Zed's and Alice's First Christmas!

Okay, I'm waaaaaay behind in blogging, but we've been super busy! But for those who are interested, here's a little bit of our Christmas celebration.

It was super fun getting ready for Christmas this year. I have to say, Adam is not the most fun person to give gifts to--he's always appreciative, but he's not the type to get very excited. And since I end up picking out half of my own gifts, I'm not the most fun, either! But this year, I had tons of fun shopping for Zed and Alice and wrapping their presents. Even though they were a little young to know what was going on, I loved helping them open presents and reading the Christmas story to them.

Here are our stockings, all ready to go!

Christmas tree

Alice and Zed, ready to open their first presents!

 Alice in front of the tree

 Zed in front of the tree

 Alice and Zed with their gifts from Grandma Potter--some fun little bugs and some onesies

 Zed and Alice with their presents from Grandma and Grandpa Perry:  a toy workbench, a box of food (notice what Zed is reaching for!), a toy laptop and a toy kitchen set!

 Zed with his turtle (it crawls and says, "Crawl with me, Baby!")

 Alice with her Laugh and Learn Puppy

Alice and Zed helping me open my present from them: the Willow Tree "Two Together" set--twins! And it's funny, they are just like Zed and Alice--one has his hand in his mouth (like Zed) and one is holding onto her foot (like Alice).

 Zed and Alice with their present for Daddy--a calendar with pictures of them :)

 

Adam with his griddle...which I was so proud of keeping hidden since, like, July. Turns out, he saw it before Christmas :(

 Alice at Grandma and Grandpa Everitt's house

 Zed at Grandma and Grandpa Everitt's house

 Merry Christmas!

Six Months Old

Zed and Alice are six months old! (Okay, six and a half by the time I'm actually blogging.) It's crazy to think how fast the past six months have flown by!
Right now, they both have the second cold of their little lifetimes, but other than that, they are very healthy.We recently had nearly two weeks with horrible sleeping--hours and hours of crying and refusing to be consoled no matter what we did. Luckily, the past couple nights have been better.

Both Zed and Alice have been getting up on their hands and knees, trying to figure out how to crawl. They haven't figured it out quite yet...which is probably good because Adam and I need more time to babyproof the house! They're pretty close, though. They're also doing really well with eating baby food.

Zed is still our happy little snuggle bear. At his six month checkup, he was 26 inches long (24th percentile--huge jump for him!) and weighed 16 pounds, 5 ounces (27th percentile--also a big jump). He is very strong and so sweet. It's so fun listening to his laugh. His eyes, which were dark blue at birth, are now a light blue-green. They're looking greener every day. He lost most of his hair for awhile, but it's back now, a light golden brown. He loves being held and just being around people. Lately, if one of us is holding him, he likes to keep turning to see where the other one is. He really likes playing peek-a-boo. He also likes it when I toss a blanket over him and then pull it off really quickly. Recently, I had him in the pack-n-play and he was on his tummy. I knelt by the side and would peek my head over the top and say "Boo!" which had him laughing hysterically. Well, a couple days later, he was in the pack-n-play again and he would lower himself down and then push himself up and peek up at me--like he was playing peek-a-boo! I started saying "boo" when he'd look over the top and he laughed and laughed and we had so much fun.

Alice is still our little mover. At her six month check up, she was 25.25 inches long (24th percentile) and weighed 13 pounds, 11 ounces (9th percentile--which is actually down from the 14th percentile at her 4 month checkup). She's tiny but strong! She loves to lie on her back and then lift up her head and legs in a little jack-knife position, which she can hold for a long time. She is also a staring contest champ--she never blinks! She also loves to have someone hold her up and then jump up and down, over and over and over. Her eyes were dark blue at birth, then changed to a dark gray (basically black), then to a light blue...and now, they are starting to get hints of green in them. Her hair has grown back in much lighter than it was at birth; it's brown but has sort of a silvery element to it (I don't really know how to explain it, but it's Zed's definitely has a golden tone and Alice's has a silvery tone). Recently, she has been giggling whenever I make snorting noises at her; she just giggles and giggles and it's so fun.

Zed and Alice continue to be super cute together. They look at each other and smile a lot; it's so sweet to see how they light up when they look at each other. They also will give each other kisses and Zed has blown raspberries on Alice's back a couple times!

There aren't even words to describe how amazing it is being their mom. They are so sweet and happy and Adam and I are beyond blessed to have these little cuties for our babies.

Happy Halloween!

