Crib

The First Attempt

On Sunday night, we proud, soon-to-be parents were excited by the prospect of learning our babies’ gender on Monday. We hadn’t told our families about this early appointment in the hopes that we could surprise them early with the news. Puck decided to put his twin anticipation energy into putting together our babies’ first crib. We cleaned out some more boxes from the soon-to-be nursery (okay, I looked through and organized them while Puck did all the heavy lifting) and pulled out the pieces of the lovely crib we inherited from my sister Linda. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember what we had done with the bag of screws for the crib.

(Yes, while Puck is often the primary memory bank for the family, we tend to rely on my memory for the location of mislaid or obscure items in the house.)

Finding a Clue

After searching a little bit Sunday night in the house and in our minivan, I waited to call my dad later in the week. He had helped pack the crib in the car for its trip from Oklahoma to California this past fall, and I was hoping he might remember something that would help. He did, in fact, have the key clue: the bag of screws had made the trip out to California and then back to Oklahoma in my mom’s minivan, so they had sent them to me in the mail.

Ah…so I was looking for a box. Armed with this knowledge, it only took around half an hour to find the missing box tucked in the very back of the shelf in the nursery closet. We were thrilled to find not only the screws (with labels for each kind) but also the original directions. Kudos to Linda and Brian for their amazing packing job!

Starting the Crib

The Crib

Last night, with instructions in hand, Puck attacked the crib again, and he quickly started putting the pieces together.

Putting the Pieces Together

Quickly Getting It on Its Feet

Almost Ready for the Mattress

One Last Screw

A Proud Daddy

Puck finished putting the crib together pretty quickly with few frustrations, plus he completed one of those major duties and privileges of the new dad. Now, I can’t wait to finish clearing out the room and make it into our nursery. (I don’t think we need to start our twins with quite so many books in their room!)

As we finished up, Shakti came in to admire her dad’s work and to get some post-crib lovings.

Will the babies fit in that drawer down there?

Shakti moves in at lightning speed for a kiss.

A little loving for our big baby

Shakti gives Dad an aggressive head snuggle to show her love.

Why Only One Crib?

Some of you may be wondering why we only put together one crib. First, we plan to keep Dominic and Alexander in the same crib for a few months. They are used to having each other close, and we’ll use a crib divider once they start rolling over. Once they are a little bigger and more active we’ll add the second crib. Plus, our second crib and a changing table (from my sister Janet via my sisters Trish and Wendy) will be heading this way early in the summer. WooHoo!

Birthing Class

Puck and I had our first birthing class Sunday night, and it was a fairly informative three hours. (We even got to watch a video showing footage from “normal” births. It reminded me of high school biology, without the teenage snickering.) I must admit that I had a bit of an advantage in knowing what I might be in for thanks to my sisters Janet and Wendy who both allowed me to be present not only during labor but also delivery. Thanks, Janet and Wendy!

My experience with each of those births was very different. During Janet’s I gave general support, and I saw the whole delivery up close and personal. With Wendy’s I was her primary support person, so I had the experience of comforting a woman periodically having contractions through the night. When the actual delivery happened, my focus was much more on the mommy. Still, it will be a whole new adventure to be the mother giving birth.

Queen Belly

Belly Wars

When you gather together a group of pregnant couples (7 couples in all as one set didn’t show up), it is inevitable that you will exchange information about due dates and gender and check out each others’ bellies. I’m in an earlier birthing class than I would normally be in because there is another couple having twins in this one, so almost all of the women were 6-7 months pregnant while I’m only 4 months along.

Before the introductions, I was analyzing each woman’s belly and trying to guess which one was the other twin belly, though it wasn’t the belly I expected. When the mothers all stood up, I noticed that the taller women tended to have less prodigious bellies than their shorter counterparts. This makes some sense since tall women have a little more room already built in. I was surprised to see that my belly surpassed the size of almost all the bellies there, even the other twin mommy’s. It is indeed a truly prodigious baby belly. Let us hope that this translates into a healthy size for the twins.

We were pleasantly surprised to hear several accents in our group of parents, and at least one other couple were fellow geeks who were also interested in the fact that our birthing center now has free Wi-Fi and in the idea of taking a laptop in to track the contractions.

