At their two week appointment, we discovered that they’ve gained about 2 ounces per day, exceeding expectations (again) and now weight 6 pounds each! This is great news because we left the hospital with concerns about Olive in particular losing weight and not gaining fast enough (she dropped below 5 lbs in the hospital). So breast feeding is going very well!
The girls enjoy a swing ride together:
Our babies meet Jen and Deneb’s baby for the first time.
by eating Olive’s hand
and taking a lot of photos of Nico’s feet
The rain stopped so we finally made it out of the house together, and what a process! I’m sure we’ll get quicker, but I think it took over an hour to get out: get the stroller ready, car seats all set, are they installed correctly?, where are the blankets?, are they warm enough?, let’s feed them one last time, should we bring a bottle just in case?, let’s bring enough diapers, etc…
We walked for about 45 minutes and even ate at a taqueria. They slept the whole time. Maybe we should go for strolls at midnight.
The birth of your child is usually one of the best moments of your life and I’ll certainly never forget how exciting it was. I was terrified during my caesarian until I saw Nico, the first born alive and healthy; the anesthesia was very unpleasant and it caused strange feelings and an incredible headache (I’m not sure if you can tell how terrified I am in the photo). From the moment they started the surgery, it was less than 10 minutes until the babies were born. After I got to meet them, the babies were taken to the nursery with Owen. It took longer to sew me back up afterwards. We spent a wonderful 4 days in the hospital getting to know them.
Some highlights of our experience since last Friday include:
Delivery by Laurie Green and assisting physicians.
We brought the babies home yesterday, and it was terrifying to leave the safe confines of the hospital with all the help and warm food being delivered daily. However, having my mother and Mark around to help has been wonderful and necessary. The babies seemed to have fallen off the nice schedule of feedings and sleep with the transition, and would not sleep well at all. I think we didn’t anticipate how hard the first night of two inconsolable fussy babies was going to be. Today, the second day, has been much easier. We still have a lot of learning to do. Tonight they had their first bath and it was a lot of fun. Photos to be posted soon…
The twins were born yesterday on the luckiest Friday the 13th ever. Nico Belle Otto was born at 8:28 am weighing 5 pounds 6 ounces (18 inches long). Olive Bee Otto arrived 2 minutes later weighing 5 pounds 9 ounces (18.75 inches long). Mom is recovering well and we’re expecting to go home with the twins in a few days.
More photos and a few videos at Flickr, but you need to be signed in and be friends or family with Bethany.
This is probably our last prenatal post, and my final pregnancy photos… my last ultrasound today predicted the babies to be about 6 lbs 4 oz, but they also stressed that’s likely to be totally inaccurate as it is now impossible to get proper measurements of heads, etc… What is apparent is that they have put on some fat since the last ultrasound. They said ‘we’re not sure what you’re doing, but keep doing it’… oh, that would be a daily ice cream and french fry fix. Really. I’m not proud. I’m just hungry.
I’m having so many contractions now, they figure that I can’t use timed contractions as a measuring device on whether or not to go to hospital, as I’m full-term with twins. Even if I am dilated, I could stay like this until Friday, so I might as well try to make it so I didn’t have them check my cervix, which is painful. I have to just wait for very painful contractions to start and any bleeding/water breakage. So far so good. I really think I’m going to last until Friday – 6am!!
We had to dance, beating the odds and making it to 37 weeks.