A whole lotta Instas!

I've been having lots of fun updating friends daily on instagram with photos of my family. I try not to overgram, but it is just so hard when they are so cute and I spend many hours a day nursing the girls and on my phone! Feel free to follow me @rosekundel! 

Wearing their preemie onesies for a day! They are growing fast and are both pretty long even though the weights are low so they are not as small as they seem!

First trip out of the house at 5 days old for a weight check at the doctor! Both gaining! 

Sleeping beauties!

Matching pink polka dot bow hats...what could get much cuter? Ready for a quick walk around the neighborhood with mom!

My least favorite part of breastfeeding! :o( I feel like I am constantly picking them up around the house or don't have one when I need one. Ugh! I am happy that it is going well and girls are growing!

Big brother! Loves to lay next to the girls to see them up close and watch what they are doing. He is good about telling me when one is crying and is a master at telling them apart! 

Sweet pea, Anna Rose, getting her morning mommy snuggles!

Another weight check at 10 days old! Still growing! I celebrate with a hot drink from Starbucks!

As you all know, I love photos and scrapbooking and I have been lusting after the project life scrapbook system and the beautiful items for a long time. The concept seems so neat to me but I couldn't figure out how to incorporate it into my current scrapbooking process which seems to be working for me. Well, lo and behold, just about a week ago they announced a new project life APP that lets you create fun layouts on your phone! And the best part is that you can then get them printed at persnickety prints (also through your phone!) in 12x12 size which is exactly what I like to do with my scrapbooks! Very fun and easy! 

Scott got Michael a new trailer bike this past week and Michael loves it! I think Scott likes it because they go much faster than when Michael is on his own. I'm glad they are doing something fun together since I am mostly house bound these days!

Two week weights! Brynn is up 7 oz from birth and Anna is up 4 oz! We have been exclusively breastfeeding, with the girls occasionally getting a formula bottle for their feeding from dad when I haven't found time to pump that day. I am proud of them!

My favorite fall snack!! 

Anna on the right, Brynn on the left.

Morning time snuggles! 

I have really been missing going to football games and tailgating with my friends this season. Hopefully I can make it to one later in the season if I have plenty of reinforcements at home to watch over my children. However, it has been nice to be snuggled up at home watching the games on TV and following twitter! I loved this shoutout to the Cyclone marching band from my favorite sportscaster! The band always wins! 

Two good friends from school stopped by to visit this past week and it was so fun to see them and watch them love on my babies! I like this photo a lot! Things are busy but good and we are just having the best time with our two bundles of joy. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Week Two with the Twins

Yesterday the girls turned two weeks old! It is so crazy to me that they have been here this long already and time is flying by. They are both such sweet girls and are so fun to have in our life. 

Things are going really well and I thought I would share a little about what is happening at home. We have a pretty good routine down but it is time consuming. Yesterday it was time to pick up Michael and I had gotten nothing accomplished except feed babies and rest after their doctor's appointment! Where does the time go? 

The girls are eating on a three hour schedule. Basically I interpret that as not letting them go longer than three hours without eating because sometimes they will want to eat at the two hour mark. I try to hold them off if it has only been an hour because usually I think they are not really hungry, just fussy. For the first week, I would nurse them then we would feed them a bottle and then I would pump. This whole process would take over an hour and by the time we were finished I felt like I was just waiting around for them to get hungry again so we could start again. The second week I only nursed them except for the night feeding where my mom or Scott would give them a bottle of either formula or pumped breast milk. Having someone else do night feeding has been really nice as it gives me a big chunk of time to sleep which is the most I get at night. I will do their evening feed (usually anywhere from 8-10pm) and then hand them off while they are sleeping and for their next feeding anywhere from 11-2 a.m. It really helps if the extra person can keep them until their next feeding because sometimes the little noises they make keep me up and make me anxious. I've been having a string of nights where they will fuss and fuss after a feeding until their next feeding and that is hard to deal with. Otherwise they will usually go right back to sleep and sleep soundly until it is time to eat again. Scott and I have been on our own for a few days and it sounds like the girls are doing well during his feedings so I don't feel too guilty about handing them over to him if he can get some shut eye in between as well. 

