If anyone still visits here and would like to keep up with me on my personal journal, it can be found at http://jen1422.blogspot.com
:)
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Update
I just thought I'd give a quick update since it has been a long time!
I am doing wonderful. Just still trying to get rid of this weight! I'm definitely much stronger now, but the weight isnt really budging and its driving me crazy. Oh well. They say it takes 9 months to put on the weight and another 9 to lose it. We'll see! I lost ALL my baby weight within 2 months after having Quinn, but then again, that was only one baby and one baby's worth of extra hormones in my body. I think the pregnancy hormones are just now starting to leave my body. My chin acne is almost gone and my hair is falling out like crazy. Thats normal for me after having babies though...my hair doesnt shed much at all while pregnant but once the hormones are out of my system, the hair starts coming out. I'm STILL waiting for my period to come, too. That makes me nervous because being pregnant right now, so soon after delivering twins, is a really scary thought. Not to mention we arent even thinking about having another child until after our 10th anniversary vacation next year. Then we'll think about it.
This fall Quinn will be attending preschool 3 days a week and Ian will be in Kindergarten. It will be weird having both boys in school! But at least I will have a few hours a week to myself. I will probably just use it to do my grocery shopping in peace! :)
The girls are doing great! Last I heard, Lyla was outweighing Presley by a full pound! I cant believe they are almost 3 months old already. I hope they start to sleep through the night soon so mom & dad can get some good sleep. Uninterrupted sleep makes ALL the difference!
Well I hope everyone is having a lovely spring/summer! We just got back from a vacation to Wisconsin Dells. We stayed at Great Wolf Lodge and spent 3 days in the waterpark. So fun! The boys are in swimming lessons this summer at the gym, so hopefully next time we go back to the Dells they can swim and not bobble around in lifejackets. ;)
I'm growing a garden again this year. I did more soil prep so hopefully I have better luck this year. I'm growing Roma tomatoes, Big Boy tomatoes, Cherry tomatoes, banana peppers, bell peppers, marconi peppers, poblano peppers, strawberries, and basil. If I grew onions I would have a salsa garden! lol
Hope everyone is doing well! This will be a great summer! :)
I am doing wonderful. Just still trying to get rid of this weight! I'm definitely much stronger now, but the weight isnt really budging and its driving me crazy. Oh well. They say it takes 9 months to put on the weight and another 9 to lose it. We'll see! I lost ALL my baby weight within 2 months after having Quinn, but then again, that was only one baby and one baby's worth of extra hormones in my body. I think the pregnancy hormones are just now starting to leave my body. My chin acne is almost gone and my hair is falling out like crazy. Thats normal for me after having babies though...my hair doesnt shed much at all while pregnant but once the hormones are out of my system, the hair starts coming out. I'm STILL waiting for my period to come, too. That makes me nervous because being pregnant right now, so soon after delivering twins, is a really scary thought. Not to mention we arent even thinking about having another child until after our 10th anniversary vacation next year. Then we'll think about it.
This fall Quinn will be attending preschool 3 days a week and Ian will be in Kindergarten. It will be weird having both boys in school! But at least I will have a few hours a week to myself. I will probably just use it to do my grocery shopping in peace! :)
The girls are doing great! Last I heard, Lyla was outweighing Presley by a full pound! I cant believe they are almost 3 months old already. I hope they start to sleep through the night soon so mom & dad can get some good sleep. Uninterrupted sleep makes ALL the difference!
Well I hope everyone is having a lovely spring/summer! We just got back from a vacation to Wisconsin Dells. We stayed at Great Wolf Lodge and spent 3 days in the waterpark. So fun! The boys are in swimming lessons this summer at the gym, so hopefully next time we go back to the Dells they can swim and not bobble around in lifejackets. ;)
I'm growing a garden again this year. I did more soil prep so hopefully I have better luck this year. I'm growing Roma tomatoes, Big Boy tomatoes, Cherry tomatoes, banana peppers, bell peppers, marconi peppers, poblano peppers, strawberries, and basil. If I grew onions I would have a salsa garden! lol
Hope everyone is doing well! This will be a great summer! :)
Monday, April 13, 2009
Goodbye little girls
Well Lyla was discharged on Wednesday and Presley was discharged yesterday, on Easter. M&B brought them over last night for a couple hours to visit and say goodbye. They are headed home today. After 5 weeks of being away from home I can only imagine how good it will feel for M&B to get back to their own house and for life to get back to normal. Well, their "new" normal, that is!
