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| Pea is such a helpful little bug. |
The deck is coming together and soon we'll be able to expand our living space outdoors. It's a monster of a deck and it will be perfect for the twins to enjoy. I smell a deck-warming party in our future!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Like Father Like Son
The deck is coming together and soon we'll be able to expand our living space outdoors. It's a monster of a deck and it will be perfect for the twins to enjoy. I smell a deck-warming party in our future!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Bald Is Beautiful!
Seriously?(<--link) Because today's young girls aren't sexualized enough, aren't made to feel inadequate enough, and aren't pressured enough to assimilate into society's definition of beautiful?
Raising a strong, independent, and wonderfully confident woman is going to be challenging, but by God I'm going to die trying.
Now, where did I put my copy of the Beauty Myth? Must start reading it to Chick every. single. day.
Raising a strong, independent, and wonderfully confident woman is going to be challenging, but by God I'm going to die trying.
Now, where did I put my copy of the Beauty Myth? Must start reading it to Chick every. single. day.
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| Loving Chick's bald, beautiful head! |
Thursday, May 6, 2010
This Will Be Of No Interest To Anyone
When I was pregnant, I kept an online journal. I documented much of my pregnancy there and also documented what we learned in our pre-natal classes. Since my blog has turned into more of an online scrapbook for the twins, I thought I would compare what we learned in our pre-natal classes with what actually happened.
The parts written in normal font are what was told to us in the classes while the parts in bold are the actual circumstances surrounding the birth.
1. I am not getting nearly the amount of Calcium and Protein that these babies need. Our teacher recommends 110 grams of protein per day and 1000mg of Calcium in the form of food or supplements.
I began taking Calcium supplements but they did a number on my already lazy system, so I stopped them soon after I started taking them. The protein was hard. As a vegetarian, I always struggle with protein and given this fact, I decided to attempt to eat meat. Uh...morning sickness coupled with my innate hatred of meat did not go well.
2. I am not eating enough. I'm supposed to be eating 3000 calories a day (less than I thought, but still a lot). A half to three quarters of my diet should be fat. Healthy fat, that is. We stopped to get a Frosty on the way home...does this count as a healthy fat?
Although I felt like I literally ate my way through the pregnancy, I doubt that I consistently ate 3000 calories a day. I had a difficult time eating anything in the beginning (my morning sickness was not long-lived but I had plenty of food aversions) but soon settled into a Kraft Mac and Cheese routine that I loved. I also ate a lot of Harvey's Veggie burgers and fries. Mmmmm, fries.
3. In practicing labour techniques, we found that what might relax me the most during contractions is if J. rubs my belly, massages the palms of my hands or rubs my feet. I also learned that a darker room may help me stay relaxed.
Rubbing my belly is laughable. I had a multitude of monitors strapped to my belly and I had to be very careful not to move any of them lest the monitors move away from one of the babies. Massaging my hands? Well, I was crushing J's hand with every contraction, so he couldn't open his to massage mine very well. The dark room did help and the two things that helped me through the worst of the labor was when J. stroked my hair and when I stood up.
4. The policy at our hospital is that EVERY mom carrying twins MUST have an epidural by the time she reaches 3 - 4 centimeters dilation. This is because the chance of having to undergo emergency surgery is higher with twins.
What they neglected to tell us was that some moms never reach 3-4 centimeters despite the highest doses of oxytocin. Some mom's bodies get so tense from the back to back contractions (with nary a break to speak of) that they would never dilate more than 1-2 centimeters. As soon the begging worked and the epidural was in, my body relaxed enough to dilate quickly to 10cm.
5. A second policy at our hospital is that all moms carrying twins get to labor in a private birthing suite, but when the time comes to push, they must push and deliver in the operating room. This is in case the second twin needs to be delivered via c-section. I'm NOT going to like this part. Having just discovered that I need dim lighting to relax, a cold and bright operating room will not help my anxiety.
The only thing I actually did not like about delivering in the operating room was that I did not have any support for my back as I was pushing. In private birthing suites, the bed tilts in such a way so that the mom can push sitting almost upright. The OR bed was flat and, though J. held my shoulders up, it was awkward at best.
6. As my doctor told me earlier, the chance of delivering vaginally versus c-section is 50/50.
Both twins were delivered vaginally. Pea was born first and Chick was born about 40 minutes later. Total time pushing was about 90 minutes. It went by like a flash. Giving birth was MUCH easier than I thought it would be.
