Saturday, July 31, 2010
After Our Bath
Here are some cute pictures of Miles and Vivienne after a sponge bath. They are 14 days old today. We can't give them a real bath until their umbilical cords fall off.
Swollen Feet
I had to take a before and after picture of my feet. Here are my feet around 35 weeks - very swollen feet and ankles. And then a picture of them about a week after giving birth - finally back to normal. A huge difference!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Projectile Poop & Pee
Both babies have had some pretty exciting projectile pees and poops over the past 12 days. I think the first "episode" was when I was holding Miles' legs up wiping his bottom and then I looked up to discover, to my horror, that he had peed on his own face! I quickly cleaned him up and felt like a horrible mother for letting him pee on himself. He has done that at least one other time after that (while I was changing him).
Last week, while my mom was changing Miles, she had his legs lifted up to wipe his bottom. He actually pooped with so much back pressure that it shot off the table and hit her in the leg. Jason was there to see it. I only saw the aftermath.
Note to self: stay alert while changing diapers.
Last week, while my mom was changing Miles, she had his legs lifted up to wipe his bottom. He actually pooped with so much back pressure that it shot off the table and hit her in the leg. Jason was there to see it. I only saw the aftermath.
Note to self: stay alert while changing diapers.
No More Frenulum Massages!
A week ago today, we had the babies both get their frenectomies. "We" (Jason) have had to push back their tongues right at their frenulums to keep them from scarring over and growing back (which would require another clipping - not fun). "We" have had to do this after every single feeding for an entire week. They eat at least 8-10 times a day. That's about 140 times over the past week.
I tried doing this in the beginning so that Jason wouldn't have to do it every time. But they cried (and I'm sure it really hurt, especially the day that they had the frenectomies done), and then I would cry. It was not a good situation. So SuperDad agreed to do all 140 frenulum massages.
Hallelujah! Today is Day 7, and we don't have to do the frenulum massages any longer. Now they can nurse until they fall asleep and we don't have to wake them up and make them cry every single time.
I tried doing this in the beginning so that Jason wouldn't have to do it every time. But they cried (and I'm sure it really hurt, especially the day that they had the frenectomies done), and then I would cry. It was not a good situation. So SuperDad agreed to do all 140 frenulum massages.
Hallelujah! Today is Day 7, and we don't have to do the frenulum massages any longer. Now they can nurse until they fall asleep and we don't have to wake them up and make them cry every single time.
My Rapid Weight Loss Solution
I'm going to patent a new rapid weight loss solution. It's going to be called "The Birthing Twins Diet." I started at a pre-pregnancy weight around 155 lb. Here is the progression just before and after birth:
I have lost 39 pounds in 14 days. Of course, by "lost", I don't mean that I'm burning fat. I lost 12 lb 9 oz of baby, plus their amniotic sacs and placentas. I probably lost a lot more weight in fluid retention and having my blood volume decrease down to a more normal state.
I have to say that the idea of losing another 15 lbs is much less daunting than the idea of losing the entire 54 lb that I gained over the course of my pregnancy.
And, of course, these babies would be worth every pound even if I had stayed at 209 lbs forever. I love them to pieces. =)
- Pre-pregnancy weight: 155 lb.
- Weight one day before giving birth: 209 lb.
- July 21, 3 days after birth: 190 lb.
- July 22, 4 days after birth: 180 lb.
- July 24, 6 days after birth: 174.5 lb.
- July 25, 7 days after birth: 172 lb.
- July 27, 9 days after birth: 171 lb.
- July 29, 11 days after birth: 170 lb.
I have lost 39 pounds in 14 days. Of course, by "lost", I don't mean that I'm burning fat. I lost 12 lb 9 oz of baby, plus their amniotic sacs and placentas. I probably lost a lot more weight in fluid retention and having my blood volume decrease down to a more normal state.
I have to say that the idea of losing another 15 lbs is much less daunting than the idea of losing the entire 54 lb that I gained over the course of my pregnancy.
And, of course, these babies would be worth every pound even if I had stayed at 209 lbs forever. I love them to pieces. =)
Our First Walk
On Tuesday, we took our first walk outside together. It has been incredibly hot and humid here, so walking with the babies outside really hasn't been an option. It's even in the 80s and sometimes 90s at 8 o'clock in the evening. But on Tuesday, it was a little bit cooler because we had a storm rolling in.
After Jason got back from dropping my mom off at the airport, we got the babies put into their stroller just in time to fit in a short walk around our neighborhood before the floodgates opened. Here they are in their stroller for the first time:
They are clearly very, very excited about this walk! We only walked for about 20 minutes or so, but it felt so good to get outside and it was fun to use our Double Snap 'n Go stroller for the first time. It actually maneuvers more easily than I thought it would. I hope that the weather cools off some time soon so that I can do this more often. We have friends who are taking their babies to the mall to walk sometimes. I'm hoping that we can build up the confidence to give that a try one of these days.