Expectations

One thing I’ve been reflecting on lately is the difference between my expectations for pregnancy and for me as a pregnant woman and my actual experiences. This is related to Puck’s post that “Pregnancy Is Not Burger King.” Often, my expectations have been foiled, though sometimes in very positive ways. For example, I expected to have 1 child. Surprise! I also thought I would have a generally normal pregnancy without many complications. Surprise! Though we have still had a fairly easy pregnancy, we’ve definitely been thrown a few curve balls.

Sunday night, we also confronted another expectation that might have to be adapted. We expected to have a fairly regular birth experience (with an epidural), with a C-section as a backup in case something made it necessary. At the moment, the C-section is looking more likely, and watching and discussing the birthing experience the other night, we both grieved a little as we adjusted our perspectives. Now, the most important thing to both of us is having two healthy babies, and we don’t mind having to adjust our plans.

As for my expectations for pregnant me, I had thought I would keep fencing (at least during the first trimester) and that the pregnancy would not greatly affect my day-to-day life for some months (other than possibly having to throw up on a daily basis for a few months). After discovering I was pregnant, I initially didn’t want to give up my black tea with its caffeine, but doing a little research convinced me to go ahead and let it go. After our early miscarriage scare, I also found that I had absolutely no interest in fencing and most recently I found that I just couldn’t buy the tickets to fly home in early May. While I would love to see everyone, when it came down to it, I didn’t want to take the risk, small as it would be, by flying. Why add even a tad more risk or stress to the pregnancy?

Puck & Mary

No, I am not as carefree a pregnant mom as I thought I would be, but as a pregnant mom, I have continued to embrace my inner nerd, doing research on twin pregnancy and possible complications, reading up on what to expect, and trying to stay informed on what I should be eating and doing. Embracing his inner geek, my husband Puck has been right there with me.

Dominic and Alexander

It’s official! We have identical twin boys, and we may have to revise their due date in the coming weeks. As of today, they were the size expected for 19 weeks old even though according to their original due date they would be 17 weeks and 4 days old today.

Keeping an Eye on the Twin Daddy

HusbandWatch 2010

My husband, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, is very actively involved in our pregnancy experience. For one, he keeps an observant eye on me at all times. He makes sure I’m eating and drinking enough and also fusses at me if he feels I’m being too active. Puck has been surprised (given my stubborn streak) that I have been more likely than normal to agree to his requests. (His “hard-headed woman” is a bit less stubborn.)

Puck’s worry for me and the babies usually manifests in his various acts of concern and pampering and his occasionally putting his foot down about something he doesn’t feel I should be doing. However, there are times when his calm demeanor breaks, and you can see just how stressful it is for him, usually right after we receive another curve ball about our pregnancy. First, the seeming miscarriage; then, the twins (very good news but still unexpected); then, monochorionic identical twins; and now, velamentous cord insertion. It is at times like these that I discover Puck does extra research on his own and attempts to protect me from the most worrisome information he finds. Each new discovery launches him on another quest for information, but often with the result that while he is better informed, there is very little that we can do beyond what we’re already doing to make this pregnancy safer and better.

This pregnancy has definitely changed my husband’s life patterns as much as my own:

Food

While Puck has always been our primary cook, with the pregnancy he has really upped his game. During those first months when I was voraciously hungry and had to eat a ton of food to add even the tiniest bit of weight, Puck spent a lot of time in the kitchen, cooking and doing dishes. He would whip up a snack for me as soon as we got home, and then he would start on dinner. A few hours after dinner, he’d make me an evening snack.

With all that cooking (and because we added more foods high in carbohydrates back into our diet to help me gain weight), he started to gain a few sympathy pounds at first. However, he soon adjusted his own eating patterns to be able to maintain or even lose a few pounds even as he continues to prepare large quantities of food for me. Puck also keeps the kitchen well-stocked with meat, dairy, and a variety of snacks.

Sleep

While Puck does not get the benefits of the pregnancy naps, his own sleep patterns have changed.

Regular Puck: Puck has always been a deep sleeper. When we first brought Shakti home as a puppy and were crate training her, we made up a bed on the floor right by her crate to keep her company. When she would cry to go out to the bathroom, Puck would inevitably sleep through it unless I physically woke him up. Now, once I woke him, he was more than happy to take his turn taking Shakti out, but he rarely woke up without a little extra help.

