My computer crashed.

Was so excited to start blogging again and then my computer crashes ;(. Blogging from my phone now. May have to use husband's in the future but he doesn't have a word program.

Post-Partum Belly

Post-Partum Belly

So I recently saw a blog post on baby center about the post-partum belly. During my pregnancy I tried to avoid stress marks at all cost. I wrote many a blogs about it. I used product after product and heard the comment that annoyed me “it’s genetic… blah,blah, blah.” This comment annoyed me because while some things may be genetic your environment also always plays a huge important role. That’s like saying your fat because of genetics so it doesn’t matter what you eat. To me this is stupid.

So my mom never had twins and never got stress marks. Well I got them, I didn’t start getting them until around 28 weeks and will I was bummed I got them. However, it so does matter at all now.

So back to the blog on baby center there were many women who wondered what would happen to stress marks after pregnancy. Mine have faded a lot since the twins birth. And there were many brave women who shared pictures of their post-partum bellies, which is where the idea for this post came from.

Well last week my husband and went on a mini beach vacation to celebrate our wedding anniversary and I rocked a binki.

No my body is not perfect and it shows the wear and tear of having children 12 short weeks ago.

But for the first time in my life I respect my body. My body is amazing and I have two beautiful 12 week old babies as proof.

So I leave you with my post-partum belly pictures. They show that 12 weeks ago I had two babies living inside of me. They show that I am a mom. And they show that I am a tiger who earned her stripes!

Pumping. How to Increase milk supply.

Pumping. I have mastered pumping. I have not mastered breast feeding. I have two preemie babies and breast feeding is still a work in progress. I return to work at the end of Sept. So pumping might me our way.

I logged on to baby center today, the first time in a long time that I actually had some time to browse the broads and postings. There were so many post and questions about pumping and how to increase your milk supply. Well I feel like I have been there and done that with those questions. I researched so much about increasing my milk supply and found what worked for me.

My babies were born at 33 weeks and spent 3 weeks in the NICU. I started pumping the night they were born. I knew from research that in order to get my supply in, keep my supply up, and increase my supply I had to pump regularly and for at least 15-20 minutes. So that night I started pumping every 2 hours around the clock. The nurses tried to tell me to get some sleep and not to worry so much about pumping around the clock but I didn’t listen. My babies got jibed out of 7 weeks in utero I was determined to do my part by providing them liquid gold!

 Within 2 days my milk came in. I was pumping several ounces and had much more than my babies needed. Each day I took a supply of breast milk to the hospital and froze some.

When my babies came home I had so much milk in the freezer we were able to make 24 hours of bottles in advance which was crucial to surviving the first few days.

After the babies came home life got busier and I was not pumping as regular and my milk supply greatly decreased. I was relying on my freezer stash to get us through the days and before long that stash was gone and I was not producing enough to feed both babies. So we started supplementing with formula. That was a huge mistake because I had it in my mind I did not have to make as much breast milk because they were having some bottles of formula.

I was frustrated I didn’t understand how all of a sudden when my babies came home my milk supply decreased. Well after researching this… it was easy to see, I wasn’t getting enough sleep, and I wasnt pumping as regularly.

So I tried to start pumping on a more regular basis and slowly my milk supply increased. But it wasn’t enough.

I wanted to quit. But I felt I owed it to the babies to give them breast milk at least until they were considered term. On a selfish note I didn’t want to quit because I didn’t want to spend the money on formula! They are on the preemie formula and it is super expensive!

So I spent most of my free time trying to figure out how to increase my supply.

I read a lot.  A lot of findings said, most women think they don’t have enough milk but that is rarely the case. I started drinking Mother’s Milk tea it helped. I took Fenugreek it helped. But it makes your pee smell really bad and it’s not something you want to take forever.

But what really helped was my Simplest Wishes hands free pumping bra. It made pumping more enjoyable because It gave me time to do other things like use the computer. Most of the time I am pumping and bottle feeding a baby at the same time. So the bra is a time saver and allows me to have free time. Which makes pumping a more enjoyable experience.

The bra also helped me to increase my supply because it holds the pump firmly in place on the breast.

I no longer take the Mothers Milk or Fenugreek because I do not need to for my supply. But in my research found it is good to use if you need to build a stash of milk before departing from your baby, or undergoing surgery or something when you will not be able to provide your baby with fresh breast milk.

So here are my tips for increasing your breast milk supply and for happy pumping.