After Jason got back from dropping my mom off at the airport, we got the babies put into their stroller just in time to fit in a short walk around our neighborhood before the floodgates opened. Here they are in their stroller for the first time:
They are clearly very, very excited about this walk! We only walked for about 20 minutes or so, but it felt so good to get outside and it was fun to use our Double Snap 'n Go stroller for the first time. It actually maneuvers more easily than I thought it would. I hope that the weather cools off some time soon so that I can do this more often. We have friends who are taking their babies to the mall to walk sometimes. I'm hoping that we can build up the confidence to give that a try one of these days.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Great Grandparents
My mom got here on July 18th right after we returned from the birth in the OR. She was there throughout the day with us and took care of things at our house that evening while we stayed in the hospital. My dad drove up the next day to join us all here.
We want to send a HUGE thank you to my parents for all of their help here. Mom and Dad made us lunches, picked up dinners, ran errands for us, put balloons on our mailbox and showered us with love while they were here.
My mom really went above and beyond anything we could have asked. Here is only a partial list of the things she did to help while here:
Grandma and Vivienne
Granddad and Miles
Grandma and Granddad with the New Grandbabies
We want to send a HUGE thank you to my parents for all of their help here. Mom and Dad made us lunches, picked up dinners, ran errands for us, put balloons on our mailbox and showered us with love while they were here.
My mom really went above and beyond anything we could have asked. Here is only a partial list of the things she did to help while here:
- Went grocery shopping for us
- Got the oil changed in my car
- Went to the post office
- Ran errands (Babies R Us twice and groceries)
- Cleaned our bathroom and the downstairs bathroom
- Vacuumed our entire house
- Did laundry every day for a week (ours and the babies)
- Got up in the middle of the night to offer to help
- Held the babies when they needed loving arms
- Served dinner
- Cleaned the kitchen
- Did the dishes (probably a million times)
- Sifted the litter boxes
- Probably a million other things that I can't think of right now
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Our First Week
Our first week at home has been an amazing combination of extreme highs and some lows. It is wonderful to have our little ones here with us finally. I cannot imagine loving anyone more than these two babies and their daddy. Just thinking about how much I love the three of them is usually enough to bring me to tears.
At the same time, this week has had a lot of challenges. There is the sleep deprivation, of course. The first few nights, we only slept for a few 1.5 hour stretches. Over the past few days, Jason and my mom have been pulling double duty at nights and giving the babies one bottle feeding of expressed breast milk. That has allowed me to have one 4-hour stretch of sleep at night. A huge thanks to them for this huge gift.
The postpartum hormones have been pretty crazy. I think I'm finally starting to normalize a bit now, though. I keep worrying that I'm not going to be able to be the mother that I should be - especially to two babies at the same time. I think I just have expectations of myself that are unrealistic. Jason is great at reassuring me and reminding me that I'm doing a great job even though I don't always feel like it.
And now for some cute pictures from this week:
At the same time, this week has had a lot of challenges. There is the sleep deprivation, of course. The first few nights, we only slept for a few 1.5 hour stretches. Over the past few days, Jason and my mom have been pulling double duty at nights and giving the babies one bottle feeding of expressed breast milk. That has allowed me to have one 4-hour stretch of sleep at night. A huge thanks to them for this huge gift.
The postpartum hormones have been pretty crazy. I think I'm finally starting to normalize a bit now, though. I keep worrying that I'm not going to be able to be the mother that I should be - especially to two babies at the same time. I think I just have expectations of myself that are unrealistic. Jason is great at reassuring me and reminding me that I'm doing a great job even though I don't always feel like it.
And now for some cute pictures from this week:
Twin Kiss
Miles & Vivienne have their first visitors, our friends Melissa and Brad.
Close-up of Our Beautiful Little Man
The Special Care Nursery
Because the babies were born premature, the hospital has a policy of taking them to the Special Care Nursery for observation for 4 hours. Even though Vivienne's Apgar scores were good, they still wanted to take her to the nursery for observation, too. So after the babies were taken away to be cleaned up, we couldn't see them for quite a while longer.
After delivery, I was taken back to the L and D room for initial recovery. While there, we were visited by the Nurse Practitioner from the Special Care Nursery. She updated us on Miles' status. He had some difficulty breathing after being born. They initially gave him some assisted breathing, and then they decided that he needed to stay on a CPAP machine with a higher oxygen content for a while to help him breathe. Vivienne was doing well, but her blood sugar was a little low, so they wanted to know what kind of formula we wanted to give her. I was totally surprised by this question, because we plan on breastfeeding both babies and hadn't researched which type of formula to use (or even really considered giving them formula). I just told them to use whatever they recommended. In retrospect, I really wish that we had pushed back a bit more or asked for donor milk (which they have on hand at the nursery), but they didn't give us that option when they asked us about the formula.
Within a couple hours, we were moved from the L and D room to the Recovery room, where we stayed for the rest of our hospital visit. Once we settled in there, we were able to get a wheelchair and go visit the babies in the nursery. I cried the first time I saw both of them. When they handed me Vivienne and I could hold her in my arms for the first time, I cried some more.