I got to hold both girls for a while and then I fed Presley her bottle while Chris fed Lyla. It was so nice to get to snuggle them for a bit! Even Quinn got to hold a baby and he was so excited!
I held it together until I hugged M&B goodbye...that's when I started to get all teary-eyed. Once they got in their car I started crying. This was the first time I had cried since the end of Feb when I was in the hospital for a couple days by myself. So it was time for a good cry. It's going to be strange to not have all of them around. I cant just go visit them whenever I want to. And its not just the babies I will miss. I will definitely miss M&B as well. Next time I see them all in person, those girls are going to be toddling around all over the place!! We'll go visit them next year...maybe for their birthday or during the summer. Until then I'll be happy to see pictures and get updates.
Well, goodbye little girls. Fill your Mom & Dad's lives with unimagineable joy. Go easy on them and keep up the good feedings and the good sleeping! It was truly an honor to carry you for 8.5 months and to bring you into the world nice and healthy. You dont even know yet how lucky you are to have 2 wonderful and caring parents like M&B. They have planned for you, waited for you, and have loved you before you ever even existed. You can never have too much love in your lives, so also know that you have people in Minnesota who love you as well.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Ah the twin diet
20 pounds down, 20 to go. And then another 15 to get me back to my real starting weight...the weight I was before I started my mock cycle last March. I'm not too worried about it yet...I'm only a week postpartum!
The girls are still in the nursery, but they did pass their carseat tests yesterday! Hopefully they will both master eating their bottles without taking a snooze in the middle of it so they can get out of the nursery. And honestly, dont most newborns fall asleep while eating? I know mine always did. But I suppose the nurses know whats best. I cant even imagine how ready M&B are to go home!
I had to stop pumping a couple days ago. Pumps arent 'natural' so it really tore me up and caused some pretty yucky issues, so as much as I hated to stop, I really had to. I was super painfully engorged the last couple days but today seems to be better. The swelling has gone down and they arent as big or as hard as they were. I did the best I could though!
Today will be 45 and sunny so I am actually going to leave the house for once! We're going a little stir crazy here and this weather is nuts. We had snow yesterday and today will be relatively warm and sunny. So I plan to take advantage of it and get these boys out for some fresh air.
Ready for the weekend!
The girls are still in the nursery, but they did pass their carseat tests yesterday! Hopefully they will both master eating their bottles without taking a snooze in the middle of it so they can get out of the nursery. And honestly, dont most newborns fall asleep while eating? I know mine always did. But I suppose the nurses know whats best. I cant even imagine how ready M&B are to go home!
I had to stop pumping a couple days ago. Pumps arent 'natural' so it really tore me up and caused some pretty yucky issues, so as much as I hated to stop, I really had to. I was super painfully engorged the last couple days but today seems to be better. The swelling has gone down and they arent as big or as hard as they were. I did the best I could though!
Today will be 45 and sunny so I am actually going to leave the house for once! We're going a little stir crazy here and this weather is nuts. We had snow yesterday and today will be relatively warm and sunny. So I plan to take advantage of it and get these boys out for some fresh air.
Ready for the weekend!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Quick update
Well there's not too much going on over here. I'm doing good, just healing and sleeping...all that good stuff! Several people have asked me how I'm doing emotionally, and honestly I am doing just fine. It is a little weird now that we had this buildup to this huge moment, and now everything is calm and quiet. The last year was all about bringing a baby or two into this world for M&B and that mission was accomplished. So its just kind of strange that its all over!
I have been pumping breastmilk for the girls. Since they were born a little bit early, I know that breastmilk is very beneficial for them and I am determined to make it work! The last few days I was doing pretty well with the colostrum and then last night my milk came in. I woke up this morning in PAIN. I pumped this morning and got a decent amount, then tried again in the early afternoon and hardly got anything. I wasnt very happy with that, especially considering that M&B brought me some more containers for the milk and told me that the girls were gulping it down. So I was determined to keep this going for as long as the girls are here. I found my old Medela pump (I had been using the Medela Symphony that I rented from the hospital) and tried that and WOW it worked so much better than the double pump from the hospital! So I have gotten plenty of milk for them today. I am so glad we're back on track with the milk.
The girls are doing very well. They are eating well and will possibly get to have their IV's taken out within a couple days. They will have to pass the carseat test before they can leave though. But thats just to make sure they can fit properly and safely into a carseat. Very important! There's no real timeline of when they can leave though, so everyone's just taking it one day at a time.