1.      MUST have a hands free pumping bra… I recommend the Simple Wishes one

http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Wishes-Hands-Free-Breastpump-XS/dp/B00295MQLU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345565255&sr=8-1&keywords=simple+wishes+hands-free+breastpump+bra

2.      Drink plenty of water

3.      Drink an Ensure daily. This helps your body not feel so drained from pumping. I drink mine first thing in the morning.

4.      You must pump regularly. I pump every 3 hours during the day. I do not pump at night. You also need to pump 15-30 minutes (how long will depend on you and or time of day) to empty the breast to signal the body to make more.

5.      To create a milk stash and get supply up use Mother’s Milk tea of Fenugreek. It is important to know that some babies stomachs may not be able to handle it. Mine did fine.

 http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Mothers-Milk-Tea-Bags/dp/B0009Y8AGI/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1345565429&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=mothers+milk+tea

http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Way-Fenugreek-Capsules-180ea/dp/B0009ETA6W/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1345565492&sr=1-1&key

6.      Buy a nice pump I have the MEDELA PUMP IN STYLE

http://www.amazon.com/Medela-Pump-Style-Advanced-Breast/dp/B004HWXCJS/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1345565354&sr=1-1&keywords=pump+in+style+advanced

7.      Have some nipple cream handy. Your nipples will hurt in the beginning and from time to time so the cream helps. Over time your nipples get used to it and it no longer hurts.

http://www.amazon.com/Lansinoh-Lanolin-Breastfeeding-Mothers-Grams/dp/B005MI648C/ref=sr_1_2?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1345565394&sr=1-2&keywords=nipple+cream

8.      DO NOT supplement this tricks your mind and body into thinking you do not need more. I read one article that said think milk, lots and lots of milk.

9.      DO NOT GIVE UP IT WILL GET BETTER J it’s the best for you, your baby, and your wallet!

P.S. I am pumping right now.

Hope this Helps!
Heather

A failed trip to the mall.

There is no way I can possibly catch up on everything that has happened in the last 11 weeks so I am not going to try. I am going to start with today!

I thought I was superwoman. I woke today with the idea that I was getting out of the house. Being in the house all day is hard for me. So I showered and had both the twins feed by 12:15. (The eat every 3 hours 12,3,6,9…). I was ready to go so I would have time to shop and be home before the 3pm feeding.

Then I discovered that the double stroller was in my husband’s car! FAIL! I was so mad. It’s very hard to go somewhere by yourself with 11 week old twins and no stroller. I know because this has happened before and I tried it.

Hubby brought me the stroller even though I told him not to. I told him by the time he brought me the stroller it would be time to feed them again, so forget! He brought me the stroller anyways and at 1:45pm I decided I would go to the post office and the mall to spend my birthday gift certificates. I figure I had enough time to grab want I wanted from the mall and mail a book I sold on Amazon.

I brought a bottle of “Ready to Feed” formula with me in case time did not work in my favor and figured I could feed the twins in the mall.

First stop post office… other than a long line of waiting that trip was uneventful. Side note: every time I have been to the post office for the last 2 years… there is only one person working and an awful long line! What is up with that?!

Then the mall…

It started with me going to the mother with small children parking spots. There was a women with a baby taking up both spots because she was parked in one and had her empty stroller sitting in the other spot. I was annoyed (you put your stroller behind your car not to take up the other spot) but I saw there was a spot on the other side so I went around. I parked and had both of my babies in stroller and in the mall before the other mother could get her baby out of the car.

I laughed to myself… but that was short lived. 10 minutes after being in the mall, dear Presley started to throw a fit… I tried to soothe her with her pacifier and that only lasted for a few minutes. She would not stop crying and I was embarrassed. I do not like to look like I can’t handle having twins.

So I took her out of the car seat and held her and she way fine. So here I am in the mall baby in one hand pushing a giant double stroller with the other. I am thinking this isn’t going to work.   

Presley is continuing to cry. I look at the clock 2:45…okay… I guess she is hungry.

I find a bench that is isolated from people (I already had this spot preplanned before going to the mall. It’s a side entrance no one uses because there is no parking there) I sat and tried to feed Presley.

I pull out my ready to mix formula, shake it up, pour it in a bottle and stick it in screaming Presley’s mouth. She is so upset it takes her a second to realize her bottle is in her mouth. She takes one sip, spits it out, and screams! “FORUMULA I HATE FORUMLA!” (I am sure that’s what she is saying!)

My babes are feed breast milk except when we are out and a about they have the ready to mix formula. She normally will eat without much fuss but today was a big NO!

