Our oldest twin is doing things first!

It happened while we were back in Minnesota for Christmas. We were at Grandma and Opa Thron's house. Lucy was in the crib and she dropped her toy and she started turning to reach it, and over she went! She has done it a few times since.

Lucy figured out breast-feeding first, she laughed first, started grabbing for toys first, and now she has officially figured out how to turn over at almost 5 months on the nose. No more hanging out on the bed just in case she has multiple rolls! In the last few days she has also figured out how to get her binky back into her mouth if it falls out (she takes it our herself frequently as well). She will even drop it next to her and turn over to grab it and pop it back in!

Now, Stella usually emulates her big sis and begins doing things shortly after Lucy does. It's kind of neat that she is learning from her 'older' sibling. I guess 7 minutes makes a difference!

I should mention that Stella was the first to find her feet and to 'talk' ; when she gets going, she just wants to be heard- and I'll tell ya, we can hear her throughout our entire 3-story house!

This video is of Stella... and her feet.

Sleeping through the Night

I did not believe it would ever happen. The week before we left for MN, so Dec. 18ish, the girls BOTH slept through the night. I am talking a good 8 hours. Of course I woke up several times to make sure they were OK, but after a couple weeks now of mostly sleeping through the night, I am actually getting a normal amount of sleep (in a row) again!!

It makes a difference how much they eat during the day I found. If I feed them every 2-3 hours during the day, they will sleep through the night. When they are home with Daddy, they eat less and I notice that they are more likely to wake up in the middle of the night.

They are still on our room in the pack and play, the plan is to move them into their own space after my parents visit in January!

Eggnog, hot buttered Rum, and invisible Christmas trees

Last weekend (first weekend of December) was Fells Point's annual eggnog tasting and tree lighting ceremony. We decided it would be worth packing the girls up and going for an outing. We went to the tasting in 2009 as well- we tryed around 10 different eggnogs (including egg nog cookies); and the bars had spiked nog- which I couldn't try since I was newly pregnant at the time. So this year, with babies in carriers, we were looking forward to tasting a bunch of nogs and maybe even a few spiked samples too. However, for the life of us, we could not find any store that was participating this year- or they had already run out- bummer!

We did manage to visit Santa and Mrs. Claus on Thames Street. They were not your traditional merry pair;they were sitting in a tent drinking natty bohs, smoking skinny cigars, and handing out egg nog with brandy to bundled pedestrians. Needless to say, we did not plop either of our new children in St. Nick's lap.

We wondered over to the pier and watched the Christmas light laden boats in the harbor; and then watched the grand (or not so grand) lighting of the tree- but wait!- I see lights, but where is the tree??!! I know times are tight, but a few strands of lights hanging down to kind of look like a tree was a pretty sad sight.

We decided to stop in Max's for a beer to warm us up; however, when we got to the door they wouldn't let us in- no kids allowed. Now, I know babies in bars are frowned upon by some, but it was 6PM, and it's not like Max's is a crazy party joint- they sell food and have a nice fireplace in the back. Well, we didn't fight it, we just didn't go in. It all turned out for the best as we ended up in Bertha's Mussels (bar) listening to Irish music, sharing a hot buttered rum, with babies sound asleep in our lap (it still amazes me what they can sleep through).

I have never had hot buttered rum before, it tasted good, but extremely rich. I had to ask what was in it. I think one of the owners is the one who told me this- so hopefully it's not a secret recipe or anything!

1 pint dark rum; 1 lb butter; 1 lb sugar; cinnamon, nutmeg and boiling water; and then to serve they add more rum plus the above mixture- wow, sounds healthy eh? I did not have anymore after I heard that!

Twins and Sleeping : The Crib Conundrum

During our hospitable stay at Mercy, (is it coincidence that hospitable and hospital are essentially the same word?) we received two bassinets, labeled Baby A and Baby B. They were so tiny we just couldn't put them in two separate 'bins'! Afterall, they did just spend the first 37 weeks of their lives smooshed right up next to each other! So, we had them both in "Baby A's-aka Lucy's- bassinet". Apparently there is a reason for separate sleeping quarters; when the numerous nurse staff, tech staff, or pediatric staff came to check on the girls, or do tests etc., that was how they could determine, who had what, and when. It didn't matter however, we still kept them together, and just made sure to clarify who was who and who had what.

We got home. We have one bassinet. We weren't sure if we needed another one, but as it turns out- we did not. The girls slept in the same bassinet from July 24 until approximately October 10 ( I only remember this because we had just arrived back from Boston:)). However, at some point in September, they absolutely had to be swaddled (not just in a blanket, but a "SwaddleMe velcro blanket so they couldn't escape) while sleeping, otherwise the smacking ensued... and if they were not swaddled, ensured waking up a sleeping sister.