Normally, I am not a Halloween person. I don't care about costumes, I've never been trick or treating, and I'd be fine with eliminating Halloween altogether. However, now that I'm a mom, I figure I'll enjoy Halloween for the kids' sake. Plus, it's fun dressing the kids up. So, we had fun with dressing up in our homemade costumes. Since I already had an Egyptian costume from when Rick Riordan visited the library (check out this post if you missed the details on the costume construction), we picked an Egyptian theme. We made a gold cape-thing and took the blue cape-thing from my original costume and gave it to Adam (since it was more manly than the gold one). Adam just wore a large black shirt and shorts to look sort of like an Egyptian tunic thing and spray-painted some chain gold to be a necklace. Zed and Alice got to be mummies. I actually had two white sleepers and hats handed down to me from friends. We took those and sewed strips of old t-shirts to them to make their costumes. They kind of look like they're unraveling a little bit...
Anyway, I think they're the cutest mummies ever and I'm glad Adam was a good sport about helping make the costumes and even wearing one.

5 Months Old

Zed and Alice are five months old today! (And I'm actually blogging about it already!)
They are both doing well, although they both got their first colds and have been constipated this past week, which has been no fun. However, they have also had a couple nights where they have slept through the night! It's not consistent yet, but Adam and I are pretty excited on the nights that it does happen. It was such a crazy feeling the first time it happened--I wasn't quite sure I believed it!
Zed is still very cuddly and likes to snuggle. He also likes to give kisses, and the other day, as he was kissing me, actually blew a raspberry on my cheek! I think it was just accidental, but when Adam and I started laughing and cheering, then he did it a couple more times. He is still enjoying eating solid foods and will pretty much eat whatever we give him even if he doesn't like the taste. For example, he made faces the entire time I was feeding him apples for the first time, but he loves having stuff in his mouth and just kept eating. I think oatmeal might be his favorite so far. When Zed and Alice "talk", Zed definitely has a deeper voice than Alice, but when Zed shrieks (which he has loved doing this week), he sounds just like Alice. He likes it when we copy him and shriek back, but Adam has a little trouble getting that high! Zed is a happy little guy and we love him to bits.
Alice continues to have lots of energy. She also likes giving kisses, and she'll put her hands on either side of my face (or Adam's face) and then lean in to give us kisses. She also tries to kiss Zed. She doesn't care about her baby food as much as Zed does, but she is getting better at eating what we give her, as long as she doesn't get distracted by how much Zed is laughing as he is enjoying his food. She likes butternut squash the best, I think. She is building up her upper body strength and getting better at holding her head and chest up when she is doing tummy time. The other day she was on her tummy, and I put myself across from her and said, "Push up" and straightened my elbows to show her what I meant, and she actually copied me and straightened her elbows, too. She likes to sit up (with help) to see what is going on around her. She is a little sweetheart and we love her!

One of my favorite things is when one (or both) of the babies wake up and I lean over the crib and see a cute little grin spread across a cute little baby face. There is just something miraculous about those moments and knowing that despite all the things I do wrong as a mother, I apparently do enough things right that Zed and Alice are still happy to see me.

4 Months Old

Zed and Alice are four months old...okay, four and a half by the time I actually blogged. They had their check up last week and are doing great.
Alice was up to 24.25 inches and weighed 12 pounds, 8 ounces (exactly double her birth weight). That put her in the 37th percentile for height and the 14th for weight. Zed was 24 inches long (5th percentile) and 13 pounds, 11 ounces (14th percentile). Their doctor was very happy to see their weight gain, since they were both in the 1st percentile at birth and need to pack on some pounds.
Their doctor also gave us the okay to start introducing solid foods if we wanted to, since both are holding their heads up well. So, we broke out the rice cereal and gave it a go. Zed took to it right away; he actually gets impatient with how long it takes to reload the spoon because he wants to eat faster. Alice initially really didn't like the feel of the spoon, so it has taken a little longer to get her interested, but the past few days, she has done better with it.
Alice continues to be be super active--she just likes to move! She squirms all over, rolls from her back to her tummy, spins in circles (she really turns herself 360 degrees sometimes), throws her feet up on Zed's tummy, etc. This little girl has lots of energy. She is also very vocal--she "talks", blows raspberries and even sometimes sounds like she is singing!
Zed is more content to hold still and snuggle, although he does enjoy kicking his feet and moving his arms (he looks like he's marching on his back). He "talks" and he laughs a lot. He is super strong and can hold his head up for a long time, whether he's being held or doing tummy time.
Both Zed and Alice are super cute individually, but they are also totally adorable together. Pretty much whenever they are in range, they touch each other. They hold hands or touch each other's heads or turn toward each other. They've also started looking at each other more. It's really sweet to see them smile at each other.
Adam and I are still absolutely in love with these two little sweethearts and are so blessed to be their parents.

Two Months

Alice and Zed had their two month check up last week and they are doing great!
Zed is 22.5 inches long and weighs 9 pounds, 6 ounces, which puts him in the 23rd percentile for height and the 2nd percentile for weight.
Alice is 22.5 inches long and weighs 9 pounds, 1 ounce, which puts her in 48th percentile for height and the 5th percentile for weight.
It's funny to me that they're still so small as far as weight goes especially, since I've worked so hard to get them as big as they are! They've come a long way though--they were down to 5 pounds, 8 ounces when they left the hospital and at their 2 week check up, they were only 6 pounds, 4 ounces.

