from the beginning. We were also lucky to have a private newborn care class, because when Jeff went to the class on Tuesday morning he was the only one there, so the instructor just came to our room and gave us the class privately! I also had fantastic lactation support there, from both Carol and Cindy, which made me feel great about the nutrition I was giving the babies. Cindy also helped me learn how to use a breast pump Wednesday morning when my milk hadn't yet come in and the babies were hungry, which was awesome because now I have been pumping regularly and have enough that someone else can feed the babies sometimes when I am sleeping or have to be away from them. What freedom!
I got my first criticism as a mother from a complete stranger before we were even out of the hospital on Wednesday. I was in the elevator with a transport person and a nurse, carrying out the babies in their carseats while Jeff went out to get the car. It was 3:00 pm, sunny, and warm--about 80 degrees outside, much hotter in our car. The babies were dressed in long-sleeved sleep sacks but no blankets or hats. A nurse who was getting off her shift said to me, in a judgy tone, "Wow, you're taking the babies out dressed like that? Why don't you have any blankets on them?" I kind of laughed and said that when we came to the hospital we hadn't expected to have the babies come home with us, and that we didn't have blankets for them (the truth was I had packed blankets but they were in the bag Jeff had already carried out and it was hot and sunny out so I didn't think they needed them). A nice lady in the elevator stood up for me and said that it was pretty hot outside and she didn't think they needed any blankets. In the car Jeff and I came up with various rejoinders I could have used, like, "Do you know how hot it is outside? Only a total idiot would put a baby in a blanket or a hat in this weather!" or a more simple, "F-U". Future judgers of our parenting ability, look out--we have been primed to be feisty.
As I'm typing this post Jeff is asleep on the couch with a previously hiccupy Theo on his chest, sleeping happily. Beck is sleeping in the pack and play about five feet away from us. This will be our first night home without any nighttime support, so I think we need to go to sleep now in order to start the night off right. I will write more later!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Baby Pictures!
Introducing Theo & Beckett!!!!!! The post below these pictures has some information on their arrival.
Theo
Beckett
Theo...the 95 year old baby
Beckett, tipping the scale at almost 6 pounds
Proud Papa
Proud Mama
Beckett
Grandma Joanie
Grandpa Stu
Uncle Jon
Grandpa Greg & Grandma Kathy
The Twins Have Arrived!!!
Hello everyone! Here is my first blog post as a new dad:
The doctors and nurses at Crouse Hospital were wonderful, giving us lessons about breastfeeding, swaddling, and other various information about caring for newborns that is helpful to a couple of rookies like us. Yesterday afternoon after watching the "Don't Shake Your Baby" video (it's mandatory), we took the boys on their first car ride and brought them home. This quickly put them to sleep (something we will keep in mind). The first night was a little rough since the babies seem to think that daytime is for sleeping and nighttime is for screaming, but with help, we made it through. Many thanks to our parents, my brother, and our friends who have already been incredibly helpful. We have already figured out that caring for twin newborns is challenging and exhausting, but it is also very rewarding, and we couldn't be happier about our two perfect, little boys.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Updates
Pregnancy: My doctor and I appear to be on the same page, which is that if I do receive a positive lab diagnosis of cholestasis that I should deliver earlier than our already scheduled June 3 date. The labs should come back today or over the weekend, so she is going to look into available OR time next week because my symptoms are so classic that she is relatively certain of the outcome. But as always, the babies are doing awesome--and the non-stress test (fetal monitoring) yesterday showed that. They are clearly having a blast in there, as evidenced by their enthusiastic kicking and punching, lots of heartbeat accelerations, and general movement, which is wonderful. I am going back today (3rd day in a row at the OB office!) because of a snafu with the sonogram schedule yesterday. I hope to have a baby weight report when I return this afternoon--maybe the last until we have the actual birth baby weight report next week! I am also lucky that Tricia, our wonderful friend who may also be our birth coach (if allowed by hospital policy), is coming up for a visit this afternoon and to take me to the sonogram.