So the bassinet was awesome; it fit perfectly next to my side of our queen sized bed in our baltimore-rowhouse-bedroom- and, with good advice from my sis, it was one that rocked- not just figuratively. I was sad to see it go in October, but babies do grow, and Stella and Lucy were 8 1/2 and 10 lbs respectively (as of their 2 month appt), and the max in the bassinet was technically 15 lbs.

In comes the Pack N' Play; a lot larger all around, however, the bassinet portion still only technically holds 15 lbs, but it has worked fine. And-it still fits in our room-- unbelievable!

So, to date, the star light girls are sleeping in the pack and play in mom and dad's room- they are 4 1/2 months old. They still wake up to eat every 3-5 hours, so it is very convenient for mama.

However, their mini-mattress is starting to cave inwards a bit and we know its time for them to move into their own room soon. It's somewhat comical when you think about how crazy new parents go when trying to set up the nursery and then don't even really use it for a few months. We have a cute nursery, but with the girls sleeping in our bedroom, all the changing diaper materials are in here too-- for now. And, we have TWO diaper pails- one for cloth, one for disposable... and let me say that we can't smell a thing. GO Diaper Champ, and GO free diaper pail that we got from Modern Diaper Service for use with our cloth dips.

Currently, we have one crib set up in the nursery. We figured, we only needed one for at least the first 6 months. Well, that's a bit over 1 month away now, and we only use the crib for playtime. I have noticed that, in order to have them both in the crib, we would have to place them vertically- the short way- in the crib. We couldn't really do head to head or feet to feet since they would ultimately knock boots, or noggins. The problem is, when they are in the crib this way, they can push off one side and hit their head on the other- they are just too long!

So... maybe its not really a conundrum... maybe we just have to set up the second crib... but we were hoping to stretch it out a bit longer!

Baby Brains (To Are or not to Our)

So I have to correct an embarrassing mistake that I just noticed in the subtitle of this blog... I said are experiences instead of our experiences.... wow... it only took me 3 months to find that one. Guess that is why I am in finance and not english:)

New Sounds

October 10, 2010 was Lucy's first all out laugh, but then it took another couple weeks to hear it again. We didn't hear Stella's first laugh until probably early November.

So about 10 days or so ago, Lucy started making a new noise. And I think Stella learned it from her sister as she started doing it 2 days ago!

Cloth vs. Disposable Diapers

Grandma and Grandpa Treiber gave us a 6 month diaper service gift that includes cloth diapers plus pick up and delivery-- so no washing (thank goodness).

Originally, I didn't even think of cloth as an option; most of my friends with kids kind of balked at the idea, so I really just wrote it off. Then, we received the gift so I started doing some research.

My findings after using cloth (and occasionally disposable for 3 months):

• Cloth diapers including the cleaning service (along with pick up and delivery) costs approximately the same as disposables (assuming you are using 8-10 per baby per day or 5-6 per baby with disposable)
• Cloth is better for the environment overall (even though there is some argument about the energy used to wash the diapers)
• I have had no problem with diaper rash with cloth-- we just make sure their lil bums are dry before putting on a new diaper
• I change them after every feeding (every 2 hours approximately during the day)
• I use disposables at night- I decided it wasn't worth having babies waking up because they are wet, and disposables are definitely the masters in absorbtion
• I couldn't figure out how to put the cloth diaper around their hips (the pre folds were not big enough-- and maybe they aren't meant to go around their hips even), so we just fold them in thirds and place them in the cover.
• Covers: We bought a bunch at Soft and Cozy baby in Baltimore. Gussets are KEY. The interior lining of the cover should be water proof (many are not), and I prefer the velcro ones as opposed to the snaps (I have heard that as they get older snaps may work better because the kids cannot get them off themselves). I bought Thirsties brand and have been really happy with them, about $12 each.
• Peeing is not a problem, just pull out the wet one, wipe and dry the cover, insert new one and you're ready to go. Poopin' is messy. You are supposed to clean off the gunk before putting it in the pail to be sent out, but we generally skip that part. Since they are eating breast milk it doesn't really come off anyway since its more liquidic than anything else. You can get it off the covers, but expect a stain in the non-waterproof portions of the cover.
• Travelling with cloth. We generally do not. We will put them in disposables when we go somewhere and defintely if we travel for more than one day. They can stay in disposies longer with minimal leakage, however, it still does leak! I am not sure how #2 can work its way out of the top of a disposable but it happens! If I do travel with cloth, I just bring a ziploc bag for the soiled ones.
• Diaper Service: we use Modern Diaper Service and have been extremely happy with their service. They come every Friday around noon, and they even go to the back of my house (since we have a lot of sidewalk traffice during the day in front of our house).
• Disposables: we have tried both Pampers and Huggies-- Pampers overall has been our favorite, Huggies leak a lot more (but there are way more coupons for Huggies so we still end up getting those). We go through maybe 30 disposables every 3 weeks or so with using them at night and when we are out and about.

