Maternity Photos

About four weeks ago I finally sat down at the computer and went through the proofs from my maternity photo session. I had really been putting it off, because I didn't have the patience to sift through over 170 pictures to find 'just the right one'. I sort of didn't have the time, either. I chose 3, plus one formal shot to send over to the relatives in Russia. One is a black and white belly shot I want to have professionally framed to hang in the babies room. There is another belly shot I really liked and the third is one of Z and I. We don't have a nice photo of just the two of us so I thought it would be nice to have.

It was really hard to choose, but I think I got some nice ones.

The babies have been doing really well. A week after I went back to work Alex started sleeping through the night. Just having one of them sleeping all night has been wonderful, I had no idea what a difference it would make. And when I say sleeping through the night I mean in the crib by 9:30 and having to go in and get him at 7 AM. Now, he doesn't sleep all night, but he doesn't cry for one of us to come get him. If he wakes up he can soothe himself back to sleep by sucking his thumb. Anna, on the other hand, is up several times a night. She needs the pacifier to soothe herself, and once she can find it and put it back in herself she may start going longer stretches without crying. Soon she will be old enough that we could try letting her Cry it Out, but Z and I have conflicting opinions on this issue. He is against it. I think all he needs are some ear plugs and he'll change his mind. He's a very light sleeper. And a softie.

Last Thursday the babies turned 16 weeks old. The last month has gone by so fast I can hardly believe it. Next week is their 4 month well check and immunizations. I'm not really looking forward to it, but it's fun to see how much they've grown since the last visit.

Oh, I should put a plug in for the photographer who did my maternity session. Jamie at Epic Photography. The website is www.epic-photos.com. She was really great.

Even Longer Overdue Update

As my maternity leave gets closer and closer to ending I can't help but feel almost every emotion possible. Mostly, however, I am excited. That probably disappoints some people, especially if you don't know me personally. You might say I would feel differently if I had one baby to fuss over, take everywhere, and rock to sleep at night but you would be wrong.

Well, call me on my first day back at work and the story could go a little differently. I would consider it a success if I make it through the day without crying.

The past 3 months have been a complete blur. There have been times when I couldn't remember what I did the day before. Or even what day it was. It has been a blend of babies, diapers, bottles and spit up, and I can tell you honestly that the time has both flown by and crawled, a phenomenon I didn't know could exist.

Here's why we're all better off after I go back to work. Energy. After being away from Alex and Anna I will be energized. Now I know I'll be tired after being at work all day and getting up with babies at night, but that won't last forever and I won't have to worry about baby burn out. I love them with all I have, but I worry that I'm not appreciating the small miracles I witness every day and that makes me sad. I trust my day care provider and have confidence that she will take very good care of them.

An update on the babies:

So far they are sleeping for longer stretches at night. This just started recently and I am very relieved. The only problem is that they are not enjoying the crib as much as their bouncy seats. This is probably due to the fact that Alex is moving around and we found him one night so close to Anna that they were hitting each other with their flailing little fists, producing two very alert and unhappy babies. The second crib will be set up tomorrow.

Also, Alex has doubled his birth weight. He got up to 12 lbs. at the two month check up. Anna is up to 10 lbs.

Alex

Anna

Long Overdue Update

I still am finding it hard to believe that everything has changed so quickly. There's no going back, not that I would ever want to. It's been over two weeks since we all came home from the hospital, and it has been a haze of feeding, diaper changing, crying (me and the babies), and general survival mode.

The first visit to the Pediatrician was less than fun. Anna lost weight (1/2 oz.) and Alex stayed the same. Not necessarily bad things but babies born early need to gain weight steadily. So we powered up the feedings and on the next visit both had put on weight beautifully and have been doing well ever since. Our next appointment is the one month well baby visit in two weeks.

They have been behaving very nicely so far. There are the occasional fussy moments but in general they eat, take a nap, get up to eat, and nap again. I'm very lucky. The worst is when they get off schedule, I know, what baby can't stick to a schedule? Especially at night, when I can be up every 1 1/2 hours on a rotating feeding schedule. It gets better, right? Right!?

Let's see, so far the milestones we have been able to check off:

Umbilical cords falling off - check
First bath - check
First Pediatrician appt (and second and third for weights) - check
First spit up on mommy and daddy - check
First diaper blow out - check

I have found a day care provider after a panicked search. She will watch the babies in her home with two other children, which is what sold me. I don't like the idea of a large day care with lots of kids passing around colds. It is also conveniently located on my way to work. After meeting with her it really hit me that I will eventually have to drop my children off with someone every morning and leave them. I wasn't anticipating how strongly I would feel about that, this is all still so new to me.

I'm trying to take lots of pictures but at this point there is very little awake time so the pics are all pretty much the same. Here is a picture my sister took this past weekend.

And here is another one of me and Alex taking a snooze on the couch.

Twenty Fingers Twenty Toes

Anna.Eugenia.Churilov was born at 7:29 PM on Thursday, June 26, 2008. She weighed 5 lbs. 10 oz. and in perfect health.

Alexander.Eugene.Churilov was born at 8:12 PM on Thursday, June 26, 2008. He weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. and also came out in great shape.

It was a crazy day. I always thought I would know labor when it was happening but I really had no idea. My water broke early on Thursday morning, around 6:30 AM and I thought it could be something else so I called to make an appointment with the OB at 10:45 instead of going to the hospital. It was confirmed that my membranes ruptured and I was admitted to the hospital around 11:30.

