One month anniversary: escape from the womb.

A week late but at least I'm posting...

One month old this week and we're celebrating with doctors' appointments every day! Hooray!

Monday mom went in to get her incision checked and got a clean bill of health. Also was advised not to start running again until 8 weeks... after Dr. Andrew convinced her to go on a short jog the day before. Think we'll be choosing to follow the former advice:-).

Tuesday was circumcision day for Phineas! I don't remember if I explained this before, but they were both to get the procedure done in the hospital. Micah got trimmed but had some issues that they were afraid Phin might have as well so they wanted a pediatric urologist to do his. Took all afternoon and seemed to go well but there was a LOT of blood. Thanks to Andrew's mom being in town, I was able to leave Micah at home.

Wednesday the boys had their one month checkup and:

• Micah is 8 lbs 15 oz, slightly shorter than Phineas and big headed-er.
• Phineas is 8 lbs 5 oz, and the opposite of what I said above.

The pediatrician was concerned about Phin's bleeding and so put off some other pointy object activities (PKU, Hep B #2) in favor of going to ANOTHER hospital to get some lab work done to see if he had clotting issues. Micah got another date with grammy and Phin and I went back to the hospital. He was a champ and I was somehow okay despite the obvious guesswork going on by the resident doing the draw. They apparently don't do these particular tests on newborns much so they had to run around the hospital to improvise parts and calculate the amount of blood needed... the giant bow tie and social awkwardness of the resident did not inspire further confidence either. He avoided direct eye contact and had no ability to make casual conversation [insert more humorous description post sleep deprivation].

In any case, the pediatrician called with results later that night and everything checked out. Also the bleeding stopped by the next morning.

There is a child screaming in my ear so to be continued...

Post womb- day twenty three.

Biggest stretch with just us parents, pouring rain with a flood watch which I consider to be a justifiable excuse not to leave the house. Trying both in a moby wrap this afternoon as these guys are continuing to be crochety old men much of the time... they are knocked out and mom has two free hands with which to type, fold laundry, and eat ice cream! Well at least peaceful- right now Micah is nursing the top of Phin's head although I think he would know the difference? It's kind of fuzzy.

I have a couple books and a ton of magazines I saved up for this time period but to be quite honest my brain has left for the highlands. I feel capable of food input and output and sleep for babies and myself plus very basic cleaning but that is about it. TV has become my escape and I'm finishing my netflix list very quickly. Also eating is relatively fun. If you want to lose weight it seems nursing twins is a good way to do it- I'm back to pre-pregnancy weight as of today despite eating CONSTANTLY and relatively terribly.

That's all I think. Back to regularly scheduled feedings and sleeping.

The cycle.

Sleep deprivation does not suit my blogging very well, nor my sense of humor. Our lives can be summed up in a 2 or 3 hour cycle: 15 minutes to an hour of nursing (tandem if we're lucky, singly if not), 30 minutes of expelling air, milk, gas, pee and poop from their little bodies, another 30 minutes of hanging out and/or convincing them to go back to sleep, and the remainder of the cycle is a beautiful albeit shorter than we'd like chunk of napping. If they're nursing singly, cranky, and I'm flying solo, this cycle is literally all that I do 24 hours a day. So THANK YOU to friends, family, and spouse that have been helping out.

On fatigue.

I knew this was coming. We all knew this was coming. But thinking about caring for infants that primarily need sleep, food, and clean diapers is much different from actually providing said services. In our first few nights, Andrew and I got five hours of sleep total I think... mostly from in-between-feeding stays in the hospital nursery. Since we've been home we established a shift schedule with my parents that's worked relatively well- they each took a three hour night shift as my "pacer" as the dairy cow in the scenario, changing diapers, soothing, and waking me up for mealtimes. With that I think we all were at around five hours a night not that I'm doing math at this point. But obviously this can't last; how the heck does anyone do this solo? How are any parents of multiples still ALIVE after this nonsense? It doesn't make evolutionary sense for offspring to kill off the parents before they're in a good place to survive on their own, right?

And so, parents out there- hats off to you. I must assume that we also will survive, but thanks for being the light at the end of this tunnel... and all the other tunnels that are sure to come.

There are no longer shrimps in my belly pt 2

I thought I'd give you all two chapters since this is way more than I usually write...

Micah Brant was born first at 9:36pm, at 6 lbs 8 oz and 19.5". He has black hair, an oval face, and a pointy little chin. So far he's been the first to figure out eating, and enjoys stretching his arms over his head and hiccuping.

Phineas Beck was born second at 9:39pm, at 6 lbs 5 oz and 18.75". He has dark brown hair and "fur" on his arms and back, a more square face with pinchable cheeks, and a little cleft chin. Phin enjoys directing invisible orchestras, crowing, and peeing all over himself during a diaper change.

Those days we were in the hospital we faced a barrage nurses, pediatricians, obstetricians, nursing students, lactation consultants, etc... probably somebody every 15 minutes- no joke. It was very nice to have so much expertise at our disposal but definitely overwhelming.  Not having had any surgery or broken bones in my life, recuperation has been an extremely painful process. I can now say I've had multiple catheters, ugh. Never looked forward to peeing or other bathroom activities done on my own ever this much before.

We were in the hospital up to Thursday afternoon; my parents came Wednesday and have taken super care of all of us. I've been feeling much better daily from the operation, and sleeping/eating for the babies has been improving as well although I think we all would appreciate a faster improvement on the sleep! Andrew's parents come for a visit this weekend, hooray!

The are no longer shrimps in my belly!

Hello there, and sorry about the delay but we were a bit distracted.

I was looking forward to posting on Monday because when Andrew and I went out for lunch, he decided to inspire my body to go into labor by backing up and going over the speed bump in our parking a second time on the way in and out. Apparently this is a legitimate way to break your water at the very least. Around four I had a glass of milk and cookie to inspire productivity, and decided to go around and tidy some things. I must have leaned over too far to pick up some board games at 5:45... I know now that this is not a subtle hint- was worried before I "wouldn't notice" such a symptom.

Called the hospital to confirm, and they wanted us in there immediately. We followed our little list of self written instructions and drove there... didn't even get lost on the way. Checked in and water breakage confirmed by around 6:30. Sonogram to check on the babies' positions by Dr. Seidel soon after determined that they would do a C-section; despite my water breaking I was having no contractions which meant waiting for them would add unnecessary stress to the fetuses, as well as a chance for contamination. Baby B was also in transverse (sideways) which was the last straw. We really weren't offered regular delivery as an option at all... oh well.

Prep-work and waiting took a few hours, but I was wheeled into the operating room at 9pm sharp. Andrew looks pretty nice in scrubs- a potential second career? but was left outside the door until I was set up. I had a spinal rather than epidural, which really pinched but wasn't nearly as terrible as I imagined. A nurse with a thick accent was describing rapidly to me everything that was and would be happening, and Lourde was playing in the background. Everybody in the room (maybe 10 staff?) introduced themselves and I immediately forgot all of their names. They laid me out on a table like a horizontal cross, set up the tent around my body and sent Andrew in who sat in a stool by my head.

All I can say about the rest is the little I experienced- very surreal. My body was warm and fuzzy; I could feel my torso being moved around and pressure being exerted but that was it. Mostly I held Andrew's hand and listened to the two doctors talking about sports while guessing what was happening and not really wanting to know. By 9:49 both babies were delivered and I was being put back together. They gave both babies to Andrew once they were out and cleaned up... actually they also let him take pictures when each were delivered and walk around to see them being cleaned up- not sure I'd want to switch places on the first part.

To be continued...

37.3

Blerg. Nothing.