Thursday, June 07, 2007
Welcome William and Abigail
Abby and Liam's entrance into the world actually started on Friday, May 25. I had a non-stress test and biophysical profile that morning, followed by an appointment with my doctor. Everything looked good, and we were going to aim for an induction on May 30, which would be exactly 37 weeks - full term.
Martin and I went out to lunch, and I was feeling a lot of contractions. That afternoon, they were coming regularly - every 4-5 minutes - so we were sent to labor and delivery. Monitoring at L&D showed contractions every 2-3 minutes, and the doctor decided to admit me for observation. He said there was no way I would get through the weekend without having the babies. We camped out there, and by morning, my contractions were only 5 minutes apart. My doctor was at the coast for the weekend, and the doctor on call gave me the option of getting things jump started by breaking my water, or going home to wait it out. I opted to wait it out. I stayed in bed getting contractions every 5 minutes apart through Sunday afternoon. I was exhausted. Fortunately, after a nap, they contractions tapered off.
My doctor came back from the coast, and called our house Monday morning. As an aside, I have to say I have a great doctor -- she looked up our phone number in the phone book and called me at home at 8a on Memorial Day to see how I was doing and to offer moving up the induction. I told her the contractions had spaced out, and we decided to shoot for Wednesday. It seemed like an eternity, but I really wanted these babies to be full term.
My doctor came back from the coast, and called our house Monday morning. As an aside, I have to say I have a great doctor -- she looked up our phone number in the phone book and called me at home at 8a on Memorial Day to see how I was doing and to offer moving up the induction. I told her the contractions had spaced out, and we decided to shoot for Wednesday. It seemed like an eternity, but I really wanted these babies to be full term.
I am generally not into "belly shots" but can't resist posting this so you can see just how big twins look at 37 weeks. This was taken on Tuesday, one day before they were born.
The rest of Monday and Tuesday were uneventful. Wednesday morning we checked into the hospital. I was already progressed to 4 cm, and was having contractions about every 5 minutes. They started the pitocin, and around 11:30a or so, I asked for an epidural. Just as they finished, my OB came in and broke my water. Two hours later, I had only progressed to 5cm. We thought were were on the slow boat to China.
Much to everyone's surprise though, the contractions got more intense, and one hour later, I told the nurse I felt like pushing. She checked, and sure enough, it was time. I was moved to the operating room, and we waited for my doctor to arrive. She got there just in time. Only a couple of pushes, and Liam was born screaming. Martin got to cut the cord, and Liam was declared healthy by the NICU staff.
They did a quick ultrasound to confirm Abby was still head down, and the doctor broke her water. Contractions slowed at this point, and we had to wait for her to descend. The nurse started telling me we had to get her out quickly, and while I didn't know it at the time, it was because her heartrate was going way down with each contraction. Pushing was difficult, as the contractions were not very strong, but Abby entered the world about 40 minutes after her brother, blue, with the cord wrapped around her neck twice. The doctor cut the cord, and within seconds, Abby was pink and screaming...also declared healthy by the NICU staff.
Both babies were able to room in with me, and aside from being jaundice, they were perfectly healthy.
A week at home, and we are all doing great. Abby reminds us a lot of Chloe as an infant, both in looks and temperament. She "leads" the feeding schedule, and let's you know when she isn't happy, that's for sure. Liam makes us laugh. He is generally more laid back. His facial features are very defined, and he has "looks" he give us and his sister that are priceless. You can almost see him thinking "shut up over there already" when Abby is crying. He also moves his arms and hands like he is doing Tae Kwon Do. It's pretty funny.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Dear Chloe
Dear Chloe:
Please stop pooping right before you fall asleep for your nap. It leaves me with the decision of whether to wake you up to change your diaper, or letting you sleep in your poop. The former always results in a complete boneless breakdown after which you typically will not go back to sleep, and will remain in a crabby mood until bed time. The latter causes your skin to burn, making you miserable for a couple of days.