My cervix was dilated to 3 cm at 1:45 but contractions were not strong enough so pitocin was started to speed things up a bit. Meanwhile Alex was behaving very nicely in a head down position but I was prepped for a C-Section just in case.

At 3:30 I was offered an epidural since the anesthesiologist was on the floor with another patient. The pain was not too intense at this point but you never know when those guys come around again, so I said "Yes Please!"

The pitocin was upped every fifteen minutes until at 6:25 PM my cervix was dilated to 9 1/2 cm. A last check on Alex to make sure he was staying vertex and I was wheeled into a delivery OR to start pushing.

I was ready and prepped by 7:00 PM, and a half an hour later my baby girl was in my arms. Alex took a little longer because he had so much room, but he cooperated and got in a good place and 40 minutes later Z cut his cord.

I was in the hospital an extra day due to some hemmoraghing but all came home together and are doing well. As you can imagine it has been chaos, thanks to everyone for their well wishes. I will try to update more often in the coming weeks on our progress.

Proud Papa in Scrubs

Alex and Anna

35 Weeks

As you can see, I'm slowly outgrowing my clothes. It's sad, I really liked this green shirt.
Since I took that little trip last week to the hospital things have been very quiet. I haven't felt a lot of contractions, just one or two here and there.
On Wednesday I went to a meet and greet at the pediatrician's office a friend referred us to. It was a chance to meet the doctors in the practice and ask questions. I really liked them and will be taking the twins there. Thanks for the recommendation Sandy!
Today I had an OB appointment for a baby check. Blood pressure and urine dip were both fine. Total weight gain so far is 48 pounds. My cervix, however, has finally started to make it's move. I am currently 80% effaced and 1 cm. dilated. The doctor and nurse were very excited, but I'm a little nervous. Maybe because I can't believe it could start any day now. I should say I was ok until my sister pointed out that you don't go from 100% effaced down to zero, you start at zero and go to 100%. Probably something I should have known, huh?

Baby A is still head down, but baby B has moved to a breech position. They are very conservative here when it comes to a breech presentation, especially for first time mothers. If he does not move down I will have a c-section. I'm OK with that, as long as both babes come out healthy it doesn't matter to me how they get here.
So I still have some things to do, like pack my bag for the hospital. We have the major things covered: nursery, done; car seats, done; baby clothes washed, done; all bottle paraphenalia sterilized, done. I even remembered to pre-register at the hospital.
Well, I'll keep everyone updated on my progress. Wish me luck!

Four AM Field Trip

A trip to the hospital is a good way to start off my 34th week, don't you think? No, me neither. I started feeling contractions and cramping on Sunday evening, plus I had an upset stomach. The contractions were about 10-12 minutes apart, but some of them were actually a little painful, which is a new thing for me. It went on for about two hours, and after a lot of water and laying down things got quieter and I went to sleep.
Then this morning at 3AM I woke up feeling a small contraction. I went to the bathroom, drank some more water and laid down. I felt another and looked at the clock to see if they could be timed. Then I felt another one pretty quickly and looked at the clock again. Five minutes. OK. I waited, and felt another. Again, five minutes. At this point I don't want to second guess myself so I called the doctor, who told me to go the hospital for some monitoring.
When we got to the hospital at 4:30 I was no longer feeling regular contractions (of course) but they hooked me up to a monitor and checked my cervix just in case. My cervix was closed but I was still having intermittent contractions so they started an IV. About an hour later they gave me a small shot of terbutaline, which is a drug that will calm the uterus down but the side effects are an elevated heart rate and jitteriness. It was not as bad as I expected, and did its job to quiet the contractions, and I was discharged an hour later.
I felt bad for my mom, who came down for lunch on her day off, and we couldn't go out anywhere. We ended up having grilled cheese and tomato soup (on a ridiculously hot day! still delicious), watching TV and chatting.
So far I have been feeling much better. Still drinking water, and now it's time to get back to laying down.

Week 33

I should have clarified in my last post that I was at the end of my 32nd week. My weeks change over on Sundays, so today is the end of my 33rd week.
Anyway, this week was the level II ultrasound to check on the babies. I have no pictures, because both babies have been pretty shy about having their picture taken. Not shy about kicking, bladder-sitting and rib-whacking, however.
The ultrasound went well with no surprises. Baby A is weighing in at 4 lbs. 7 oz. Her heart rate was good, fluid and placenta looked perfect. She is still presenting head down.
Baby B's weight is 4 lbs. 10 oz. His stats were also very nice, and it looks like he's making a move toward head down, but I can't be sure. The perinatologist was not in to review the scans, he had some family emergency, but if there were a problem I would have heard something by now. I have an OB appointment on Tuesday and they will do another ultrasound to check the position.
I also had another Non-Stress Test on Wednesday. Results were fine, both babies managed to stay on the monitors so I didn't have to hold anything in place. My uterus, however, was irritable enough that they checked my cervix just to be safe. Of course it was closed, I think my traitorous uterus is trying to send me a message.
Overall the week was fine. In the beginning of the week I was struggling with heartburn and nausea still, but it seems to have calmed down some. At least the nausea is gone. For now. The babies have been moving so much lately. I thought that the more cramped they got in there the less movement I would feel, but that theory has not panned out. This morning I woke up at 2:30 and could not fall back asleep, that's how much they were moving. The location of the movements has also changed. I'm feeling them much lower now, which makes me wonder if Baby B has shifted from being across my abdomen to either head up or head down. I'm sure there'll be a lot of shifting between now and the final weeks, so I'll have to just wait and see.
This weekend is going to be really hot here on the east coast. Everyone stay cool and drink plenty of water!