How Dirty Can A Newborn Get?

Our littlest girls finally got their first bath at the ripe old age of one week. Yes, I realize that is a long time to wait, but unfortunately, it was low on the priority list around here. And, I figured, they can't bathe more often than I do!

So, while Matt occupied the "big girls" by taking them to story time at the library, I bathed the girls one by one. Tessa was up first, and she loved it! We get such great light at our kitchen sink, but I have no idea how to take good pictures in that light, apparently. So, these are a little shadowy. Anyway, as you can see, Tessa settled right in, and, as soon as she was comfortable, she started sucking her thumb :)

Annie's turn...she was equally mellow. We have two little water babies!

Trust me - not all babies take to this first bath so readily - here's a shot from the Stecher Archives, circa March 2006:

Megan has come a long way, and now loves the bath!

Bunkmates

We probably have hundreds of pictures of these two nose to nose now, and I can't resist sharing some. It's so cute that the girls can sleep together in the same bassinet, and seem to really benefit from it. They calm down when they're next to each other, and they don't wake each other up when they cry, either.




It's going to be really sad when they need to be separated into their own bassinets! I'll enjoy their cuddle time while it lasts.

Miss Theresa Maureen Stecher

Weight: 6 pounds 11 ounces

Length: 17 inches

Distinguishing Features: Birthmark over lip, 2 dimples!

Known Aliases: Baby A, Tessa, Bridget (okay, this is just me in the middle of the night, very confused!)

Hobbies: Sleeping (and not nursing!), sucking on any of her fingers or thumbs

Miss Anna Grace Stecher

I had to include this picture. I think she's really embarrassed - she's saying, "Sorry about that feet first thing. I didn't get the memo about going head first!"

Weight: 6 pounds, 0 ounces

Length: 17 1/2 inches

Distingushing Features: Narrower face, generally a shrimp :)

Known Aliases: Baby B, Annie, Anna Banana

Hobbies: Nursing!

The Details....

Here I am, two weeks later, and I'll try to recount the story of the twins' birth as best as I can remember. I'll warn you that the whole first week is a hazy blur for me, so I won't stand by the accuracy of any of the following...

One more side note: Read on at your own risk! Unless you watch TLC's "A Baby Story" on a regular basis or are equally comfortable with labor and delivery details, you may just want to skim and look at the pictures. Even those may freak you out, especially this first one!






I include this "before" shot to remind everyone exactly what a twin pregnancy does to one's body, namely mine. So, for the next year or so, when we run into each other, just refer back to this picture in your mind before you make any judgements on my overall appearance. That's an extra 50 pounds, people!

So, here's the timeline of how things transpired (thanks to Matt for jotting down the details!):


9am - We arrived at CPMC for our scheduled induction. I was 38 weeks, which is considered full-term for twins, and my doctor didn't see any reason to put me at further risk by waiting any longer to deliver. I was also beginning to show signs of pre-eclampsia, so our best option was inducing delivery.


12pm - After a few hours of getting checked in, getting hooked up to monitors, trying to locate Baby A's heartbeat as she flipped and scooted all over the place (this required at least 4 nurses and doctors and consumed a solid hour- just the beginning of trouble with Annie!), I received my epidural and my catheter (Don't say I didn't warn you!).




1pm - Once the epidural was in place, Dr, Wiggins came by to break my water and check to see how dilated I was. I was already 6cm! Unbelievably, I was in labor on my own anyway, and I hadn't really felt more than a little uncomfortable. Things were moving very quickly, and I'd barely finished US Weekly. I hadn't even opened People!



2:30pm - Dr. Wiggins came by again to check on me, and I had already progressed to 9 cm. This is where things began to get blurry!



3:15pm - I was wheeled into the OR down the hall. Even though I didn't have a C-section, it's routine procedure to deliver twins in an OR in the event that an emergency C-section might be necessary. As I was wheeled in, I couldn't help but notice two little baby stations all ready to go. Surreal - it really hit home that we were having twins!!

Dr. Wiggins introduced me to another doctor in the practice, Dr. Callan, who assisted during the delivery. They're both very experienced in breech extractions for Twin B, which was our plan for little Annie, and it couldn't have gone any smoother.