I feel conflicted about scheduling the earlier cesarean birth, because as developed as the babies are, I know that they would still benefit for some more time to pack on weight and mature their lungs and develop their brains before they are out in the world. But I also know that from everything we know now, they are healthy right now, and additional days smooshed in together can promote dangers in addition to any they may be facing now. I did get a steroid prescription yesterday that I started taking last night but it had no effect on the constant itching all last night again, which means that, again, I got about 2-3 hours of sleep total last night. It may begin having some impact by tonight. And I am super-uncomfortable during the day most of the time, too, so it does give me some selfish relief to think that this part of this process might be over next week (and on to cesarean recovery! yay!). I just think it's kind of too bad, after holding my breath to keep these babies in for so long, that now we have to hurry to get them out earlier than they otherwise would want to come out. On the other hand, it is so exciting to think we might get to meet them next week, that we could enjoy Memorial Day weekend getting to know our babies!
House projects update: A carpenter agreed to come by and do whatever work on the stairs is required on Saturday morning, which means that the carpet can be installed as early as Monday. Unfortunately both the side door and front door locks have been working poorly or not at all, so I am going to have to see when I can get a locksmith in to deal with that.
We hope to have the first crib assembled and set up tomorrow, as well as the rest of the nursery, which is very exciting. We are down to unpacking those last few boxes, which are always the hardest, but mostly the unpacking is done. We still haven't figured out where all the furniture really fits, or whether it fits in this house, but I am happy to report that the house is very livable right now. I had been having possibly pregnancy-related freakouts about what I decided was dog smell in the living room (other people generally couldn't smell it as strongly as I could) but it appears to have been completely resolved by removing the old carpet from the stairs. So that's fabulous.
Probably I will have more updates later this afternoon or tomorrow, depending on when I am up for it. Thank you to those of you who have reached out after reading Wednesday's post to express your concern. I sincerely feel very positive and hopeful about everything at this point and I am relieved to know that we are getting closer to holding our babies. There have certainly been some blips in this road but it is exciting and a relief to know we have made it this far and are almost there--and ready for the next big adventure to start!
I feel conflicted about scheduling the earlier cesarean birth, because as developed as the babies are, I know that they would still benefit for some more time to pack on weight and mature their lungs and develop their brains before they are out in the world. But I also know that from everything we know now, they are healthy right now, and additional days smooshed in together can promote dangers in addition to any they may be facing now. I did get a steroid prescription yesterday that I started taking last night but it had no effect on the constant itching all last night again, which means that, again, I got about 2-3 hours of sleep total last night. It may begin having some impact by tonight. And I am super-uncomfortable during the day most of the time, too, so it does give me some selfish relief to think that this part of this process might be over next week (and on to cesarean recovery! yay!). I just think it's kind of too bad, after holding my breath to keep these babies in for so long, that now we have to hurry to get them out earlier than they otherwise would want to come out. On the other hand, it is so exciting to think we might get to meet them next week, that we could enjoy Memorial Day weekend getting to know our babies!
House projects update: A carpenter agreed to come by and do whatever work on the stairs is required on Saturday morning, which means that the carpet can be installed as early as Monday. Unfortunately both the side door and front door locks have been working poorly or not at all, so I am going to have to see when I can get a locksmith in to deal with that.
We hope to have the first crib assembled and set up tomorrow, as well as the rest of the nursery, which is very exciting. We are down to unpacking those last few boxes, which are always the hardest, but mostly the unpacking is done. We still haven't figured out where all the furniture really fits, or whether it fits in this house, but I am happy to report that the house is very livable right now. I had been having possibly pregnancy-related freakouts about what I decided was dog smell in the living room (other people generally couldn't smell it as strongly as I could) but it appears to have been completely resolved by removing the old carpet from the stairs. So that's fabulous.