Both Zed and Alice are enjoying different textures. Zed really likes having cloth rubbed against his face. Alice likes Daddy's stubble--as long as she only has to touch it with her hands! Adam put her hands on his face and every time he did it, she smiled so big...but when he tried to put his face by hers for her to "kiss" him, she wrinkled her nose every time. It was really cute!

They are also getting really good at focusing on things. Alice's favorite thing to focus on is Daddy's face; she's content to stare at Daddy for a long time whenever she gets the chance. She has definitely been a Daddy's girl lately and likes to have him hold her...so it's a good thing Zed has been a Momma's boy so I don't feel too left out! It's been neat recently to see how Zed responds to my voice--and that he'll even stop crying when I talk to him. The other day, Adam picked him up when he started crying. I was still in bed, just starting to wake up, but called out to Zed, and he stopped crying when he heard me, but started up again when Adam took him to get a diaper change instead of bringing him to me. But when I talked to him again, he stopped crying again. It's a pretty amazing experience to realize that I can affect him like that and know that I can be a comfort to him. :)

Zed and Alice are still really cute to watch together. They like to kick their feet and wave their arms and still try to eat each other given the chance. If one of them flings a limb close enough to the other's mouth, they're likely to get a licking, literally.

And of course, Adam and I are still completely wrapped around their fingers. We love those little sweeties so much!

More Adam Stories

Adam: "I hope a vacuum salesman comes to our house. Maybe I'll take down the 'no soliciting' sign."
Me: "Um, why?"
Adam: "So they can give us their whole spiel and then we can point out to them that we have hardwood floors. It'd be funny."

At the store, I pointed and said, "Man, look at those granny panties!"
Adam, having seen what is out there for pregnant women to try to cover our bellies, quickly said, "Um, those aren't granny panties; those are mommy panties." Sadly enough, pregnancy clothes do sometimes resemble granny clothes.

Adam: "Do you think I should watch some c-section videos online to prepare in case you have to have one?"
Me (alarmed, since this man's one fear in life is needles/doctors/hospitals...and since at our childbirth class, he got lightheaded and had to lie down when they talked about epidurals): "NO!"
Adam: "Are you sure?"
Me: "Uh, yeah. Don't even think about it!"


Adam and I were watching an episode of Duck Dynasty online, and a commercial came on for Always pads.
Adam quickly observed, "This is kind of an odd commercial to show during this show. It's not exactly geared toward their target audience." Good point...redneck hicks and feminine pads...kind of an odd combination.

Eight Weeks

Zed and Alice are eight weeks old today! On the one hand, eight weeks seem to have gone by unbelievably fast, and yet, I've felt every single moment--it's exhausting being a mom! There's a lot to do and learn and each day is full of stuff, so in that sense, it has been a very LONG eight weeks. There are definitely ups and downs; luckily, the ups do outnumber the downs. There have been plenty of struggles--learning to nurse two children, wondering if I'll ever make it out of the house again, and especially trying to get any sleep at all--but we just keep pushing forward through the hard moments and try to appreciate the incredible moments, like how it feels when one of them smiles or wraps his or her hand around my finger or gazes up at Daddy like he's the most amazing person in the world (which, of course, he is).

The hardest things:

• When they BOTH cry at the same time, particularly when I'm home alone. It's hard to comfort and soothe two babies, particularly when they feed off each other--if Zed's howling then Alice will start and then the fact that she started upsets Zed even more and so on...
• Being tired! It's so hard to get a nap (even harder for Adam)
• Trying to figure out a schedule and if we'll ever be on one again
• Being hormonal!

The best things:

• Snuggling with Alice and Zed
• Seeing their smiles
• Seeing Adam with them--he is the CUTEST dad ever!
• Learning--for example, coming to recognize that even if "all" I did day was feed, burp and diaper the babies, I accomplished a LOT and actually did the most important things I could be doing
• When Alice and Zed play with each other--which usually involves them trying to eat each other

 It's crazy to see how much Alice and Zed have already changed in eight weeks and how much older they already look! Although they'll undoubtedly change even more, here is some current information on them.