Your bum and its comfort inevitably wins.
I've tried making a later naptime, but you keep holding it until I lay you down. I urge you to reconsider this modus operandi.
I thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
Mama
Please stop pooping right before you fall asleep for your nap. It leaves me with the decision of whether to wake you up to change your diaper, or letting you sleep in your poop. The former always results in a complete boneless breakdown after which you typically will not go back to sleep, and will remain in a crabby mood until bed time. The latter causes your skin to burn, making you miserable for a couple of days.
Your bum and its comfort inevitably wins.
I've tried making a later naptime, but you keep holding it until I lay you down. I urge you to reconsider this modus operandi.
I thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
Mama
Yup, she's mine
Like mother, like daughter. Chloe knows what she wants:
1. The Clifford book must go in the basket, facing forward, right side up. Any other way is wrong.
2. In order to get up for the day, the contents of her crib must be transported from her crib to the rocking chair in the following order: cat, pooh, grover, muffy, green blanket, purple blanket, then Chloe, carrying her Elmo, Cookie and cow. Do not touch the cow. Do not move anything without her first saying "(blank) to the chair" and handing it to you. Else, you must dry her tears and start from the beginning.
3. Right sock on, right shoe on; left sock on, left shoe on.
... I could go on and on.
Then, last night, about 1/2 an hour after we put Chloe down for the night, she started crying. That is pretty out of the ordinary for her, as usually she reads her books, talks to her stuffed animals and sings herself to sleep. I listened on the monitor to determine whether something was really wrong. She cried, "MONKEY, AWAY, PAHLEEEESE?...WHAAAAH PUHLEEESE." Martin and I arrived at her room at the same time. Turns out the stuffed monkey that was sitting in her shopping cart had not been properly put away. It needed to be in the toybox. "Night, night Monkey," and away it went. Chloe was happily tucked in again, and we walked out of her room. Martin says,
"She is so OCD. Just like you."
Yes, I have to admit, it's true. Fortunately for all of us, there is hope for Chloe. This is normal toddler behavior as they are learning to exert control over the things they can. Apparently, true OCD tendencies typically don't emerge until the teenage years.
Unfortunately for Martin, it's too late for me!
1. The Clifford book must go in the basket, facing forward, right side up. Any other way is wrong.
2. In order to get up for the day, the contents of her crib must be transported from her crib to the rocking chair in the following order: cat, pooh, grover, muffy, green blanket, purple blanket, then Chloe, carrying her Elmo, Cookie and cow. Do not touch the cow. Do not move anything without her first saying "(blank) to the chair" and handing it to you. Else, you must dry her tears and start from the beginning.
3. Right sock on, right shoe on; left sock on, left shoe on.
... I could go on and on.
Then, last night, about 1/2 an hour after we put Chloe down for the night, she started crying. That is pretty out of the ordinary for her, as usually she reads her books, talks to her stuffed animals and sings herself to sleep. I listened on the monitor to determine whether something was really wrong. She cried, "MONKEY, AWAY, PAHLEEEESE?...WHAAAAH PUHLEEESE." Martin and I arrived at her room at the same time. Turns out the stuffed monkey that was sitting in her shopping cart had not been properly put away. It needed to be in the toybox. "Night, night Monkey," and away it went. Chloe was happily tucked in again, and we walked out of her room. Martin says,
"She is so OCD. Just like you."
Yes, I have to admit, it's true. Fortunately for all of us, there is hope for Chloe. This is normal toddler behavior as they are learning to exert control over the things they can. Apparently, true OCD tendencies typically don't emerge until the teenage years.
Unfortunately for Martin, it's too late for me!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
It just keeps getting better
When we had Chloe, we talked about how amazing it was to have her and watch her grow and learn. People would tell us that it just keeps getting better. It does.
