Life saver

My days ay home alone with my 3 boys are chaotic at best.  I try to keep it as close to an organized chaos as I can, but some days its just impossible.  Having 2 newborns is one thing, but a very active 2 year old who is trying to get used to sharing mommy's attention is a whole different battle.  He tests my patience on an hourly basis.  But just when I think I might UPS him up to Grammy's house, he redeems himself.  Usually it's with a hug or kiss for me, but more and more often, he's showing unsolicited affection toward his brothers.  Yesterday, I was about to "gently remind" him not to step on the baby, when he stopped, stooped down to Kiernan, said "Aww baby!", and started to shower him with kisses.  It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen ... and it's keeping me from killing him!

Fenugreek, Blessed Thistle, Mothers Milk tea, oh my!

Life is great.  Beautiful babies, an incredibly cute toddler, an amazing and helpful husband ... what more could a girl ask for?  Well, other than sleep.

But no matter how great life is, it's also insanely busy.  Or at least it seems busy. 

My days consist of nursing, supplementing with a bottle, pumping, maybe catching a nap, but usually spending time with Brennan instead.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Breastmilk supply issues are causing extra steps that clog up the day, but it's all in hopes of establishing a large enough supply for these growing boys.  So on top of my Lovenox injections twice a day, baby aspirin, and vitamins, I'm taking herbal supplements and drinking tea to help increase my supply.  Here's hoping it'll all pay off!

Short and Not-So-Sweet.

Yes, I am still pregnant. Apparently my cervix is made of steel. Not a bad thing when trying to stay pregnant, but I'm not doing that anymore. So now it sucks. If it's still closed when I go the doctor this week I might cry.

If you want to know what being 37 weeks pregnant with twins feels like, just imagine your stomach muscles being pulled as far forward as possible. So far forward in fact that your back muscles are tender to the touch. Add in frequent and painful contractions and you get one happy mama. Ha!

Thankfully, our steady stream of helpers are keeping the kiddo occupied and the house clean.

The end.

A day late and a dollar short

It just occurred to me that I forgot to post my 35 week picture last week. The belly is still growing rapidly. Yesterday I officially hit 36 weeks, which is the average length of a twin pregnancy. Once I get around to putting some real clothes on I'll take a 36 week picture and post it. Even though I'm completely miserable, I still want to hold out another 6 days or so til I hit 37 weeks. It's been my goal all along to reach 37 weeks so that my babies have the best chance possible of being big and strong and good eaters. Say some prayers for us!

"In the event of a hurricane, do NOT proceed to Labor & Delivery unless you are in labor."

Clearly, this statement needed to be written, or I'm sure my OB practice wouldn't have included it in their OB patient info book.

  I remember reading this page when I received the book back at the beginning of my pregnancy and laughing.  It went on to say that the unit gets too crowded with people who do not need to be there and runs out of room for those who do.  It then goes on to say that if you are not in labor and do not have a current medical complication with your pregnancy, you will be asked to leave and not given a bed.  Hil.ar.i.ous.  I guess I'm picturing people with little 30 week bellies running to L&D in the event of a hurricane, just because they're pregnant.  It's laughable really.  You can almost liken it to patients I've had in the past coming in because they have a cold or threw up once.  You just want to say to them, "You are pregnant.  It is not a disease.  There is no reason to be in L&D in the middle of the night.  In fact, I can do even less for you because you are pregnant.  Now go home and call your doctor in the morning ... if you can manage to live that long."

Don't get me wrong, with hurricane Irene giving us the side-eye, it's definitely a little nerve-wracking to be this pregnant (especially with twins) and to wonder if in fact all that barometric pressure hub-bub is actually true.  I definitely wouldn't want to deliver twins at home by myself if I couldn't get to the hospital.  But trust me, you won't see me camping out in the waiting room waiting to go into labor any time soon.  I don't think I could stand to be around anxious families for that long.  In fact, I think I might opt for that home birth instead!

Flutters.

There aren't many things I'll miss about being pregnant.  In fact, there's really only one. 

I've been laying in bed for almost an hour and a half.  Everyone else is sound asleep, but not me.  And tonight its not because of restless legs or contractions or ligament pain.  It's because of the flurry of activity going on in my belly.  Am I exhausted?  Yes.  Would I kill for some sleep right now?  Of course.  But I'm not upset about losing sleep tonight.  Instead, I'm savoring this feeling and tucking it away in my memory bank.

Feeling your child(ren) move inside you is an amazing feeling - a privilege I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to experience.  From the very first flutters, I've felt a special bond with these boys, just like I did with Brennan.  I'm their mom and I'd give up my life for them.  And those little flutters remind me of that every day, just like Brennan's hugs and kisses do now.  It's something no one else will ever experience with them.  The selfish part of me loves that fact and I don't feel guilty because I've given up my body for them, and will continue to do so.

So I'll take this lack of sleep and enjoy my boys tonight, because I know its just a matter of time before they'll be on the outside and I'll have to share them with the rest of the world.

Baby Barracuda

There are few things in this world that make my child's head spin like telling him he's going to go swimming.  He drops what he's doing and sprints around the house screaming, "waaaa waaaaa!!  Simmmm!!  Poooooo!!!"  (Water, swim, pool!) 

So in July we started Parent/Child swim classes, cleverly titled Baby Barracuda class, which involves kids ages 6 months to 3 years getting "acquainted" with the water (read: dunked and then sang songs to in order to calm down).  It's loud, chaotic, there are never less than 2 kids screaming, but we have a blast. 

Brennan and I used to go twice a week because A.) It was a way for him to burn energy that I could still keep up with him and B.) The glorious feeling of weightlessness while in the pool is indescribable when carrying around 2 extra bodies (not to mention a toddler.  Sidenote:  It blows my mind a bit that this is probably the only time in life I'll ever be able to carry all 3 of my munchkins at once.  Insane.  But, I digress...)

July was heavenly for me, but our little barracuda is a bit insane in the water and I doubt his brothers enjoy kicks to the head from the outside when they already have to deal with cranial blows from each other.  So it's Daddy's turn to tame the wild water beast.  The Saturday class consists of 7 little boys and one girl.  It's wild and crazy and so much fun to watch my boys swim (and especially entertaining to watch my husband try to sing along with the nursery rhymes he for some reason never learned ... our kids get Billy, Bruce, and Bob instead of the Itsy Bitsy Spider ... again with the digression). 

But as cute as it is, I miss being in that water and day dreaming that I weigh 120 pounds and do not have an abdomen that rivals my late grandfathers beer belly.  If these boys aren't out next Saturday, mama's parking herself in the corner of the pool to watch the madness occur!