what's up weekly: two weeks of life with the twins. (my perspective)

If you missed it, I posted the babies' birth story yesterday - click here to read!

Whoa.  Tomorrow will mark two weeks since the twins were born.  Time is so bizarre.

It has been a full and also not full two weeks.  Lots of snuggling, lots of nursing, and lots of very little else.  At least for me.  Todd and the kids have been living on a parallel track, so they have more news to share than I do.  I'll make a separate post for their shenanigans.

The first couple of days at home with the babies were good but a bit challenging.  While they were sleepy, and therefore easier on me, Brother had a poor latch that was really painful and made nursing him really challenging.  On their third day, my midwife returned to check on us, and brought a lactation consultant.  Nursing is still sometimes more complicated with him, but she gave me some really great strategies to help him latch better.

Everyone with multiples of their own has been suggesting I feed them at the same time (tandem nurse) to save myself some time (at first, they were each taking about 40 minutes to eat, which left very little time at the end of a two-hour schedule to do basic things like go to the bathroom).  The truth is, I'm still trying to get the hang of just feeding one at a time with these latch issues, so I haven't even attempted it yet (with the exception of one failed, desperate, exhausted attempt in which one of the babies rolled off the nursing pillow).  They currently take much less time than they had been (15-30 minutes each), so it's working for us right now for me to feed one, then immediately feed the other, waking them up if I need to to minimize chaos. 

Night sleeping is going pretty well at the moment (knock on wood).  The first few nights were rough, and I needed a lot of help from Todd.  The second night, the babies rotated feedings constantly for six hours - Todd took one fussy baby to hold, while I fed the other baby, and once the nursing baby was done, we'd switch.  Finally we just embraced reality, turned on Frasier, and binge watched episodes while I nursed until the babies eventually went to sleep around 5:30 a.m.  I got up around 9:00 to give the kids instructions to just pretend they were the Boxcar children ("You've been orphaned for the day.  Forage for food; find meaningful and productive work to put your hand to; keep each other alive") but by the time I got out to check on them, they had already made and served breakfast, gotten Oey up and changed her, started a load of laundry, and folded another load.  Well.  Apparently my job here is done and my children are already very comfortable with Boxcarring.  So I went back to bed for a bit.

Since then, sleep has been a bit easier at night.  The babies will go 3-4 hour stretches at night.  After one wakes up and I feed them, I automatically wake up the other.  It takes me about an hour per feeding at night.

Brother has had jaundice, which makes him very sleepy and less likely to wake himself up to eat.  Luckily, Sister is not so laid back and keeps them both on schedule.  They're a good pair.

Every morning for breakfast, Todd or Penelope brings me breakfast in bed: an egg, some bacon, and some chocolate milk.  For lunch, Todd has been making me a steak and a baked potato.  Gotta fuel to win.

A couple days ago, they may have hit that two-week growth spurt a little early (or they added an extra and I have another one looming) - they spent all day awake and eating constantly.  But the next day they slept a lot and seem to be mostly back on track, though more willing to stay awake after feedings instead of falling asleep right away.  It's hard with twins, because you don't necessarily have the time to stop to help them get back to sleep immediately after feeding, because you need your hands free to nurse the other one.

Todd measured the babies' length: they were both exactly 20 inches.

My mom and stepdad came last weekend to visit and meet the babies!  My mom also did some fun activities with the kids, so I'll cover that in the next post.

Sun and fresh air out on the deck for a few minutes while the babies were asleep.

On Memorial Day, my sister's family came down to visit and meet the babies, and to help around the house.  They cleaned the kitchen, helped me organize the freezers, and hung out with the kids while I napped and Todd took a walk.

That same day, the babies and I had a postpartum chiropractic adjustment.  My midwife's husband is a chiropractor with a portable table, PRAISE THE LORD.  He was so kind to drive up to see us.

Quite the audience.

Brother's jaundice is clearing up, but to give it a boost out the door, we took the babies outside for a little sun bathing.  (It's hard to see in these photos, but their faces were in the shade.)

I have been healing well!  There has been very little bleeding this time around compared to most of my previous babies.  I think it has to do with how slowly I delivered the placentas - my midwife gave me time to just gently let it detach instead of forcing it or hurrying it in any way, and the difference in recovery has been really remarkable.  

I have been trying to get plenty of protein and water in each day, and I'm really grateful Todd and the kids have helped me stay on top of that.

I have also been resting a lot and napping when I can (which has been harder the last few days with the twins being more awake and eating more often, but I still have gotten a nap in the majority of the days).  I still get tired out easily, and I've noticed I am much more sensitive to feeling stressed or anxious when there is a lot of activity happening around me.  But I do feel like I am doing really well physically at this point.

Two weeks down, a lifetime to go!