After delivery, I was taken back to the L and D room for initial recovery. While there, we were visited by the Nurse Practitioner from the Special Care Nursery. She updated us on Miles' status. He had some difficulty breathing after being born. They initially gave him some assisted breathing, and then they decided that he needed to stay on a CPAP machine with a higher oxygen content for a while to help him breathe. Vivienne was doing well, but her blood sugar was a little low, so they wanted to know what kind of formula we wanted to give her. I was totally surprised by this question, because we plan on breastfeeding both babies and hadn't researched which type of formula to use (or even really considered giving them formula). I just told them to use whatever they recommended. In retrospect, I really wish that we had pushed back a bit more or asked for donor milk (which they have on hand at the nursery), but they didn't give us that option when they asked us about the formula.
Within a couple hours, we were moved from the L and D room to the Recovery room, where we stayed for the rest of our hospital visit. Once we settled in there, we were able to get a wheelchair and go visit the babies in the nursery. I cried the first time I saw both of them. When they handed me Vivienne and I could hold her in my arms for the first time, I cried some more.
Vivienne in the Nursery
(You can see the ink on her foot from getting her footprints taken.)
Holding our little girl for the first time
Daddy and Viv
We were able to take Vivienne back to our room with us that afternoon around 3:30, but we had to leave little Miles in the nursery overnight. They did an x-ray of his chest to try to determine the cause of the breathing problems. It turns out that he just had some amniotic fluid in his lungs that he needed to work out. We were glad to hear that that was the case and that it wasn't anything more serious. His body just absorbed the amniotic fluid and he was back to normal soon.
It was so difficult to see Miles with all the tubes and IVs connected to him. We could reach our hands into the bassinet but we weren't able to hold him yet. Luckily, he was only hooked up like this for a short time. Daddy and I were able to visit him a few more times that day before trying to get some sleep (which is not easy in the hospital). When we visited him together, we would wheel Vivienne to the nursery in her bassinet. By the second day, I could push her bassinet and walk instead of using a wheelchair.
The next day (July 19th, the day after they were born), we went in to see Miles in the morning. By this time, they had removed the CPAP machine and I could see his little face. We came back in the afternoon to do a test run of him latching on. This was the first time I was able to hold both of my sweet babies for the first time.
Miles latched like a champ and sucked like crazy. We then went back again a few hours later, and he did the same thing. Except this time, he sucked so much that he forgot to breathe. And when I say "forgot to breathe," I mean he completely forgot to breathe. His whole face literally turned blue because he was oxygen deprived for too long. The little alarm on his oxygen meter started going off and the nurse massaged his face until he got breathing well again. Needless to say, this was pretty scary.
We went back a couple more times that day to have him practice nursing again, and he did very well. Around 10 PM we were finally allowed to take our little man back to our room so that we could all be together. It was so wonderful to be leaving the nursery together as a family.
It was so difficult to see Miles with all the tubes and IVs connected to him. We could reach our hands into the bassinet but we weren't able to hold him yet. Luckily, he was only hooked up like this for a short time. Daddy and I were able to visit him a few more times that day before trying to get some sleep (which is not easy in the hospital). When we visited him together, we would wheel Vivienne to the nursery in her bassinet. By the second day, I could push her bassinet and walk instead of using a wheelchair.
Miles with the CPAP Machine
The next day (July 19th, the day after they were born), we went in to see Miles in the morning. By this time, they had removed the CPAP machine and I could see his little face. We came back in the afternoon to do a test run of him latching on. This was the first time I was able to hold both of my sweet babies for the first time.
Miles latched like a champ and sucked like crazy. We then went back again a few hours later, and he did the same thing. Except this time, he sucked so much that he forgot to breathe. And when I say "forgot to breathe," I mean he completely forgot to breathe. His whole face literally turned blue because he was oxygen deprived for too long. The little alarm on his oxygen meter started going off and the nurse massaged his face until he got breathing well again. Needless to say, this was pretty scary.
We went back a couple more times that day to have him practice nursing again, and he did very well. Around 10 PM we were finally allowed to take our little man back to our room so that we could all be together. It was so wonderful to be leaving the nursery together as a family.
Together At Last
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Our Birthing Story
(Jason and I decided to write this entry together so that we could capture both of our perspectives on the most important day of our lives. Jason's contributions are in italics.)
Happy Birthday, Miles and Vivienne! This morning our babies are a week old already. I cannot believe they are already a week old. It has been a wonderful, challenging, amazing, overwhelming week. I never knew that I could love anyone this much. I wanted to celebrate this week mile marker by typing out our birthing story. I should also give a warning that this may have more details than some of you may want to read. =)
Last Sunday, around 1:45 AM, my water broke. Jason had started sleeping in the guest bedroom a few days beforehand, because I was getting out of bed and rolling over so frequently that it was preventing him from having a good night's sleep. When my water broke, it wasn't a lot of fluid, so I wasn't even sure that it was my water breaking. Regardless, I woke Jason up and we talked about it and it soon became clear that this was my water breaking (because it was constantly leaking, though slowly). At this point, I had not had any contractions.
