Busy Days

My days are busy with the girls, thus lots of photo opportunities. Ella is our ham. She grunts and groans all the time. I teasingly say we should have named her Ella "Grunt" Hutchison instead of Ella Grace! Addilyn is our quiet one. She's going to be our "thinker" and the one encouraging Ella not to do something that might get them in trouble.

Today I took pictures of them during tummy time on their activity mats. Neither one of them fussed over tummy time today and both girls are getting a lot stronger.

Oh, and did I mention that Chloe, our cat, also likes tummy time? After Matthew set up the activity mats, Chloe was underneath it, on her back, batting at the toys with her paws. It's almost as if she was showing the girls how they are supposed to play with their new toy.

On Monday, Matthew and I gave the girls a bath before their one month old pictures. Instead of dressing Ella right away, I swaddled her and put her in the bouncer so we could bathe Addilyn. Here is Ella peeking at us!

Ella's smart, too. I flipped on the light in the girl's room and Ella hid her eyes. She cracks me up!

I took pictures of the girls at mom and dad's yesterday. They were just too cute to pass up a photo opportunity.

One Month

One month ago today Addilyn and Ella greeted the world with loud cries. They are doing so well and each day Matthew and I count our blessings for healthy, happy babies. Addilyn Kate is now 6lbs. 2.5oz. and measures 19 inches long. Ella Grace is 5lbs. 15oz. and measures 18 inches long. They are beginning to fit into newborn size clothes. Of course they are still a little big and made for babies a bit wider than Addi and Ella!

Matthew and I are finally figuring things out, with thanks to my mom. We had a rough couple of weeks with the girls at night. They weren't wanting to sleep and we were running on empty being up with them so much. We've started keeping them awake during the day at least an hour after feedings before letting them go back to sleep. Our nights have been much smoother. The girls still wake up every three hours to eat, but now we usually have one stretch in the night that they go four hours before needing to eat again. It's wonderful!

I am feeling much better about recent decisions I've made. I feel more like a human again. I see the doctor on Thursday for another blood pressure check. I'm hoping for good news and that I will no longer have to take blood pressure medication.

Matthew and I exhausted the girls today with a photo session. Enjoy their one month old pictures!

Motherhood

What can I say? It's tough work. I never would have guessed sleep deprivation would be so tiring or trying to breastfeed so frustrating. So many thing have changed in the last month. The girls will be four weeks old on Monday and I am already looking forward to the nights in the future that they sleep all night. I feel bad...almost like I'm wishing time away, but I miss sleep in the worst possible way.

I have found that I no longer have time to eat either. Two weeks after the birth of Addilyn and Ella, I was already back at my pre-pregnancy weight. Oh, and remind me to pee, too because I no longer remember or think about that either.

Matthew and I tried to watch a movie last weekend, and I couldn't even make it through half of it before confessing my exhaustion and climbing into bed. I'm lucky if I get a shower on a daily basis, and my poor house doesn't know what happened to it. It's dirty (well, dirtier than I'd like it to be), and filled with baby stuff that has no room for it other than the living room. I already feel as if we've outgrown our house, but on the flip side of that there is no possible way I could keep a bigger house clean right now.

Have I mentioned that the most action my stove has seen has been boiling nipples for bottles? I haven't cooked in over a month. Who has time? I certainly don't. My poor washing machine sees at least a load of baby clothes, burp cloths and potty pads daily. The diaper genie gets disposed of every two days. And my poor hands realize the meaning of "dish pan hands" from washing bottles. I thought having a sterilizer would help, but it deceives you. You still have to wash the bottles before you sterilize them. It never ends.

Today I made the hardest decision I've had to make since the arrival of the girls. I was trying to breastfeed, but due to the girls being premature they have latch on issues. I pumped instead and realized that I had a low milk supply (like 1 ounce of milk after pumping for 20 minutes.) I asked the doctor for a prescription to increase my supply. He prescribed Reglan, but it made me super sick to my stomach to take. So I stopped for a few days and tried taking an herbal supplement called Fenugreek and drinking Mother's Milk Tea. My supply decreased dramatically, so I asked the doctor if I should start out slow on the Reglan to let my body adjust. He said that I should try. He also recommended a beer a day. Over a week later, I'm still not producing much, and finding the time to pump is hard. When I have the time to pump, I'd rather be sleeping.

So with many tears shed, and feeling like somewhat of a failure, I've decided for my own sanity that it's time to stop and dry up my boobies. The Reglan is making me resent the girls and affecting my moods too much to be worth it. I want to enjoy my girls and not feel ill feelings towards them. Matthew is being very supportive especially knowing how important it was to me to breastfeed the girls. Some things just aren't worth it.

I took some cute pictures of the girls today. Mom and I were keeping them awake as long as possible to make nights easier for Matthew and me. I will also post pictures of their first baths.

Addilyn wants Ella to share!

Ella loves her big sister.

