eBa(y)by?

Yesterday Dave and I drove to the Fedex center to pick up a package. It was a case of Enfamil formula sent to us courtesy of the makers of Enfamil. I can only assume our address ended up on some mailing list at the hospital or the doctor's office.

Either way we don't use that brand (which is a shame, because we estimated the value of the box at close to $150). My genius husband decided to post the box on eBay just to see if anyone would give us money for it.

As of last night we had a bid for $30 (better than nothing). Apparently there is a huge market for formula on eBay (not sure how I feel about this). I'm even told people are selling coupons for formula on eBay (a line should be drawn and never crossed).

Motherly Inventions

I'm convinced a mother invented the concept of the 'drive thru'. For the past two days I've been going it alone in the mornings with the babies (my Mom had to head home for a spell). If it weren't for the Port City Java and Mickey D's drive thru, I'd most likely starve.

I'm a huge fan of the drive thru (before babies I felt it was lazy and environmentally irresponsible to use the drive thru). But now I can get prescriptions filled, grab a bite to eat, do my banking and drop-off/pick-up dry cleaning--all with the babies safely and quietly asleep in their car seats.

If only someone would invent the drive thru toilet. . .

Baby Whispering

'Aunt Shannon' gave me this book when I got pregnant. I, of course, waited until the babies were born to finally read the book (nothing like a crying baby to motivate things).

What we've learned so far (I'm only on page 79) is how to understand our babies' body language and various cries. Dave and I think we've been mistaking Mirabelle's movements for being excessively hungry.

If this book is correct, it turns out she's either very gassy or tired and needs help falling to sleep. Shaking her head from side to side with her mouth open is a sign she's tired. This is strikingly similar to moving her head to the side and then up with her mouth open as if reaching for a bottle or boob (I know, rookie mistakes).

So, today we've been practicing soothing her to sleep when she seems 'tired' instead of 'hungry'. It must be working, I actually have a quiet moment to write this post. We'll see if this actually continues to work.

Rare Sightings

You hear a lot about my Mom helping out with the babies (we're nominating her for sainthood later this year), but there's another silent hero lurking around our house. That person would be my Dad.

Every week he comes to clean and mow our yard, plays best friend to Lavender and Bailey and occasionally he'll even hold a crying baby. It's the holding of a crying baby that we've found very rare and difficult to document.

Finally, over the weekend we caught a glimpse of this rare moment.

Happy Birthday Oma-ma!

The babies decided to give Oma-ma a special birthday treat . . . they slept the entire time we were out eating dinner!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Hope you had a wonderful day.

First Beach Outing

Took the babies to the beach today with Dave and Oma-ma! Babies slept the entire time with my mom while Dave and I enjoyed a short walk on the beach.

I already see a future filled with day trips to the beach with my little bunnies.

Feed Me, Seymour! Feed Me!

Originally I thought the hardest challenge with twins would be picking out their daily outfits (I kid . . . okay, maybe not). Truly the toughest obstacle these past two and half weeks has been how, when and what to feed these greedy little munchkins.

How to feed?

Do they feed using a bottle or do I only breastfeed them? The issue here is 'nipple confusion' some babies can't switch back and forth between a bottle and the real deal. Fortunately, my babies could care less how they get fed, just as long as they get fed.

I'm nearly convinced twin babies would starve to death if they were not given some bottle feedings. In my limited experience (of almost three weeks), it is clear that pure breastfeeding requires a woman made of supernatural talents and deep inner convictions.

Imagine the twin feeding scenario:

9am: Feed Baby A

10am: Finish feeding Baby A (my newborns are taking an hour to feed)

10:30am: Baby A finally falls to sleep in the crib, swing, etc.

11am: Feed Baby B

Noon: Finish feeding Baby B

Noon-thirty: Baby B finally falls to sleep

1pm: It's been 3 hours since you last feed Baby A. Baby A is starting to wake up . . . time to start the feeding process all over again.

At least with a bottle, the babies can feed a little faster and other people (i.e. my mom and husband) can lend a much needed helping hand.

When to feed?

Do they get fed at the same time or do I stagger each baby? My fellow twin mothers all recommend to feed them at the same time. We've been trying to do that. So far things are working out nicely, of course I've got my mother here helping with feedings. Eventually I'll have to figure out how to get both fed on my own at the same time.

Of course, here's what I find after taking a shower today (show off).

What to feed?

Breast milk or formula? I understand the importance of breast milk from a health stand point. But the convenience of formula is like a sweet, sweet drug that's always in supply, readily available to supplement my erratic milk production.

However, have any of you priced a can of formula? I now understand why this stuff is put under lock and key at some stores (the s%#t's expensive). Momma's milk is free and you don't need to add water.

So there you have it folks. My life revolves around poop and milk . . . milk and poop.