Happy Turkey (or Turduckin) Day! (And a special anniversary)

Stella and Lucy's first Thanksgiving was at our friends Tony and Michelle's house. I started getting ready at 1PM for a 7PM arrival date- good thing too! It's amazing how long it takes to bathe baby and parents, prep a casserole, put clothes on admist feeding and diapering babies as well.

We went to T & M's house last year as well. It was a memorable time of year because we found out the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 2009, that we were expecting! I couldn't believe it when I took the test- I took several actually:) The first test, the second blue line was kind of faint, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th got darker and darker. So I found a little plastic baby (courtesy of a box -1of 7 btw-that was kindly dropped off when my parents were visiting) that was part of a collection of mini toys that i had saved for whatever reason. Well, it worked out, I found it, and wrapped it up and gave it to Dave- Surprise!! It was hard not being able to tell anyone for 3 weeks (we figured it was worth doing it in person over Christmas when we were back in MN).

So, like 2009, I made Aunt Sandi's famous wild rice casserole for this year's festivities... sooo good. I used hot pork sausage instead of regular ps this year, which added a perfect kick. Our gracious hosts made a Turduckin, but I think they had a hard time finding the duck... so i think it ended up just being a Turkin.

It was a late Thanksgiving for us, but the girls were great and pretty much slept for a good chunk of time while we were there (with the exception of Stella taking a nice big crappola in her pretty dress:)) But, the triptophan must have made its trip through my system into the girls, because it was a long sleeping night for them. Gobble Gobble.

Bottle Envy... or not so much

So Dave was home for 6 weeks on paternity leave with the girls until early November. During that time it didn't seem as though there were too many bottle issues. I woke up in the morning, fed the girls, then pumped, then off to work. When I arrived home in the evening, I came back packin' a cooler with the good stuff.

Then Dave went back to work and I started part-time. So in essence that meant, more one-on-one time with the babies, or you could say two-on-two. On the days Dave was home, and hence the girls took the bottle, we have begun to have issues.

It's really hit or miss on whether they are going to eat from the bottle nowadays. Our doc told us not to worry and if they are hungry enough they will eventually take their chow from good ol' Born Free, but what we have been finding is that they don't and they just get super super distraught and eventually cry themselves to sleep until mamma gets home (there have been a couple times that I have actually had to leave work).

It seems as though Lucy is the primary mischief maker in denying the bottle. I guess she has the infamous stubborn quality of a first-born:) A co-worker recommended that we try another bottle that has a nude colored nipple and that maybe that would work better-- it's not very exciting to think of purchasing another (most likely $$) bottle just to test it out... argh.

On another somewhat related note... I am still determined to give them only breast milk until they are 6 months but its becoming harder and harder to make extra to store so that I can leave for more than 2 hours at a time (shopping, maybe happy hour??).

If I am feeding them and then pump I only get maybe an ounce. I do find that if I can motivate myself in the morning to hook up to the Ameda after I feed them I will get more. I think its because they eat less frequently at night (every 5 hours, versus 2-3 during the day) I have more leftover after they are done.

My blonde nature shown through when I thought placing a frozen milk bag (plastic) in a pot of boiling water to thaw it out, only to find boiling milk and an empty bag shortly thereafter. That was 7 oz. down the drain. We also found that some of the frozen milk had gone bad; I think we froze it too long after it was pumped.

And... my sis and I have grand plans of hitting the town when we are back for Christmas and I guarantee that I will likely not have enough. I can only travel with so much milk on the plane and I will not be able to pump enough once I arrive so I am thinking about sneaking in some formula gradually a couple weeks before we go back to MN-- we'll see.

Boo! Halloween and the Haunted Housing Market

OK, so this is a month late, but today is Black Friday so I figure its a perfect time to talk about the Spooky and the Scary.

Lucy and Stella's first Halloween was spent with our friends Andy and Ania over at Ania's sister house with her family, Kasha, Ben, Daniel, and Adam. They live in Severna Park, MD and I tell ya, when we pulled up to a cute house with lots of trees , a big back yard, and right across the way from the water, I thought of our crib in the city and I was dreaming of the suburbs.

BUT, these suburbs were not cookie cutter so it makes it OK right?! Both Dave and I love living in the city- being able to walk to stores, restaurants, and pubs is pretty convenient- not to mention that Dave can walk or bike to work which makes our one-car household work. However, I can't deny that since we found out we were expecting, visions of our girls running around a yard, being able to ride bikes down the street without worrying about the projects a couple blocks away, and having space inside to have crawling kids without blocking off 3 levels of stairwells is pretty attractive.

However, we purchased our home 3 years ago (September 2007) and I am pretty sure we are underwater on our mortgage. While it may not be as much as many folks, we would likely have to dip into our retirement if we sold the house, because we would probably end up owing money at this point. Zillow has informed us that our house is valued at $160ish; when we bought our house it was valued at $220K and at the beginning of the year it was still $200. Granted, we didn't pay $220K, but our neighbor (who purchased a similar house around the same time we did for about the same price,) thinks we would be lucky to get $130-$140K. We know that we do not want to be here for more than a few more years, so the question becomes, will the market recover by then? Dave thinks it is going to continue on the decline for several more years. I am more the optimist... am I being idealistic? Maybe.