Chloe is doing so much now. Lately, the best part has been learning about what she finds interesting. Her verbal skills are skyrocketing, and the more she talks, the more we learn about what makes our little girl tick. She is stringing together words in sentences, and even vocalizing compound ideas like, "Chloe get shoes and go outside with ball." It's an amazing leap from where she was even a month ago.
She has let us know that she really like balls, crayons, the color blue, cars, her pink shoes, Elmo, and Clifford the big red dog. Oh, and jelly beans and marshmellows.
We've found out that all this time we've been feeding her the wrong thing for breakfast (usually her favorite cereal and some fruit). Some days she would just rather have peas. Yes, the green kind. Yes, for breakfast.
We've found out that she prefers wearing her pink jacket over her purple one, although she wants to carry around the purple one.
We've found out that her green cup is far superior to the pink, yellow or blue ones.
We've found out that as Elmo obsessed as she is, sometimes she'd rather read or watch Clifford the big red dog.
But perhaps most importantly, we've learned that purple jellybeans are the best.
Chloe is doing so much now. Lately, the best part has been learning about what she finds interesting. Her verbal skills are skyrocketing, and the more she talks, the more we learn about what makes our little girl tick. She is stringing together words in sentences, and even vocalizing compound ideas like, "Chloe get shoes and go outside with ball." It's an amazing leap from where she was even a month ago.
She has let us know that she really like balls, crayons, the color blue, cars, her pink shoes, Elmo, and Clifford the big red dog. Oh, and jelly beans and marshmellows.
We've found out that all this time we've been feeding her the wrong thing for breakfast (usually her favorite cereal and some fruit). Some days she would just rather have peas. Yes, the green kind. Yes, for breakfast.
We've found out that she prefers wearing her pink jacket over her purple one, although she wants to carry around the purple one.
We've found out that her green cup is far superior to the pink, yellow or blue ones.
We've found out that as Elmo obsessed as she is, sometimes she'd rather read or watch Clifford the big red dog.
But perhaps most importantly, we've learned that purple jellybeans are the best.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Allergy Nation
Child Magazine recently ran a great article on food allergies. Check it out!
Measuring ahead
At my OB appointment last week, I found out that I am measuring 6 weeks ahead for where I am in pregnancy. It's no wonder I am getting strange looks and comments from strangers.
First, people have started to talk to my belly. Half the time I want to wave and inform them that there is a head attached to it.
Then there are the comments. I went to on a couple of errands the other day, and had the following conversation with a cashier:
Cashier: When are you due?
Me: June
Cashier: (with a look of horror on her face as she stares at my belly) Oh.
Me: It's twins
Cashier: Ooooooh (relief washes over her face).
I can see what they are thinking:
Cashier: Oh my goodness, stand back, that woman's water is going to break any second...
Me: June
Cashier: Dang, she has really let herself go. She looks awful.
Me: It's twins
Cashier: I guess she looks OK then.
10 weeks and counting...
First, people have started to talk to my belly. Half the time I want to wave and inform them that there is a head attached to it.
Then there are the comments. I went to on a couple of errands the other day, and had the following conversation with a cashier:
Cashier: When are you due?
Me: June
Cashier: (with a look of horror on her face as she stares at my belly) Oh.
Me: It's twins
Cashier: Ooooooh (relief washes over her face).
I can see what they are thinking:
Cashier: Oh my goodness, stand back, that woman's water is going to break any second...
Me: June
Cashier: Dang, she has really let herself go. She looks awful.
Me: It's twins
Cashier: I guess she looks OK then.
10 weeks and counting...
Pot of Gold
Being allergic to both soy and milk leaves two options for margarine, and both hard to find. The first is Fleischman's light in the blue container (made with corn oil) and the second is Mother's Margarine. Not just any Mother's Margarine though - the Kosher for Passover kind. The first option is hard to find because other margarines taste better and sell better, so most grocery stores don't stock it. It's hard to special order, because there are two UPCs, and one of them was discontinued. Rumor has it that they are no longer distributing it at all to half the country. The second option is hard to find because they only make it once a year. That time is now.