I havent been up there to see them since the morning I left the hospital (Thursday). I've been trying to make sure I keep my distance, just because I've obviously never done this before and dont want to freak M&B out if I appear too eager to go see them. I'm pretty sure they know they dont have to worry about me though. I do miss those wiggly little girls, but its just like any other pregnancy where you birth a child and miss feeling him/her kick and squirm in your belly. M&B have been wonderful...with all the updates and the pictures and inviting me up to see the girls before I left the hospital. I think we might go up there tomorrow afternoon sometime so I can return the rental pump, drop off some milk for the girls, and of course visit with all of them. I'll have to check with them tomorrow and see if that would be ok. All 4 of us would be going and I dont even know if they'd allow Ian & Quinn into the special care nursery. We'll see!
I want to take a second to thank each and every one of you who has followed this journey, commented on my blog, and just overall supported all of us throughout the past year. I have never felt so much love from so many people all over the world. It is a truly amazing feeling to know that so many people are praying for you & thinking of you. My friends have been angels to me and my church has been amazing as well. They're even having people bring us meals for a few days! And Chris, my darling husband, has been awesome from day 1. I know he will be happy to no longer be on grocery/dinner/cleaning duty though! I am actually looking forward to getting back to normal and doing the things around here I used to do. And then my Mom, who has texted me every single day to check on me and make sure I was doing ok. Yes mom, I'm fine, I promise! :)
Well, time for sleep. I love sleep. :)
I have been pumping breastmilk for the girls. Since they were born a little bit early, I know that breastmilk is very beneficial for them and I am determined to make it work! The last few days I was doing pretty well with the colostrum and then last night my milk came in. I woke up this morning in PAIN. I pumped this morning and got a decent amount, then tried again in the early afternoon and hardly got anything. I wasnt very happy with that, especially considering that M&B brought me some more containers for the milk and told me that the girls were gulping it down. So I was determined to keep this going for as long as the girls are here. I found my old Medela pump (I had been using the Medela Symphony that I rented from the hospital) and tried that and WOW it worked so much better than the double pump from the hospital! So I have gotten plenty of milk for them today. I am so glad we're back on track with the milk.
The girls are doing very well. They are eating well and will possibly get to have their IV's taken out within a couple days. They will have to pass the carseat test before they can leave though. But thats just to make sure they can fit properly and safely into a carseat. Very important! There's no real timeline of when they can leave though, so everyone's just taking it one day at a time.
I havent been up there to see them since the morning I left the hospital (Thursday). I've been trying to make sure I keep my distance, just because I've obviously never done this before and dont want to freak M&B out if I appear too eager to go see them. I'm pretty sure they know they dont have to worry about me though. I do miss those wiggly little girls, but its just like any other pregnancy where you birth a child and miss feeling him/her kick and squirm in your belly. M&B have been wonderful...with all the updates and the pictures and inviting me up to see the girls before I left the hospital. I think we might go up there tomorrow afternoon sometime so I can return the rental pump, drop off some milk for the girls, and of course visit with all of them. I'll have to check with them tomorrow and see if that would be ok. All 4 of us would be going and I dont even know if they'd allow Ian & Quinn into the special care nursery. We'll see!
I want to take a second to thank each and every one of you who has followed this journey, commented on my blog, and just overall supported all of us throughout the past year. I have never felt so much love from so many people all over the world. It is a truly amazing feeling to know that so many people are praying for you & thinking of you. My friends have been angels to me and my church has been amazing as well. They're even having people bring us meals for a few days! And Chris, my darling husband, has been awesome from day 1. I know he will be happy to no longer be on grocery/dinner/cleaning duty though! I am actually looking forward to getting back to normal and doing the things around here I used to do. And then my Mom, who has texted me every single day to check on me and make sure I was doing ok. Yes mom, I'm fine, I promise! :)
Well, time for sleep. I love sleep. :)
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Introducing...
Miss Presley (being burped by her proud daddy!):
And back in her isolette:
And back in her isolette:
Miss Lyla (being fed by her proud mommy!):
And making a face:
Backtracking a bit, here I am before the contractions got painful!
And here I am in the OR, about to push:
I have tons more pictures, but these are the only ones I am going to share. The rest I think should remain private between my family and M&B's. :)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
They're here!
So much for my poll! LOL! And if you voted after already knowing I was in labor then you cheated! ;)
My water broke around 5pm last night, while sitting on the toilet of all places! M&B picked me up while Chris took our boys to the sitter, and we got to the hospital around 6:30. They hooked me up and my contrax werent very strong or close enough together, so they gave me some pitocin to get it going. It started to hurt around 9:30 and I was dilated to 5-6cm. Got my epi and was feeling great by 10:30. The doctor checked me around 12:30am and said I was complete!
