One year ago today... - Arianne ...we found out we were pregnant with twins!
The girls had a pediatrician appointment today in the office building across the parking lot from my OB where we had our first sonogram, and saw our two girls for the first time. I drove by the parking space where Ryan and I stood and called all of you to tell you the news. It is amazing how much we have gone through since then (like another life time ago), and yet at times it feels like yesterday. I will never forget my Mom's reaction that day. I was so exacerbated that it took so long for her to finally return my 25 messages, the first thing I said was, "Where were you, you knew that today was my first sono?!" Then I told her that BOTH babies are great; she told me to stop being ridiculous and didn't believe me the first ten times I told her.
All that day I couldn't even work, I felt so amazed that Ryan had known it was twins and I felt so privileged to be chosen for this job. Raising two identical beings. I was also thinking about how much I wanted them to be girls and how I knew they were boys!!! Apparently my intuition was a bit off - I blame the hormones.
2007-10-11
What little turkeys - Ari Julia and Marayla had two appointments at Georgetown Hospital on Monday. A follow-up appointment with the Nurse Practitioner who has been following them on their apnea monitors, and an appointment with a development specialist to check their progress because of their prematurity. We were hoping this was the last visit to the apnea clinic, but they want to continue to monitor them and their reflux.
We were so excited to find out their weights. Julia has been putting on lots of weight and I was thinking Marayla would be about two pounds less. I was worried about Marayla's growth, but that is normal for me. Julia weighed in at 16 lb 9 oz and 27 1/2 inches long. Marayla weighed in at 14 lb 13 oz and almost 26 inches long. They are both tracking along their growth curve great, Julia just popped up a bit and is on the five month-old growth line. Their nurse Allison called Julia a turkey, we both thought was so cute.
At the development appointment the specialist confirmed that both girls were on track with their adjusted age of five months and nineteen days. They will turn six months on the twenty third and nine months actual age November 2. I can't believe how far we have come, and yet we have just begun!
2007-10-02
a poem for your quilt We have received some beautiful quilts for the girls and we love them so. They are some of the most used items in our house. Recently a lovely coworker of Ryan's gave us two quilts with this poem:
It's OK if you sit on your quilt
It's OK if your bottle gets spilt.
If you swallow some air
and you burp, don't despair;
it's OK if you spit on your quilt.
There are scraps old and new on your quilt.
Put together for you on your quilt.
If your gums feel numb
'cause your teeth haven't come,
it's OK if you chew on your quilt.
We expect you to lie on your quilt.
If you hurt, you may cry on your quilt.
On a cold rainy night,
don't you fret, you are all right,
you'll be snug, warm and dry on your quilt.
2007-10-02
All Aboard! - Ari I have avoided going out alone with the girls. I did not know how the three of us would do, and how I would handle all the baby stuff and both girls by myself. Ryan and I have our hands full and it can be overwhelming at times. I belong to a multiples' club and the other Moms get out there and do stuff with their kids and they gave me the confidence to just do it. I was so worried about caring for them here by myself but that was easier than I thought, and so I decided to go grocery shopping to Target. We hadn't gone shopping in well over a week so we needed a lot and I couldn't just grab a few things and put it under the stroller and go, nope I needed a cart and lots of time. I chose our Super Target for the wide aisles and the pharmacy since we get our prescriptions there too. Julia and Marayla are not sitting up unsupported yet so I can't put them in the top of a cart and they don't like to be in their car seats for a long time so I needed to bring the side by side stroller. So, I had to figure out how to push the stroller and the cart at the same time or do one at a time, but that seemed a bit ridiculous! Now that I had thought of all my obstacles and fed them some solid food, we headed out the door.
We still have our handicap tag from when they were on monitors and I use it when we are at a shopping center with tons of handicap spots. So we parked close to the door and unloaded. It took some time to figure out that the stroller should be in front of me, pushing from the middle handle and the cart behind me being pulled from the front end (not the handle). I was offered lots of help from employees but I wanted to do this on my own. I should have realized how funny I looked,-like the hook between two rail cars swerving left and right-and added lots of time for talking. We were stopped by any baby lover, twin enthusiast and lots of employees! We had to make a pit stop in the paper towel aisle for a bottle break, in which an employee driving a lift of new toilet paper ran into us. But no one was hurt and she was so apologetic, actually it was my fault as I was on the floor and out of sight! All in all the girls, well just Julia, only fussed towards the end of our almost three hour trip. I didn't get a few things on the list and we made it home without a tear, from anyone.
I was really proud that I was able to handle all of that and I was so proud of Marayla and Julia for how sweet and easy going they are. Every single person commented on how good they are, and they are, and I am a lucky Mom!