Probably I will have more updates later this afternoon or tomorrow, depending on when I am up for it. Thank you to those of you who have reached out after reading Wednesday's post to express your concern. I sincerely feel very positive and hopeful about everything at this point and I am relieved to know that we are getting closer to holding our babies. There have certainly been some blips in this road but it is exciting and a relief to know we have made it this far and are almost there--and ready for the next big adventure to start!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Bad news bears
Because I was up for a while last night with more intense itching on my feet and hands, I went into the doctor this morning for a triage visit. We are waiting on the bloodwork but Claire and I are fairly certain I have cholestasis. This is a fun condition in which the symptoms include intolerable itching of the hands and feet and which causes stillbirth in late pregnancy. Oh, and I have group B strep, which poses a risk to the babies at delivery. I have a regular appointment with my doctor tomorrow afternoon in which we will discuss her philosophy about dealing with the cholestasis (which may include an even earlier cesarean birth) and make a plan for going forward. Therefore this may well be the last pregnant photo we take!
Then we got back to the house and the carpet installers from Onondaga Flooring informed me that the stairs are so unsafe as to require repair prior to installation of the carpet. So now I am waiting for a call-back from a carpenter so that we can get the stairs repaired so that the carpet installers can come back and finish their job--and hoping that my fat-ass self does not fall through the stairs to the basement in the meantime.
In good news, Claire has been making us delicious food and doing dishes and laundry and cleanup, all of which is wonderful and amazing. Unfortunately, she leaves tomorrow!
Monday, May 16, 2011
SO UNCOMFORTABLE
I suspect this will be the title of most posts from here on out. I have been having intense pains across my rib cage for the last four or five days, several times per day, pain that is bad enough to make me cry, but is not related to baby movement or contractions. Origins of this pain are unknown, but surmised by my doctor's office and my in-residence OB-GYN Claire (staying with us this week--hooray!) to be either muscle cramping or caused by some kind of intestinal or diaphragm squishing. All I know is that it feels really horrible AND that it is not related to labor. Which, when I am feeling it, is not a relief--because at least then it would have an end point. The hardest thing for me to deal with now is that I might feel this way for the next two and a half weeks! Good news is that one extra strength Tylenol (pretty much the only medication I can take) takes care of the pain relatively quickly, so I have been popping those babies like they're candy.
Can you blog readers remind me of all these joys if I ever contemplate becoming pregnant again? I feel like this system is designed to destroy my memory so that I do not remember but it will be hard not to remember 11+ weeks of bedrest, at least three hospitalizations (one yet to come), and, oh yes, LABOR and recovery therefrom. I leave it to you to remind me!
Can you blog readers remind me of all these joys if I ever contemplate becoming pregnant again? I feel like this system is designed to destroy my memory so that I do not remember but it will be hard not to remember 11+ weeks of bedrest, at least three hospitalizations (one yet to come), and, oh yes, LABOR and recovery therefrom. I leave it to you to remind me!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
35 weeks, 3 days
We made it to today, the average gestational period for twins in the US--35.5 weeks. Hooray! I only wish I had known we would make it this far way back when I was in the hospital in NYC and being asked to make "choices" about the babies if they had been born that day, February 28.
At my doctor appointment this week I weighed in at 222 pounds. I am now heavier than most people I know. I will not embarrass those I know who weigh more by calling them out here, but you know who you are. I probably weigh more than whole families in India or sub-Saharan Africa. Still, I have no stretch marks! It's amazing what a body can accommodate. I think part of the reason is that I followed the advice of my great multiple pregnancy book (http://www.amazon.com/Youre-Expecting-Twins-Triplets-Quads/dp/0061803073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305380470&sr=8-1) to gain weight early, stop exercising, listen to my body and instincts, and take bedrest seriously once I was on it.
