Saturday, November 23, 2013

Twins Two Month Update

The girls hit the two month mark on Thursday. I'll probably say this every month, but I can not believe they are already that old!

I love how Lydia is smirking because she's pulling on Eden's shirt and Eden is gasping that her little sister dare do such a thing!
They had their doctor's appointment yesterday. Eden was 9 lbs and Lydia was 10 lbs! So what's new with these two, two-month old babies? Eventually this blog will be the perfect forum for me to brag on how amazing my kids are, but let's be honest, two-month olds don't have many tricks up their sleeves. The three things the doctor asked about were tracking with their eyes, smiling, and making noises. Check, check, and check. In fact, they are quite noisy at times, so I guess that means my babies are "advanced"for their age :) They've started smiling at me when I come get them out of their crib in the mornings; Ah! A little piece of heaven. They've also started to be more grabby. Especially Lydia as evidenced by the above photo.

I must say their greatest accomplishment by far is sleeping! They have started to sleep for 7-8 hours at night!!!!! They usually go down between 8-9 and don't wake up until sometime between 4-5. One time, they even made it to 7:15. After a mild heart attack when I awoke, I quickly ascertained that they were not dead and celebrated a full night of sleep. Hallelujah! Now I don't want to hear from any of you about how it won't last because holiday travel or teething or whatever is right around the corner and will mess up their routine. Just let me enjoy this moment and pretend it will last.

A smile from Eden

Good morning stretch and smile from Lydia

So as not to paint a picture of our lives through rose colored glasses, I freely admit we have challenges. The girls seem to have a witching hour. Every evening they get fussy and just want to be held. During the day, they are ok having some independent play time, but it's a completely different story at night. I hope they grow out of this phase because it makes it difficult to go anywhere or accomplish anything after 5:00 PM. Speaking of going somewhere, that is another challenge. We do get out of the house but it takes a lot of work to make it happen! The hardest part for me is timing our outings around their feedings. I nurse them together and that's pretty much impossible to do modestly in public. So my options are pump before I go anywhere and take bottles, take formula with me (and suffer the pain of full breasts until the next feeding), feed them separately (and have one screaming at me because she is hungry too) or find a corner to hide and feed them together in order to avoid flashing anyone. I generally just try to go places right after they've eaten so we don't have to deal with it while we're out, but sometimes I don't get a choice for when we leave, such as when we go to church. But we're figuring it out and I'm slowly building my confidence in leaving the safe confines of our home. The other big adjustment for me is how long it takes to accomplish tasks. Folding one batch of laundry can take anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days! Perhaps the laundry doesn't get folded, maybe the floor doesn't get swept (when was the last time I swept?????), and some days I don't even make it to the shower, but the girls are fed, changed, played with, and are basically happy so I guess I do accomplish something each day!

Our furnace was broken for a week, so we spent several days in jackets and hats. Luckily, Nate is a manly husband and father and fixed it!

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Post-Partum Recovery From Twin Pregnancy

The babies are 6 weeks old today!!! Holy cow, how did that happen? It's been a blur of crazy, wonderful days. Everyone I see asks me how I'm doing recovering from carrying twins and delivering them via c-section. While it hasn't been a picnic, it certainly hasn't been a terrible ordeal either.

I'd always heard how awful c-sections were and that the recovery was so much worse than a vaginal delivery. Maybe I'm an anomaly, but I honestly didn't think it was that bad. Of course I've never experienced a vaginal delivery, but I'm kind of okay with not having that joyous experience of pushing a baby down and out the birth canal. Especially Lydia; have you seen the size of the head on that kid!?!?  I stayed on top of taking my pain meds once I came home and really felt like any pain I had was quite manageable. Obviously, I didn't do too much other than sit on the couch in the beginning, but that was more from exhaustion than pain. I would say within 10 days, I felt pretty good. The biggest thing for me is my posture has really suffered because I don't have the core strength anymore to hold my frame up. My back is constantly sore from trying to compensate for the lack of ab muscles. Also, my incision site occasionally tingles, but other than that, I don't have any lingering issues from the c-section.

People say weight is just a number, and I really believe that now. I currently weigh about 10 pounds less than I did pre-pregnancy but I miss my old body! I'm pretty sure I've lost every ounce of muscle I once had. I used to consider myself to have an athletic build, but I'd say I have more of a Pillsbury build now; I just feel doughy! The good news is I've been released to start exercising again. The bad news is I went for my first post-partum "run" today and only made it around the block; literally, one block people! It was pathetic, and Nate says I looked like a Grandma out for a shuffle. As pathetic as it was, I was still a little proud of myself :)

Before.....

After
So that's basically what's up with me. I know y'all check out my blog just to catch a glimpse of my sweet babes so here's a little eye candy for you.

Lydia

Eden