The babies turned 4 weeks old yesterday. They are doing really well. Mason is definitely more of a chunky butt than Audrey. You can feel a difference when you pick them up one after another. They are wearing newborn clothes, no more premmie. They are also wearing newborn diapers. Mason LOVES to be held, while Audrey is content hanging out in her bouncy seat or boppy. Mason is usually the first one ready to eat, while Audrey *mostly* waits her turn. They are eating about 3 oz. on a three hour schedule but I am going to try to move them to a four hour schedule soon. Hopefully, this will give me a little bit more time to sleep at night. They whole routine of feeding and diaper changes takes anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half.
Poor babies also developed their first illness. Parker brought home the daycare germies!!! They both are a little congested and have runny noses. Mason is even coughing a little bit. Daddy has it too. Mommy has remained untouched!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
"Mom"tographer
A little over a year ago, Daddy bought Mommy her first DSLR camera. I have been shooting in full-auto mode for this entire time, which is pretty much not the reason for having a DSLR. I finally broke down and bought the book "Understanding Exposure" and started my Two Peas 12 Weeks to Better Photography online/self-guided course. I am not exactly the artistic type, so I am not sure how this adventure will work out. Today, I went outside and took a few pictures in AV mode which aperture priority. The ISO was set at 400 which is what the lesson recommended. I started with an f/stop of 5.6 and worked my way up to 36. Of course in the lovely Florida heat my lens got FOGGY. GRRR. I will have to play again but here are some samples.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Model Babies
The babies might be off to a new career at 3 weeks old! We had met Jennifer Mauren back in March to do a family photo shoot before we became a family of 5. Jennifer is a fabulous photographer and so easy to work with. I still tear up when I look at our pictures. It captured a moment in our family history that I will cherish forever. I had also asked her to do a newborn session with the twins when they arrived. I couldn't wait to have her come to our home and capture another moment in our lives that will soon be a distant memory. Teenie tiny little babies!!! Squuuueeee!
Jennifer will be coming tomorrow to photograph my little cuties. I hope they cooperate. I will be sure to post some pictures as soon as she shares them with me.
You might ask why this post is called model babies?? Well...
In addition to Jennifer coming on Thursday, I happened to WIN a FREE session with Bellies and Blessings. I never win anything! Nikki-Lynn with Bellies and Blessings was so kind to offer me two separate sessions, one for the twins and one for the family. We will go on Friday morning to get their pictures done with Nikki.
Pictures and photographers are my weakness, I would spend Daddy's entire paycheck on photos if he would let me.
Here are the pictures that Jennifer did in March. **Tears**
Jennifer will be coming tomorrow to photograph my little cuties. I hope they cooperate. I will be sure to post some pictures as soon as she shares them with me.
You might ask why this post is called model babies?? Well...
In addition to Jennifer coming on Thursday, I happened to WIN a FREE session with Bellies and Blessings. I never win anything! Nikki-Lynn with Bellies and Blessings was so kind to offer me two separate sessions, one for the twins and one for the family. We will go on Friday morning to get their pictures done with Nikki.
Pictures and photographers are my weakness, I would spend Daddy's entire paycheck on photos if he would let me.
Here are the pictures that Jennifer did in March. **Tears**
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Best babies ever!
I have to say I have been blessed with two wonderful babies. They fell right into a three hour eating schedule, even at night! Sometimes it can get a little bit stressful if they both are really hungry at the same time. They pretty much only cry when they are hungry. Sometimes in the evenings they fuss a little bit if they want to be held. I do my best to give them equal cuddle time but I don't keep a tally sheet. It will be nice when they STTN (sleep through the night)but I am trying to enjoy each and every baby moment since I do know this precious moments will soon be a distant memory. And I leave you with some twin love....(ugh! trouble downloading..they will be up soon.)
Friday, September 3, 2010
Big Brother Woes
Parker just isn't so sure about this whole big brother thing. He is really struggling with the situation. We are very fortunate that he isn't hitting or biting the babies or Mommy. The temper tantrums are horrendous though. There are days where I could guzzle an entire bottle of wine. When I asked the pediatrician last week about this situation I broke down in tears. Basically, we were told to ignore the temper tantrums but reassure our love and support. Not what I wanted to hear. Isn't there a magic pill or spell that will stop this?! Daddy tries his best to give it his all but he mostly just wants Mom. I always try to feed the babies before he gets home from school, before he wakes up, and after he goes to bed. It doesn't always work out perfect though.