So what do we do? Do we make improvements to our home gradually over the next couple years, or do we leave it as is and rent it down the line? Or are we going to have to make improvements just to rent it for a decent amount? I like the idea of making aesthetic changes like changing the fixtures in the bathrooms, and putting in a new kitchen floor etc. And I would love a deck:)

Mama Goes back to Work

So it's pretty amazing how fast 12 weeks goes by- I had all these plans of what I was going to do (besides, you know, have a couple babies)- and of course none of that got done. But that was OK, because I had 2 pretty cool things to show for it!

I went back to work on September 27, and this was the day that began Dave's 6 week paternity leave. I thought the first day would be really difficult, but as it turned out, the week went fine. It was the following weeks that were increasingly difficult.

Karin (Dave's mom) came to stay with us for a couple weeks at the beginning to help Dave out which was nice.

The largest challenge at work was to remember to pump every 3 hours... luckily my boss gave me a special space to do it on the same floor as my office. My Ameda Purely Yours did a great job however and I came home with a full stash.

The first week was not as hard as I thought it would be... weeks 2 and 3 were a lot worse:)

So its the end of November already (I'm still trying to catch up writing) and Dave went back to work a few weeks ago. I submitted a proposal to my boss to go part time. She was not surprised (she actually thought I was going to quit I think). Her reaction however led me to believe that she might not be OK with the part-time thing, especially since financial literacy is part of my organizations mission- it pretty much IS the mission- and I am the only one on staff that does it. But... guess what? I am working part-time now! So I go into the office on Tuesday and Thursdays and work half day from home on Wednesdays; Mondays and Fridays I can work as I have a chance from home as well. Dave is currently working from home on the days I am in the office so its pretty sweet!

I am enjoying being able to work, but its been a lot less stressful now that I am part time. I was worried I was going to be so busy that I wouldn't be able to enjoy the little moments of growth with the girls, and now I can!

First Trip!

We were torn on whether we were going to be able to go to Minnesota while I was on maternity leave. And then, when we decided that we were definitely going to go-- the big decision was to drive or fly. At this point they were 3 weeks old.

We decided to fly. My mom had stayed with us in Baltimore for the first 3 weeks. She and dad drove out together and he flew back a week later; so unfortunately mom had to drive back to Minny herself.

We didn't know what to expect when travelling with the girls-- many people thought we were crazy...:)

As it turns out, they were both awesome! Going through security wasn't nearly the hassle we thought it would be and they pretty much slept the entire time. The airline said that we were supposed to sit in different rows because of the oxygen masks (I am guessing there is only one extra one in each row); but we were able to sit together both ways. We had a nonstop flight both ways which also helped.

We spent the first 5 days at Dave's parents house, the next week and half at the beautiful twin pines cabin on Lake Superior and the remaining time at my sisters house in Como. The first few days at the cabin were a full house with mom, pregnant Becky, Nico, Dave and I with the girls, Dave's parents and his bro Paul. We then spent sometime there ourselves. It was the first time we had just as a family since they were born so it was pretty neat and believe it or not, quite relaxing!

Becky and Noe hosted a housewarming/ welcome for the Starlight ladies at their house the Friday before we left. Noe made an amazing spread of sushi galore and we got to see some of the extended fam along with some of our friends that stopped by.

We also hit the famous MN state fair and ate some fair chow along with visiting the miracle of birth building and did some people-watching too of course. Dave ate Alligator and Ostrich and we also tried scotch eggs for the first time, and of course had corndogs, cheese curds, strawberry shortcake, belgium waffle on a stick, snickers on a stick, veggie fries (or those still healthy even thought their fried?). And I breastfed for the first (and only so far) time in public-- i was discreet but it still felt kind of wierd!

Boobs

I wanted to breast feed from the get go. When we found out we were having twins I thought, how in the world am I going to feed them?? My dad was the first to say-- "They give you two for a reason!!"

So I had to use a nipple shield to begin with since there was nothing really stickin' out for them to grab onto- at least on the right side. It worked, but hurt like #$%*. There was a concern that they wouldn't get enough nutrition and then lose too much weight and have to be admitted to the hopsital and not take them home.

So, I also started pumping in the hospital; I was amazed when the lactation consultant was super excited about me pumping 10ml of colostrum-- thats like less than a tube of lipsticks worth. Lo and behold we fed that to the girls using a syringe. It was called finger- feeding; you would put your pinky in their mouth, and as they sucked, excrete what was in the syringe.

They didn't really catch on while in the hospital, so we supplemented a bit with formula (after the attempt on the breast, then the finger feeding). We were able to take both the girls home, so that was awesome.