The thing is, there is not a huge Jewish population in Portland, so most stores don't carry many K for P products beyond matzah. Martin asked around though, and got a lead on a store that carries a large K for P selection.
So, on Saturday, I packed Chloe in the car, and headed out to the burbs. We were on a mission. I found a huge selection of K for P products, and picked up some safe products for Chloe including apple butter, potato sticks, a gelatin free jello like dessert, and sour gummy bears (OK those are for me). They certainly did have a good selection - a K for P deli, a frozen foods section and a huge area of dry goods. I walked the store three times searching for Mother's Margarine though and didn't see any. I reluctantly headed to the checkout, and decided to ask a worker if they had it. He said, "Maybe - Check by the other deli in the produce department." Note that this is no where near the area where the butter/yogurt/cheese cases were kept, so I was skeptical. I walked over there though, and holy cow - they had it!!! I bought out the shelf. It was seriously like a pot of gold. I felt light on my feet, I wanted to sing. I really did. I was so happy and kept telling Chloe it was her lucky day.
Why is this so exciting? Because it means I can bake something safe for Chloe that might actually be edible to the rest of us. I can't use any milk, wheat, oat, soy, nut, or egg products when cooking for Chloe. Try making cookies, a cake, or any decent dessert within those limitations -- it's not easy. To me, margarine = apple crumble, sugar cookies, icing for gluten free cupcakes, gluten free graham crackers...oh, the list is endless, really.
Not that we need those things all the time. But, when hosting playgroup, a birthday party, or when making dessert on a special occasion...it will be nice to have a Chloe safe option!
Yippee!!!!!!
Now we just need a second freezer to store it in.
The thing is, there is not a huge Jewish population in Portland, so most stores don't carry many K for P products beyond matzah. Martin asked around though, and got a lead on a store that carries a large K for P selection.
So, on Saturday, I packed Chloe in the car, and headed out to the burbs. We were on a mission. I found a huge selection of K for P products, and picked up some safe products for Chloe including apple butter, potato sticks, a gelatin free jello like dessert, and sour gummy bears (OK those are for me). They certainly did have a good selection - a K for P deli, a frozen foods section and a huge area of dry goods. I walked the store three times searching for Mother's Margarine though and didn't see any. I reluctantly headed to the checkout, and decided to ask a worker if they had it. He said, "Maybe - Check by the other deli in the produce department." Note that this is no where near the area where the butter/yogurt/cheese cases were kept, so I was skeptical. I walked over there though, and holy cow - they had it!!! I bought out the shelf. It was seriously like a pot of gold. I felt light on my feet, I wanted to sing. I really did. I was so happy and kept telling Chloe it was her lucky day.
Why is this so exciting? Because it means I can bake something safe for Chloe that might actually be edible to the rest of us. I can't use any milk, wheat, oat, soy, nut, or egg products when cooking for Chloe. Try making cookies, a cake, or any decent dessert within those limitations -- it's not easy. To me, margarine = apple crumble, sugar cookies, icing for gluten free cupcakes, gluten free graham crackers...oh, the list is endless, really.
Not that we need those things all the time. But, when hosting playgroup, a birthday party, or when making dessert on a special occasion...it will be nice to have a Chloe safe option!
Yippee!!!!!!
Now we just need a second freezer to store it in.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Kailey Bowles
Chloe's food allergies are largely under control. We know what they are, and we manage well day to day. We carry her emergency medications with us, and know when to use them. We have effectively found a balance between keeping her safe, and letting her be a kid. She goes to the park, music class, playgroup, reading time at the library. She has small reactions to things regularly, but overall, she is happy, healthy and thriving. More and more, her allergies are taking a place at the back of my mind, not the front of it. We are optimistic that she will either outgrow some of her allergies, or that they will find an effective treatment. But for the most part, we just accept her allergies as lifelong, and go about our lives.