So with that I leave the mall with my screaming baby in my arm and pushing Noah and the double stroller with the other. All eyes are on me and feel people pitty me.

So much for my mall trip and for being superwoman!

Better luck next time….

Diaper Stockpile

Diaper stockpile has been a hug life saver and money saver!



Heres how I did it...

http://www.mcmunnbabies.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-am-planner-i-am-do-er-i-am-money.html

Wombmates!

My womb-mates at 11 weeks old!

2 month check up!

I have been horrible about updating... lets just say life is a little crazy... but beautiful... I think about bloggin all the time but just never get around to doing it. I hoping to get better at this.

Today the twins had their 2 month check up. Presley is 8lbs 6 ounces and 20 1/4 inches long. Noah is 9lbs 6 ounces and 20 3/4 inches long. They are both perfectly healthy and that is such a blessing.

They got their 1st round of shots today... they took them like champs. But since then they have not been themselves. Noah was so fussy... he never crys like he did today. Presley was soooo sleepy. Niether would feed well. Spoke with the doctor and apparently this behavior is normal.

The other news we got at the doctor's office today was we can get rid of our 3am feeding. We have been feeding the babies everything 3 hours and were waking them at night to feed to help them gain weight. But now we have the okay to let them sleep... we wont feed them until they wake us. So I am intresed to see how that goes tonight and am excited and hopeful to get some sleep myself.

Being a twin mama is tricky, but we are getting the hang of it and life is beautiful!

xoxo,
Heather

The Schedule

The Schedule

So one of the greatest gifts we received from the babies’ three week stay at the hospital was having a schedule and routine established for us.

I read so much about the importance of schedules for babies and parents and how schedules can help you keep your sanity with twins.

The babies are on a three hour care schedule from the hospital… for now Mike and I have been able to keep it going and it really is making this twins thing easy. Yes I said it easy! Let’s not forget they have only been home for two weeks. But so far the schedule has been going great and our lives seem normal and we are really enjoying having twins!

It really isn’t that hard you just do everything twice… and as my husband said all you need for twins is a little team work. Thankfully my husband and I make a pretty good team J.

So the three how care schedule… every three hours we change the twins and feed them. They are both eating two ounces.  They care schedule is 9am,12pm,3pm,6pm,9pm,12am,3am,6am.

I take care of the twins from 9am -3pm. Mike helps at 6pm and 9pm. I do 12am by myself. Mike goes to bed at 10:30 then does 3am and 6am by himself.

The first few days we both tried to get up and do the 3am and 6am but noticed quickly that while we can do it fast either us got the sleep we needed to get through the day.

So this is what is working for us.

I pump after every bottle feed during the day and before the 9pm feed Mike makes the bottles for the next 24 hours. It is really nice to have all the bottles premade. I wash all the bottles before the 6pm feed to allow time to dry so Mike can prepare them for the next day.

Question saw a lot about on baby center. How many bottles do you need?

So we have a total of 20 bottles total. 10 for each baby. 16 needed for the 24 hours and some extras to allow for washing and preparing the next days’ worth.

With this schedule this  is also pretty much the only time we change diapers… if there is a smelly poopy of course we change it before the care time. But just knowing that we change the diaper during care times helps to reduce over changing and diaper waste…. Babies pee so much you do not need to change them every single time. This has cut diapers down to 8 per day per baby for a total of 16 a day.

With the schedule we have also been able to do things like go out to dinner!!! Which is so nice!

We feed them at 6pm and then go! We know we have a good 2 hours before the babies are going to need anything from us.

When we got out all they do is sleep!

A schedule is key to enjoying your family!

Well it’s almost 12pm… time to change and feed… no time for an edit!

Xoxo,

Heather

Home with our babies!

It’s been a long time… but I am going to try to start blogging again!

Life is good my twins are home! They have been home for two weeks now… they came home on father’s day. What a nice 1^st father’s day for my husband!

The NICU/PCN experience was very stressful at the time… just worry about everything, being separated from my babies and not having a clue how long their stay would last at the hospital. If you asked how long the babies would be there… you can’t get an answer the common answer was at their due date or when they do a,b,c, d.

My babies were born at 33 weeks 1 day. They spent 3 weeks and 2 days in the hospital.

Thankfully the babies stay in the hospital was pretty smooth and uneventful. Basically the babies just had to learn how to eat and gain weight before they could leave. Since the babies were born early their suck-breath-swallow reflex was not well coordinated. This is an issue in all preemies.

