Baby Update 10/27

Abigail: AT BIRTH--6 lb 3 oz
5 DAYS OLD--5 lb 11 oz
TODAY {2.5 weeks}--6 lbs 8.5 oz

Elizabeth: AT BIRTH--6 lb 6 oz
5 DAYS OLD--6 lbs
TODAY {2.5 weeks}--6 lbs 9 oz

Yay!! They are gaining! Makes the feeding every hour or two or three easier to bear :) And I may even convince our dr. that breastfeeding twins is not only possible, but beneficial!! We're only supplementing every once in awhile and I'm trying to pump when I'm just nursing one [not very often].

What I have learned, part 1

1. Nursing one baby while pumping on the other side is NOTHING compared to nursing two babies.

2. Nursing two is NOTHING compared to rotating two babies and a breast pump.

3. Some people have no problem coming to see babies, even while hacking, coughing, sneezing, or throwing up is going on in their family.

4. Even more people don't want to interrupt our day, so they stay away----for a week----then everyone shows up!!!!

5. It is SO nice to have friends.

6. It's even nicer to have family.

7. Family holds no candle to church family.

8. I miss being in church.

9. H1N1 is all over and it makes people panic.

10. A full day of school is NOT going to happen for awhile.

11. Let my 6yo son take a break from his school and he forgets everything :)

12. Housework while homeschooling and taking care of 4 children is difficult.

13. Housework while homeschooling and taking care of 6 children, including newborn twins is just not important..........to me.........except that my dh cares.......so I try.

14. I really miss my house husband/Mr. Mom since he has gone back to work. :( And not just for what he does for me, our kids, and the house, but just so you know, he has been an awesome help around here!!

Welcome!!!

Abigail Marie
10-8-09
1:08pm

6 lbs. 3 oz.

18 inches
lots of DARK hair and a dark complexion; arrived in one contraction, one expletive, a yell, and 3 pushes total

Elizabeth Grace
10-8-09
1:24pm
6 lbs. 6 oz.
20 inches
a little blonde hair and nearly invisible eyelashes and eyebrows with a paler complexion; arrived with doctor's help after a quick ultrasound in two contractions, 4 pushes with much more groaning and a couple yells {no expletives}

Praise God! They arrived via natural vaginal delivery at St. John's in an OR room. It was a relatively "easy" labor--steady contractions started at 5:30 am and we arrived at the hospital about 9/10 or so. My "A" water was broken after noon I believe {details are a bit fuzzy} and I was wheeled into the OR. Babies both look great--scored 9s on their apgars and although they lost quite a bit of weight, are gaining it back now. We went to the dr. yesterday {5 days old} and Abigail weighed in at 5lbs 11oz and Elizabeth weighed 6 lbs even.
My recovery is a bit more slow. I started hemmorhaging Thursday night into Friday morning, losing lots of blood and having a lot of clotting--a nurse helped get rid of these by basically putting me thru labor again with another round of pitocin drip and then pushing on my belly till I yelled and delivered what felt like another baby just about. My hemoglobins tested fine that night, but I was still dizzy and weak with ringing in my ears and incoherent thoughts on Friday. the blood tests came back down at a 6.6 from a 9 on Friday, so I received 2 units of blood {and had been on IV fluids also}. We came home Saturday night and are recovering fairly nicely, although double the pleasure, double the work is all so true.......no more time, but I wanted to let the world know of my blessed arrival {the day before my 30th birthday, btw!!}.....

Growing and stretching

I've already updated about my baby girls's growth--15 lbs of baby inside this belly? Yeah. They are definitely stretching me--in SO many ways. Stretching my patience. Stretching my belly. Stretching my hips. Stretching my emotions. Stretching my family. Stretching my dh's patience. Putting us both on edge. With each other. With the other kids.
No, that is probably not God's intent. I don't think He wants me to feel like cursing at anyone who touches my belly during a contraction or tries to talk to me about ANYthing during those seconds of extreme discomfort. But just knowing that this curse of labor is the natural way of life here on earth and that thru the curse, we are brought joy unspeakable makes this short time a little more bearable. Thru sin, we find Jesus. Thru the curse of labor, we produce wonderful blessed fruit. Growing babies is hard work, but I know it is just a season. A season I have repeated multiple times and a season that I know will turn into a new season of growing infants, toddlers, children.....it makes it much easier to ENJOY each season when I have seen many pass. When the older ladies at church or the store tell you how quickly time passes, you nod and agree, not really knowing--not with #1 anyway--but by #3 or #4, you SEE the time passing quickly with your older children. And you realize you should ENJOY the stretching. The growing. Do I always do that? No, but it's a great reminder. In a blink, these babies will be in my arms, not my belly. I don't want to rush that, although my body feels like giving up :) and I'm a bit of a whiner sometimes *LOL* just ask my dh!!!