But every so often, I get a sober reminder of the seriousness of her food allergies, and I am taken back to the day she had anaphylaxis. Today it came in one of my food allergy newsletters. Two years ago today, Kailey Bowles died from her milk allergy. She was a seven year old girl was bright, friendly and sweet. Like us, her family knew the seriousness of her allergy, but also did their best to let her be a child. Her girl scout troop made sand art, a project she kept in her room for a couple of months. One day, she opened the jar, and tasted the brown sand. It wasn't sand, it was hot chocolate. She went into anaphylaxis, and she died. My heart aches for this family, and my thoughts are with them today.
You can read about Kailey here.
But every so often, I get a sober reminder of the seriousness of her food allergies, and I am taken back to the day she had anaphylaxis. Today it came in one of my food allergy newsletters. Two years ago today, Kailey Bowles died from her milk allergy. She was a seven year old girl was bright, friendly and sweet. Like us, her family knew the seriousness of her allergy, but also did their best to let her be a child. Her girl scout troop made sand art, a project she kept in her room for a couple of months. One day, she opened the jar, and tasted the brown sand. It wasn't sand, it was hot chocolate. She went into anaphylaxis, and she died. My heart aches for this family, and my thoughts are with them today.
You can read about Kailey here.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Technical Difficulties
Well, Chloe is now posting to this blog. Hmmm...I changed over to the new blogger, and in the process lost my Mommy user name. I'll take the time to figure it out one of these days, but in the meantime...no, Chloe is not pregnant.
Milestones
As of today, I have been pregnant for 24 weeks.
I usually don't talk in weeks to those who aren't doctors, or who haven't recently had a baby. But forgive me just this once, as 24 weeks is a huge milestone. The babies have officially reached the stage of viability. Don't get me wrong...I'd like to keep them where they are for another 13 weeks, but at this point, every day, every week that passes brings them closer to coming home.
At this point, I am focused on small goals:
28 weeks: This will officially start the third trimester, and is the point at which 90% of babies make it.
32 weeks: The long term health consequences of prematurity go way down.
35 weeks: 50% of twin moms deliver between 35 and 37 weeks, and at this point, at least one of the babies should be released from the hospital with me, and the other might require a short NICU stay.
37 weeks: At some point between 37 and 38 weeks, if I haven't had them yet, the doctor will give them their eviction notice.
Not long now, and we'll be a family of 5. It is going by quickly. We are very excited. The babies are growing as they should, and other than continued morning sickness (thank goodness for Zofran), I am feeling fine. We had an ultrasound a couple of weeks ago. It was amazing watching them move around. We even got to see Baby A kick Baby B in the head. A preview of things to come, I am sure.
We are very excited. Did I say that already? Oh, and it's a BOY and a GIRL!
I usually don't talk in weeks to those who aren't doctors, or who haven't recently had a baby. But forgive me just this once, as 24 weeks is a huge milestone. The babies have officially reached the stage of viability. Don't get me wrong...I'd like to keep them where they are for another 13 weeks, but at this point, every day, every week that passes brings them closer to coming home.
At this point, I am focused on small goals:
28 weeks: This will officially start the third trimester, and is the point at which 90% of babies make it.
32 weeks: The long term health consequences of prematurity go way down.
35 weeks: 50% of twin moms deliver between 35 and 37 weeks, and at this point, at least one of the babies should be released from the hospital with me, and the other might require a short NICU stay.
37 weeks: At some point between 37 and 38 weeks, if I haven't had them yet, the doctor will give them their eviction notice.
Not long now, and we'll be a family of 5. It is going by quickly. We are very excited. The babies are growing as they should, and other than continued morning sickness (thank goodness for Zofran), I am feeling fine. We had an ultrasound a couple of weeks ago. It was amazing watching them move around. We even got to see Baby A kick Baby B in the head. A preview of things to come, I am sure.
We are very excited. Did I say that already? Oh, and it's a BOY and a GIRL!