3:31pm - After maybe two contractions and a few pushes, Tessa was born!

3:32pm - Yes, that's right, one minute later, after one more contraction, Annie was born with minimal pushing, feet first! She was noticably smaller than Tessa, and needed oxygen for maybe a minute before we were able to hold her.

I was really scared at the possibility of a C-section, or worse, a vaginal delivery for Baby A, and an emergency section for Baby B (yes-that's a very real possibility!!!!), so I'm so thankful the delivery went so perfectly!


A few hours later, had all of of our little girls together! Megan and Bridget were so excited to meet the babies. Bridget looks a little dazed here, but she really was excited!! We now have two extra mommies in the house, and it's so much fun to see them interact with Tessa and Annie.

Lest We Forget.....

We officially have a 3-year-old - Megan's birthday was on March 8th, and, although we didn't have a big party at our house, she had several celebrations for her big day. Luckily, no babies were born on her big day either, which we are definitely thankful for!


We began her birthday festivities with lunch at Red Robin with Mop, Hop, Joey and Clara. Joey was ecstatic to welcome Megan into the 3+ club. He showed her the special handshake and everything. Fortunately, Megan doesn't seem to have inherited my utter dread of being sung "Happy Birthday" to in a Red Robin. It haunted me through my formative years, and I'm happy to report that Megan not only tolerates it, she relishes the attention I shrank from! With balloons in tow, we bade farewell to one set of grandparents and met Grandma and Grandpa back at our house for more fun and gifts galore. Most notably - Princess dolls!




Yes, large, plush Disney Princess dolls that now adorn the foot of Megan's big girl bed. Speaking of her big girl bed, here's a before and after. Yes, she was three and still in a crib, but she loved it! And, she's doing very well in her big bed now, too. Surprisingly, she hasn't tried to get up at night after we put her down. We'll cross our fingers that she doesn't try shenanigans like that for a while still, at least as long as poor mommy and daddy have their hands full with two other little girls at that hour.

But, I digress....

Megan got to blow out candles that night, too. I don't think I have a happier picture of Megan in recent history. Maybe she was really excited at the chance to wish away the babies she knew would be there any day!



Either way, she loved her cupcake, and so did all of the other kids at the party. Okay, Bridget was the only other kid in attendance, but she had a blast!

And, last, but not least, Megan was very excited to join Aunt Stacy and Uncle Fred in their birthday celebration the following weekend, where she got to blow out candles yet again! Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate our "big girl" while we were preoccupied with the twins' arrival and in no condition to throw a party at our house!

They're Here!!

Our babies have arrived! I don't have time to post a bunch of pictures right now, but I have a couple to share.

Theresa Maureen was Baby A, weighing 6 pounds, 11 ounces. And, Anna Grace was Baby B, weighing 6 pounds, 0 ounces. In these pictures, Theresa (Tessa) is on the right, and Anna (Annie) is on the left. They are both perfect and healthy, and we couldn't be more blessed! We think they're fraternal so far, but we'll wait and see how similar they look in a few months.

We're home now, and our first night went pretty smoothly! They are very mellow babies, so far! Megan and Bridget are in love, so we're not dealing with any jealousy yet, either.

Check back for more pictures soon!

Alas, No Irish Twins!

Assuming I don't go into labor on my own tonight, MARCH 18TH IS THE DAY!!! I'm scheduled to be induced tomorrow morning, and we should have two little girls to introduce pretty early in the day tomorow. My OB says it will probably move very quickly! I'm excited that we finally have a date, and that we made it to almost 38 weeks, but I'm also a little sad at the prospect of this pregnancy coming to an end. For all of the interesting pains and discomfort this time around, it was a very special pregnancy. I can't wait to meet the twins and be the mom of twins!! Wish us luck!

Water, Water Everywhere....

Don't worry, not the water breaking kind of water!

