I can’t quite put my finger on specifics, but they girls already show distinct personalities. They are both very easy (knock on wood) and engaged. They will track faces already and love looking at everything-particularily the light coming in the blinds. They also really perk up when their brothers are around and they hear their voices. Nell does a good job of holding her head up.
Charlie told his babysitter Meaghan “mommy is going to get a tiny stomach and be tiny again.” At least one person believes that.
Scottie had to spend two nights at Childrens Hospital because she kept spitting up and was unusually sleepy even for a tiny baby. It was so scary with Scottie there (even though the doctors and nurses were amazing) and hard being away from Nell for 2 days. I don’t know if Nell and Scottie felt weird being away from one another but since Scottie and I have come home, I have been trying to hold them together so they can be really close to one another. They seem to love it and usually relax and go to sleep when i have them right next to one another.
Charlie loves to hold his sisters and sing to them. This morning while I was sitting on the sofa holding the babies, Charlie put a hand on each of their heads and sang
I’m very impressed with his lyrics (for the past few months he has been very eager to point out words that rhyme saying “Those words sound the same!”).
Teddy has been very sweet to the babies and wants to kiss them and touch their feet ( I told him babies love having their feet touched so he stops trying to touch the eyes, though we tell the boys “If you want to touch a face, touch your own face.” ). He asks me to put them down sometimes and asks me to sit with him “Sit me, sit me mommy,” but is handling all of this very well.
I cant believe the babies are two weeks old today. I am so in love with them. What could be better than snuggling two babies at once? (Baby Nell in the hat with the yellow ribbon. Scottie next to the Black Dog hat)
Scottie and Nell had a little trouble remembering to breathe on their own. The day we were supposed to leave the hospital this amazing nurse, Christina did a car seat check and Scottie stopped breathing (they had gone down to 4 pounds some ounces so had to have new preemie car seats). They were declared borderline preemies and admitted to the special care nursery at Sibley for a week where they were started on caffeine and put on monitors. I was discharged and the first night at home I cried because it felt so weird to be in the house all alone without any of my four children. They I slept. Each day I would call the nursery the minute I woke up to see how they were doing (they had their own room and a nurse with them all night so even though I was nervous I knew they were getting better attention there than even I could give them). Then MJ would drop me off, I would go up on crutches or in a wheel chair, and spend the day in the nursery, nursing and pumping and holding the babies. Then MJ would pick me up for dinner and take me home. I loved the nurses–they were so helpful to me and so amazing with the girls. They taught me a lot about feeding twins, breathing, cpr etc.
Charlie and Teddy came to meet their sisters before flying to the Vineyard for a week. I was so nervous about them traveling without me but they had so so so much fun. I really missed them. We skyped and they would ask about the babies.
I wasn’t supposed to have a c section until 11:30 am on July 5. On July 1st I took C&T to the fire station and the police station–Charlie had been asking to go ever since Teddy went on a field trip to the fire station with Blue Igloo camp. Then I took them to the American City Diner for milkshakes and grilled cheese. When they were napping I started feeling pretty bad and had contractions so called my doctor and she told me to go to the hospital. I told her I had to take them to swimming lessons first. She told me that I could drink 3 glasses of water and sit still and see if the contractions stopped. And she said I couldn’t swim. So MJ picked us up to drive us to swim and while we were there I realized I should probably go to the hospital (also Mj told me I really needed to go). So Siri came to watch the boys. I went to the hospital at about 5:30 pm on crutches and when we went to to front desk to check in they made me take a wheel chair, not because of the contractions I think, but because of my broken foot. We signed in and I really thought they were going to send me home. I wasn’t in that much pain and it was pretty calm–I felt like I was just waiting for a doctors appointment. When I got upstairs into a room we watched A Few Good Men (timed on Dent Place) and hung out while they had the minters on me. I was contracting a lot but the pain was not bad at all. I would breathe a little heavier when the contractions came but that was all. I really really thought they might send me home. But then they put an IV in and my amazing doctor, Lynn Lightfoot came in in a cocktail dress (she wasn’t even working but was on her way out on a date) and told me the twins would be delivered right then (and she was skipping a date to deliver them). They wheeled me in and I got up on the operating table. The anesthesiologist was soooo nice. The epidural was scary and hurt but Dr. Lightfoot let me hold onto her. Then I laid on the table. The whole thing was so great and so amazing. We had to wait along time while another baby was born in a room down the hall so we everyone in my OR was talking about restaurant and joking around. Finally they started and a couple minutes later Dr. Lightfoot said “You will feel pressure” and I felt the first one coming out. At 8:23 pm she said “This one’s a girl.” I was so stunned and couldn’t believe it (Dr. Lightfoot said it made her cry she was so happy). Then I felt pressure again and at 8:24 she said “And another girl!” I really couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. How can I be so o so lucky and fortunate? I am so blessed. I want to pinch myself everyday. I kept looking over at the girls as they sewed me up and wanted to hold them so badly. I said out loud “I love them,” which I have said immediately each time each of my babies were born. Then I said “Can I hold them? I want to hold them.” They handed them to me and it was the most incredible feeling ever. I had my arms flu of baby. I carried them in my arms to the recovery room where we stayed for a few hours while they bathed the babies, checked them and got my other room ready. The babies amazing. Scottie was Baby A, 5 lbs 8 oz, 18 inches and Nell was Baby B, 5 lbs 11 oz 18 inches long.
