The twins will be 8 weeks old tomorrow! Whoo hoo! This got me thinking of how we’ve adjusted the last 2 months to feel like we’ve finally got our feet under us in the last week or so. I live by weeks (maybe its the 40 week teaching year part of me) so this is how I think of our time since the twins were born. Here is a record and few snippets from each week about what we were feeling:
Week 1: Strange but cute newborns! The twins are in the NICU and we are scared for them but know they are being well taken care of. They are so small and feel so fragile to hold. Jason’s family gets to hold them one at a time when they visit. Me- in the hospital for 5 days and in incredible pain. Worried it will take a long time to recover and be back to normal. Miss Lucy a ton. Jason and I lean on each other a lot through the scariness of delivery and pain after. Go home without babies but excited to see Lucy.
Week 2: Incredibly anxious about babies still in hospital, so much so that I can’t focus on anything at home- not even Lucy, which makes me feel worse. Try to get to hospital everyday to feed them and bring milk. Family and friends give me rides and watch Lucy while we go at night. Still can’t drive. Still in a ton of pain. Excrutiating to even roll over in bed. Waiting for the green light to bring them home each day. Stella is ready early in the week, but we wait for Zoey to be able to regulate her body temperature. Babies both come home July 31st!
Week 3: First week home! Exhilarating, strange and exhausting. Learning to nurse together and apart. Finally we feel like things are moving forward for our family. Lucy’s last week at daycare. Jason is home for the week and we are punchy most of the time which makes things funnier and easier to deal with! Its so nice to be able to figure this out together. Lots of encouragement for each other through those late nights. Stop taking pain meds and still really tired.
Week 4: Grandma Eidens is out to help out and still feeling exhausted. Able to take a lot of naps, which is helping. Go on antibiotics to finally clear up nagging infection from c-section. Lucy gets a lot of attention from Grandma which helps her adjust. She keeps looking at the babies like “where did they come from?” and “wait a second, I just saw one baby over there and now its over here.. wait! there are two babies!” Figure out a system at night for feeding the babies and putting them to bed together and they start going down back to sleep easily! That’s HUGE! Starting to take walks outside and gain more energy at the end of the week due to infection going away. First outing to dinner with all the kids and grandparents! Whoo hoo!
Week 5: Grandpa Eidens is here and Lucy gets even more attention. Spoiled? Whatever! Daily walks to Dunkin Donuts for Lucy and Poppa commence. Tantrums follow whenever Grandpa doesn’t carry Lucy everywhere with him. Turns out its a hard act to follow when mom goes solo in a couple of weeks with all 3. Mission for the week: get out of the house! Learn how to logistically get somewhere with the babies. Go to lunch, park, wading pool and on more walks. This might be possible with more than one person?! Nursing each baby is starting to smooth out.
Week 6: Grandma Eidens is out again and we continue the busy social schedule and take lots of walks, go to the park and even to the mall! Nursing is getting much easier and going back to nursing together again to save time. Lucy is officially spoiled now. Last weekend with grandparents is sad. Anxious to be on my own next week, but thinking it might be possible solo. Ready to get it started and figure out a routine finally and how things will work around here.
Week 7: First week solo and its trial by fire. Times are either really calm or really, really stressful. Sometimes everyone is content and quietly enjoying the day and other times everyone is screaming and crying. Thank goodness Lucy still takes 2 naps. Babies have crying bouts in the evening for a couple of hours off and on. No routine yet and the days feel long and exhausting. Now I know it can be done, but hoping it gets more enjoyable and less stressful. Trying to remind myself they will be this small for such a short time so soak it in! Uncle Brian and Lacy come visit on the weekend and we venture to the zoo. So fun, but way too fast! Come back soon!
Week 8: Smooth sailing! Things are working out. Days have been more enjoyable and a routine is starting to surface. Twins eat when she is napping and she is up when they are napping or in between feedings. A couple of days now and crying is lessening and everyone is getting more happy and relaxed. Aunt Chris and Uncle Bill spend a day with Lucy and watch the babies for 1/2 a day so Lucy and I spend some quality time together and that adds up to helping us all get breaks. I am making sure I am taking breaks to relax during the day and in the evenings. Makes for a much happier Mommy (and Daddy) when there are some breaks! Looking forward to a much needed quiet weekend with just the 5 of us!
What an evolution! Its amazing to look back on. I remember when Lucy was a newborn and my friend told me that things start to smooth out around 3-6 months and I thought that was FOREVER, so I think its saving us this time around to remember that and have some perspective. I am pretty astonished and proud at how well we are doing (with the support of our families!). BUT, I know we have risen to some huge challenges before this too and always landed on our feet and with lots of laughs along the way. Yay us!