This is the almost-done-being-remodeled-bathroom kind of water. We finally have a few fixtures hooked up in our upstairs bathroom, including, gloriously, the toilet! Megan was excited to be the first to use this! Before our plumber had even closed the front door behind him yesterday afternoon, Megan lugged her Elmo toilet seat and little step stool up two flights of stairs from the downstairs bathroom. I'll spare you the details thereafter, but after doing her business, she was curious about the other new fixture, our snazzy bathtub faucet. In theory, it's great! It's a regular tub faucet, but it also has a little shower hose attached, which I thought would be awesome for washing four little heads of hair in the bathtub. Little plastic cups are so 20th century! Apparently, I didn't think through any drawbacks to a set-up like this...

While all four of us were standing in our room that's really beginning to look like a bathroom, Megan innocently decided to turn the tub faucet on, and that's when the shower hose came to life and started spraying everything and everyone in the room! It was pure chaos! I got soaked in the face and all over my shirt and pants, while Megan was doused/thrown into our new cabinets where she scraped up both knees. Bridget tried to escape, but slipped on the water on the floor, and fell on her back. Luckily, Matt got to the faucet and turned it off. I can't really say I saw any of this happen, since I was running out of the room with no regard for either of my children as soon as the snake/hose started attacking. Do I have any motherly instinct? Afterward, I felt like Michael on "The Office" when the fire broke out (anyone?), and I'm not proud of it! At least I got the twins out safely - I'll stick with that as my plan from the beginning.

Of course, Megan was very upset. I'm not sure if she was more concerned about her wet dress or her scraped knees, though. Nothing a cartoon won't cure!

After mopping water off the floor, countertop, cabinets, walls, and ceiling, we decided we need to make sure to have the faucet in tub mode from now on, although something tells me this won't be the last shower hose incident!

Still Waiting....

Yes, I've been a slacker in updating here, and I wish I could attribute it to chaos around the house in the form of two infants. But, we're still waiting! I shouldn't complain. Today marks 37 weeks, a great milestone for us! We should be able to take the babies home with us from the hospital if they were to arrive at this point, which is great! I have an appointment tomorrow with my OB, who wanted to "buy a few more days" as of Monday. We'll see what she says tomorrow. I have a feeling she'll schedule an induction for early next week - these truly could be little Irish lasses. I wonder if they serve beer in the hospital :) We'll have to rejigger our names if this is the case, too - hmmmm...

It's better if we can get through the weekend without the complication of labor, anyway. Everyone in our house is sick with really bad colds. I can't imagine being sick with a cold while I'm trying to recover from delivery, so I really hope we're better by then!

Oh, I forgot to mention our latest stats after the 36 week ultrasound. Baby B is still weighing a little more at 5 pounds, 15 ounces compared to Baby A's 5 pounds, 12 ounces. Sometimes those estimated weights are way off, but I'm confident they'll be at least 6 pounds and some change. What a difference from Megan and Bridget each weighing 8lb.10oz. at birth! We can actually get some mileage out of our "up to 7 pounds" size clothes :)

Okay, I'm off to tend to sick little girls, and think about two more Irish girls on their way!

Our New Addition...

No, this isn't quite the blond, blue-eyed variety we normally bring home, but an addition none the less :)

We finally went minivan shopping, and decided to go the cheap, er, practical route, and got a Dodge Grand Caravan, which saved us a ton compared to the Odyssey or the Sienna. We figured we could spend $10,000 extra on the Odyssey, but then we'd probably have to sell one of the twins. I think we made the right decision, but we'll keep you posted if this offer is one the table again in the next couple of weeks.

So, we've had a transition over the last day or so. Matt reluctantly traded in his Isuzu Rodeo, but he wanted one parting shot with his baby before he drove it in to the dealership and said goodbye. He's smiling through the pain. I think he made out on the deal, considering he now gets to drive our Acura TSX - poor guy!

Megan and Bridget were so excited with the new car that we loaded them up and took them for a spin around the neighborhood last night, just before bedtime. They're in the "way back," since that's where the cool kids sit. Hopefully, the novelty won't wear off when their matching in-car entertainment arrives in the captain seats in front of them very soon.

We're officially ready to be a family of six now! I even have everything organized in our bedroom ready for two babies to come home from the hospital!

Okay, now I'm off to elevate my stumps .... I mean, feet! They are not looking good right now!