37 weeks of pregnancy
14 weeks of morning sickness
4 weeks of bed rest
7 days in the hospital
14 nerve-wracking ultrasounds
Countless doctor's appointments
1 case of pre-eclampsia
Hundreds of prayers...
Two little miracles.
Charlotte Anne and Jensen Todd
Born Thursday, April 22nd 2010
We are so proud to announce the arrival of the two new additions to our family. They are amazing, beautiful and sweet and I could not possibly feel more blessed that they are mine. I am going to attempt to tell the story of their arrival while it is still (somewhat) fresh in my mind...
On Tuesday, April 20th, I had a regularly scheduled appointment with my doctor. It got off to a rocky start when little Charlotte was not doing her practice breathing during the ultrasound. Although the ultrasound tech and my doctor eventually convinced me that it was normal for them to take breaks from practice breathing, I had a little breakdown and was pretty much crying uncontrollably in the exam room. I guess it was a combination of being physically tired and completely emotionally tired of worrying about whether these babies would be born healthy and strong. The stress of everything had just eventually all added up and I had had it. After I calmed down, the appointment continued and we discovered that my blood pressure was up and I had a good amount of protein in my urine. Based on this, my doctor decided to admit me to the hospital for more lab work. He told me that I would be there until the babies were born.
So we went home, packed up, headed up to the hospital and got checked in and settled into a room. I was poked, prodded, examined and gave lots and lots of blood. I was secretly hoping that the blood work would come back indicating that the babies needed to be born right then and there, but no such luck. We made it through that first day and night. On Wednesday, they continued to take my blood pressure and check my urine (I had to collect my pee in a special jar for 24 hours...super fun!). Again, I hoped that they would say the babies needed to be born that day, but no luck. We were still on for the prescheduled c-section on Thursday, at 37 weeks exactly. I don't think we slept at all that night knowing that as of 7:00 a.m. the next day, we would be parents.
On Thursday morning, a nurse came in and started getting me all ready to roll. Then, the anesthesiologist came in and explained the lovely epidural and all its possible side effects. Finally, my doctor came in and it was time to go. I wish I could say that I was calm throughout all this, but nothing could be further from the truth. I was so scared that Brian was sitting beside me squeezing both of my hands in an attempt to keep them from shaking so hard. Going into the operating room was a little scary because Brian couldn't go in while I was getting the epidural...he had to wait outside the room and get all suited up in his scrubs. The epidural was not bad at all...in fact, it was during the process of getting the epidural that I realized we had left our camera back in the room. A nurse ran out to tell Brian and he was able to go back to the room to retrieve it so that we wouldn't miss out on pics of our brand new babies. He came in wearing his scrubs, camera in hand, and we were ready to begin!
The operation itself was weird. I could feel a lot of tugging and pulling and pressure. I remember my doctor and the anesthesiologist (who are both young as far as doctors go) having a conversation about the merits of the new iPad. They were listening to music and a few of the songs I remember hearing are "Daughter" by Pearl Jam and "One" by U2. Random, I know, but those are little things that I always want to remember. After what seemed like forever, little miss Charlotte was born at 7:31 a.m. They took her to check her out and clean her up, and after a few seconds we heard her first cry...and once she started, she did not stop! She has been a sassy little thing from the first minute of her life. One minute later, her brother Jensen was born. He cried immediately but calmed down really quickly once he was all swaddled up and warm. Knowing that both babies had made it safely was the most amazing feeling. Even though I couldn't move or see the babies (I think I asked, "Are they okay?" about 50 times), I was calm knowing that Brian was right beside them, talking to them and taking pictures.
From stories I have heard, and especially with having had a high-risk pregnancy, I was expecting the babies to be immediately whisked away to the nursery, if not the NICU. So it was a happy surprise that they were allowed to stay right in the room with us while I got all put back together. After everything we'd gone through, I could not believe that we were blessed with such healthy babies. Once I was all stitched up, they wheeled me and the babies out the door of the operating room...and right into a large group of ecstatic family members. We were all able to go into my hospital room and pass the babies around and take pictures. It was such a special time but unfortunately it didn't last too long.
