Let's get started

So I'm a few years behind on this whole blogging thing. But, lets give it a shot. I am nursing my son, so I'm stuck in this chair for a bit, and then I will be stuck for another bit while I nurse my daughter. Yes, I have twins. Tandem nursing? Only when I have to. I really like the individual time with each and when I nurse them together I feel like I don't have enough hands. Actually, that's a pretty common theme for me. You try burping two babies at once. Oh, you can? So can I. I just like to avoid feeling like a jungle gym. However, if you are looking for help tandem nursing, this pillow really does help.

Twins are a wonderful blessing. They really are. There is nothing in this world that can prepare you for the craziness, and there is nothing that can prepare you for the insane amount of love your heart can have for two precious beings. Also if you are kind of a control freak like me, nothing can teach you how to let go of control and go with the flow better than twins. They started early showing me I wasn't in charge.

I had to stop working at about 3 months during my pregnancy. I huge difference from calling off the day I had my son.  So, I adjusted, and Felix and I were home together everyday from December until May. I was going to make every effort to deliver these monsters naturally. My mom did, my grandma did, my aunt did. Yes, lots of twins in my family. A month before they were born, Logan, my baby A, flipped from head down to sitting on my cervix.

I was going to make it into the last month of my pregnancy. I mean, I could do it, right? I had 2 trips to the hospital to stop contractions. One at 32 weeks and one at 35 weeks. Part of me wanted it to be over, but part of me wanted so bad to show my doctors that 36 weeks was not "full term" for twins. I had a c-section at 35 weeks 6 days (and 23.5 hours) and I had to be knocked out for the delivery. My parents and my in-laws got to see the babies before me. My mother felt so bad, she took pictures to show me and was crying because I couldn't go look at my new angels. During our hospital stay, Lily was in the room with us, but Logan was on oxygen in the nursery and I didn't get to see him until after 5 pm the next day. I had to walk down (post op) and see him. That night, he was transferred to a different hospital because he needed more oxygen. I couldn't see him at all and my dad got to hold him before I did because I was still recovering from my c-section and he and my husband went over to visit him in the NICU. The doctors kept calling my babies "preemies" because they were born before they were 36 weeks. Really? 25 minutes before they were 36 weeks, and they're preemies? It all drove me crazy.

I was going to breastfeed my children. No formula. NONE. They gave my little bean formula every time she went to the nursery because she was only 5lbs 6oz at birth. So, I started pumping, giving half to Lily, supplementing the rest of her "required" intake with formula myself, and keeping the other half of my breast milk from each pumping session for Logan. My husband drove to the NICU everyday with a little fridge pack of breast milk bags for Logan. Thank goodness he was only in for 10 days.

I HATED pumping. I know, some women prefer it, some women do it for a year, I get it. I despised looking down and instead of seeing my beautiful babies, seeing tubes and bottles. I hated the sound of it, I hated the way it felt, I hated that the whole supply and demand aspect of breastfeeding was all a guessing game with pumping, and I hated hearing my babies cry and being stuck in the chair unable to comfort them until I was done. I pumped for 2 months. Then, my wonderful little boy latched on the first time I gave it a shot with him. So, I nursed, then I pumped, then I bottle fed Lily. Nights were AWFUL. My husband works midnights. I would get up and be up for over an hour, and then have to get up to start all over again less than 2 hours after I laid down. I was a zombie. Lily had major nipple confusion. So, I had heard great things about these new bottles and we gave Tommee Tippee a try. 1 week of those bottles and we were home free. I seriously owe my sanity to that company. My children are now both breastfed and they get no formula.

I am not trying to scare anyone pregnant with multiples. Really, I am not. Know that your life will change. You will be sleep deprived, and you may lose your sanity, but I PROMISE you will love every single minute of it. Just try to give in a little easier than I did. Everyone has a plan for how they want to bring their babies into the world, but it rarely goes as planned. And with twins, you have two babies who can both put a wrench in your plans at any time. Just sit back and enjoy the ride!