Leslie didn't want to be seen as one of those patients that called the OB for every little issue during her pregnancy. So true to form, she wasn't even sure if we should call the OB. Contractions hadn't started, and there wasn't a lot of fluid so we weren't 100% sure her water had even broke. But I was fairly certain that this is exactly the type of issue for which we should call ... so call we did.
We called the OB office to talk to them and find out whether they wanted us to go to the hospital. With twins, they generally tell you to go to the hospital earlier than with singletons. The midwife said that we should go ahead into the hospital, but that we didn't need to go "with sirens blaring" because we probably still had plenty of time (since my contractions had not started).
Around 2:15, I started feeling mild contractions. I got in the shower, and Jason prepared the cats and the thermostat and we packed our bag together. The contractions quickly got much stronger - strong enough that I had to stop moving and just take them in until they subsided. They basically felt like very, very bad menstrual cramps.
Even though contractions had started and we were fairly certain that labor was beginning, we didn't panic and we didn't rush. We both took showers, and I made a good breakfast (for me ... Leslie didn't feel like eating and/or she wasn't sure she should eat). The bag wasn't pre-packed, but we did have a complete list of things to pack and details to attend to. It was exciting to be in this moment and realize that we would soon be meeting our babies.
We took some last belly pictures before leaving the house around 3 o'clock. We knew this would be our last chance to capture the wonder of my belly with the babies on the inside.
We arrived at the hospital, which is only about 10 minutes from our house. After registering and getting my hospital bracelet, we walked to the Labor and Delivery room. Our first nurse, Anne, came in and took my vital signs. She checked me, and I was 4 cm dilated. Anne was extremely kind and reassuring during the entire process. She hooked up 3 monitors to my belly - one for each baby (heart rates) and then another one that monitored my contractions.
She got things in order for me to have my epidural. I was planning on having an epidural because they recommend that for twins (especially with the likelihood of a last-minute Caesarian), but honestly after the contractions started to get much and much worse, I think I would have opted for the epidural either way. I'm not sure if things were more intense because I had twice the baby or if I just have a low pain tolerance, but it was pretty intense.
If you know Lesle, you know she has a fear of needles. It is almost like a reflex. Once the needle is in the room, her breath quickens and she enters a near panic-like state. With all the pricks and pokes she had to endure over the course of this pregnancy, she became much better at managing this fear. So much so, that on this day she did not shed a single tear due to needles. I was very proud of her!
It was difficult to see Leslie experiencing this intense pain and knowing there was nothing much I could do to ease it. But she handled it well, and we were both glad when the epidural was in place.
Around 6 AM, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural. I had to sit up in bed in order for him to insert the epidural catheter. After sitting up (but before the epidural), I realized that the pain was much more manageable. I wish I had figured that out sooner and I would have sat up instead of lying there in pain for 3 hours. After the epidural was inserted, the pain of the contractions was immediately eased. (God bless that doctor.) I could still feel them happening, but the pain was no longer as intense and I could relax through them.
At 7 AM, the nurses changed shifts, and we got a new nurse named Courtney. She saw us through the rest of the process, including the delivery. She inserted my urinary catheter, which honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Something about a urinary catheter just sounds incredibly uncomfortable, but the epidural made it very manageable.
At about 7:30, Dr. Vulgaropulos (Dr. V), our OB, came in to check me again. He said that I was "a good 6 centimeters". He also broke my water a bit more, though I had already lost a lot of it with the initial leak earlier in the morning. It was Baby A's (Miles') water that had broken. Vivienne had a separate amniotic sac, and hers was still intact.
After that, things began to move very, very quickly. The contractions started to get much, much stronger. I started feeling a very strong urge to push. Around 9:30, Courtney checked me again and I was at 9 cm and fully effaced. She prompted us to start practicing pushing. Honestly, I was a little scared to push, because the contractions felt so strong that I was scared the babies would come out sooner than they were supposed to. (Because we had twins, I knew that they would be moving us down to the Operating Room for the delivery. I wanted to be sure we had time to get there.)
Pushing was very, very interesting. Jason would hold one leg and Courtney would hold the other leg. During the contractions, I would put my hands under my knees and push for 10 seconds, holding my breath, then take another breath, then do that 2 more times. Then we would wait for another contraction and start again. Jason could see Miles' head when we were still in the L and D room. He has a beautiful head full of dark, gorgeous hair.
I was very surprised to have such an active role in the pushing. It caught me off guard to be drafted as a leg holder. I had a front row seat to all the action. It took a few pushes for me to get used to watching "down there", but I was glad I did. It was surreal to see Miles' head of hair a full 20 minutes before he was born.
Not surprisingly, Jason was the perfect labor coach. He took wonderful care of me. When we were pushing, he kept reminding me to push, to push harder, to keep going, that I was doing a great job. Just the sound of his voice and the touch of his hand gave me so much more strength to keep going. It reminds me now of our first half marathon together with him encouraging me all the way to the finish line.