Pregnancy Puck: Now, Puck is a much lighter sleeper. He usually wakes up when I get up to go the bathroom at night to ask if everything is okay. In fact, I was pretty surprised last week when I got sick in the bathroom in the living room in the middle of the night and Puck woke up to come check on me. Right now, as I struggle to breathe at night due to my allergies (Puck thinks it’s a cold), he often startles awake when I sneeze loudly or make some other unusual sound to groggily and worriedly ask, “Are you okay? Is everything alright?”

Mood

Overall, Puck’s mood is good, though he worries. At present, he frets about me not feeling well, and it distresses him when the aches and pains of pregnancy (like the round ligament pain) make me gasp or wince when I shift positions. Puck maintains his proactive attitude and looks for ways to ease whatever ails me. I, in turn, have to keep an eye on him.

From the Twin Daddy:

Twin Day

Whaddya mean as early as July?!!

Today is Twin Day here in California and we have reached 17 weeks with a burgeoning bulbous belly that is transitioning from baby-bump to mommy-mountain.  I don’t want to talk trash but wherever Mary goes the twins arrive a full two minutes before she does.  She is also well into the pregnant-lady baby waddle with the belly shifting from side to side as she walks.  (It’s pretty cute and hilarious.)

I am also very pleased with her birthday present because now that bending over is getting harder she is wearing her sandals almost every day.  First, the carefully designed Birkenstocks ease her aching ankles.  Second, she doesn’t have to tie them.  Third, she can just slip them on and off without ever bending over.  Perfect.

Other thoughts…

We are one week away from Halfway Home Day which is our goal of at least 36 weeks of pregnancy.  That is a good goal but to be completely honest the other twin parents in our family delivered at 34.5 weeks.  That could put us with kids around the end of July!! Holy Cow!! You can expect my hair to spontaneously light on fire if that happens.

If we are going to have some baby showers, we may have to hurry about it.

Wifewatch 2010

Food

We’re definitely hitting the second growth spurt now because Mary has turned back into a ravenous momma bear again.

Yesterday breaks down into:

• Breakfast
  • A banana
  • Hot decaf tea with milk
  • A granola bar
• Lunch
  • 4 bowls of chinese soup
  • 1 plate of pot stickers
  • A full lunch order of sesame chicken with fried rice
  • A starbucks coffee cake
  • A steamed milk
• Snack
  • A bowl of oatmeal made with milk
  • Hot decaf tea with milk
  • An orange
• Dinner
  • Fried rice, sesame chicken, and broccoli beef leftovers reheated
• Snack
  • 2 microwaveable burritos
• Before bed
  • Pregnancy vitamins

That’s an impressive amount of twin food.  Looking over this list I’m going to fuss at her about getting a bit more milk for calcium.

Mood

She’s still pretty darned sick, and she’s fond of saying that she feels great from the neck down.  Other than that we’re just waiting to find out whether we are looking at boy babies or girl babies.

Sleep

With the growth spurt (combined with her allergies) comes the return of the power naps.  She conks out hard and has been sleeping until 4:30 PM.

Babies Countdown – The Double Header

161 Days until September 9

• Today is 17 weeks.
• Sunday, April 4 is our fist child birthing class.
• Thursday, April 8 is Twin Week number 18 and Halfway Home Day.
• Sunday, April 11 is child birthing class number 2.
• Wednesday, April 14 is our first appointment with the perinatologist.  Hope for gender information on this day.
• Thursday, April 15 is week 19, a doctor’s appointment at the Women’s Clinic, and Tax Day .
• Sunday, April 18 is child birthing class number 3.
• Thursday, April 22 is week 20 and our tour of the birthing facility at child birthing class number 4.  We should be feeling regular baby kicks by then.  (By this time we should also know the gender via ultrasound provided the little ones have not been shy.)
• Thursday, May 7 and the twins become viable as early as 22 weeks.
• Thursday, May 20 and 90% of twins born at 24 weeks survive and that number only gets better from here on out.
• Thursday, August 12 and we hit our goal of 36 weeks minimum.  From here on the twins could come at any time.
• Thursday, September 9 and we hit 40 weeks.  This is our due date even if we expect the twins to possibly come sooner.
• 4 Weeks Post Delivery – Look for baby smiles.
• Sometime After the Delivery – 4.5 months of the Twinsanity Interval.