First Week with Twins

Looking back over the first week of life with Paul and Elise - surviving, being grateful, and being surprised is what comes first to mind.

I'll start with the positives because I need to do that to keep my sanity.  I had a few personal goals that I hoped I'd reach with this pregnancy.  I hoped for a vaginal birth onset by natural contractions.  BIG FAT CHECK.  Contractions started one day prior to our scheduled induction.  I got really lucky that the head doctor who we've been seeing had just started his shift when I was ready to push.  Elise came first with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck (scary enough) and then they did an ultrasound to see how Paul was positioned.  The doctor put on this elbow length glove and I could see his arm go inside of me on the ultrasound to try and turn Paul to no avail.  He later said he had to get Paul out within a few minutes or it would be C-section.  He worked his magic and Paul came out feet first (before the last push everything was out except his head) within 5 minutes.  I still choke up thinking about the miracle of this.  Not many doctors would have attempted this.

I hoped for the epidural to work this time and it did...at least when it needed to.  It didn't work from 1am to 8am while my contractions got stronger and stronger but the anesthesiologist came in 30 minutes before pushing began and hit me up with more and then the magic happened - epidurals are AMAZING.  No ring of fire, no pain, just push for the love of God, push.

I hoped for healthy and big babies carried to term (not 40 weeks term but 38 wks term) and I got 2 babies over 7 lbs. The babies are healthy; Elise has a deformation with 2 of her toes being much larger than the rest of her toes on one of her feet that will need to be operated on probably starting within 3 months but more on all that in future posts.  For now, there were no findings of correlations to internal problems on all the tests she went through at the hospital.  It looks like she's flashing a big peace sign with her 2 toes.

My final personal goal was breastfeeding.  I really enjoyed breastfeeding Lily after the hellish start so I wanted to give it a go again. My milk is in and I have enough of it.  They are starting to gain weight.  I'm starting to practice tandem nursing but wow, it's hard. Trying to get them to feed them at the same time is hard enough right now. How am I going to feed them in public? I have nipple pain and I don't get the breaks like I would if I only had one but the pain is not as bad as it was with Lily...hope I keep saying that.  I don't even want to say how much they are attached to my boobs right now, it's ridiculous.

I am surprised by how quickly I'm in love with Paul and Elise because I really didn't like my pregnancy and it took me a little while with Lily.  I thought I'd be in even more task mode with twins which turns out I am but it hasn't gotten in the way of just melting when I look at them.  I'm also surprised by how much awake time Paul and Elise are already having.  I thought the first week was all about eat and sleep.  Last night we were up from 2-4am with 2 very awake babies and now just finished a 3 hour stretch of them (o wait, Paul is still awake) being awake trying drive by feedings, another thorough feeding, and pacing and rocking - didn't miss that.  I thought that period was still coming of having to pace the house with crying babies praying so hard for them to fall asleep.

Nate and I can't help but think the thought probably all twin parents think from time to time - it would be so much easier if  it was just one.  I thought I'd be able to reap the benefits from surviving Lily and being trained to handle #2 but having twins almost throws it all out of the window because of all the help we need.

Lily is super sweet with her brother and sister always wanting to be around them which is great BUT when the time comes when we need to tell her to let them sleep or not stick her finger in their mouth, it's not a pretty sight as she throws a fit.

I was going to write about my hostage stay ---oops I meant to say hospital stay but I want to forget most of it.  I'd deal with all the crap again if it meant reaching my personal goals - wouldn't have said that in the moment when I was trying to tandem breastfeed with the families of my 2 roomies visiting on either side of me or when I really needed help and no one would come in the middle of the night.

Here are a few pics from the first week.

                                                                       Lil' with Paul

The family hanging out in the most used space this past week.

                                                             Elise and Paul with bears Lily placed by them

This was taken one week ago shortly before I went into labor.  At almost 40 weeks

                                                          One week later - hello feet