3 weeks

Monday:
It's been three weeks now. A returned to work today; the girls, V, and I all survived. Huzzah!

I managed to wrangle the girls into position to tandem nurse on my own, I kept V from trampling them, and I even washed some dishes.

Wednesday:
And of course it's been two days since then and I'm still working on this post. We're still surviving. Today has been a little rougher, the girls aren't latching as well (they prefer biting and pulling on me, which has caused a lot of pain/discomfort), and I'm trying to figure out if we're dealing with the poor latch or the beginnings of thrush. We're still nursing though. Last weekend we survived a batch of cluster feeding, started to see some semblance of a pattern for nursing but that's all sort of fallen to rot today. Hopefully tomorrow will go better.

I wrote a thank you note for my fertility clinic today. I may have shed a tear... because seriously how do you thank someone enough for such a gift? And I realize that yes they are paid monetarily for what they do, but our clinic really went above and beyond during our time there. And without them none of these kids would exist, there is absolutely no question of that. I tucked the note in with our birth announcement for the girls, just like I did with V, and it'll go in the mail tomorrow. We'll probably take the kids to visit Dr. M sometime in the coming weeks. I'm sure that will be full of all the feels since we don't plan on ever returning there.

Two weeks out-

We're still here! It feels like it's been over a month, but we're doing good.

The girls nurse constantly, much to my surprise I actually have a bit of an oversupply this time. It's been rough though, I won't lie. I have an overactive letdown, G can power through it (letting the excess dribble out her mouth) but we have started using a shield for J. J still struggles to latch, and after my milk came in she started struggling with my overactive letdown. I've read that I should express the excess off on a burp cloth, but my excess is like an ounce... so I either need to pump it off (which can exacerbate the issue, I've read) or I need to use this shield. So far we're doing well with the shield, although that does make nursing while out difficult since I can't really use it then... and she does not do well without it initially.

My day usually consists of changing a diaper, feeding them, burping, then changing yet another diaper, then topping them off with more nursing- this takes about an hour when all is said and done. Then they either nap, or they don't. Sometimes they trade off, one will stay up and the other sleeps, then the next session they switch and the other one stays up. It really drains me down when they do this at night. Anyway, then we do it all over again an hour or two later. They're actually getting ready to wake up again now.

My incision did get infected last week shortly after returning home. I had a bad fever, but we caught it very early and the antibiotics seem to have gotten it under control. I'm still very swollen, retaining a lot of water in my legs/feet, and my lower belly. My OB actually used dissolvable staples this time because my swelling was so bad in my lower belly. I lost 25lbs instantly in the hospital after having the girls, but still can't wear any of my pre-weight loss clothes. It's just as well, with the swelling and pitting from it, stretchy maternity clothes are the way to go.

A has another week of vacation, and I have to say he has been amazing. With the c-section I've been very limited in what I could do... but he's been wrangling V, helping me get the girls set up to tandem, waking at night to help me with them, doing all the cleaning, dishes, bringing me meals, laundry, you name it... man deserves a medal right now.

And G is now grunting and squirming... time for me to go! Another time.

Babies are here!

Sorry for being MIA, things have been crazy and I just now got on my computer since having the babies.

We went in on the 30th for our scheduled c-section at 38w+4d. We got bumped back a few hours for emergency c-sections, but obviously made it back eventually. I was pretty anxious and scared, but everything went, well, perfect. We happily welcomed two healthy baby GIRLS into the world in the afternoon.

Baby A, J.ane, came out first weighing 7lbs and 2oz, and Baby B, Gu.inev.ere, came out second weighing 7lbs even. J came out silently and didn't cry until they started cleaning her up. She was pretty mellow though. G came out wailing and sounding the alarm, as soon as daddy got to hold her she began licking the air and rooting. In recovery J had some issues latching (still does), but G dived right in, so I nursed them both for a good while in there.

Recovery wise it's been rough, but that's to be expected with a c-section. Still, things have been loads smoother this time around though, with V I was still barely able to get in/out of bed. My stay at this hospital has been much more pleasant, the nurses overall have been great, and it's just a nicer place overall. The girls are nursing every hour on the hour, most of the time tandem. I usually just need help getting them in my arms, but can get them latched on my own. My milk started to come in this morning finally, so hopefully they can start regaining some of the weight they lost now. I'll be heading home in the morning.