7. Doctors like to deliver twins around 37 weeks, because after 37 weeks, the uterus is not a good environment for the baby. Amniotic fluid starts to get absorbed by the baby and this leads to wrinkled babies and toxicity.
My water broke at 37 weeks 1 day and the twins were born at 37 weeks 2 days.
8. Anytime I am seated, my feet should be up.
Did not happen. Especially at work.
9. There will be one nurse assigned solely to me when I am laboring. I hope she's not a cheerleader type. I need quiet patience.
I had the BEST nurses in the WORLD. Absolutely wonderful. They made the experience a beautiful one.
10. The average full term twin (37 weeks) weighs 5.5 pounds
Pea weighed 5lbs 15oz and Chick weighed 6lbs 7oz.
The parts written in normal font are what was told to us in the classes while the parts in bold are the actual circumstances surrounding the birth.
1. I am not getting nearly the amount of Calcium and Protein that these babies need. Our teacher recommends 110 grams of protein per day and 1000mg of Calcium in the form of food or supplements.
I began taking Calcium supplements but they did a number on my already lazy system, so I stopped them soon after I started taking them. The protein was hard. As a vegetarian, I always struggle with protein and given this fact, I decided to attempt to eat meat. Uh...morning sickness coupled with my innate hatred of meat did not go well.
2. I am not eating enough. I'm supposed to be eating 3000 calories a day (less than I thought, but still a lot). A half to three quarters of my diet should be fat. Healthy fat, that is. We stopped to get a Frosty on the way home...does this count as a healthy fat?
Although I felt like I literally ate my way through the pregnancy, I doubt that I consistently ate 3000 calories a day. I had a difficult time eating anything in the beginning (my morning sickness was not long-lived but I had plenty of food aversions) but soon settled into a Kraft Mac and Cheese routine that I loved. I also ate a lot of Harvey's Veggie burgers and fries. Mmmmm, fries.
3. In practicing labour techniques, we found that what might relax me the most during contractions is if J. rubs my belly, massages the palms of my hands or rubs my feet. I also learned that a darker room may help me stay relaxed.
Rubbing my belly is laughable. I had a multitude of monitors strapped to my belly and I had to be very careful not to move any of them lest the monitors move away from one of the babies. Massaging my hands? Well, I was crushing J's hand with every contraction, so he couldn't open his to massage mine very well. The dark room did help and the two things that helped me through the worst of the labor was when J. stroked my hair and when I stood up.
4. The policy at our hospital is that EVERY mom carrying twins MUST have an epidural by the time she reaches 3 - 4 centimeters dilation. This is because the chance of having to undergo emergency surgery is higher with twins.
What they neglected to tell us was that some moms never reach 3-4 centimeters despite the highest doses of oxytocin. Some mom's bodies get so tense from the back to back contractions (with nary a break to speak of) that they would never dilate more than 1-2 centimeters. As soon the begging worked and the epidural was in, my body relaxed enough to dilate quickly to 10cm.
5. A second policy at our hospital is that all moms carrying twins get to labor in a private birthing suite, but when the time comes to push, they must push and deliver in the operating room. This is in case the second twin needs to be delivered via c-section. I'm NOT going to like this part. Having just discovered that I need dim lighting to relax, a cold and bright operating room will not help my anxiety.
The only thing I actually did not like about delivering in the operating room was that I did not have any support for my back as I was pushing. In private birthing suites, the bed tilts in such a way so that the mom can push sitting almost upright. The OR bed was flat and, though J. held my shoulders up, it was awkward at best.
6. As my doctor told me earlier, the chance of delivering vaginally versus c-section is 50/50.
Both twins were delivered vaginally. Pea was born first and Chick was born about 40 minutes later. Total time pushing was about 90 minutes. It went by like a flash. Giving birth was MUCH easier than I thought it would be.
7. Doctors like to deliver twins around 37 weeks, because after 37 weeks, the uterus is not a good environment for the baby. Amniotic fluid starts to get absorbed by the baby and this leads to wrinkled babies and toxicity.
My water broke at 37 weeks 1 day and the twins were born at 37 weeks 2 days.
8. Anytime I am seated, my feet should be up.
Did not happen. Especially at work.