Mommy and Daddy made a big decsion to put Parker in school FIVE days a week instead of his normal three. This morning he started crying as Daddy came down the stairs saying, "NO NO NO!" He currently spends 2 days a week with his grandparents but I think he is having trouble with the back and forth. We are hoping if he goes to school 5 days a week it will help his transition move along a bit faster. I really feel that he thrives on structure and routine, school will provide this for him.
Since Daddy stayed home sick with Mommy, we took an adventure to Target and bought the big brother a gift. Here he is helping Daddy put it together.
Mommy and Daddy made a big decsion to put Parker in school FIVE days a week instead of his normal three. This morning he started crying as Daddy came down the stairs saying, "NO NO NO!" He currently spends 2 days a week with his grandparents but I think he is having trouble with the back and forth. We are hoping if he goes to school 5 days a week it will help his transition move along a bit faster. I really feel that he thrives on structure and routine, school will provide this for him.
Since Daddy stayed home sick with Mommy, we took an adventure to Target and bought the big brother a gift. Here he is helping Daddy put it together.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The Birth Story of Twins
Even though we are only a week out from the delivery some of the details are getting a little foggy. So I will do the best that I can to re-tell an amazing story about the vaginal delivery of twins.
Let me back up a little bit to start our story. Since the beginning, I just assumed that I would have a vaginal delivery. The more I talked to other MoM’s (Mothers of Multiples) I realized that a vaginal delivery was virtually unheard of when it comes to the delivery of twins. Many doctors feel that a vaginal delivery is just too risky unless both babies are vertex (head down). My twins were lying in a vertex and breech position. Uh OH! Delivering breech babies is not common practice in the year 2010, but was very common not too long ago. My wonderful OB, Dr. J, felt very confident that I would deliver these babies vaginally given they were in a good position at the end of the pregnancy. Daddy, however, was really concerned about the delivery since we had such a rough time with our first baby, Parker. Daddy let me know he supported me in any decision I made, but he thought it would be best if I opted for an elective c-section. I thought and thought, but finally came to the decision that I would try for a vaginal delivery. This brings us to August 17th a day that will go down with the other two best days in my life, marrying a wonderful man and the birth of my first baby Parker Joseph.
After weeks and weeks of doctor’s appointments with the OB and MFM, 5 weeks of bed rest, and 5 weeks of testing two times a week at the hospital the big day was finally here. Chris and I headed to the hospital after a tearful “goodbye” to my little P-man. We arrived there at approximately 8am. We got checked into our room and met our nurse, Gloria. I got changed into my gown, monitors strapped to my belly, and the IV fluid was started. Dr. J came to do a quickie U/S (ultrasound) to check the positions of the babies. They were still vertex/breech, no luck in Baby B flipping around. I asked Dr. J if we should change our plan for a vaginal delivery. He responded with a question, “Are you having second thoughts?” Basically, the ball was in my court. He told me we could do a c-section if I wanted, but he was confident that we could go with our original plan. Ugh, I would rather someone make these types of decisions for me. My cervix was also checked and I was at 4cm. I was having contractions on my own which was reassuring.
Time for the big guns! The nurse ordered the pitocin which was going to amp up my contractions and push my labor along. When Gloria started the pitocin, she started with a low dose and increases it by 2 every thirty minutes or so depending on how your body responds. When pitocin was started the contractions started but they weren’t too painful. After a while, Gloria came to check my cervix again and I was 5cm dilated. She asked me if I would like my epidural. My answer was a huge HELL YES! I wasn’t in much pain but if I could go through this labor/delivery virtually pain-free that would be wonderful.
Shortly after that I was introduced to Rebecca, the nurse anaesthetist. She began the process of starting the EPI, but she mentioned that I had small cavities and she was struggling to get the catheter inserted. She eventually got it and gave me my test dose. I felt instant relief, but not too long I started feeling the contractions again. Strange, considering I had this EPI placed in my spine. I tried to tough it out for quite a while without saying anything because I thought I was just being a baby. Gloria came in to check my cervix again and I mentioned my pain to her. She said she would start with putting in a catheter to empty my bladder to see if that relived my pain. I was 7cm dilated when she checked me. When she was prepping me to insert the catheter I was in pain. I felt the catheter being placed and it was not fun.
At that point, Gloria called the anesthesia team. Rebecca came in and used a cold swab to determine where I was numb. I wasn’t numb at all; ahhhh this is why I was in so much pain. I wasn’t a baby after all. So she decided to put in another dose of medicine. Suddenly, my ears started ringing, my lips went numb, and I started testing metal in my mouth. I instantly let Rebecca know and everyone started running around yelling. I remember asking, “Am I going to be okay?” It was really scary. They immediately turned the EPI off and let things settle. I was given two options: 1) They could reinsert the EPI in a new place 2) Or go med-free (this was not an option for me because of the breech extraction). I asked them to call Dr. J and ask him what he thought was best. I could just go for the c-section at this point or have them reinsert the EPI. Dr. J thought it was best to reinsert the EPI and I trusted his decision.