No Words Necessary

Photo Update

Here's some recent photos:

Daddy using the nasal pacifier technique

Home from the hospital

First family walk

(lasted for about 5 mins. Mommy was still tired and sore)

Daddy and 'the magic touch'

(we've got a lot of photos of Mirabelle exercising her lungs,

this should clue you in on our life as we currently know it. )

Two Week Milestones

Let's see, I can now touch my toes, sleep on my back, eat whatever I want . . . oh wait, you probably want to know about the babies.

The babies have been alive for two weeks now. No major issues to report. Finn has reached his birth weight. He now weighs 6 lbs 5 oz (his birth weight was 6 lbs 4 oz). Mirabelle is almost there, she now weighs 6 lbs 9 oz (her birth weight was 6 lbs 13 oz).

Finn is a poop machine and seems to hold an invisible reserve of pee just for diaper changes. Mirabelle is struggling to find her inner 'poop-ness' (yes, my life has been reduced to nothing more than conversations about infant bowel movements).

Both have really good neck strength and like to hold their heads up and survey their new environment. Finn had some tummy time earlier this week and rolled from his tummy to his back. I'm told this is a milestone (however, the bed was soft, I was leaning on it, it's possible gravity took over).

Four Star Accommodations

We were discharged from the hospital this past Sunday . It's standard for c-section deliveries to stay 3 days after day of surgery (we stayed 5 days if you include delivery day). Here's my advice to new mothers who find they have to deliver via c-section. Stay the full 3 days post delivery.

My ob/gyn doctors encouraged us to do this and for once I actually agreed with them (these were the c-section crazy doctors). Being new parents it was nice to have easy access to the lactation consultants and 24-hr. nurse care and assistance. Granted the food wasn't that great (it was magnificent the day after delivery then got progressively worse . . . clearly starvation makes any bland meal taste gourmet).

In the end, we had to stay an extra day because Mirabelle's weight dropped below the 10% birth weight mark. Apparently all newborns will lose a portion of their starting birth weights, but if they lose more than 10% some hospitals will not release them.

Since our insurance only covered me for a 3 day stay I was officially discharged on Saturday but stayed at the hospital under something called 'nesting'. This allowed us all to stay overnight together so I could feed the babies. The difference being I no longer received pain medication and vital sign monitoring from the nurses (Dave filled my pain med prescriptions and I was responsible for taking them).

We began supplementing Mirabelle and Finn (he wasn't letting Belle go down alone) with formula after each feeding. The supplementing stopped the weight drop but by Saturday evening their weight gain was minimal.

We spent the next 24 hours on a feeding frenzy of breast milk and formula (my milk started coming in on Saturday . . . can I get an 'Amen in the house!'). However, Mirabelle started turning Japanese (yellow in skin color) so the doctors checked her bilirubin levels for signs of jaundice. Thankfully neither her nor Finn had jaundice (phew!).

By 5 pm Sunday babies showed weight gain, albeit minimal, but enough for the pediatrician to okay a discharge for the babies. By 7:30 pm we were on our way home!

Birthing: A Disney Experience

Apparently the hospital has perfected the new father experience so well Dave felt like he was on some amusement park ride. Obviously he got the better end of the deal that day (I was drugged, suffered post-op fits of vomiting, only allowed a liquid diet all day . . . but enough about me).

So after the babies were extracted Dave was whisked away to various stations around the room. Along the way, a nurse would take the camera, position Dave and photograph the current event. In this particular photo the nurses handed Dave one baby then the other, then said 'smile real big!'.

Frankly, we didn't think we'd want to document the delivery of our babies but my doula (that would be the amazing Amanda) told us some of her favorite photos were the gory birthing photos of her child. She also reminded us we could delete the photos afterwards if we didn't like them.

Turns out she was right. We love these photos. I was too drugged to remember much and obviously unable to follow the babies. All in all, it was great to see what Dave experienced and have visual reminders of the day.

Introducing Finnlay 'Finn' & Mirabelle

WARNING!!! The content and views expressed in this post are extremely bias and lack any rationale objectivity (in other words, cut this new mommy some slack, she's just way too infatuated with her own babies).

Why this photo is just so freakin' cute: my twins are holding each other's hand!! Which further solidifies our original conclusion, the babies are already aware they have insane parents and made some secret pact to stick it out together (smart little tykes).

Dave took this photo once we all got to our room. The babies were only a few hours old and already Dave was in love (in his defense, he's been in love with them since the embryo stage). I, on the other hand, just stared blankly at them and wondered who their parent's were. They looked cute enough, but neither one of them looked like me or Dave (started having lingering doubts about embryo switching at the fertility clinic). Regardless, it's too late now. I've fallen fully in love with these critters and refuse to give them back to their rightful owners.

The World's Worst Blogger

I know, I beg you great people to follow my fertility adventures. Guilt all my friends to comment regularly on each post so I don't look like I'm talking to myself. Then I go have the darn babies and leave you all hanging for almost a week (I would hate me too)!

In my defense, I brought my computer, camera and video camera to the hospital with the best of intentions. After the drugs wore off and I felt coherent enough to post I found the hospital wireless blocks access to 'social networking' sites (including this blog and my beloved Facebook).

I'll make it up to you . . . somehow.