This morning I went to my OB appt. Tomorrow I will be 39 weeks--UNBELIEVABLE!! I am dialated to a "stretchy 4.5" and 90%+ effaced. The only thing stopping labor? Who knows. Probably just the water breaking. If I do not go into labor before, I am scheduled to go in Monday morning, October 12th at 7am and we will start a natural induction. She will break my water and see how it progresses. Everyone's guess is breaking the water is all it will take for Abigail to quickly join us. I have no option but to deliver in the OR where they will have an ultrasound machine ready to check on Elizabeth as soon as Abigail emerges and follow "baby B's" progression and position to make sure she descends and does not flip around. Ideally, I would prefer a nice room with a shower and room to be up walking [if I really feel like it!], but we'll see what they let me do--I've grown very adament about letting MY desires and wishes known, so I will NOT be strapped to the bed and content just laying flat on my back JUST in order for them to monitor me and the babies--are you kidding? I'm not planning on having an epidural either, so they WILL be letting me up and around if that helps encourage the labor and feels better with occasional monitoring of the babies too. They are gonna have their hands full with me, that's for sure--I'm not one to make it easier on THEM just because---that's not what I feel is God's intent and it definitely not MY job to make THEIR job easy. So please pray I have patient nurses!!!
A little on edge? Yeah--and hormonal--and perfectly fine with using these GROWING babies as an excuse for being outspoken and, well-----not so nice sometimes.

.........Just me......growing and stretching.........

Ultrasound 10/5

I have a couple pictures, but they aren't on disk and I haven't scanned them yet--they get blurrier as we go along. I guess there is just not enough space for wonderful photo ops anymore!!
Abigail
{Baby A}
vertex posterior [head down but face up]
fluid levels great at 3.5
heartrate in upper 140s
measuring 37+ wks at 7 lbs. 4 oz.
Elizabeth
{Baby B}
oblique [head down but body transverse--across the top]
fluid levels great at 4.4
heartrate in lower 150s
measuring 38+ wks at 7 lbs. 12 oz.

Reminder--it is very difficult to get extremely accurate measurements, especially this far along, but those are the educated guesses! Definitely do NOT want any more preemie clothes! and I think we are good on the newborn too [clothes and diapers]. I don't know if they will be little for awhile like my 4yo daughter was, but if they grow like the other 3, they will be in the 0-3 month clothes in no time at all!! Good thing I have them all washed and in the dresser already!

Pregnancy Update week 38

You would think this would be a welcome babies blog or baby update, but NO--it is still yet another pregnancy update!! I am 38 weeks, belly measuring 44 and weighing in at 192 lbs. We discussed induction--natural first, then the possibility of medicinal induction. She checked me and stretched me [OWW!] and I am still walking around--at a 4!!!!!!!!!!! Contractions? yes. regular? NO! Painful? YES!! [Making me question the "no meds" kinda pain] Tired? yes. Cranky? yes. Uncomfortable? Most definitely. And weepy. And impatient. And kinda angry. And kinda lazy too. And ready for a 2-day "vacation" in the hospital where someone brings me food, does my laundry and my other children are in the well and capable care of SOMEone other than me [this is still up in the air--probably the #1 reason I would like a home birth--we wouldn't have to mess with shipping the older kids other places].......
And, no, this is not a cry for help---we have our lists of completely capable babysitters and caretakers--some to come here at night or some for daytime playdates. It'll be my dh that has to juggle these things and I just fear he will be stressing out {and stressing ME out} instead of enjoying this new adjustment time together. He's already stressing ME out with his apparent need for MORE drama in his life---he called a realtor "just to see where we stand" in case we decided to sell the house [since seeing a great deal the other day on some land and a house]. He also went to find out our credit scores and stuff "just to see".....ummmm.....okay......I'm gonna stop there because I could SOOO go off on an emotional tangent that would be completely irreverent and disrespectful of my dh........and I would just regret it....... later........