Around 10:30, they moved us down to the OR. Jason went to put on his scrubs. There were at least 7 people in the OR besides me and Jason, many of them nurses and other personnel to help with the babies. There was a Nurse Practitioner anesthesiologist in the hall in case we needed him. There were also people in a room across the hall who were the "receivers" of the babies once they came.
At 10:51 AM, Miles Vincent Fox was born. They put him on my stomach, and I remember just being completely overwhelmed by the moment. Here we were, 9 months into this pregnancy and 9 hours into my labor, and I finally had my beautiful, screaming baby boy (with a head full of hair) lying on my stomach. I cried and touched his face and cried some more.
I didn't want to completely lose it, though, because I knew that I had another baby to deliver. They took him away fairly quickly across the hall to the other room and I started concentrating on Vivienne.
It did all happen very quickly once we went to the OR. I continued in my leg holding position until a contraction or two before Miles was born. At that point, I moved up beside Leslie and got ready with the camera. The doctor offered me a position beside him, but I passed. I wanted to be closer to Leslie, and if all went well I was considering his offer while Vivienne was born (but she came so quickly that I didn't have a chance to move). Leslie did such an amazing job at pushing and was handling the whole process very very well. All the nurses kept commenting at how well she was doing. And once Miles came out, everyone was very pleased with how smoothly the first baby was born.
Dr. V broke Vivienne's bag of water. Jason said that he could see a gush of water when that happened. With the next contraction, I pushed about 3 times, and Vivienne came right on out. She was screaming up a storm as they placed her on my belly and I started crying again. Within about a minute, they swept her across the hall to the other room. Jason went to see them get weighed and cleaned up.
I left the OR after Vivienne was born and spent a few minutes as they examined Miles and Vivienne and calculated their Apgar scores. Miles was 5 and 5 (4 - 6 is considered fairly low and 7 - 10 is considered normal) after 1 and 5 minutes respectively. Vivienne was thriving better and managed an 8 and 9. Round one of many future competitions goes to Vivienne :)
The afterbirth process wasn't exactly fun, but it wasn't horrible. It took a little longer than I thought. I only had a 2nd degree tear, so I'm very thankful for that. After being stitched up, they took us back to the L and D room to recover.
They are both just the most beautiful babies I have ever seen (not that I'm the least bit biased). Each of them is the perfect combination of Jason and I. I cannot believe how blessed we are to have them in our lives.
I agree that they are the most precious babies ever. It was such a huge relief that labor and delivery went off essentially without a hitch. It was very encouraging to hear all the nurses reiterate how impressed they were of Leslie for vaginally delivering two healthy babies. I could not have been more proud of her. Her strength and courage allowed her to thrive throughout the entire process.
Happy Birthday, Miles and Vivienne! This morning our babies are a week old already. I cannot believe they are already a week old. It has been a wonderful, challenging, amazing, overwhelming week. I never knew that I could love anyone this much. I wanted to celebrate this week mile marker by typing out our birthing story. I should also give a warning that this may have more details than some of you may want to read. =)
Last Sunday, around 1:45 AM, my water broke. Jason had started sleeping in the guest bedroom a few days beforehand, because I was getting out of bed and rolling over so frequently that it was preventing him from having a good night's sleep. When my water broke, it wasn't a lot of fluid, so I wasn't even sure that it was my water breaking. Regardless, I woke Jason up and we talked about it and it soon became clear that this was my water breaking (because it was constantly leaking, though slowly). At this point, I had not had any contractions.
Leslie didn't want to be seen as one of those patients that called the OB for every little issue during her pregnancy. So true to form, she wasn't even sure if we should call the OB. Contractions hadn't started, and there wasn't a lot of fluid so we weren't 100% sure her water had even broke. But I was fairly certain that this is exactly the type of issue for which we should call ... so call we did.
We called the OB office to talk to them and find out whether they wanted us to go to the hospital. With twins, they generally tell you to go to the hospital earlier than with singletons. The midwife said that we should go ahead into the hospital, but that we didn't need to go "with sirens blaring" because we probably still had plenty of time (since my contractions had not started).
Around 2:15, I started feeling mild contractions. I got in the shower, and Jason prepared the cats and the thermostat and we packed our bag together. The contractions quickly got much stronger - strong enough that I had to stop moving and just take them in until they subsided. They basically felt like very, very bad menstrual cramps.
Even though contractions had started and we were fairly certain that labor was beginning, we didn't panic and we didn't rush. We both took showers, and I made a good breakfast (for me ... Leslie didn't feel like eating and/or she wasn't sure she should eat). The bag wasn't pre-packed, but we did have a complete list of things to pack and details to attend to. It was exciting to be in this moment and realize that we would soon be meeting our babies.
We took some last belly pictures before leaving the house around 3 o'clock. We knew this would be our last chance to capture the wonder of my belly with the babies on the inside.
We arrived at the hospital, which is only about 10 minutes from our house. After registering and getting my hospital bracelet, we walked to the Labor and Delivery room. Our first nurse, Anne, came in and took my vital signs. She checked me, and I was 4 cm dilated. Anne was extremely kind and reassuring during the entire process. She hooked up 3 monitors to my belly - one for each baby (heart rates) and then another one that monitored my contractions.