They moved me to the OR just in case I needed a c-section. The doctor got me all set up and had me push...little Presley Skye came out in one push at 12:47am. She then was able to turn Baby B from breech to vertex, which wasnt very pleasant feeling. Lyla Brooke was born after 3 pushes at 12:54am. Both girls came out screaming! They both weighed 4lbs 15 oz...Presley is 17.5" and Lyla is 18.5". Their Apgars were 9,9 and 8,9. The nurse was in disbelief that they were so incredibly healthy for being preemies. She said she would have given them perfect 10s but she never even gives 10s to full term babies.
So despite being born at 34w4d, they will likely be released from the special care nursery as soon as its determined that they can eat and their sucking reflex is working properly. No NICU time at all! I just pumped some colostrum and sent it upstairs for the girls and I will continue to pump as long as M&B want me to.
The doctor told us that this was the easiest twin birth she had ever been a part of! It just went so well and so quickly. It really was perfect! The nurses teared up a bit when they saw M&B's faces when they saw their daughters for the first time.
Oh, and what was really cool was that even though we were in the OR, they let all 3 of 'my people' stay in the room. So Chris was there playing photographer, and M&B got to be right there were the action was. It was truly an amazing experience.
They invited me up to see the girls this morning when they went in there and they are absolutely BEAUTIFUL. No wrinkly, swollen newborn look at all. Beautiful round heads full of dark hair, precious dainty features, the sweetest little lips.
If I am able to, I will post pictures later. Its totally up to M&B and their comfort level. I could possibly even post the pics and then take them down after a couple days or so.
This was the most awesome thing I have ever done. M&B are the greatest and have truly made this the perfect journey I had hoped for. I dont get very emotional, so I didn't cry during the birth or anything, but my heart was just so filled with love for these girls and pride in myself and my body for doing such a good job. I set out to help create a family and all I ever wanted was to carry a big strong healthy baby for someone...and I lucked out and got to carry two of them.
So this journey has come to an end, but in other ways it is just beginning. :)
My water broke around 5pm last night, while sitting on the toilet of all places! M&B picked me up while Chris took our boys to the sitter, and we got to the hospital around 6:30. They hooked me up and my contrax werent very strong or close enough together, so they gave me some pitocin to get it going. It started to hurt around 9:30 and I was dilated to 5-6cm. Got my epi and was feeling great by 10:30. The doctor checked me around 12:30am and said I was complete!
They moved me to the OR just in case I needed a c-section. The doctor got me all set up and had me push...little Presley Skye came out in one push at 12:47am. She then was able to turn Baby B from breech to vertex, which wasnt very pleasant feeling. Lyla Brooke was born after 3 pushes at 12:54am. Both girls came out screaming! They both weighed 4lbs 15 oz...Presley is 17.5" and Lyla is 18.5". Their Apgars were 9,9 and 8,9. The nurse was in disbelief that they were so incredibly healthy for being preemies. She said she would have given them perfect 10s but she never even gives 10s to full term babies.
So despite being born at 34w4d, they will likely be released from the special care nursery as soon as its determined that they can eat and their sucking reflex is working properly. No NICU time at all! I just pumped some colostrum and sent it upstairs for the girls and I will continue to pump as long as M&B want me to.
The doctor told us that this was the easiest twin birth she had ever been a part of! It just went so well and so quickly. It really was perfect! The nurses teared up a bit when they saw M&B's faces when they saw their daughters for the first time.
Oh, and what was really cool was that even though we were in the OR, they let all 3 of 'my people' stay in the room. So Chris was there playing photographer, and M&B got to be right there were the action was. It was truly an amazing experience.
They invited me up to see the girls this morning when they went in there and they are absolutely BEAUTIFUL. No wrinkly, swollen newborn look at all. Beautiful round heads full of dark hair, precious dainty features, the sweetest little lips.
If I am able to, I will post pictures later. Its totally up to M&B and their comfort level. I could possibly even post the pics and then take them down after a couple days or so.
This was the most awesome thing I have ever done. M&B are the greatest and have truly made this the perfect journey I had hoped for. I dont get very emotional, so I didn't cry during the birth or anything, but my heart was just so filled with love for these girls and pride in myself and my body for doing such a good job. I set out to help create a family and all I ever wanted was to carry a big strong healthy baby for someone...and I lucked out and got to carry two of them.
So this journey has come to an end, but in other ways it is just beginning. :)
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