This time they sent in another nurse anesthetist, Annette, to try this again. I was glad the same nurse didn’t do it. I am sure the first nurse was fine, but I didn’t want to risk the same complications a second time with the same nurse. The nurse made the same comment about my small cavities but was able to successfully insert the EPI. This time I felt instant relief and felt really numb. Now I was able to “enjoy” my labor and chat with my husband. This EPI story doesn’t end here though. Slowly but surely I started to feel sedated and lethargic. My face started to feel really numb. I asked my Mom to call the nurse again. Anesthesiology was called back to my room again. I was numb from my lips to my toes. We went from not being able to get numb to way too much. Annette turned the EPI dose to the lowest possible setting. I slowly felt the EPI wear off and felt much better.
Gloria came back into my room to check my cervix; I didn’t feel a thing this time. Woo hoo! I was 8cm dilated and Gloria felt that if they broke my water I would be fully dilated in no time. As she left the room, she mentioned she would call Dr. J about breaking my water. Just a few minutes later she came back to let my know that Dr. J said to just let things happen naturally. At this point, I asked Gloria if I would feel my water break since I was numb. She didn’t have a clear answer, we would just keep checking me. Gloria hadn’t been gone 10 minutes and started feeling an amazing amount of pressure. I wasn’t sure if this was a result of the low dose EPI or something was happening. I sat there for less than five minutes and decided I should mention this to my Mom (who also happens to be a nurse). As I opened my mouth to let her know about the pressure I felt a huge POP! Along with a gush of water. Woo hoo! My water broke on its own.
Several nurses came running in and asked me, “Are you feeling an urge to push?” The urge to push???? It was like a train was coming down the track full speed ahead and didn’t have any brakes. Now remember, my EPI was turned down to the lowest possible dose. The midwife said to me, “Well, you can’t push right now.” Are you kidding me???? For any Moms reading this, you know that this is like telling you to stop breathing. It is a natural feeling that you can’t stop. Well, apparently Dr. J was not at the hospital and we had to wait for him. The quickly ran me down the hallway to the OR. As we were flying down the hallway, I heard the surgical technician ask my nurse, “What is the presentation of these babies? Vertex/Vertex?” Gloria responds, “No, vertex/breech.” The surg. tech. shouts, “What????” And this “What??” echoed across the entire room of nurses. Not the thing I needed to hear when I am about to deliver these babies. As I mentioned earlier, breech extraction is not a common practice this why the entire room of 12+ hospital staff in the OR was shocked.
We arrived in the OR and got everything set up while we were waiting for Dr. J. They just kept telling me not to push, which was virtually impossible. The anesthesia was in the process of being increased since Dr. J was planning on the breech extraction of baby B. I needed to be really numb for him to get a hold of my sweet baby girl.
After what seemed like five hours, Dr. J entered the OR and had me begin to push. I pushed approximately three times and I head the sweet cries of my little man. The whisked him away to the warmers to be cleaned and measured. The U/S tech put started the U/S so Dr. J could see the baby B. At that point, I head Dr. J say, “I got a butt”. I leaned up and asked, “So we are going to be able to do this?” (Of course, I still had the fear that this wouldn’t work and we would have to have an emergency c-section) He answered the sweetest words I ever heard, “Yes, we can do this.” He asked me to push, I think I pushed about three times and out she came.
Unfortunately, she looked horrible. I honestly thought she was still-born. I saw my marriage and life flash before my eyes. I would never be able to forgive myself for choosing a vaginal delivery if she didn’t make it. I also knew my husband would never forgive me for my decision since he was so against this choice. I asked Chris to go over to where they were working her and the nurses stopped him. This didn’t make me feel better. Then I heard her sweet cry and they put her in my arms.
Mason Dominic and Audrey Harper weighed exactly the same at 5 pounds 12 ounces! Mason measured 19 inches and had Apgar scores of 8 and 9. Audrey measured 18.5 inches and had Apgar scores of 2, 9, and 9. She had a rough start but came back like a champion. I wouldn’t change anything about their delivery and I would do it all over again if I had to. We were at the hospital less than 48 hours and they are doing great. I love these sweet babies more than anything. It was an experience that I will never forget and glad I have these memories to cherish forever.