She got things in order for me to have my epidural. I was planning on having an epidural because they recommend that for twins (especially with the likelihood of a last-minute Caesarian), but honestly after the contractions started to get much and much worse, I think I would have opted for the epidural either way. I'm not sure if things were more intense because I had twice the baby or if I just have a low pain tolerance, but it was pretty intense.
If you know Lesle, you know she has a fear of needles. It is almost like a reflex. Once the needle is in the room, her breath quickens and she enters a near panic-like state. With all the pricks and pokes she had to endure over the course of this pregnancy, she became much better at managing this fear. So much so, that on this day she did not shed a single tear due to needles. I was very proud of her!
It was difficult to see Leslie experiencing this intense pain and knowing there was nothing much I could do to ease it. But she handled it well, and we were both glad when the epidural was in place.
Around 6 AM, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural. I had to sit up in bed in order for him to insert the epidural catheter. After sitting up (but before the epidural), I realized that the pain was much more manageable. I wish I had figured that out sooner and I would have sat up instead of lying there in pain for 3 hours. After the epidural was inserted, the pain of the contractions was immediately eased. (God bless that doctor.) I could still feel them happening, but the pain was no longer as intense and I could relax through them.
At 7 AM, the nurses changed shifts, and we got a new nurse named Courtney. She saw us through the rest of the process, including the delivery. She inserted my urinary catheter, which honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Something about a urinary catheter just sounds incredibly uncomfortable, but the epidural made it very manageable.
At about 7:30, Dr. Vulgaropulos (Dr. V), our OB, came in to check me again. He said that I was "a good 6 centimeters". He also broke my water a bit more, though I had already lost a lot of it with the initial leak earlier in the morning. It was Baby A's (Miles') water that had broken. Vivienne had a separate amniotic sac, and hers was still intact.
After that, things began to move very, very quickly. The contractions started to get much, much stronger. I started feeling a very strong urge to push. Around 9:30, Courtney checked me again and I was at 9 cm and fully effaced. She prompted us to start practicing pushing. Honestly, I was a little scared to push, because the contractions felt so strong that I was scared the babies would come out sooner than they were supposed to. (Because we had twins, I knew that they would be moving us down to the Operating Room for the delivery. I wanted to be sure we had time to get there.)
Pushing was very, very interesting. Jason would hold one leg and Courtney would hold the other leg. During the contractions, I would put my hands under my knees and push for 10 seconds, holding my breath, then take another breath, then do that 2 more times. Then we would wait for another contraction and start again. Jason could see Miles' head when we were still in the L and D room. He has a beautiful head full of dark, gorgeous hair.
I was very surprised to have such an active role in the pushing. It caught me off guard to be drafted as a leg holder. I had a front row seat to all the action. It took a few pushes for me to get used to watching "down there", but I was glad I did. It was surreal to see Miles' head of hair a full 20 minutes before he was born.
Not surprisingly, Jason was the perfect labor coach. He took wonderful care of me. When we were pushing, he kept reminding me to push, to push harder, to keep going, that I was doing a great job. Just the sound of his voice and the touch of his hand gave me so much more strength to keep going. It reminds me now of our first half marathon together with him encouraging me all the way to the finish line.
Around 10:30, they moved us down to the OR. Jason went to put on his scrubs. There were at least 7 people in the OR besides me and Jason, many of them nurses and other personnel to help with the babies. There was a Nurse Practitioner anesthesiologist in the hall in case we needed him. There were also people in a room across the hall who were the "receivers" of the babies once they came.
At 10:51 AM, Miles Vincent Fox was born. They put him on my stomach, and I remember just being completely overwhelmed by the moment. Here we were, 9 months into this pregnancy and 9 hours into my labor, and I finally had my beautiful, screaming baby boy (with a head full of hair) lying on my stomach. I cried and touched his face and cried some more.
I didn't want to completely lose it, though, because I knew that I had another baby to deliver. They took him away fairly quickly across the hall to the other room and I started concentrating on Vivienne.
It did all happen very quickly once we went to the OR. I continued in my leg holding position until a contraction or two before Miles was born. At that point, I moved up beside Leslie and got ready with the camera. The doctor offered me a position beside him, but I passed. I wanted to be closer to Leslie, and if all went well I was considering his offer while Vivienne was born (but she came so quickly that I didn't have a chance to move). Leslie did such an amazing job at pushing and was handling the whole process very very well. All the nurses kept commenting at how well she was doing. And once Miles came out, everyone was very pleased with how smoothly the first baby was born.
Dr. V broke Vivienne's bag of water. Jason said that he could see a gush of water when that happened. With the next contraction, I pushed about 3 times, and Vivienne came right on out. She was screaming up a storm as they placed her on my belly and I started crying again. Within about a minute, they swept her across the hall to the other room. Jason went to see them get weighed and cleaned up.