Zed

• is definitely a boy! He has a voracious appetite, is loud, and messy. He hates baths and has only recently begun to tolerate diaper changes sometimes.
• has dark blue eyes
• has big hands and feet with long fingers and toes (which he got from Adam). In fact, while his body would fit in the newborn size sleepers, his feet would not!
• has detached earlobes (from me)
• has long eyelashes (from both me and Adam)
• has tan skin
• has an inability to nap (definitely from Adam)
• was born with lots of light brown hair that is getting dark and even has a reddish tint to it
• likes to curl up in a ball
• had a couple of VERY fussy weeks where any time he wasn't eating, he was screaming. In the past few days, he has settled down and actually spends time being happy, which is awesome because now we've discovered that he has an adorable grin!
• weighs the same as Alice but has a bigger head

Alice

• is definitely a girl! She is dainty and sweet and is a slow and steady eater. We've had a couple of doctors even comment about the fact that she (even at 1 week old) very much looks like a girl.
• has dark gray eyes
• has big hands and feet with long fingers and toes (which she got from Adam). Her feet fit in the sleepers a little better than Zed's, but not by much
• has attached earlobes (from Adam)
• has long eyelashes (from both me and Adam)
• is a great little nap-taker (from me)
• has dark, dark brown hair (from Adam--although at the hospital, one nurse commented that she had my coloring...I didn't bother telling her that my color is fake!)
• has paler skin with pink tones
• likes to stretch out and relax. I like to say that she is made for a hammock--she's total a peaceful lounger.
• has a sweet smile and smiles often while she's awake or asleep

I suppose I can't be considered impartial, but I think they're both absolutely beautiful. I just love looking at them!

Although this is already a pretty long post, I figured I'd quickly answer a couple of FAQs:

Q1. How are you?
A1: Tired! But good. The gestational diabetes are gone, so that's good. I've lost most of my baby weight--yay! The biggest issue really is just being tired. Adam is amazing at supporting me and helping me, even though he's exhausted, too.

Q2: How are the babies?
A2: Good. They're growing a lot, which is great because they lost too much weight after they were born and were very close to being hospitalized and on IVs; however, Adam, my mom and I all worked really hard to feed them pretty much around the clock (I nursed and they spoon fed to supplement) to keep that from happening. It used to be quite a struggle to get them to stay awake long enough to eat, but that's not a problem any more. They were in the 1st percentile for weight at their 2 week check up, but they've been gaining steadily, so maybe they'll catch up eventually.

Q3: Who do you think they look like?
A3: Um...I don't know. Neither Adam nor I necessarily sees either one of us in them yet! I just see Alice when I look at Alice and Zed when I look at Zed! Even though they look different from each other, I also see some sort of a connection between them; they just GO together somehow.

Q4: How are they and Ruby together?
A4: They don't know Ruby exists yet. Ruby has done well with them; she actually seems concerned when they cry and comes over to the edge of her enclosure and sits there, like she's standing watch or something to make sure I'm taking care of them! She definitely doesn't get played with and petted as much anymore, though, and I feel horribly guilty about that. :(

Q5: Where'd you get the names?
A5: My head. :) I've liked Alice pretty much the entire pregnancy, but I didn't know what to use for a middle name. I wanted something in her name that meant joy, light or hope, to go with Psalm 30:5 "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" to symbolize that feeling of hope that comes in the morning when the sun is shining after a difficult night. However, I couldn't find a name that I liked that would work with Alice. At the last minute, I made up Raiella; "Rai" being like a ray of light and "ella" to make it flow right.
For Zedekiah, I wanted a name that talked about promises, to remind him (and me) that the Lord's promises are sure and that He keeps them all. According to the Bible Dictionary, "Zedekiah" means "The Lord is righteousness" and then if you go to a thesaurus, some of the synonyms for righteousness are "fairness, goodness, honor" and for righteous are "fair, honorable, trustworthy." James is Adam's middle name and it just seemed to fit well with Zedekiah.
On a funny side note...yes, they intentionally have A and Z names, so they go together but don't match. I knew from the beginning I wasn't going to name them rhyming names or the same first initial, but I did think it would be fun to have them connected somehow. Our doctor said he always tries to convince moms of twins to do A and B names (since during the pregnancy, the babies are referred to as A and B), but no one ever has. Well, Zed was Baby A and Alice was Baby B. I didn't think our little girl would appreciate it if Mommy, Daddy, and Big Brother all had A names and she was left out, but I figured a boy wouldn't care if his sister had an A name. So Alice got to have the A name and we did consider a B name for Zed but couldn't find one that had that meaning we wanted and liked the A to Z connection.

Well...hopefully it won't be another eight weeks before I can blog again, but you can't blame me if it is! If you have questions I haven't answered, feel free to add a comment or shoot me an email. And if you just want to tell me that my kids are the cutest, feel free to do that, too ;)

We're Home!

We were in the hospital until Friday morning, and we've been home since then. In some ways, being home is a lot harder than being at the hospital, because there you had a professional staff monitoring everything and you knew you couldn't screw up too badly without someone correcting things and getting you back on track. At home, however, there's this constant underlying fear that I'm doing something wrong and just don't know it! On the other hand, it's nice being home because I get to spend as much time with Alice and Zedekiah as I want to, without nurses coming to whisk them away to the nursery for this test or that test.