Speaking of being alone, I have been with the girls by myself for two days! Don't worry- this is just a little break in between help and I will have reinforcements here again soon! :o) I finally started nursing the girls in tandem and it has been really fun and makes things a lot easier. I was really nervous about it because I was afraid they would both be fussy or I would drop them or who knows what other irrational fear I was thinking of. Turns out, they are doing great with it and I love it. I had been feeling bad that I couldn't sit around all day and snuggle the girls one at a time because the next one would be ready for their feeding and now I can snuggle them both after they are done eating for as long as I want. It is really special and I am proud of myself for doing it! I am hoping this will help them get their schedules in sync as well (fingers crossed-haha). 

In terms of my recovery, things are continuing to go well. I've pretty much stopped all painkillers as the high dose of ibuprofen was making me feel dizzy and the lower dose didn't seem to do much for pain relief. I feel the most pain at night, and its worse after a busy day. Yesterday was my first day driving and I took the girls to their appointment and was also lifting the carseats by myself. I had to load them up again to go get Michael from daycare and just that extra bit really wore me out and I was pretty sore at bedtime. However, I am happy to have "freedom" in terms of getting out of the house and behind the wheel but I am too scared to go anywhere besides somewhere that has a drive through! 

I have not been doing a very good job lately of taking photos of the girls with my real camera and I need to get it out more. I got very scared as I took a whole bunch of them and then when I was editing I couldn't tell who was who!! We had their newborn photos taken last weekend (can't wait to see their gallery!) and the photographer said she held up a card with their name on it before starting a series of individuals so she could tell who was who when editing. I will have to start doing that although it is getting easier for us to tell them apart without second guessing ourselves. Hopefully I will share more soon! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Hospital Photo Shoot

The hospital we delivered at uses Bella Baby Photography for newborn hospital portraits. I had seen photos from friends who had this done and I knew it could be hit or miss. We also had our newborn session booked with our favorites, his and hers photography, but we wanted to do this anyway. I actually had not had my camera out very much at the hospital just because it was so busy the whole time and I was not feeling good. We actually had to send the photographer away to come back another day because the first time she came I swear there were ten people in my room- visitors, the lactation consultant, I was trying to nurse babies, I hadn't even showered yet...gahh!! 

Anyway, I was happy I had them done and they are good memories of their second day in the hospital. Our photographer did a great job, getting some good shots in just a few minutes and bringing the edited proofs back about an hour later. We bought the digital download/rights package and have been having fun sharing them online!

Brynn & Anna

 Brynn 

Anna

I look terrible, but a good representation of that weary but joyful, swollen, overwhelmed, new mother hospital look! :o) 

We couldn't be happier with our two bundles of joy! 

Anna & Brynn are here!

Anna Rose & Brynn Elizabeth made their arrival into the world on Wednesday, Sept 10th! 

We are so over the moon in love with our two little girls and are amazed at how they arrived right on time, were a good size, and have had no problems so far. They were able to go right to the regular nursery after getting checked out and they spent their entire hospital stay in the room with us. 

They arrived on their scheduled c-section date at 3:12 & 3:13 p.m. Brynn was pulled out first and Anna was second, born just 30 seconds apart. The doctor was joking that he wanted them to be born the same minute but started with not enough time on the clock! At least this way we have a definite older sister. Another funny thing is that Brynn was baby B throughout all my ultrasounds but was born first so she was technically baby A while in the hospital. This was a little confusing as their names didn't match their hospital initials but we wanted to stick with their ultrasound initials since that is how I had been thinking of them for a long time. 

Although older, Brynn weighed in at 5 lbs, 8 oz and Anna weighed in at 6 lbs, 6 oz. I was shocked at how far apart their weights were, especially at our last growth ultrasound they said they were about the same, just under 5 lbs. They both cried right away and were whisked away to another room to be checked over before coming to say hi to me. They both scored 8 & 9 on their apgars test. 

In terms of the surgery, everything went really smoothly. My doctor told me I had a "great uterus" so I am holding that very special compliment near and dear to my heart. :o) I was very, very, very anxious leading up to the surgery in the week that followed. I was nervous about my blood pressure being up and monitored it several times a day at home. I was also nervous because at my last NST two days before the surgery the tech noted that my placenta seemed to be aging and Anna was not being cooperative on the monitor. Both these things are not causes for alarm, but they were of course for me. I appreciate so much everyone's nice text and facebook messages and prayers leading into the surgery- I definitely felt lifted up!  