Ella and one of her usual faces.

Ella was not thrilled with her first bath.

Addilyn's first bath.

Quick Update

The girl's pediatrician asked us to bring them by the office today to have them weighed again. Addilyn weighed 5 pounds 2 ounces and Ella weighed 4 pounds 14 ounces. They are both up and over their birth weights which is fantastic! We don't have to return to the pediatrician until April 10.

Addilyn & Ella

Just wanted to do a quick update on the pediatric visit the girls had on Thursday. Their two week follow-up resulted in being weighed and measured. Addilyn weighed 4 pounds 10 ounces and measured 18 inches long. She's lost three ounces since birth. Ella weighed 4 pounds 6.5 ounces and measure 18 inches long. She's lost half of an ounce since bringing her home. Both are doing great. I'm posting more pictures.

The girls have arrived!

I know this blog is more than a week late in announcing the arrival of our baby girls, Addilyn Kate and Ella Grace, but motherhood keeps me VERY busy.

My doctor induced me Monday, February 9 at about 8:00 a.m. He broke my water around 9:00 a.m. only to discover later that day that he had only nicked the sack and had to re-break it when my chief complaint was that the blood pressure cuff was more horrendous than my contractions.

After that, the blood pressure cuff wasn't noticeable and I was asking for an epidural within 30 minutes. Everything sort of gets hazy and happened pretty fast after that. I'm not joking when I say I dilated from 5 cm to 10 cm in a matter of about 30 minutes.

I was whisked away to the operating room (just in case an emergency c-section was needed) while Matthew fumbled with getting scrubs on trying to keep up with my rolling bed. I think I endured an out of body experience delivering our girls. I didn't think I had it in me to do, but it was done and before I knew it they were both here!

Addilyn Kate Hutchison arrived at 7:26 p.m. weighing 4 pounds 13 ounces and measuring 17.75 inches long. Ella Grace Hutchison arrived 13 minutes later at 7:39 p.m. weighing 4 pounds 7 ounces and measuring 17.5 inches long. Both girls immediately began breathing on their own and never had to go to the NICU. We are so blessed to have such healthy babies considering they were born 4 weeks early. We all got to come home from the hospital on Thursday, February 12.

The hospital stay was especially difficult on me. I never knew how much the nurses bug you when you're trying to rest. The stress of childbirth and being in a hospital and fatigued brought on a minor case of Bells Palsy. The right side of my face is slightly paralyzed, but thankfully enough not droopy. I saw a neurologist on Monday, February 16 and he thinks we started treatment soon enough that I will recover. The bad thing is that it could be a few weeks to months before I recover. I'm trying to stay positive about it, but it is hard not being able to smile at my baby girls. Eating, drinking, and even brushing my teeth is a bit of a challenge now too. I vow to never take these things for granted again. I'm also struggling to regain a normal blood pressure. My doctor had to prescribe meds to help get it down. So far it hasn't done any good and is still in the 180/90 range.

The girls go in for their one week follow up to the pediatrician tomorrow. We are hoping to hear good news about their jaundice depleting and that they are gaining weight. I'll update again after their appointment.

Enjoy the pictures!

Addilyn & Ella

Addilyn Kate

Ella Grace

36 Week Update

I made it to week 36 in my pregnancy without any MAJOR problems or complications. It was a very busy week with doctor appointments. Here's the scoop...

Monday I had a non-stress test (NST) at the hospital to monitor the girls heart rates. They looked beautiful. The test also recorded any contractions I was having, and let me tell you I was having a lot. The nurse called my doctor to tell him what was going on and he advised her to check me. I was 60% effaced, 1 cm dilated, and Baby A's head was at a -2 station. The nurse called my doctor back with her findings and he told her he wanted to see me first thing the next morning and that I was not to go to work.

Tuesday morning I see my doctor and find that my blood pressure is up a bit, 140/80. My doctor rechecks me and agrees with with the nurse about my progress. I discuss working with my doctor and let him know I've finally reached my point of exhaustion. He said I could do whatever I wanted about work and if I didn't want to go back, he'd furnish the note. As I was checking out his nurse tells me there is a change of plans. A slight trace of protein was detected in my urine and I am not allowed to go back to work.

Thursday I return to the doctor to have my urine and blood pressure rechecked. My blood pressure is now 160/80. I was reexamined by the doctor and told that I am dilated to 1.5 cm. He sent me to the lab to have some bloodwork to check for pregnancy induced hypertension. He calls me at 5:30 to let me know that my lab work looks good. When I left his office earlier, he had me scheduled for another NST on Saturday morning and to be induced Monday morning. Pending my lab results he was going to induce me Friday.

As things stand, I go in for the NST on Saturday and arrive at the hospital by 7:00 a.m. Monday to start the inducing process unless I go into labor over the weekend on my own. I can't believe in just a few short days we will finally get to meet Addilyn and Ella!

36 Weeks, 0 Days

February 5, 2009