So most of the nurses and lac consultant said it wasn't supposed to hurt while breast feeding if they were latched on correctly... but now, I realize that there are a lot of people out there like me... it hurts... and it doesn't really go away, I feel like i got used to it. But just side note, it took a good 6 weeks for them both to officially latch on. And it still is occasionally painful on one side.

Its interesting to me how I can feel when the 'let down' begins-- and I have figured out how to do both at once with a boppy and a couple pillows-- very efficient!

I am still pumping since I am going back to work, but its hard to find a time to do it-- right after a feed there's not much there, and then too close to the next feed- they won't get much. And... they are still (at 2 months) feeding every 2-3 hours so its quite the time management conundrum.

They both "get it" now, ever since 6 weeks, so its ironic that I go back to work- tomorrow.

Catching up Five: Post-Birth

I had a great pregnancy, so the post-partum time was a little unexpected. It took me a good week to get up and walk around and at least another 3 to feel completely normal. I was extremely thankful that the hubby was there 24/7 at the hospital and then had the entire next week off.

We stayed up in the labor and delivery room until almost 8 hours after the girls were born- ate some roasted chicken- and attempted the first round of breast feeding.

The back up Doula, Emily was there for a bit, then our original doula stayed for several hours and assisted with the feeding and chatting about what to expect for the next few days. Even though I had been awake for almost 24 hours, my adrenaline was pumping and it was nice to be fully mobile due to the lack of drugs during the birth. The girls were very alert as well which was pretty cool.

Dave sent about 100 picture text messages out, and we chatted with our families about the experience. My friend Jen was the first to visit us in the hospital and came with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and her good spirits! We don't have any family close by, so it was nice to have the next best thing!

We were transferred down to the Mom and Baby Floor late afternoon. We had a million people coming it at all hours, not visitors, but nurses, technicians, and doctors. I guess it was necessary, but slightly annoying:). I had a whole sequence of things I had to do when I went to the bathroom, which took about 20 minutes each time, also slightly annoying-- OK that was really annoying.

We got dinner 'delivered' from the hospital but then Dave went out and got us some late night eats at one of our favorite places, Geckos in B-more-- Southwest Cobb salad and a Tortilla Burger.. mmmm. The second night we did the same thing and got food from Mick O'Shea's- Bangers and Mash and a Cobb Salad (not nearly as good as the Geckos one).

Babies came on Thursday morning and we were discharged on Saturday afternoon.

Catching up Four: Names

Flipper and Flapper: now known as- Luciana (Lucy) Drew and Stella Rae Treiber

So, in utero, I was sure that Baby A (bottom baby, aka Flipper) would be Stella. Dave and I knew that one of them was definitely going to be named Stella. We did not share our name ideas with anyone since we really did not want feedback other than from ourselves. Our list (which we posted in our grafitti bathroom) which will remain a secret unless you see our bathroom! Whenever anyone asked what we were naming them, we responded with Davette, Davina, or Davita. The look on peoples' faces when they weren't sure if we were serious, was quite entertaining.

As soon as Baby B (Flapper) was born however, I looked at her and said, "this is Stella", not the other one. So by the time we got back to the L&D room, we had one name, but not the other. It was hard! Several hours went by before we decided on a name. We hadn't told my parents either name yet, and then when I talked to my sister, we thought we had the second one decided so I told her that their names were Stella and Juliana!

But wait! Thirty minutes later we changed Juliana to Luciana, because we especially liked Lucy. We still got some flowers from my fam that said Juliana however:) It was rough because for whatever reason, Baby B (Stella), looked like all the names we had picked out and Baby A didn't look like any of them at first! Since Baby B came out fist first, we had to give her the dramatic name- which we thought was Stella.

Now since we have shared the names, some people have thought that it is Luciana (Loochiana), but it is pronounced Lucy-ana. Some other comments have been "what? are you Italian now?"-- no but we like spaghetti, does that count?

Dave came up with both Stella and Lucy for names, I had to lobby for Luciana as Lucy's "formal" name. I wanted something similar to my middle name "Viana", and something that had part of my mother's name "Diana" in it as well. Stella's middle name is Rae after my father Raymond and Lucy's middle name is Drew, after Dave's middle name Andrew- which is also his grandfather's name and the name of a dear mutual friend that passed too early.

Stella means star and Luciana means light- so they are our little starlight girls!

Catching up: Part Three- B; Momma's view

Dave and I went out on date on Wednesday July 21. We ate some appetizers at Flemings Steak House and then saw "Inception". I remember feeling a lot of movement that night during the movie. Did they just really like the popcorn? Maybe, but we later found out that they were getting ready to grace us with their presence for the first time!

We got home at about 12:30 Am after checking out the view from the top of a parking garage in fells point. Dave and his views:) He'll never get sick of looking at any sort of skyline!

When we got home I was hungry again (no surprise) so I had some Rosemary Bean soup from Safeway (only relevant bc of it shows up later). I hop into bed around 2am (I was already on maternity leave). Not too long after I turned the light off, I turned it back on much to Dave's dismay. "Why are you turning the light on??" Well honey, I think my water broke. That woke him up. But, I wasn't really sure since this has never happened to me before. I went to the bathroom thinking maybe I just peed in my pants.

