The Log

Sandy here:

So, one of the things I read about in my twins book was about keeping a log of feeding, pees, poops, spit ups, etc. I thought it somewhat interesting and mentioned it to Doug. Of course, this was back when I hoped my babies would be bigger and didn't think we'd need to do this for very long. What I've since learned is that it's apparently part of some secret twin parent club initiation--almost everyone I've spoken with who is a twin parent kept one of these, and many twins I've spoken with talk about how their parents kept a log. And now, especially since Tava and Analee were born early, we are in the club--Doug and I have meticulous notes (would you really expect anything less?) we take with us to our pediatrician visits. In our defense, I don't know what I would do without the book--I can't keep track of my own life these days, much less when the babies ate.

Plus, it will hopefully make some good blackmail fodder when the girls are old enough to date.

Week 1

Doug,

All week I have been thinking of pithy observations about having babies in the house. However, I have now found that sleep deprivation makes it hard to write down pithy observations. The main thing that has ruled this week (despite the lack of sleep): Poop. Baby poop is an amazing thing. It tells you so much, and when it doesn't come, you worry. When it does come, you just worry that it will come on the changing table in the middle of a diaper change at 2 in the morning.

And about the "black tar poop." I had heard about the black tar poop, I had seen pictures of the black tar poop, I knew about the black tar poop. But nothing truly prepares a person for the reality of the black tar poop.

Finally, just to clarify any confusion, it's Anne-a-Lee and Tah-vah.

Pictures from week one:

Analee is on the left, Tava is on the right.


Tava and Analee


Tava showing her early allegiance to Duke


Miliya the protector

Miliya the protector

And a slide show:

Tava and Analee Week 1

Some more pics

All is good. We will probably be in the hospital until tomorrow so the Twinks can get a good handle on nursing. Here's a few more pics.

Skiny little Tava:



Analee with the chubby little cheeks:



They will only sleep like this:

First Pictures

Doug-

Okay, the first night went well. The Twinkies spent some of it in the nursery and let us sleep a few hours, but they also took a crack at nursing with some success. Everybody is doing remarkably well.

Sandy wanted everybody to know that Tava is the baby we used to call Ethel, and Analee is the baby we used to call Myrtle.

First pics below. Tava is to the right, Analee to the left.





More later.

Babies are here

We are proud to announce the arrival of Tava Marie and Analee Ruth at 4:15 today. Tava was 4 pounds, 7 ounces. Analee was 5 pounds 11 ounces. Mother and daughters are all doing very well and the babies are not in the NICU. Pictures and more tomorrow.

Nobody picked January 15; it kind of took us by surprise as well. But Brian was the closest. Yay Brian!!!!

Arrival date contest

Okay, Sandy's "twin" due date is January 25 (most twins come at 37 weeks, not 40).

Take a guess in the comments about when you think the Twinkies will arrive. The person that gets the closest will win .... well nothing, but they will always be able to say that they were the person that guessed the closest. No repeats, all days are first come, first served.

Bump Update - Week 34

We're a week behind (these are from last week), so without further comment:





And a bonus photo of the rug we got for the Twinkies' room:



Miliya is having to learn to share the backseat with the baby seats.

NST

Sandy here:

Thnking back to when Doug and I first found out we were having twins, we knew it would change the nature of the pregnancy. For one thing, I got this label slapped on me "high risk"--especially when they found out the twins were identical. Sometimes it's impossible to tell without testing whether the twins are identical or fraternal, but in our case the babies are monochorionic/diamniotic (basically they are in one big sac with a membrane separating them and that only happens if the babies are identical).

As everyone who has been reading our blog can see, one of the differences is that I have the pleasure of getting huger quicker. Another fun (albeit potentially a little bit stressful) thing is that we get to have regular ultrasounds of the babies to track their growth. A third thing that started the beginning of December is that I have to go to the birthing center at the hospital once a week for a Non-Stress Test. Assuming they can "lock onto" the babies heartbeats quickly it should only take about 30-40 minutes. I've had 5 of these done so far. (The picture below is from my most recent one--notice the hugeness.)



For the first one, the girls were still small enough that they could hide behind each other and it took 2 nurses an hour and a half to try and find them and get a lock on their heartbeats. It was a busy day with lots of labor and delivery going on in the Birth Center, and the nurses had to leave me for a little bit. So I sat on the edge of the bed and spoke directly to the girls in my belly--telling them that it had been funny at first, but they needed to settle down so we could get this test done and go home--I wasn't looking forward to hanging out in the hospital all evening. When the nurse returned, she was able to lock onto the babies immediately and the whole thing was over in about 25 minutes.

It was my first "Mom discipline moment."