I left the OR after Vivienne was born and spent a few minutes as they examined Miles and Vivienne and calculated their Apgar scores. Miles was 5 and 5 (4 - 6 is considered fairly low and 7 - 10 is considered normal) after 1 and 5 minutes respectively. Vivienne was thriving better and managed an 8 and 9. Round one of many future competitions goes to Vivienne :)
The afterbirth process wasn't exactly fun, but it wasn't horrible. It took a little longer than I thought. I only had a 2nd degree tear, so I'm very thankful for that. After being stitched up, they took us back to the L and D room to recover.
They are both just the most beautiful babies I have ever seen (not that I'm the least bit biased). Each of them is the perfect combination of Jason and I. I cannot believe how blessed we are to have them in our lives.
I agree that they are the most precious babies ever. It was such a huge relief that labor and delivery went off essentially without a hitch. It was very encouraging to hear all the nurses reiterate how impressed they were of Leslie for vaginally delivering two healthy babies. I could not have been more proud of her. Her strength and courage allowed her to thrive throughout the entire process.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Good Morning Sunshine
A few quick pictures to start the day.
Miles enjoying his sun therapy
Not to be outdone, Noah demonstrates that he is still cute and is a pro at soaking up the sun rays
Vivienne in her boppy Grandpa Smith bought
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Frenu-what?
So I (Jason) am not as good at this blogging thing as Leslie, but I am just trying to post a few pics/updates every day or so to keep everyone informed. The goal is also to provide a rough outline for Leslie to come back later and fill in more details.
We had both of our babies get their frenulums clipped because they had tongue tie (not a surpise since Leslie and I were tongue tied as infants). It wasn't fun seeing our babies go through the process, but the doctors were wonderful and the babies recovered quickly. Leslie immediately noticed a better latch by Miles and Vivienne. The hardest part will the be the "tongue massage" that we must give each of them after each of their feedings for the next 7 days. Miles doesn't seem to mind it so much, but it really upsets Vivienne ... and that makes it hard on Leslie.
Friday is our second pediatrician appointment, and hopefully they'll see some progress with Miles and his jaundice. Up until now he has not received any formal treatment, but if they detect it is getting worse, then he'll have to undergo some light therapy. We've tried our own low-tech approach with natural sunlight through the window, so we are hoping for good results tomorrow.
We are also meeting with the leading lactation consultant in the area tomorrow. We took her class last week and really got a lot out of it. It is very encouraging to hear that nursing twins is possible since Ann (the LC) had twin boys herself and can relate with our situation. Also, Leslie is progressing very well with her pumping sessions. I find it very cool to see her volumes continue to rise from session-to-session. I am in charge of storage and preservation so I'm going to have my hands full soon. I really admire her determination and commitment to breast feeding our babies.
Here's a pic from today of big brother and little sister sleeping next to one another. They are growing up so fast already.
We had both of our babies get their frenulums clipped because they had tongue tie (not a surpise since Leslie and I were tongue tied as infants). It wasn't fun seeing our babies go through the process, but the doctors were wonderful and the babies recovered quickly. Leslie immediately noticed a better latch by Miles and Vivienne. The hardest part will the be the "tongue massage" that we must give each of them after each of their feedings for the next 7 days. Miles doesn't seem to mind it so much, but it really upsets Vivienne ... and that makes it hard on Leslie.
Friday is our second pediatrician appointment, and hopefully they'll see some progress with Miles and his jaundice. Up until now he has not received any formal treatment, but if they detect it is getting worse, then he'll have to undergo some light therapy. We've tried our own low-tech approach with natural sunlight through the window, so we are hoping for good results tomorrow.
We are also meeting with the leading lactation consultant in the area tomorrow. We took her class last week and really got a lot out of it. It is very encouraging to hear that nursing twins is possible since Ann (the LC) had twin boys herself and can relate with our situation. Also, Leslie is progressing very well with her pumping sessions. I find it very cool to see her volumes continue to rise from session-to-session. I am in charge of storage and preservation so I'm going to have my hands full soon. I really admire her determination and commitment to breast feeding our babies.
Here's a pic from today of big brother and little sister sleeping next to one another. They are growing up so fast already.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
First Night at Home
Tuesday morning the docs gave Miles the all-clear to go home with us (and Vivienne as well of course). After a busy morning adhering to all the final checkout details (we will not miss staff entering our hospital room all the time), we had a relaxing afternoon with Grandpa and Grandma Smith. Around 5 PM, we left the hospital and headed home.
It was GREAT to be in our own home and our own room and our own bed.
We quickly setup the babies with a dual breastfeeding session (sorry, we're not sharing those pictures) and greased the wheels of both the upstairs and downstairs changing stations. Overall it was a fairly smooth night and we even managed to get a couple blocks of 90 - 120 minutes of sleep. Of course, this was only possible because of all the wonderful planning and preparation by my beautiful, amazingly strong and loving wife. She has made the entire transition from womb to home a stunning success. I love you baby ... and babies.
Vivienne did not like being put in the car seat
Miles chillin' in his new ride
Finally at home
It was GREAT to be in our own home and our own room and our own bed.