The babies were born at 4lbs 5 oz and 4lbs 8 oz. Presley got down to 3lbs 10 oz and Noah got down to 4lbs 3 oz. This after birth weight loss was normal.

 Both babies had to be 5lbs and eating bottles at every feed (8 times a day) before they could go home.

At first the babies were feed by a feeding tube with my fortified breast milk. I pumped breast milk for the babies and formula was added to each pump to add calories to the milk. During a pump feeding pacifiers were held in the babies mouths to help them understand food = suck.

After 5 days the babies were giveb a bottle for the first time… they only had to drink 10ml but it was very hard for them. Over time they got better… and once they were on all bottle feeds for 48 hours with no weight loss they could come home!

A lot of times preemie babies will lose weight when they start to bottle feed because they are burning so many calories just to eat the bottle. Thankfully the twins didn’t really have a problem with this.

Since the babies have been home life has been good.

Mike and I have happily settled into our family of four plus two pups!

I leave you with pictures of our home coming!

May 25th 2012.. my babies are born!

12 days ago I was pregnant… then in what seemed like a second I wasn’t. 12 days ago my water broke, 12 days ago my twins were born by emergency c-section. I am not sure I am really ready to write about what happened that day, but here it goes anyways.

            Thursday May 24^th, 2012, marked 33 weeks. I just went to the doctor for a check-up on Tuesday and was surprised by the thumbs up I got from the doctor. I already wrote a post about everything that happened at this appointment. But to sum it up, the doctor scheduled me for appointments until about June 19^th I believe. (don’t really remember now) She also told me the new plan was 38 weeks at which I laughed. See Tuesday’s appointment surprised me because my pregnancy had all of a sudden gotten so intense. (of course I said this many times during the 33 weeks) But baby A’s head was so low and pressure was so intense I could barely walk… and I thought and talked about to my mom and husband many times about how I truly thought it could be any day now… I even said I don’t think I will make it to June 6^th (today, actually, and the day I proclaimed their birthday).

            Thursday May 24^th, 2012, 33 weeks! One week pass my doctor’s goal of 32 weeks for me. I decided it was time for a picture. I was measuring 50 inches around and 48 inches from the top to the bottom of my bump. I posted the picture online and sent it out in a text message that said “don’t think I can get any bigger…”

            4 hours later May 25^th, 2012 around 1:30am my water broke. 33 weeks and 1 day my water broke. I was lying in bed and my hip starting to throb so I decided it was time to rotate to the other side. Rotating from hip to hip many times during the night was a very common part of my pregnancy sleep. So as I flipped over to the other hip, my water broke or I peed on myself.  My mom was spending the night, she was helping to care for me since I was on bed rest. I screamed “MAMA!” as she came running into the room I said “I think my water broke!” as we both tried to figure it out. My mom convinced me I had just peed on myself.

            I knew I didn’t have to  pee, but it didn’t seem like it was enough fluid for my water. I googled  and googled. Many things said go back to sleep and if you wake up in more water then you know your water broke. I went to sleep for maybe a hour or two. I never had more water. I had a doctor’s appointment at 10am. So I kept telling myself I will be okay until the doctor’s appointment.

            At 5am, I told Mike he needed to take me to hospital. He again told me I was fine. At 6 am I finally called the doctors’ office they told me to come in. I woke Mike up and told him, “I really think my water broke and the doctor told me to come in, now get up!”

            I ran around the house grabbed a few things, like my camera that I had charged the night before (weird), and we were out the door.  As we drove to the hospital I thought I have been to Labor and Delivery so many times and nothing has ever happened. Then I thought this is the first time I have sent myself to Labor and Delivery and I knew what was going to happen. I don’t remember anything else about the car ride.

           

            7am we arrive to the hospital and to the L and D floor. We call back and wait in the waiting room for 15 minutes. At 7:20 we are in L & D room 3, I looked around the room, and for the first time the L&D room looked like a L&D room. (I was in a L&D room 5 or 6 times when on bed rest). I told the doctor, a partner of my doctor, since my doctor was on vacation what happened or what I thought happened. She said, “Ok here’s a gown, go get changed, and I will do a test to see if your water broke and to see if you are dilated.”  As soon as I was changed she did the test, she used a little strip, it turned blue, and it meant my water had broken. She checked my cervix and I was dilated to 4cm.

 Then she said, “It looks like today is a good day to have babies!”