My memory of what happened next is pretty fuzzy, but Brian tells me that I told the nurse to ask everyone to leave the room because I wasn't feeling well. They took the babies to the nursery and Brian tells me that I made him go with them, so he made my mom stay with me. The nurses lifted up my sheets and there was lots of blood everywhere. They paged my doctor and all I really remember is lots of blood, being in lots of pain, and my mom looking really scared. But they were fortunately able to get everything under control before I lost so much blood that I would need a transfusion--unfortunately, all the blood loss made me really out of it to the point where I don't really remember the rest of my babies' first day. Actually, I felt pretty crappy for the next few days.
Looking back, the rest of our hospital stay feels like a bad dream. I guess it was a combination of not feeling well, not sleeping, hormones, worrying about the babies (who were losing too much weight), having to stay an extra night due to my blood pressure, struggling with trying to breastfeed twins (which is a whole other post), and having the worst cabin fever ever from not leaving my little room, but I really thought I was going to lose my mind. I was so happy the morning we were finally released from the hospital. On our way home, the song "Look After You" by The Fray came on, and I looked at my two sweet sleeping babies in the backseat and thought about how I would do my absolute best to look after them and protect them for the rest of my life.
Things have improved a lot in the week that we have been home. I still have my moments though...sometimes I feel like there is no way I will ever be able to take care of two little babies by myself, and the morning Brian went back to work was tough. Breastfeeding has gotten somewhat easier, but it takes forever to feed them both, and I feel like I am pretty much glued to my bed, surrounded by babies and Boppies. A fellow mom of twins described the first three months as a "feeding frenzy" and I have to agree. But I am so fortunate to have so much help, and I know that things will get a lot easier once I start feeling physically better.
I cannot believe that Charlotte and Jensen will be two weeks old tomorrow. Here are some things I always want to remember about their first weeks of life:
Charlotte--Our sassy little girl. When she was born, our doctor said "She's got a set of lungs on her!" and the nurses in the hospital started calling her a little pistol because she is not afraid to let you know when there is something she wants. She is small, but so strong. She fought me and fought me with breastfeeding but now is becoming a better eater than her brother...I think she is going to get big really fast. She is the most alert little girl and is always looking around, taking in everything around her. Her facial expressions crack us up every day. When she is sleeping she often furrows her brow and looks like she is thinking really hard about something...we call this her grumpy old man face. Her blue eyes are so big that when she opens them wide, she looks absolutely terrified. She loves to stare at her brother whenever we put them beside each other. She has been a mama's girl from day one and usually calms right down whenever I put her on my chest.
Jensen--Our sweet, laid-back little man. I can't tell you how cute this baby is. I really don't think he looks like either of us, but he has big blue eyes like his sister and is getting the cutest chubby cheeks. He opens his eyes really wide and raises his eyebrows when he's eating so that it looks like he is getting a really exciting surprise every time. He also roots around and snorts like a little warthog...and he toots A LOT, which his dad finds hysterical. He does have a good amount of very pretty hair just like the ultrasound techs said he would--and he has the longest eyelashes (why do boys always get those?). He loves to sit in his swing and watch the mobile above him.
So...that's where we are now that Charlotte and Jensen are two weeks old. This post has taken me a week to write...lots of starting and stopping and starting again (did I mention that they eat ALL THE TIME??). We are so in love with them, and I still can't believe that we are so blessed to have them. I will save the pictures for another post because I just want to get this one posted now before another week goes by!
And before I forget, we want to thank everyone for your positive thoughts and prayers throughout the past six weeks or so. We know that we are so blessed to have made it to 37 weeks and we know that we have many people to thank for that.
