Lessons & Surprises Revisited

I did a previous post about lessons and surprises during my pregnancy with the twins. I listed a few topics I planned to revisit after they were born, so here I am six weeks later to write about some of these topics.

Birthing two babies (I will try not to give too much information)
This was really awesome! I'm sure I've mentioned before how great my birthing experience was. Everything went quickly and smoothly and I could not have asked for anything different! There were few differences between birthing two babies and birthing one. We delivered in the operating room & I put my feet in these awesome boot things instead of the typical stirrups. The boots were really awesome. After one baby came out, two nurses pushed hard on my belly to keep Harper head down. That probably doesn't happen in most single births. There was a nurse anesthetist in the OR in case they needed to adjust my epidural for a c-section (actually, I think I had a spinal just in case of a section). There were more people in the room than with my single birth. Ummmm....I think that about sums it up. It wasn't very different, but it was way awesome. I really did love everything about my labor and delivery with the twins!

Nursing TWO babies at once
My babies must be rock stars because nursing them has been great! I have an awesome "My Brest Friend" pillow made for twins that has made nursing them simultaneously pretty easy. They are great little nurslings and are growing well, so it's working! I'm so thankful for this b/c formula x 2 does not sound like fun!! Right now, I've decided to try to nurse them back to back. With their reflux, nursing them while they lay on the pillow leads to them spitting up milk immediately & I have not been able to master burping them. Usually one is laying on the pillow while I burp the other and the laying down baby then spits up all over me. Ugh. I am always covered in sour milk! I have found that nursing them one at a time allows me to keep them in more of an upright position & burp them immediately. I can already tell this has decreased their fussiness & kept food in their bellies!

Sleeping habits of twins
I'm not sure that my babies have quite developed any sleeping habits, so I may have to revisit this topic later. They do sleep at the same time most of time & I think that is because they are fed together. We do try to keep them on the same schedule. Basically right now they eat every 3ish hours and sleep between each feeding. I'll have to write some more about their habits when they settle into them.

Changing a baby boy's diaper
Now, guys always like to say that it's soooo hard to change a baby girl's diaper. Heck no! Major always takes WAY more wipes than baby Harper. The problem is the ball sack...all kinds of poop gets trapped under there and it is NOT easy to clean. I've only had a couple of instances where he peed everywhere, so that hasn't been too bad. But give me a baby girl's diaper change any day!

Exhaustion
I have nothing else to say in this section than the Almighty Lord sustains me. Seriously. My babies have eaten every 3 hours or more often for 6 weeks. I've gotten 3 hours of sleep in a row maybe once or twice in six weeks. I probably average about 6-7 hours of interrupted sleep a night. There are plenty of nights where I sleep less than that! I'd say I've napped about once a week. I should be delirious, completely exhausted, and sick. The only reason I can figure I'm still surviving is by the grace of God. He truly gives me the strength to face each day. I will say that this week has really worn me down. I didn't realize how much I rely on Mitch's help during the day and at night until I didn't have it! Last night was pretty rough - of course because I was going back to work today & Harper needed to snuggle :) I do feel like I could be on the brink of getting sick, BUT I just have to survive one more day. After tomorrow, I'll be able to sleep a little later and will have Mitch's help at night. Maybe I can even sneak in a couple of naps over the Christmas break!

Working with two newborns at home
I can't say much about this yet since yesterday was my first day back. I made it home just in time for their next feeding and some snuggles. Both babies slept after eating, and I was able to d some things around the house. In retrospect, I should have napped! Today is a half day, so it's going to be easy! I will say that waking up earlier plus not having as much help at night this week finally took it's toll. I'm feeling a bit sick today - just some allergy/sinus stuff. One sudafed & one tylenol helps a ton!! We'll see how things go when I'm back at work 5 days a week in January. I am really really really hoping the babies are sleeping a bit better or are at least predictable in their night behavior.

Showering/bathing
My husband is awesome and I take one or two baths a day!!! He's always willing to watch the twins so I can go bathe. Usually I try to go when they're sleeping or sometimes I will bring them in the bathroom with me.

A continued testament of how the Lord provides for us
I honestly can't think of anything huge that's happened other than we have more than enough financially right now. We've shopped for Christmas and kept up with our bills without trouble - all while my pay is reduced from leave and we are in Mitch's slower season. We have diapers for months, so I don't imagine having to buy any diapers until a month or two after the babies get into size two diapers. We even have some size threes waiting for them. By the time we have to buy diapers for the twins, Maddex just may be potty trained! I've hardly had to cook and our grocery visits entail a quick trip to pick up a few necessities. It has truly been amazing. Not only has the Lord provided for us financially, but He has given us strength and rest through these weeks. He helped me survive this week with a sick Mitch & (as far as we can tell) the flu has not spread to the rest of us. I honestly don't know how we would survive without our faith, church family, and what the Lord has provided for us.

OK, I think those are all of the topics I said I'd revisit. This post has given me an idea though - maybe in a few weeks, I'll have yet another lessons & surprise post that addresses the things I've learned and been surprised about as a parent of twins. We'll save that for another day (or another three days since this post took me three days to complete!!!)