We quickly setup the babies with a dual breastfeeding session (sorry, we're not sharing those pictures) and greased the wheels of both the upstairs and downstairs changing stations. Overall it was a fairly smooth night and we even managed to get a couple blocks of 90 - 120 minutes of sleep. Of course, this was only possible because of all the wonderful planning and preparation by my beautiful, amazingly strong and loving wife. She has made the entire transition from womb to home a stunning success. I love you baby ... and babies.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Little Berries of Sweetness
Leslie's Aunt Barbara made little berry hats for the babies. Can you handle all that sweetness?
Together at Last
Monday was a big day. Leslie was able to breast feed Miles for the first time. And we also were able to get both babies together with Mommy.
And here is the first Fox family photo of the first Fox family trip. We left the Special Care Nursery as a family of four. All together and all heading to the same place for the first time (this side of the uterus).
And the other big news for the day is that Leslie's milk production is increasing. We still have a long way to go, but we have also come a long way ... so every little Mile-stone (pun intended) is something to celebrate!
The money shot
And here is the first Fox family photo of the first Fox family trip. We left the Special Care Nursery as a family of four. All together and all heading to the same place for the first time (this side of the uterus).
And the other big news for the day is that Leslie's milk production is increasing. We still have a long way to go, but we have also come a long way ... so every little Mile-stone (pun intended) is something to celebrate!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Precious Ones
We promise to post the labor and birthing story sometime in the future, but for now we are just trying to keep up with feedings. But the short version for Miles is that even though he was 36 weeks and 4 days and 6 lbs 10 oz, he still had a little trouble with breathing when he came out (something all the docs here are saying is completely normal for premature boys). After his 4 hour observation period (apparently standard at this hospital for premature births) he was still having erratic breathing, so a chest X-ray was ordered. The X-ray confirmed that he had some fluid retained in his lungs and it would just take some time for his body to work it out. They put him on a CPAP machine (continuous positive airway pressure) overnight. Monday morning was the first time we really got to hold him ... almost 23 hours after his birth.
Here is an adorable shot of Vivienne. She is just the cutest little thing.
Mom and Miles together at last
Here is an adorable shot of Vivienne. She is just the cutest little thing.
Vivienne gazing into Daddy's eyes
Around 11 AM on Tuesday we are going back to the Special Care Nursery and will attempt our first breast feeding for Miles. If all goes well, he'll be coming back to our room soon ... where he belongs ... with his family.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
A few pictures for all those in suspense ...
The full labor story will be posted in the coming days, but for now we present this little teaser ...
Miles Vincent was born at 10:51 AM (after one hour of pushing). He weighed in at a stellar 6 lbs 10 oz and is 19 inches long.
Miles Vincent Fox ... and a full head of hair!
Vivienne Isabel followed closely behind at 10:54 AM. She is 5 lbs 14.5 oz and is 18.5 inches long.
A very tired mommy and precious little Vivienne Isabel Fox
Happy Birthdays
Just a short post (via the daddy-to-be) to let everyone know that the babies are on their way and should be here by day's end. We were admitted to the hospital around 3:30 AM. The doctor's best "guess" is sometime between 10 AM and 10 PM we'll meet the newest members of the Fox family.
One last belly picture before hitting the road
Getting comfortable in the labor room
Saturday, July 17, 2010
What My Nights Look Like
- 11:30 - finally go to bed after trying to delay it because I know I won't be able to sleep
- 12:30 - fall asleep for the first time
- 1:15 - wake up with aching shoulder/back, pee, roll over (the rolling over alternates the aching from one side to the other and provides temporary relief)
- 1:20 - fall back asleep
- 1:45 - wake up with aching shoulder/back, pee, roll over
- 1:50 - fall back asleep
- 2:15 - wake up with aching shoulder/back, roll over, fall back asleep
- 2:45 - wake up, pee, roll over
- 2:50 - fall back asleep
- 3:30 - wake up, pee, roll over
- 3:35 - fall back asleep
- 5:15 - wake up, celebrate that I actually slept for almost 2 straight hours (but don't get too excited, because it might keep me from going back to sleep again!), pee, roll over
- 5:20 - wonder why there are birds outside chirping even though the sun has not come up? what kind of birds are these?
- 5:30 - start getting annoyed that I'm not falling back asleep
- 6:30 - decide that I'm just not going to fall back asleep and get up, eat some breakfast, drink a big glass of water, watch television in the recliner
- 8:45 - try going back to bed
- 8:50 - fall back asleep
- 9:45 - wake up, pee, roll over, fall back asleep
- 10:45 - wake up and stay up (at least until my 2 o'clock nap)
At least once the babies get here, I will be somewhat used to sleep deprivation... maybe.
And, yes, they are still worth every sleepless night. =)
Friday, July 16, 2010
Vertigo
So I'm hoping that the babies come after Daddy has overcome his vertigo problem. It would not be good if we got stopped by the police on the way to the hospital because they think he is driving drunk. =)
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