We had hired a doula who we knew was vacationing in New Jersey. I texted her at 3AM to let her know that my water most likely broke. She asked how I was feeling and if she should start driving. Well, being that this was my first birth, I really had no idea, so I told her we were trying to nap (which we were technically). By 3:30 we realized there would be no napping. i had my first contraction around this time as I was walking down the stairs. I should preface this with the fact that I apparently had been having regular contractions that I couldn't feel for several weeks. This one I could feel. And it made me puke-- hello rosemary bean soup.

Between the hours of 4 and 6 were kind of a blur. I know I called my mom first to let her know that things were happening. Then I called my sister at around5EST to let her know it was "show time". She was horrified to hear that my contractions were 3 minutes apart at this point... and that I was still at home. She said " where is Dave??" and he was walking the dogs. At this point he will never live that down I guess:)

We went to the hospital around 630AM. We talked to the doula (in route from Jersey) on our way (only a 5 minute ride) and she was still 90 minutes out. She asked to talk to me to see how I was doing, and when she heard my voice, called the back-up doula- Emily. I had 3 contractions on the way to the hospital.

We arrived at Mercy Medical Center and had to go through the emergency entrance due to the time. The only parking spots open were reserved for police, so Dave was resisting parking there--- he didn't resist for long after I "screamed" my opinion on the matter.

They took me up (sans Dave) to the labor and delivery floor. In the elevator ride up, there were a couple guys just getting off the night shift who looked like they were seriously freaked out that I may deliver a child right in front of them- due to the moaning etc. They got off on the next floor:)

The nurse in the elevator was fantabulous. She was rubbing my shoulders and making me feel relatively relaxed. Once I arrived in triage, they attempted to monitor the babies by strapping me down- that just wasn't happening at this point. They needed to check my cervix, and that also wasn't an easy feat. Once they were ready,I had to get up off the table again. Finally, after about 2 contractions, they were able to check my cervix- I was 7-8 cm dilated! I was so adamant about staying home as long as I could based on what i learned in the child birth classes, that I did. I kept thinking I was still going to have a good 20 hours in front of me. What I didn't realize at this point I was already in transition!

They led me to the labor and delivery room and the back up doula, Emily, arrived at this point. I don't remember everything that happened in here, but I do remember marching in place- which seemed to be the only thing to make me feel better. Emily was applying pressure to my back and giving me some calm and encouraging words. Dave shot a few pics during this time- I think he felt a bit helpless. I know he asked me if I wanted some music on (which we had spent time compiling beforehand), but I was pretty much in my own world. My doc was trying to convince to to get an epidural, and since I still believed that I had many many hours to go, I kept trying to delay. They checked my cervix again and found that I was 8-9 cm and they wanted me to go to the operating room (where I would be delivering since the twin factor). I was not ready to go-- Dave was on my side here and they let me stay for a while.

I had heard of people takin' a crap on the table and I was adamant in clearing my system before I entered the pushing phase. I felt like I had to go anyway! I went into the bathroom 3 different times quite determined- with no success. The nurses kept coming in and saying "you're going to have those babies in here, we need to go to the operating room!" I was being stubborn and stating that I "knew" I just had to go to the bathroom quick-- that I knew the feeling.

Well, of course, that was indeed the feeling of pushing those girls out. It finally connected and we all walked to the operating room. It was a classic moment walking down the hall with all those people, most people are carted in! I had no drugs in me and the last thing I wanted to do was sit or lie down.

Once I arrived in the operating room, the only thing I could see was the popsicle stick of a table sitting before me. My first reaction was-- oh my gosh, am I going to fit on that thing??! I guess most people can't move when they are in there so it doesn't matter. I lay down and asked if the table raised in the back at all. At first they said no, then the Dr. Atlas, who I think was one of the lead docs there, showed us how- thank goodness.

I don't remember anytime passing before I started pushing. I do remember our original doula showing up at this point, which was nice- we were hoping she would make it! And Dave was standing by my right side in full operating room gear. I really wanted to drink some water and someone scolded me immediately. Apparently if I had to go under in an emergency c-section, water in my system would have led to serious consequences.

The lead doc at the baby end was trying to count for me, but I stopped listening after I realized she wasn't in sync with what I was doing. Dave told me later that there were 16-17 people in the room. I did notice the 'audience' but I didn't think there was that many people in there! For some reason when I blew out I was able to push better than holding my breath- it brought me back to yoga some how and calmed me down.

Pushing actually felt very productive and whatever pain there was didn't matter. It was only until Baby A (Luciana) crowned and did not retreat that I felt the 'ring of fire'. It wasn't long before I saw her, in all her white waxy glory! I recall exclaiming, "that's a baby!" (duh, right? but it wasn't completely real until I saw her). They gave her to Dave, and Danielle (the doula) said "get a good grip!"; they hadn't wiped anything off her at this point. He then lay her on my chest and I looked in awe- a little person. Her eyes were wide open, and she was beautiful. They took her away to clean her up a bit and I was thinking that I was going to have a bit of a break.

