8+ Months

Just a quick update. Life with the babies is fantastic. They are big and healthy and happy.

This is today's milestone - it's gonna get interesting around here!

Life is good. Seriously, I feel blessed everyday to have these little wonders. Yes, my work is more stressful and time intensive than I'd like it to be. Yes, having twins isn't the best thing for the social life and marriage. But, we're doing great.

Almost 6 Months

It has been forever since I've posted. Things are going REALLY well for us. Z & L will be six months old in just over a week. They are such happy babies and give us endless smiles. I am honestly surprised at how doable it's been. I am lucky that I had wonderful help during the early months and my husband is super involved. And, of course, we have healthy babies. I think being super organized is one of the keys to raising twins and luckily that fits our style! It's like a fun challenge to synchronize their schedules, find the best gear, take them on outings, etc. Also, we don't try and do too much. We are so content just spending the weekend around the house and neighborhood. We used to travel all the time on weekends, but now is our time to "nest".

Being a mom is a powerful thing. It is just incredible how in love I am with my babies. I was one of those people who was not into other people's babies. I had really never spent much time around babies. But, as soon as my little bundles of joy entered the world, it was another story. And, now, I don't think I'll ever be able to resist holding other people's babies. They're just so precious.

Like anyone, of course I'm still seeking balance. I wish I didn't work 50 hours a week and could be with them more often. I do miss working out. However, I'm still doing some stuff. I signed up for a sprint triathlon and a half marathon later this year ! I also miss all the one on one time with my hubby. Our sex life = not so great. But, I'm hopeful it will improve once I'm done nursing.

And, as happy as I am, at times I still feel the pain of all our years of struggle. I still feel the sting now and then when people get pregnant easily or when people tell us we are so "efficient" in instantaneously having a family. I know that I am forever changed by that time...and it took an irreversible toll on me and many of my friendships. Infertility is so hard. It sucks so, so much. But, I know it has made me a better person and mom - I am sure of that.

I'm posting a couple pictures of the little ones and a few of the day to day details.

Eating
Breastfeeding ended up working amazingly well for me. I tandem feed (i.e. feed them at the same time) using my big green pillow (double My Breast Friend). Man, I have spent a lot of hours with that thing!! I started supplementing with a little formula around 4 months and am now weening myself away from feeding. It has been such a blessing to be able to nurse them but I am excited to have my body back to myself. Between trying to get pregnant, being pregnant and nursing, it's been about 5 years since I've had my body "all to me".

We introduced solids around 5 months and they are loving it! So far - avocado, sweet potato, barley cereal, pear and peas. Z can hardly contain his excitement around meal time!

They are little chubsters, both 75th percentile or so in terms of weight. We take them in next week and around expecting them to be around 18lbs!

Sleeping
About 50% of the time, they both sleep through the night. We put them to be around 7pm and then do a "dream feed" around 10am. After this, they don't eat until 6am. Some nights are better than others but it is very rare that we are up more than 20 minutes in a night. They are also napping pretty well during the day (1 morning and 1 afternoon nap).

Other Stuff
They giggle and it is the best sound in the world
They are rolling all over the place but no crawling or sitting yet
I adore picking out their little outfits :)


Hugs to all!!

3 Month Update

Life with the twins is wonderful. Somehow I manage to love them more and more each day. I have been told by almost everyone that I'm one of the most relaxed new mothers they've ever seen. I chalk much of this up to my years of struggling to just have these kids. It's hard for me to be stressed out when I finally got what I wanted for so long.

Zach and Lexi have been growing like weeds. At the 2-month checkup they were both in the 90th percentile for weight. They now smile a lot and are more and more interactive. The nights are still a little rough but certainly much easier than the initial weeks.

Some fun pictures are below. Love and hugs to all!

Introducing Zach and Lexi!!

Sorry for the delay but, as you might imagine, having newborn twins is quite time consuming....

On December 13, Zach and Lexi came into this world. Zach arrived at 12:52pm and weighed 6lbs14oz. Lexi arrived at 12:54pm and weighed 6lbs12oz (two big babies!!). We spent four days in the hospital recovering from the c-section but have been home two weeks now. Thankfully, we've had lots of help from family and friends.

Needless to say I think they are beautiful and amazing. They are both healthy as can be and growing like weeds. Thus far, I've been able to nurse them both. We're sleep deprived and stressed at times, but loving every moment. I stare at them every day in disbelief and awe.

Happy New Year to all!! Sending all of you hugs.