Even better than my record weight is that my doctor believes the babies are at least 5.5 and maybe as much as 6 pounds each. I am so proud of this. Also, in a complete reversal, everyone at my doctor's office now believes I am going to go until 38+ weeks based upon how high I am still carrying and the fact that nothing has changed in such a long time. Of course, since I defied their expectations for 10 weeks that I would deliver any day, I feel this new expectation will somehow work against me. I am superstitious like that. But they are very healthy, moving around as much or more than ever, and doing everything they are supposed to be doing. My mom believes that a bad stomachache I had about a week ago caused them to turn around like my Aunt Rita 30 years ago, because on the non-stress test (fetal monitor test) this week the nurses finally got both babies' heartbeats down quite low in my belly. The scheduled sonogram next week will tell us for sure. It would be funny if baby A really had turned head down! I don't really believe it, though, because I haven't experienced any rib kicks in at least 5 weeks and feel lots of cervix and bladder kicks. But we'll see! I am so uncomfortable much of the time that it's hard not to wish for it to be over, but the babies would still benefit from more time incubating. Only 20 days until my scheduled cesarean birth, so the discomfort seems finite and tolerable.
At my doctor appointment this week I weighed in at 222 pounds. I am now heavier than most people I know. I will not embarrass those I know who weigh more by calling them out here, but you know who you are. I probably weigh more than whole families in India or sub-Saharan Africa. Still, I have no stretch marks! It's amazing what a body can accommodate. I think part of the reason is that I followed the advice of my great multiple pregnancy book (http://www.amazon.com/Youre-Expecting-Twins-Triplets-Quads/dp/0061803073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305380470&sr=8-1) to gain weight early, stop exercising, listen to my body and instincts, and take bedrest seriously once I was on it.
Even better than my record weight is that my doctor believes the babies are at least 5.5 and maybe as much as 6 pounds each. I am so proud of this. Also, in a complete reversal, everyone at my doctor's office now believes I am going to go until 38+ weeks based upon how high I am still carrying and the fact that nothing has changed in such a long time. Of course, since I defied their expectations for 10 weeks that I would deliver any day, I feel this new expectation will somehow work against me. I am superstitious like that. But they are very healthy, moving around as much or more than ever, and doing everything they are supposed to be doing. My mom believes that a bad stomachache I had about a week ago caused them to turn around like my Aunt Rita 30 years ago, because on the non-stress test (fetal monitor test) this week the nurses finally got both babies' heartbeats down quite low in my belly. The scheduled sonogram next week will tell us for sure. It would be funny if baby A really had turned head down! I don't really believe it, though, because I haven't experienced any rib kicks in at least 5 weeks and feel lots of cervix and bladder kicks. But we'll see! I am so uncomfortable much of the time that it's hard not to wish for it to be over, but the babies would still benefit from more time incubating. Only 20 days until my scheduled cesarean birth, so the discomfort seems finite and tolerable.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The babies love Sim Redmond Band!
As per Jeff's suggestion, I try to play Sim Redmond Band music as much as I can. I turned on the music a few minutes ago, and the babies started totally rocking out! Not the effect Jeff was hoping for, but cool nevertheless!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Happy Mothers' Day!
My goal for a while has been not to give birth before Mothers' Day, and hooray! I did not. Happy Mothers' Day to all the mothers and mothers-to-be I love, and those who have supported and loved us but are not our biological mothers: Tricia, Renee, Deb, Grandma Grinnell, Grandma Genovese, Peg, and others.
I am still reeling from the amazing Mothers' Day presents I received this year, without even having to do the tough work of mothering yet: a new fancy phone from Daddy Lovebo, money to help with house projects from Grandma and Grandpa L-G, and a sitting and charcoal drawing from my dear friend Kristina. When I get it back from her I will post a picture of it here if Daddy Lovebo will let me. I feel so lucky!