One of the biggest struggles has been making sure the babies have enough food. In the hospital, the doctor was concerned about their weight loss; although most babies lose up to 12% of their body weight after they are born, the fact that our babies weren't that big to begin with had the doctor closely monitoring them. He told us if they lost any more weight, they'd likely need to be on IVs and stay in the hospital even after I went home--and that was not something we wanted to happen, of course, so I was determined to get them doing better. As of Friday morning, Alice was 5 pounds, 8 ounces (down from 6 pounds, 4 ounces at birth) and Zed was 5 pounds, 6 ounces (down from 6 pounds, 2 ounces at birth). The doctor told us we needed to go in for a weight check on Saturday, and I was determined that our babies were not going back to the hospital. So, for the rest of Friday and up until our appointment Saturday morning, Adam, my mom and I worked super hard to get the babies eating, including doing regular feedings and spoon feeding them and doing anything we could think of to get them to eat enough. Luckily, at our appointment, both babies weighed in at 5 pounds, 10 ounces, and they got to go home with us.

Much of being at home consists of the babies eating and sleeping, of course. The biggest problem right now is that Zedekiah seems to get hiccups a LOT and then has trouble sleeping, which in turn makes it so he doesn't want to wake up to eat. We've had some very LOOOOOOOOOONG nights as we've been trying to help him. To top off that very hard night, Adam's truck died this morning as he was headed off to work for a couple hours. I'm not particularly happy about that additional challenge, but on the bright side...my babies are still the cutest babies in the world.

Zed and Alice seem to like being twins. Just like at the hospital, we've got them sharing a crib, and quite often we catch them turned toward each other. It's really sweet. Adam and I are absolutely in love with these little ones!

They're Here!

This is just a quick post to explain how we ended up having the babies when we did; other posts will surely be forthcoming and more eloquent and detailed (and past posts will provide context if you're unfamiliar with other details).

After having our appointment on Thursday cancelled and rescheduled for today, I waited anxiously for our appointment at 10 a.m. today.  I told Adam that the best thing that could happen was that we'd get to the appointment and Dr. Anderson would say we could do a vaginal delivery and "oh, by the way, you're very dilated; go to the hospital now." I didn't think that was very likely, but before heading to my appointment, I made sure my hospital bags were in the car and everything was ready to go on the very slim chance that we'd get to deliver the babies today.

Well, it didn't happen quite as I'd hoped--what he said was, "If the placenta hasn't moved, do you want to have a c-section today?" I quickly said, "YES!" and he started to take a look; before he looked at the placenta, though, he looked at positioning. Both babies were breech, and we needed at least Baby A to be head-down in order to do a vaginal delivery. So, Dr. Anderson said, "Well, that answers that question"--we needed to do the c-section. He then called the hospital to get things set up, and we went directly from his office over to the hospital and get checked in and started the process to have a c-section at 1:00. which left us just enough time to text/call a couple of family members and for Adam to call work to tell them he wasn't coming back in after the doctor's appointment. With the paperwork and medications we needed to do,1:00 was the earliest that they could have gotten us in, and it worked out just perfectly.

Zedekiah James was born at 1:26 p.m., weighing in at 6 pounds, 2 ounces, and he was 19 inches long. He was quickly (at 1:27 p.m.) joined by his sister, Alice Raiella, who was 6 pounds,  4 ounces and 18 inches long.

Adam and I are absolutely thrilled...and perhaps we are slightly biased but we're pretty sure we have the cutest babies in the world. There aren't even words to describe how happy we are to have these little ones :)

Agony...

On Thursday, Adam and I were supposed to go see the doctor and find out for sure whether or not we have to have a c-section--and if we do, to get it scheduled. However, an hour before our appointment, the doctor's office called to say he needed to go deliver a baby so they had to reschedule my appointment...for Monday morning. (He doesn't have office hours on Fridays because that's when he normally schedules his c-sections and inducements.) So, that has made for an agonizing weekend! I need to know if I have to have a c-section or not! (Preferably not.) And I was hoping to get the okay to go off of bed rest, since the babies are full term, and I'm going insane with just laying around all day. I have never been so disappointed to NOT go to the doctor in my life! (Okay, I don't think I've ever had a doctor reschedule on me before, but the point is, this was a pretty important appointment and of all the appointments to have to reschedule, this was not the one I would have chosen!)

Anyway, we'll find out tomorrow about the c-section...I'm hoping we'll get in there and he'll tell us that we don't have to a c-section but I'm also way dilated and should just go to the hospital, but that's probably not very likely.