No break, there was another baby to push out! Her water hadn't broken yet, so the docs took care of that. I could hear them talking and saying they were a little concerned because it appeared that Baby B (Stella) was coming down hand-first. She came down quickly and she entered this world fist first (she will never get tired of hearing that story we hope!).

She was quite a bit smaller than her sister, i was still able to hold her right after birth. Then they took her to a heat lamp. Lucy was 6lbs 4 oz. and Stella was 4 lbs 11oz. They were born at 8:22AM and 8:29AM on July 22, 2010. Stella was borderline having to go to the NICU, but just over the line so we got to keep her with us.

I did have a second degree tear, which they stitched up and then I was carted back to the labor and delivery room where I was reunited with the girls.

Catching up: Part Three-A; The Delivery- Daddy's View

A Dad’s Thoughts on the Births of Luciana and Stella

Water broke 230am ish. Mom talked about how she wasn’t sure if it was really water breaking… we looked up on internet and confirmed. Then tried to sleep a bit, then contractions started. Mom puked. We texted doula. Tried still laying down… around 430 maybe we decided that the contractions were more regular. Started timing and they were at least once every three minutes. Dani was in a lot of pain, walking around a bit more. She puked a couple more times, and kept walking around. I rubbed her back at times, at other times, I couldn’t do anything to make her feel better. Around 4:30 I decided sleep was out of the question and made sure the bags were packed. I made a bowl of oatmeal and walked the dogs. I packed the car, and around 6:15 we left for the hospital. We called Danielle, the doula on the way and she said she was still about 90 minutes out. She had left a vacation in NJ to try to meet us at the hospital. She called Emily, the back-up doula, and said she would be at the hospital around 7.

When we arrived at the hospital, Dani was very uncomfortable and I couldn’t find a good place to park, so I pulled into the emergency parking area, then backed up because it said Police parking only. Dani was not happy I was backing up so I decided to park there after all. I ran inside and checked with the security guard what I should do and he said bring her in. I did and some folks ran up with a wheelchair. I walked with her into the ER and another lady said “you need to come with me and get a pass”. I didn’t even think to yell out to Dani, I’ll be right there! I went and reparked the car after having to drive a few blocks to get into the garage. I went in, got my badge, and headed for the 16^th floor.

They must have known me when I walked in because they said, head left, first door on the right, room on the left. Folks were surrounding Dani, trying to get monitoring stuff on her belly to check baby heart rates and contractions. They also found she was 7 cm dilated! Dani was more comfortable standing than laying on the bed, so she didn’t get the straps on her in triage.

It wasn’t long before we walked over to 1602, a delivery room. They were able to convince Dani to lay on the bed there for a while in between contractions to get her strapped up. Dr. Mudd said we should go to the OR immediately and she should consider an epidural. Dani was strong and said she didn’t think she would need it but if she did, she would ask for it. I said, I don’t think we need to go to the OR quite yet. I also asked if they had gotten enough of a reading on the babies and contractions so they could unstrap Dani from the monitoring machines and they confirmed they had so Dani could stand up. Emily arrived shortly thereafter and helped take over for me massaging/applying pressure on Dani’s back. A few contractions later, they checked Dani and said she was 7-8 cm dilated. Dr. Mudd said we should go to the OR now and Emily nodded to me that it sounded like a good idea.

We walked to the OR, with an entourage of me, Emily, and two doctors. I brought my camera and a Styrofoam cup of water with a straw for Dani so she could continue to hydrate. When we got to the door, I had to put on a blue suit, shirt and pants, hair net, shoe nets, and facemask before I could enter the OR. This was probably about 7:45 to 8:00 am. There was a large group of people assembling in the room. In the middle was a tiny bed and there were machines and gadgets strewn around the rest of the room. I found a chair behind Dani’s left shoulder while Emily continued to apply pressure to Dani’s back. One of the nurses told me there was another chair, so I moved in closer, by Dani’s right shoulder. She laid on her side for a while and asked me to get her some water. I went to get the Styrofoam cup and the anesthesiologist sharply told me that was a bad idea in case she needed to go under, so I reluctantly put it back on the ground and took my seat again.