I also realized I forgot to post news about my 34 week doctor visit last week. I finally got to see my doctor again, instead of the two different NPs I had seen the two weeks prior, and I am back to feeling good about my health care. She answered all my questions and was reassuring and calming as always. At this point, if I go into labor, she would not attempt to stop it. If I made it to 36 weeks (May 18, but who's counting?) there would not even be a NICU team present at their birth, though the babies might be assessed and determined to need a pit stop there for some number of hours or days. My doctor is happy I have made it this far and satisfied that the babies are healthy and big. So hooray!
I am still reeling from the amazing Mothers' Day presents I received this year, without even having to do the tough work of mothering yet: a new fancy phone from Daddy Lovebo, money to help with house projects from Grandma and Grandpa L-G, and a sitting and charcoal drawing from my dear friend Kristina. When I get it back from her I will post a picture of it here if Daddy Lovebo will let me. I feel so lucky!
I also realized I forgot to post news about my 34 week doctor visit last week. I finally got to see my doctor again, instead of the two different NPs I had seen the two weeks prior, and I am back to feeling good about my health care. She answered all my questions and was reassuring and calming as always. At this point, if I go into labor, she would not attempt to stop it. If I made it to 36 weeks (May 18, but who's counting?) there would not even be a NICU team present at their birth, though the babies might be assessed and determined to need a pit stop there for some number of hours or days. My doctor is happy I have made it this far and satisfied that the babies are healthy and big. So hooray!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Sorting baby clothes
Milo, this is what happens when you decide to start playing and swatting at me as I am sorting baby clothes (thank you, Kate and Aaron, for so many WONDERFUL clothes!). The cat is just lucky I didn't have a onesie in front of me when I got the idea.
Attention Movers!
Of special interest to those who graciously helped us move this past weekend: we solved the box spring problem! We thought we needed to buy a split box spring to get it up the stairs, but it turns out there's a clever solution involving a few household tools and some serious man- and woman power. My friend Laura (AKA McGyver, who travels with her own screwdriver) and her trusty sidekick Daddy Lovebo (motto: "I'm going to need a beer for this") cut, chopped and bent our queen size box spring into a shape that would easily fit up the stairs. And more importantly, bent it BACK so that it is good as new, saving $200!
Check out the website where we got the instructions: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Moving-Furniture-2016/2008/2/Queen-Box-Spring-upstairs.htm
Check out the website where we got the instructions: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Moving-Furniture-2016/2008/2/Queen-Box-Spring-upstairs.htm
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Almost 34 weeks!
It is hard to believe we have made it this far. The babies' lungs should be almost fully mature, and their brains are working hard to develop. They may weigh as much as 5 pounds apiece by now--which means I'm carrying close to 10 pounds of baby in my belly! Their main job in the next few weeks is to pack on the pounds so that they can stay warm outside an incubator.
In Mama Lovebo news, I am feeling much more energetic and healthy since moving into the new house. There is so much to do and I feel more mobile now that there are bathrooms on every floor, so my time downstairs is not limited by my fluid consumption. I'm still not doing MUCH, but at least I can try to accomplish one or two house-related tasks a day. Today's agenda: cleaning and filling the linen closet; ironing Jeff's ties so he can put them back on his tie rack tonight.
In Mama Lovebo news, I am feeling much more energetic and healthy since moving into the new house. There is so much to do and I feel more mobile now that there are bathrooms on every floor, so my time downstairs is not limited by my fluid consumption. I'm still not doing MUCH, but at least I can try to accomplish one or two house-related tasks a day. Today's agenda: cleaning and filling the linen closet; ironing Jeff's ties so he can put them back on his tie rack tonight.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Moved into the new house!
With MUCH, MUCH help from dear friends and family (from Ithaca: Joanne and Alex, Karen and Andy, Bryn's dad; from Johnstown: Kathy and Greg; from Syracuse: Jon, Pat) we have moved out of our old house and into our new house! We would not have been able to do it without everyone's help. We also owe a big thank you to Lauren and both sets of Team Lovebo grandparents for the help cleaning, cooking and packing prior to the move. We still have lots of unpacking and organizing to do but we are thrilled to be here, with babies intact!
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