Baby DIY

In preparation for the twins, Adam and I have had to buy a LOT of stuff. I've also spent a lot of time on pinterest looking at project ideas, and we were able to put some of them to good use and save some money on baby expenses. Since I'm on bed rest and can't do the traditional "nesting," instead of been trying to clean up my pinterest boards, deleting duplicates and things like that, and today I thought maybe I'd post some of the projects we've done and then I don't have to save those instructions on pinterest anymore. So, here goes:

Crib Sheets
I was intrigued when I saw instructions for making your own crib sheets, particularly because I had lots of material lying around the house (including old twin bed sheets) and figured this could be a simple way to save some money. One issue, though, is that we bought mini cribs and mattresses, rather than full-sized, so the dimensions in the directions wouldn't work for us. I showed Adam the directions and asked if he could figure out what dimensions we would need to use and he did the math to find the proportions (45 by 31, with 4.5 squares cut out at each corner). He followed that up by doing a trial run and said that he'd made it a little bigger than that, and it was a snug fit--snug enough that we didn't need to put in elastic to get it to stay on the mattress. We considered that a plus; why bother with elastic when you don't have to? We went on to make 7 or so of the sheets, which would cost about $6-8 or more each at the store (unless you find them on sale), so we saved about $42.

Pacifier Clips and Nursing Cover Strap
I found two different sets of directions for these--http://icraftforless.blogspot.com/  and http://thediymommy.com/sew-boutique-soother-clips
Looking at these, I figured it would be a simple enough project, but I also thought it could be even simpler--the pacifier clips you buy in the store often just have a loop of cord at the opposite end of the clip, so I figured we'd go that route. So, I bought some cord (don't remember the price but it was at JoAnn's with a 40% off coupon, so it was less than $2) and ordered a ten pack of clips from Amazon ($6.70 total). For the ribbon part, I pulled out ribbons that had been on baby shower gifts I'd received, so the ribbon was free :) I handed the supplies to Adam and he proceeded to make 4 pacifier clips. Also, since I'd bought a ten-pack of clips, and we only used 4 here, I also had Adam make a nursing cover strap. Having seen this on pinterest as well,  I figured it could be useful to have and super easy to make. So, Adam took our free ribbon and 2 of the clips and quickly sewed a nursing cover strap as well. And we still have 4 clips leftover for some other brilliant project. Nice. The pacifier clips are close to $5 each at the store, so saved $11 on the clips, plus have a nursing strap cover and some extra supplies.

Nursing Covers
Now, having a nursing cover strap, I could use any old blanket as a cover, but I had also seen a few sets of directions for making a nursing cover, so I thought, why not? I showed Adam the directions I'd found-- http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-to-make-nursing-cover.html and http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/01/diy-nursing-cover.html 
We had a bunch of old sheets lying around the house, so I decided to use those and just had to buy boning from JoAnn's (again, not exactly sure on the price, but I only need 24 inches and I used a coupon, so probably no more than $2.50). Adam and I made two covers (one white, one navy blue). Since sheets are kind of thin, we put the right sides together and sewed around, leaving a hole at the middle of the top for the boning, turned them right side out, got the boning put in, and stitched them shut. Overall, I think they'll work all right; I think they might have worked better with a stiffer fabric, but I do really like the fact that I could make them as big as I wanted, since I'm going to be trying to feed two babies at once and need all the coverage I can get. Nursing covers aren't cheap--the cheapest ones I've seen are $10 but got really poor reviews about being see-through, so we saved at least $10 (I might not have bought 2 of them, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a back up since we were making them for practically nothing)

Nursing Pillows and Covers
This idea actually came from a book, not pinterest. I checked out a book from the library that had a bunch of baby projects a while ago, and a nursing pillow was one of the projects. I used some fabric I had lying around the house, made a nursing pillow, and then had no use for it. However, once we found out we were having twins, I pulled it out, as well as the pattern I'd copied from the book (which was kind of a lumpy pattern--I'd recommend just borrowing someone's nursing pillow and tracing it--although make sure you then enlarge it to leave room for seam allowances and stuff) and made a second one--the reasoning being that I can use that to cushion them even when they're not eating (not sure how well trying to use them both while nursing would actually work--one on each side instead of one in the front?). Then I decided maybe I'd make a cover for each of them; although they're washable, since I used a polycotton filling, I thought it wouldn't hurt to have covers in case the babies spit up on them. So I used the same pattern, although I made it slightly larger, and sewed the inner curve and a little ways on each side of it. For the remaining side (the larger, outer curve), I decided to just sew some snaps on, to make it easier to get the pillows in and out of the covers. They're not the prettiest things in the world, but given that I used material from around the house and probably paid $6 or less for the filling (coupons, JoAnns, need I say more?), and nursing pillows cost about $40, I'll take my not-so-cute, sorta-lumpy pillows and see how they do and save my $34 for something else...like diapers.


Changing Pad Cover
I saw a couple different things on pinterest about making your own changing pad covers; I had purchased one but thought it probably wouldn't be too hard to make another. I handed this task off to Adam, who quickly whipped up a cover, using an old sheet and thread we had on handed, meaning we paid no money for it at all. Nice! (Covers are about $8 or more a piece, so decent savings there.) He followed the same basic principle as when he made the sheets, but this time he did use elastic, and he also had to make a hole in each side in order for the changing pad's safety buckle to have a spot to fit through.