The surgery was scheduled for 2:30 pm so we had a whole morning to mill around at home with nothing to do but be worried. It actually helped that my cleaning ladies had to come over on Wednesday instead of Tuesday so I could it made for some activity in the house. We left the house a little before noon to report to the hospital at 12:30 to check in. They told me the best chance of not getting bumped back later (another worrisome thought!) was to be right on time and ready to check in so you better believe I was there on time! I got checked in and then we got changed and hooked up to the monitors and blood drawn for labs while we waited for our surgery time. If you ever have had surgery, you know the waiting game- waiting for the doctor to be ready, then waiting for anesthesia, then the room...it always seems like something to wait for.  I had great nurses, except I didn't discover that my nurse's husband was a retired band director until five minutes before she wheeled me to the OR! She said we could have been talking shop that whole time! :o) 

Once in the OR, everything was calm and routine. I was really surprised as I had made this up to be such a big deal in my head- why wasn't anyone else making a huge deal out it?? As soon as I got my spinal, it was go time! I was a little worried as it seemed like they were getting pretty busy behind the curtain and they hadn't brought Scott in yet. What if they forgot about him? But sure enough they brought him in at the last minute right before the babies were out. It was such a funny thing to feel them pull one out after the other while not feeling anything at the same time. 

We had to stay in recovery for a while because it took twice as long to check out twice as many babies. They finally wheeled them in to me hours later (I think it was 7pm!) and I got to hold them for a little bit. 

Mom, Aunt Denise and Michael had been anxiously waiting all afternoon (even leaving daycare early to wait for the phone call that they were safely here!) to come and visit to they came down while I was in recovery to catch their first glimpse at the girls. Michael had the biggest smile on his face! 

We finally got transferred to our room on the mother and baby floor and were ready to settle in for the night (haha). It was weird delivering so late in the day because there was still a lot of hustle and bustle late at night. The girls both nursed well and then got a bottle from dad afterwards, every three hours through the night. We were so happy that they were doing well and got to spend their hospital stay in our room with us! They were mostly worried about their temperature staying up and feeding well since they were smaller. Technically they were born at 36 weeks, 6 days (even though I usually say 37 weeks) so they were still considered "late pre-term babies" which meant they had to do some special tests like their carseat test, had their care clustered around feedings, and I also had a lactation consultant who visited every day. I also felt like we had a nurse in our room most of the time, helping out so I'm not sure if that is normal or if just because they were twins. I tried to be the best patient I could be and not be a pain! 

Recovery went well for me in the hospital. There was a lot of things I didn't remember (or didn't choose to remember!) about the pain from the c section but we got it managed well. I think I had a harder time getting out of bed and walking the halls this time just because my activity level had been so low the whole time I was pregnant. It probably took until five days after delivery until I felt steady on my feet and not like my lungs were bursting after a few minutes. I also think I am becoming more paranoid to the way my body responds to things in my old age because I stopped taking the prescription pain pills about a week after surgery- they made me feel lightheaded and gave me a headache. I also had a ton of swelling from surgery and thankfully that has gone down now as well as I've been more active and trying to walk outside a bit every day. My feet had not been swollen this whole pregnancy and suddenly they were so swollen it hurt to walk! It is still hard for me to remember to not overdo things even though I feel pretty good because I will pay for it the next day in terms of pain, bleeding, and energy level.  

Our hospital stay was filled with visitors, managing feedings (I would nurse, Scott would bottle feed, then I would pump...and then start over again!), and trying to rest. The days flew by and we left the hospital on Saturday morning after staying just three nights. I did not feel ready to go home yet but I was happy to not have so many people always bothering me at all hours of the day. We managed to get packed up and discharged at noon but it still took us almost an hour to get home after stopping at the pharmacy and for take out lunch. Luckily we made it home in time for the big Iowa-Iowa State game but I was zonked out for a nap the whole game until the last few minutes. It was good timing because that is when we won the game! I would say that is a great coming home present! 

We are doing really well at home and yes, we are getting plenty of sleep and Michael is adjusting well. I will have to update you again soon with our routine at home- it is laid back but also busy. We are just so happy the girls are here safe and sound and I just feel like the luckiest mom in the whole world, every minute of the day.