Let me back up a little bit to start our story. Since the beginning, I just assumed that I would have a vaginal delivery. The more I talked to other MoM’s (Mothers of Multiples) I realized that a vaginal delivery was virtually unheard of when it comes to the delivery of twins. Many doctors feel that a vaginal delivery is just too risky unless both babies are vertex (head down). My twins were lying in a vertex and breech position. Uh OH! Delivering breech babies is not common practice in the year 2010, but was very common not too long ago. My wonderful OB, Dr. J, felt very confident that I would deliver these babies vaginally given they were in a good position at the end of the pregnancy. Daddy, however, was really concerned about the delivery since we had such a rough time with our first baby, Parker. Daddy let me know he supported me in any decision I made, but he thought it would be best if I opted for an elective c-section. I thought and thought, but finally came to the decision that I would try for a vaginal delivery. This brings us to August 17th a day that will go down with the other two best days in my life, marrying a wonderful man and the birth of my first baby Parker Joseph.
After weeks and weeks of doctor’s appointments with the OB and MFM, 5 weeks of bed rest, and 5 weeks of testing two times a week at the hospital the big day was finally here. Chris and I headed to the hospital after a tearful “goodbye” to my little P-man. We arrived there at approximately 8am. We got checked into our room and met our nurse, Gloria. I got changed into my gown, monitors strapped to my belly, and the IV fluid was started. Dr. J came to do a quickie U/S (ultrasound) to check the positions of the babies. They were still vertex/breech, no luck in Baby B flipping around. I asked Dr. J if we should change our plan for a vaginal delivery. He responded with a question, “Are you having second thoughts?” Basically, the ball was in my court. He told me we could do a c-section if I wanted, but he was confident that we could go with our original plan. Ugh, I would rather someone make these types of decisions for me. My cervix was also checked and I was at 4cm. I was having contractions on my own which was reassuring.
Time for the big guns! The nurse ordered the pitocin which was going to amp up my contractions and push my labor along. When Gloria started the pitocin, she started with a low dose and increases it by 2 every thirty minutes or so depending on how your body responds. When pitocin was started the contractions started but they weren’t too painful. After a while, Gloria came to check my cervix again and I was 5cm dilated. She asked me if I would like my epidural. My answer was a huge HELL YES! I wasn’t in much pain but if I could go through this labor/delivery virtually pain-free that would be wonderful.
Shortly after that I was introduced to Rebecca, the nurse anaesthetist. She began the process of starting the EPI, but she mentioned that I had small cavities and she was struggling to get the catheter inserted. She eventually got it and gave me my test dose. I felt instant relief, but not too long I started feeling the contractions again. Strange, considering I had this EPI placed in my spine. I tried to tough it out for quite a while without saying anything because I thought I was just being a baby. Gloria came in to check my cervix again and I mentioned my pain to her. She said she would start with putting in a catheter to empty my bladder to see if that relived my pain. I was 7cm dilated when she checked me. When she was prepping me to insert the catheter I was in pain. I felt the catheter being placed and it was not fun.
At that point, Gloria called the anesthesia team. Rebecca came in and used a cold swab to determine where I was numb. I wasn’t numb at all; ahhhh this is why I was in so much pain. I wasn’t a baby after all. So she decided to put in another dose of medicine. Suddenly, my ears started ringing, my lips went numb, and I started testing metal in my mouth. I instantly let Rebecca know and everyone started running around yelling. I remember asking, “Am I going to be okay?” It was really scary. They immediately turned the EPI off and let things settle. I was given two options: 1) They could reinsert the EPI in a new place 2) Or go med-free (this was not an option for me because of the breech extraction). I asked them to call Dr. J and ask him what he thought was best. I could just go for the c-section at this point or have them reinsert the EPI. Dr. J thought it was best to reinsert the EPI and I trusted his decision.
This time they sent in another nurse anesthetist, Annette, to try this again. I was glad the same nurse didn’t do it. I am sure the first nurse was fine, but I didn’t want to risk the same complications a second time with the same nurse. The nurse made the same comment about my small cavities but was able to successfully insert the EPI. This time I felt instant relief and felt really numb. Now I was able to “enjoy” my labor and chat with my husband. This EPI story doesn’t end here though. Slowly but surely I started to feel sedated and lethargic. My face started to feel really numb. I asked my Mom to call the nurse again. Anesthesiology was called back to my room again. I was numb from my lips to my toes. We went from not being able to get numb to way too much. Annette turned the EPI dose to the lowest possible setting. I slowly felt the EPI wear off and felt much better.