So, those our baby projects. I suppose it's a bit of misnomer to call this post DIY, since I didn't do it myself--I had a lot of help from Adam--but together, we made some pretty cool things and saved a decent bit of money. Not too shabby. And I might post pictures at some point, but right now, the camera and cord are packed in the hospital bag, and I'm not digging those out.

Pregnancy Update

We hit the 36 week mark yesterday, which is great. One more week and the babies will be considered full-term--and since 50% of twins are born by 36 weeks, we're doing pretty darn good.

The babies are healthy and active. I have to do a non-stress test at the hospital every week, and they have had good heart rates at each of those. Funnily enough, it's always easier to get the boy hooked up to the monitor; the girl squirms and moves and kicks the monitor. One of the nurses told me that she's going to be pretty feisty. And then, we found out this week that although the boy is bigger in most measurements, the girl weighs more. So, it sounds like we've got a skinny, calm boy and a round, feisty girl...or in other words, pretty much a mini-Adam and a mini-Adrienne. Both babies weigh over 5.5 pounds, so they're doing good.

Adam and I have actually put together a list of baby names! Granted the lists are like 30 names long, but we're working on narrowing them down, and by the time the babies come, we should hopefully have a better idea of what these kids are going to be named.

I am still on bed rest, although I'm hoping next week when I hit 37 weeks, they'll take me off bed rest and let me try to have the babies, instead of telling me to try not to have the babies.

We're kind of up in the air as to whether we will have to have a c-section or not. In order to do a vaginal delivery, we need the placenta to be at least 2 centimeters away from the cervix and we need at least Baby A to be head down. At our appointment this week, the placenta was 1.6 cm away from the cervix and both babies were breech. So, if we go into labor or have bleeding or anything before our next appointment (on May 9), we definitely have to have a c-section. If we make it to our next appointment and the placenta hasn't moved, we will have to do a c-section, which will likely be scheduled for May 17...or will happen earlier if I go into labor on my own before then. If we make it to our next appointment and the placenta has moved at least .4 cm and Baby A is head down, then we can try for a vaginal delivery...which would happen whenever I went into labor, or, if I have to be induced, somewhere around May 22-May 24.

With all of that, this would be my ideal situation: we make it to the next appointment, the placenta has moved and Baby A is head down so we get to try to for a vaginal delivery...and then I go into labor anytime between May 9 and May 14, we deliver, and we're home just in time for my mom to get here to help. I can't imagine having to go until May 24; I'm already huge and sore and I don't want to get much bigger or hurt more! I also don't want to have to have a c-section because then I have to wait until after I'm all stitched up to hold the babies and that takes an HOUR or more! I want to be able to hold them right away!

Who knows what will actually happen, and what I want the most is for the babies to have whatever they need, but if it's all the same to them, I'm hoping for a vaginal delivery between the 9th and the 14th. It'll be interesting to see how it really plays out...so stay tuned!

Going on Bed Rest...

On Saturday, April 13th, Adam and I were just hanging out at home, when I suddenly had a HUGE gush of blood. (I've never bled so much in my life before. It was a LOT of blood.) We quickly hurried to get in the car to go to the hospital because we knew this could be really bad for the babies. En route, I called Mountain View Hospital Labor and Delivery to tell them what was up; they told me that since I was only 33.5 weeks along, I should go to Utah Valley Hospital instead, since the NICU at MVH can't handle babies younger than 35 weeks old. They called my doctor to see what he thought and he agreed that we needed to go to Utah Valley. So, we headed to Utah Valley instead (despite the fact that our insurance doesn't cover it), where they got me and the babies hooked up to monitors and had the NICU on alert in case the babies decided they were going to be born.
The bleeding stopped, the babies had strong heart rates, and I was not having contractions, which were all good signs. Just in case, they gave me a shot that would promote lung development in the babies and kept us at the hospital overnight. (This was actually my first stay in a hospital since I was a newborn, so that was kinda weird. Luckily, Adam got to stay, too, although neither of us slept so well.)
In the morning, my doctor stopped by and told us I could go home but that other than doctor's appointments, I was consigned to bed rest. So...the couch and I are going to be good friends, I guess.
We had two doctors appointments today; first, we went to the hospital to do a non-stress test, which is basically what they did all night when I was at the hospital: they hook each of the babies and me up to a monitor check their heart rates and see if I'm having contractions. Heart rates are good; my "contractions" are barely there, rare, and not something I can actually feel at this point.
Then we went over to my ob/gyn's office, and he did an ultrasound. What he found was that the bleeding was caused by the uterus stretching and pulling one of the placentas with it. Well, it happened to be the placentas that was causing my marginal placenta previa...and it pulled in the right direction, meaning away from the cervix...which means, maybe, possibly, there's a slight chance we might not have to have a c-section. We'll do some follow up ultrasounds in the next couple weeks to see...but here's hoping that all of that bleeding was just the Lord's way of helping us not to have to have a c-section.