Tomorrow I'll be a Mom

I have a c-section scheduled for 12:15pm tomorrow. I'm 38 weeks now, which is full-term (or beyond) for twins. I've been trying to "get these babies out" for the last couple weeks but they are just loving it in my tummy. I and others cannot believe the size of my belly! And, I think my uterus is so stretched out that it doesn't really work (i.e contract) anymore. Finally, the little girl (baby B) has moved from a vertex/head down position to a transverse/horizontal position. Therefore, my Dr. wants to do a c-section. While that's not my first choice, I'm totally fine with it. There are so many risks and issues that happen with twin pregnancies and I really haven't had any of them. So, I'm not going to fret about having a c-section. All I want are healthy babies.

Several people have remarked about how calm I seem about the uncertainty, the waiting and fact that my life is about to get crazy. Part of that stems from my personality but I think our years of struggling with infertility are largely behind my attitude. First, infertility teaches you that you have NO control over these type of matters. I learned to live with uncertainty and I learned the futility of trying to control things of this nature. Second, having struggled for four years to get to this point makes it very hard to have any frustrations or anger about my current aches and pains, etc. I still feel blessed and in wonder every single day. So, am I nervous? Yep. I'm scared that the babies won't be perfectly healthy. I'm scared of breastfeeding, of getting no sleep, of post-partum depression and of all sorts of other things. But, I don't dwell on these fears and I will conquer them as they arise. For now, I'm focusing on enjoying the final stages of this journey. I can't wait to hold those two little bundles of joy in my arms.

34 Weeks

I'm 34 weeks today. I'm still working full-time, getting out occasionally and, importantly, not on bedrest. At 36 weeks, the twins are considered full term and thus they won't put me on bedrest after that point. So, things are looking good on that front.

On Wednesday, I went in for a weekly "non-stress test". The babies were looking good but they said my uterus was contracting and send us straight over to OBGYN triage. The hooked us back up and the nurse was convinced that I was in labor and the babies would be arriving shortly. It was a bit of a "wake up call". We weren't overly stressed out but we kept looking at each other thinking "holy shit this is actually going to happen!". In the end, the did a fetal fibronectin test which came back negative meaning that I am not likely to go into pre-term labor (in the next 1-2 weeks). So, again, I seem to have a good shot at making it to the 36 week mark.

My OBGYN scheduled a c-section on December 13. In my ideal world, I'd like these two to arrive a week or so before that. But, we will be happy to matter what. I am also hoping to avoid a c-section. Currently, both babies are vertex (head down) so a c-section may not be necessary. But, it will be a game-time decision. I am not feeling stressed out about the delivery process - I don't have any strong expectations and all I care about is having healthy babies. The pain doesn't scare me as it seems minute compared to all the struggles we've endured to get to this point.

I'm just feeling really mellow these days...I hope my emotions continue to stay in check and that the days go by fairly quickly. Ok - off to watch the movie "paranormal activity" - it's supposed to be scary!

An Overdue Update

Hello Folks!

I haven't posted in ages but I'm doing really well. Today, I am 31 weeks pregnant. While we've settled on official names for our boy and girl, for now we've dubbed them Earl & Pearl. It's going to be hard to keep their real names a secret but we're going to try.

My belly is HUGE....people think "it must be any day now", but I have up to seven more weeks. I can almost constantly feel the twins moving around which is pretty fun. While I'm tired and large and don't feel all that good much of the time, I am so, so happy to be in this place. I just keep taking it one day at a time. I haven't had any serious complications nor any signs of pre-term labor. I've been bracing myself for a difficult pregnancy but so far I can't complain. We go in on Wednesday for another ultrasound and our first "non-stress" test. Starting next week, I have one to two Dr. appointments per week. As much as this is a "heavy load", I want the little ones to stay in there as long as possible. Here is a belly shot from a couple weeks ago....

A few friends through me a baby shower last weekend. I had mixed feelings about a shower because I had come to truly, truly dread them during our 4 year quest to conceive. So, at my request, my friends through a couples shower that was basically a cocktail party - no games or activities and we opened gifts in the background as the party went on. For me, that was perfect.

Over the next few weeks, we're trying to get totally ready for Earl & Pearl to arrive. All the major pieces for the nursery have been assembled but we still have lots of stuff to organize. I've go a big "to do" list and we'll be crossing things off this weekend and next. It's crazy to think that in 5 weeks (at 36 weeks), these little ones will be considered full term. It seems both close and far away.

So, that's the update from me. Wishing everyone a good weekend. Go Giants!!