Dani continued to contract for a few minutes and then said, I think I’m ready to push, quietly. No one really heard her and the setting of the OR had me a bit shell-shocked so I didn’t speak up either. Up until this moment, during each contracting she had moaned loudly and was very vocal in that respect. But now she had drawn quiet. She said it again a minute later and they told her to lay on her back and pull her knees up and push when she felt like it, drawing her breath in and holding while pushing for a count of 10, then breathing out and drawing the breath back in, and repeating. I heard one of the doctors, Dr. Atlas, perhaps remark how long Dani’s legs were and the stirrups or what-have-yous were not suited for her length. Around this point, Dani noticed the massive crowd that had gathered and remarked, “there are a lot of people in here!” She then closed her eyes so she could focus without having to look at all those people. I counted, and at that moment, there were 16 people in the room altogether. Dani contracted, pushed, took breaks, making little to no noise when pushing, then gasping for air at the end of each push. Emily had one hand under her back on one side of the table and I had one hand under her back on the other side, rubbing her head and shoulder with my other. She said the pressure helped to support her back. Danielle arrived shortly after and I was happy to see another friendly face. She stood behind me by Dani’s right shoulder and looked on.

The crowd was very vocally supportive of Dani at this point, saying things like good job, you’re doing awesome, you’re doing great… I was still shell-shocked at how fast things were moving and I told Dani “you’re doing great, hon” or “sweetie” here and there but I was thinking, gee, I’m not saying it enough or loud enough so I’m glad these other people are compensating. Mudd was very vocal in her support, and sounded genuinely happy when she said “that was a great push!”. It wasn’t long before one of the doctors said she could see a head. Another nurse asked if I wanted to see, so I stood up, looked to my right and I could see a little sliver of a haired-head peeking out! I sat down and then after a while, the nurse said I could continue to watch, so I did. Watching Dani push and seeing the baby’s head move was really neat! The docs seemed to know she was close and it was maybe 5 or 6 more pushes before the head seemed to really poke out. There was a lot of blood, it seemed to me, but the docs weren’t worried. They used their fingers to clear a little bit of space around the baby’s head.

More to come...

Catching up: Part Two- the prego months

I got really lucky with my months of being pregnant; no morning sickness, just headaches. I attribute them to the increased hormone level, and apparently mine were really high- due to the double trouble in the belly.

At about 7 months I experienced excruciating pain in my lower back, which was later found to be sciatica, I would be lying or sitting down and then get up to a stabbing pain which left me virtually motionless. I found that I could hunch over and start walking which would ease the pain, but it had me in tears several nights and in a few embarrassing situations at work- couldn't leave my office a couple times for a good 10 minutes, and I got trapped in the hallway- I pretended I was on the phone:) I asked my doc about it and she kind of blew it off, I thought great, this is what the rest of my pregnancy is going to be like! Well, it turned out I was good a couple weeks later- thank god.

Swelling. This began its first bout at the end of March which was 5 months, but went away with some intake of massive amounts of water. However, once May hit (7 mos), it was pretty much there for good. My feet and ankles looked like elephants. I went up a size and half in shoes ( thank goodness it was flip flop season). I tried raising them, soaking them, putting cabbage around them (I heard that helps engorged breasts so I thought, hey, maybe it will extract water from my feet!) but that did NOT work. In the morning, they looked great, but it took all of 45 minutes for that water to work itself back into my lower extremities. In the last couple months I could even see a line in my calf where the swelling stopped...nice. Advice for other prego moms... do not spend money on too many new shoes while expecting. If you're a sweller, your feet will get huge, and will go down, but will likely stay larger than they were pre-pregnancy, so saveyour cash till postpartum bc you will likely have to buy new shoes anyway!

Catching up: Part one- the news

So I have been thinking about creating a blog since I was pregnant.. and well, this is what procrastination will do! My twin girls are now 8 weeks old and I am finally getting around to it.

Dave and I found out we were pregnant on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 2009. I took 5-6 tests before I actually believed it! Now we did not want to tell our families until we were able to tell them face-to-face over Christmas, so we waited.

We decided not to tell our friends until we were further along. We had a "Prohibition Era" holiday party in December where I was successful having a few fake drinks (including a fake shot) and I even went to the bar a few times with some girls friends (gotcha Jen, Ania, and Sara!) and drank fake martinis all night:)

I received the official "yes you are pregnant" mid- December from the doc who informed me that there was no question about it, due to my apparently super-high hormone levels (which made sense later when i found out why).

One day before we hit our 12 week safe zone, I woke up with bright red spotting, which naturally freaked me out. I had been having some light spotting up until this point but it was not bright red, and this day, it was.

Dave and I were able to get an emergency appointment at the OB clinic where they did the first ultrasound. They do an internal one due to how small the baby is. Dave and I were expecting the worst- no baby. Well, we saw our little one on the screen and it was undoubtedly emotional. We were able to observe her for quite a while with our doc pointing out her spine, head, and the little sac she was growing in. Dave made a joke regarding what else was showing up on the screen... my bladder maybe?? All of a sudden, our doc had a concerned look on her face and she said that she actually did see something. Immediately I thought that it was some sort of tumor or cyst! She couldn't see behind the baby, which was where this "thing"was, so she moved to an abdominal ultrasound. She found the baby... and then she found the other baby:)

This was not even an option... twins??? I believe I let out some sort of happy obscenity after hearing the news. What a roller coaster of emotions- we arrived at the clinic thinking the baby was lost, and left with the news that we were having TWINS!