            I had reached the point that I was told so much about during my 6 weeks 3 days of bed rest. “When you hit 4cm or your water breaks there is nothing we can do to stop them from coming.” I also knew with me only being 33 weeks and Noah still breeched that a c section was my only opinion. I was told about a week earlier that if the twins were to come before 35 weeks my best opinion would be a c section. A c section would reduce the stress put on the babies and the NICU teams could be there ready to go in case any problems happened.

            I have written many times in my blog about how I DID NOT WANT A C SECTION! But after all my time on bed rest I realize nothing was about what I wanted and everything was about what was best for my babies. I knew no matter what… I would do what was best for them.

            7:25 am we find out we are having our babies today. Enter panic mode. Mike really freaked out. Of course I had a freak out but was more prepared than him, especially since I knew my water had actually broke! We started calling friends and family.

            7:30 am nurse is running around the room in a rush. I asked, “is everything alright?” Nurse, “We don’t have a lot of time, you are going to go in right after the 8am c-section and I have to get this and this done!” Holy crap I am going to have the twins that quick…. We start re-calling family. 

            10:00ish am I am being rolled back to have a c-section. I walk in to a cold operating room and sit on a cold metal table. Mike is not allowed inside with me during this time. I have to get my spinal tap. I am so scared. I sit on the edge of the table and am told to hug a pillow that is basically in the chest of a nurse who is holding me up. With my face in this pillow all I can do is concentrate on the sounds… machines whistling and beeping and scaring the crap out of me. The spinal tab is over, I was distracted by all the sounds that I didn’t even really feel it go in. Strangers help sit me up and lay me on the bed. My body is going numb, there are bright lights in my face, and the room is full of around 20 people all strangers to me (two full NICU Teams, one for each baby, plus all the “normal” people), I started to freak out. “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND?!?” Then Mike is by my side. Then I start to freak out that I cannot wiggle my toes. Of course this is a good thing but it is a very weird feeling. Then I start to freak out that I cannot breathe. I am numb from the shoulders down. I am now crying very heavily but it does not feel like it because I cannot feel my chest. I am freaking out.

The nurse by my side says, “Heather you are fine. You have to stop. You have to calm down. You are going to hyperventilate. The babies need oxygen. The babies need you to be calm and breathe.” Click goes my brain. My babies need me. I calmed down immediately.

           

I closed my eyes tight and start signing in my head. James Taylor “Carolina in My Mind.” “In my mind I am going to Carolina, cant you see the sunshine, cant you just feel the moonshine…I'm going to Carolina in my mind” Why this song came to mind I had no idea!

            Then I hear “baby A is here!” I scream “Why isn’t she crying?” Mike is taking pictures and telling me how beautiful she is. As the nurse tells me she is fine.

            Then I hear a crying and “baby B is here!” Noah had a loud cry. Mike is taking pictures of Noah.

            Mike comes and shows me the pictures. I am feeling really sick. I am about to throw up. A nurse comes up to show me Presley. I had just seen her picture. But in real life she looked so tiny. It made me feel even sicker. The nurse by my side ran to give me a shot via IV that would make my nausea go away.  In this time the babies were rushed out of the room for evaluation. Because I was nausea I did not get to see Noah.

            Somewhere in between all this the doctor said “All done!” The nurse told me. “Good Job!” And I said, “but I didn’t do anything!”

            I am trying now in writing this to not be too dramatic. But this was a horrible experience. This was not how I wanted to meet my babies. This was not how I had pictured my children coming into the world. This is not what I wanted. I wanted to hold my freaking babies! I am tearing up now thinking about it. I am only 12 days postpartum. Probably a little too soon to write this.

            They rolled me back in to L&D room 3. My stomach was no longer huge, it was gone, and there were no babies in sight. My mom rushed in and cried in her arms.

            The whole c-section seemed to over in a blink of an eye. Everything after that seemed to take forever! I knew nothing about the babies. I didn’t know how they were doing. I didn’t know how much they weighed. I knew nothing.

It was horrible.

            I eventually got to be wheeled in, in my bed, to see my babies in the NICU. I saw the babies with a thousand cables and wires hooked up to their little bodies. They were so beautiful. I felt so bad and so guilty that they were there doing all this by themselves. I told them I was sorry over and over again. And I thanked them over and over again for being strong for me.

           

            Presley was born at 10:46 am she weighed 4lbs and 5 ounces and was 16 inches long. Noah was born at 10:47 am he weight 4lbs and 8 ounces and was 17 ¾ inches long.

12 days babies have been on this earth. They are mamas little super troopers and are making me so proud every day. I cannot wait for them to be home with me.