9. There will be one nurse assigned solely to me when I am laboring. I hope she's not a cheerleader type. I need quiet patience.
I had the BEST nurses in the WORLD. Absolutely wonderful. They made the experience a beautiful one.
10. The average full term twin (37 weeks) weighs 5.5 pounds
Pea weighed 5lbs 15oz and Chick weighed 6lbs 7oz.
 |
| Pea on the left and Chick on the right - minutes after birth |
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
She Speaks!
This morning, I groggily scooped up our little Chick out of her crib and began the descent toward downstairs and the coffeemaker. On the last step, Bear was basking in the early morning sunlight and from my little Chick's mouth I heard, "Ca" (no "t", just "Ca"). We have been referring to Bear as "Cat" for as long as the babies have been here because his name would likely confuse them. The first time she said it I thought it was a fluke, but when I sat her on the kitchen floor while I made my morning cup of joe, Bear walked by her and she said it again...and again. Since this morning, she has said it many times and even in front of my friend Sarina who came to visit this afternoon. I think it's a perfectly wonderful first word, don't you?
This afternoon, we took a walk to the park and the sun was so brilliant that I decided to take some impromptu pictures when we got back home.
This afternoon, we took a walk to the park and the sun was so brilliant that I decided to take some impromptu pictures when we got back home.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
*Those* Kids
We registered the babies in a Sign Language class which runs every Tuesday afternoon in May. Thankfully, our good friend Catherine registered Hannah as well, so it's another excuse for us to get together during the week (we see each other on Fridays at music class).
There were a good number of moms and babies in the class (maybe 20 or so) and we all sat in a circle to learn some signs through music and story-telling. Almost all of the babies sat dutifully on the laps of or near their mommies, while Chick, Pea and Hannah were a little more "social". Yes, we are moms to "those" kids.
I'm not quite sure what Hannah was up to (although I did see her try to make a break for the hallway a couple of times) but Chick and Pea were in plain sight. While everyone else was learning the signs for "Old MacDonald" Chick was eating a glue stick (I got to her in time to fish the cap out of her mouth) and Pea was licking the bottom of someone's flip flops. Classy.
During the class the moms and babies made a craft and it is the first to grace our refrigerator. We traced the babies' hands and then curled the middle fingers down to display the universal sign for "love". How cute is this?
While many mothers are working on signing goals for next class, I will be working on ways to keep the toxins out of my kids' mouths. We are a work in progress.
There were a good number of moms and babies in the class (maybe 20 or so) and we all sat in a circle to learn some signs through music and story-telling. Almost all of the babies sat dutifully on the laps of or near their mommies, while Chick, Pea and Hannah were a little more "social". Yes, we are moms to "those" kids.
I'm not quite sure what Hannah was up to (although I did see her try to make a break for the hallway a couple of times) but Chick and Pea were in plain sight. While everyone else was learning the signs for "Old MacDonald" Chick was eating a glue stick (I got to her in time to fish the cap out of her mouth) and Pea was licking the bottom of someone's flip flops. Classy.
During the class the moms and babies made a craft and it is the first to grace our refrigerator. We traced the babies' hands and then curled the middle fingers down to display the universal sign for "love". How cute is this?
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Saturday Bullets
- Pea woke with a fever on Friday morning and Chick went to bed with a fever tonight. To say that today has been a difficult day on them is an understatement.
- There is currently a recall on the medicine we had been giving Pea up until this morning. When I drove to the pharmacy to return it, the pharmacist had not been informed of the recall and didn't believe me. She looked it up online and then quickly removed all the medicine from the shelves and gave me a new med. Sigh.
- Brace yourselves, people...I have decided to undertake my very first CRAFTING project as a mom. Tanya's jaw may be on the floor. If I can pull this off, it will be HUGE. I'm not revealing anything at all until it is complete. Okay, so I told my mom about it...and maybe Lisa...but that's IT! Well, J. knows because he helped me with the beginnings of it. If there is never another post about this, we'll all know that it never came to be and no one will breathe a word about it again.
- Our yard became a virtual construction site this weekend. In spite of some rain, quite a bit was accomplished in the span of 10 hours or so. Here are some pictorial clues:
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| CW From Upper Left: J. and his brother (who came over immediately after working a 24 hour shift at the firehouse), my dad and my brother, a backyard mess, my brother and J. |
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| By end of day, the framework was almost complete. |
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