FAQs about My Pregnancy, Round II

I have been super bad about blogging lately, but in my defense, I have been super busy getting ready for two little babies! However, given that I still get lots of questions, I thought I'd go back to the blog and start writing while I have a minute.

Q: How are you feeling?
A: Very, very pregnant. Overall, I think I'm doing well--I mean, I'm 30 weeks pregnant with twins and I'm still moving, so that's good, right? I feel tired a lot, especially since it's really hard to get comfortable enough to sleep. I try to squeeze in naps during the day, but that doesn't always work. My belly hurts a lot of the time, just from the weight of two babies and their placentas and everything. My ankles and feet are pretty swollen and sometimes it's hard to walk. I'm just worn out and have kinda hit the point where I wonder how I can keep doing this until they actually get here! Emotionally...I've also hit the hard stuff. It's been super fun doing baby showers and registries and shopping and things like that, but now that we've got most of that done, there's more time to worry about stuff--like, how the heck we pay for two babies, especially with me quitting my job, and whether or not I'll be able to breastfeed both of them and if they'll stay in there full term or decided to come early, etc. So, yeah, it's gotten harder mentally and emotionally just as much as it has physically. We're still super excited, but the fear/anxiety is starting to creep in, too. And those dumb hormones are making me cry a lot. (Not like every day, but definitely more than I have in earlier months in the pregnancy.)

Q: What's your due date again?/How far along are you?
A: Well, as of this moment I'm 29 weeks, 6 days along. I don't exactly have a due date. I know only like 3% of women deliver on their due date anyway, but with twins, it's even more random when they'll actually come. So...hopefully sometime in May. Forty weeks would be May 29, but we will not make it that far. 50% of twins are born by 36 weeks--which would be May 1 for us; full-term is 37 weeks (May 8). We're hoping for at least May 8, so it gives the babies' lungs and everything time to develop. The doctor hasn't given us an absolutely firm date, but he did say he wouldn't let me go to 40 weeks...which I was happy to hear. We have the added complication that we are pretty much all but guaranteed to have to have a c-section because I have marginal placenta previa and the odds of the placenta moving enough to deliver vaginally are not good.

Q:Do you have names yet?
A: No...and please stop asking! It's stressing me out! I am no closer to having names than I was last time I posted (in December). And...I wouldn't tell you the names anyway, so you don't really need to know if I have them picked out, right? So stop asking and just wait 'til they're born, please.

Q:How much longer are you going to work?
A: I have 4 more days of work, with 2 days off in there. Next Monday is my last day, which is kinda surreal. I've been at the library for nearly 4 years (plus an 8 month stint as page a couple years before that) and even though I'm ready to be done physically because it's hard doing anything these days, I'm not sure I'm ready emotionally and mentally. I have really great co-workers and it's going to be really weird not talking to them all the time. There are definitely certain parts of my job (like certain wacko patrons) that I won't miss, but overall, this is the best job I've ever had. I'm certainly looking forward to being a stay-at-home mom...but those weeks in between while I'm sitting around trying not to go into labor are a weird concept for me.

Q: Are you going to have to go on bed rest?
A: Um...not exactly, but close. Once I quit, I pretty much spend the next several weeks trying to not to have babies early. I'm allowed to get up, but my doctor said I should spend most of my time being horizontal. I asked him what I can do and he said, "Check your email and catch up on your chick flicks." We'll hash out more details at my appointment next week, but for now, I'm just looking forward to nap time, as many times a day as I want.

Q: How are the babies?
A: Good! They are healthy and growing. As of today, my little girl was 3.2 pounds and my little boy was 3.0 pounds. (They always flip flop who is bigger, though; last week he was bigger.) So that means I pretty much have the equivalent weight of one full-term baby inside me...and double the length. No wonder I'm huge! They are progressing nicely and I was told today that their hearts look great...which makes me happy, even though I don't know how exactly they know that. They're not super, super active (probably because they don't have enough room), but they're definitely doing some moving And no, I can't tell which one is which when they move, other than the fact that I know roughly which side they're on. So if I get kicked in the lower right side, it's probably the boy. Top left would probably be the girl, but that's not a common spot for me to feel movement. Any movement in the middle is anyone's guess. I did have a few minutes yesterday when I wondered if they were hitting each other because I kept feeling one movement followed very closely by a second movement...but then again, it could have just been one baby using two appendages.

Um...I think that's all for now. Plus, I'm hungry and have to go eat...again. (I'm getting a little tired of eating all the time!)