ANYWAY----babies are still comfy cozy in their nest despite the onslaught of unneeded stress. Perhaps Elizabeth is just awaiting Abigail to get out of her way--and maybe Abigail is getting so crowded that she's not able to descend in the proper anterior position to progress labor. And maybe these girls just aren't quite "done"....... a lot to wonder about.
The weather changed and a front has moved thru---no labor.
The moon is almost full and will be on Sunday, October 4th. Labor? Maybe. I have no idea the real science behind it, but I do believe it effects us. And hospitals. And birthing.
If there is still no labor {as in the hard labor with FRUIT being produced, not this pre-labor with contractions 20-60 min. apart making me dbl over and yell at the kids to not touch me for those 45 seconds}, I will have my 6th official ultrasound Monday morning to check on baby positions---we'll see what kind of measurements they can get too. My tech has had her baby and is on maternity leave, so I just trust I get a capable non-student that has done twin scans and is understanding and actually educated *LOL* you know--from more than a book ;)
Still no labor after being pushed on and prodded by the u/s tech on Monday? My 38.5-week appointment will be Wed. morning.
Still no labor after even more prodding [and stretching and stripping] on Wednesday? We will be scheduling a medical induction to take place October 12th or after........despite my crying "no meds!!!" "No intervention!!!!" I have researched the "cost" and agree that allowing this pregnancy to go post-40 weeks may very well be dangerous for the babies........and that is where I question if I'm supposed to just trust God and my body {which, btw, is really screaming for relief from pregnancy, but that's just my low-tolerance for pain} or trust the doctors and science that God has provided.....

I will turn 30 on October 9th.
*sigh*
I will be 40 weeks on October 15th.
*sigh*
.........Just Me................

Totbooks revisited

Totbooks? Lapbooking for toddlers............

Well, my 2yo now has an obsession with trains ever since he saw one up close and a bit too personal at a friend's house the other day. Apparently, his obsession is a love/hate relationship. He gets very excited when seeing a train or talking about Thomas the Train, etc. But at night? That's where the hate comes in---he is terrified of SOMEthing at night and all he can say is 'train' or "I hear it!!!!!!" at the top of his voice. If we don't get him to sleep before the train goes thru town, he hears the whistle and runs TERRIFIED out of his bed. Last night, we left the light on and it was fine eventually--we don't even live close to the tracks, but we can faintly hear the sounds. I guess spending the night at our friend's house is out of the question [sorry, Becky!!].
Well, we've tried just about everything these last couple nights and even went down to see the trains yesterday [none were running, but some were sitting on tracks]. TODAY?!? Making a Thomas the Train totbook. She has several other totbooks that would be GREAT to do--but they require more hands-on from mom than I believe necessary for this age :) unless of course, you have no older kids or babies needing attention!!!!!
My solution? Well, for future books, my 8yo can take charge and be the teacher {which she LOVES, by the way}, but for this one my 4yo and 2yo are just teaming up with mom. The 4yo can cut most of the booklets and she is now coloring a few of the trains [since the 2yo is DONE for the day and ready to cut the scraps]. I did the number line and will cover it with clear packing tape for durability. I will be mounting the shape cards on some cereal boxes and covering those in packing tape as well. In fact, if this becomes his favorite book, everything is getting taped for added durability. I have old blue file folders, so I'm opting for blue instead of plain. And we'll set it up like she does on her site [except I always print on draft, so my colors aren't so bright and pretty]. Big Machines may be in our future--and maybe even Handy Manny since tools are a favorite of my tot also!!!
HAPPY TOTBOOKING!!!!

Counting Caterpillar

New File Folder Game!!!!
Sorry, I haven't transferred it to a pdf file, but I have the word doc. if anyone is interested to try to get it via email attachment.
I got the idea from the Horizons 2nd grade workbook--there is a caterpillar to fill in the numbers when skip counting by 2s, I believe, so I decided we needed a counting caterpillar that they can do ALL and ANY skip counting on.
My 4yo can count by ones up to 20 while my 2nd and 3rd graders can skip count by 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, 10s, 11s, or 12s----that is, up to 20x12!!!! Yeah, that goes beyond the multiplication charts, but why not!! There are prime numbers included but it was giving me too much of a headache trying to figure out if it was worth deleting those circles in order to save a page of printables, so all the numbers 1-110 are included, then just the multiples that go beyond that {up from 6x20 thru 12x20}. There are 5 pages of number circles that need to be printed on cardstock or glued onto cardboard and laminated [I'm awaiting a good packing tape deal for this job]. Then the 2 pages of caterpillar will just get cut out and glued into a file folder, also getting laminated or taped over. I may add a cover page as well for the outside of the folder and a little tab decor for the tab of the folder. The number circles will be contained in a zipper baggie in the folder.
Leave a comment or mail me if you want me to send this to you! I had great fun creating it on Word and look forward to putting it together with the kids!!