Gloria came back into my room to check my cervix; I didn’t feel a thing this time. Woo hoo! I was 8cm dilated and Gloria felt that if they broke my water I would be fully dilated in no time. As she left the room, she mentioned she would call Dr. J about breaking my water. Just a few minutes later she came back to let my know that Dr. J said to just let things happen naturally. At this point, I asked Gloria if I would feel my water break since I was numb. She didn’t have a clear answer, we would just keep checking me. Gloria hadn’t been gone 10 minutes and started feeling an amazing amount of pressure. I wasn’t sure if this was a result of the low dose EPI or something was happening. I sat there for less than five minutes and decided I should mention this to my Mom (who also happens to be a nurse). As I opened my mouth to let her know about the pressure I felt a huge POP! Along with a gush of water. Woo hoo! My water broke on its own.
Several nurses came running in and asked me, “Are you feeling an urge to push?” The urge to push???? It was like a train was coming down the track full speed ahead and didn’t have any brakes. Now remember, my EPI was turned down to the lowest possible dose. The midwife said to me, “Well, you can’t push right now.” Are you kidding me???? For any Moms reading this, you know that this is like telling you to stop breathing. It is a natural feeling that you can’t stop. Well, apparently Dr. J was not at the hospital and we had to wait for him. The quickly ran me down the hallway to the OR. As we were flying down the hallway, I heard the surgical technician ask my nurse, “What is the presentation of these babies? Vertex/Vertex?” Gloria responds, “No, vertex/breech.” The surg. tech. shouts, “What????” And this “What??” echoed across the entire room of nurses. Not the thing I needed to hear when I am about to deliver these babies. As I mentioned earlier, breech extraction is not a common practice this why the entire room of 12+ hospital staff in the OR was shocked.
We arrived in the OR and got everything set up while we were waiting for Dr. J. They just kept telling me not to push, which was virtually impossible. The anesthesia was in the process of being increased since Dr. J was planning on the breech extraction of baby B. I needed to be really numb for him to get a hold of my sweet baby girl.
After what seemed like five hours, Dr. J entered the OR and had me begin to push. I pushed approximately three times and I head the sweet cries of my little man. The whisked him away to the warmers to be cleaned and measured. The U/S tech put started the U/S so Dr. J could see the baby B. At that point, I head Dr. J say, “I got a butt”. I leaned up and asked, “So we are going to be able to do this?” (Of course, I still had the fear that this wouldn’t work and we would have to have an emergency c-section) He answered the sweetest words I ever heard, “Yes, we can do this.” He asked me to push, I think I pushed about three times and out she came.
Unfortunately, she looked horrible. I honestly thought she was still-born. I saw my marriage and life flash before my eyes. I would never be able to forgive myself for choosing a vaginal delivery if she didn’t make it. I also knew my husband would never forgive me for my decision since he was so against this choice. I asked Chris to go over to where they were working her and the nurses stopped him. This didn’t make me feel better. Then I heard her sweet cry and they put her in my arms.
Mason Dominic and Audrey Harper weighed exactly the same at 5 pounds 12 ounces! Mason measured 19 inches and had Apgar scores of 8 and 9. Audrey measured 18.5 inches and had Apgar scores of 2, 9, and 9. She had a rough start but came back like a champion. I wouldn’t change anything about their delivery and I would do it all over again if I had to. We were at the hospital less than 48 hours and they are doing great. I love these sweet babies more than anything. It was an experience that I will never forget and glad I have these memories to cherish forever.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
18 month stats!
Parker turned 18 months old on June 30, 2010. He went for his 18 month old well-visit on Tuesday, July 5th. He really wanted no part of being at the doctors office, which was a first for us. He was NOT going to be weighed no matter what we did. From the few seconds he would lay on the scale we determined his weight to be around 21 pounds. The nurse asked me to measure him thinking that might help him to calm down, but NO WAY! I estimated him to be about 31 inches. I am sure neither of these measurements are accurate, but close enough.
We talked to the pedi about his eating or not eating habits. The pedi said that we are doing everything we can and since he is gaining and growing we can't complain. He suspected it could be a case of a "texture issue." The pedi suggested that we have "acceptable alternatives" and "non-acceptable alternatives". I am sure you can figure this out. Things like yogurt, PB crackers, glass of milk are okay, but not cookies, cake, and ice cream. Our journey continues!
We talked to the pedi about his eating or not eating habits. The pedi said that we are doing everything we can and since he is gaining and growing we can't complain. He suspected it could be a case of a "texture issue." The pedi suggested that we have "acceptable alternatives" and "non-acceptable alternatives". I am sure you can figure this out. Things like yogurt, PB crackers, glass of milk are okay, but not cookies, cake, and ice cream. Our journey continues!
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