Out and About - It Is Possible!

I'm proud to say that we have actually had a busy couple of weeks, getting out of the house almost every day! I definitely didn't foresee being able to schlep all four girls around so early, but it's not as hard as I imagined.


It's made easier with two of my dearest companions - Sara, and my Fisher-Price portable potty, in no particular order :) And no, the potty is not for me.

Let me just say that the best-laid plans are derailed pretty quickly with an urgent "Pee-pee's coming, Mommy!!" I guess I could let Megan pee anywhere she wants, a la Joey. Instead, my options are limited and I have to act fast. I can either herd all four girls to the nearest questionable bathroom (and ignore that voice in my head that reminds me of that Oprah I just saw about bacteria and that flesh-eating disease) and, hope that this bathroom accomodates my limo of a stroller. Or I can just whip out our trusty little potty. It's a lifesaver! As is Sara, of course - an extra set of eyes, ears and arms to help me keep track of the girls when out in public.


So, recently, we managed to spend mornings at Parkside Playground, the zoo, the "inside park," and even storytime at the library yesterday. It's definitely exhausting, but so worth it to get the girls tuckered out enough to take 3 hour naps ;)

Here are Megan and Joey enjoying 80 degree weather last week:




And, the girls posing by the flamingos at the zoo:

Oh yeah, and just to prove I didn't leave these two in the car:

Little trouble makers!

Just The Six of Us

We finally have photographic evidence of our family of six! I brought the girls out (in SI colors of course) to support Matt at the SI Alumni game, where the current varsity baseball team plays all the old-timers - usually pretty hilarious to watch! We were a little conflicted with who to root for though - Matt coaches the varsity this year, but he also had an at-bat with the alumni He actually got a hit - that I missed - I was a little busy. Although, to be fair, I probably would have missed it if I was sitting without the kids - there are so many more interesting things to do at a baseball game than actually watch the game! Anyway, thanks Barbara Cecchin for capturing our family - we definitely need more of these shots!

A New Twin Dorkiness Low...

Sara and I have shared many a dorky twin moment in our day, but today's was an amusing one that's now recorded on each of our blogs. Apparently, we independently decided to post our newborn picture, with witty commentary of course, a couple of hours apart from each other. Not surprising to us, but a little embarrassing. As I pondered this today (no, I do not neglect my children!) , I glanced over from my computer to a framed picture of us in our Brownie uniforms - one from the Dorky Twin File. I thought I'd scan this in for posterity, too. And, for the record, our weights had evened out by elementary school :)

FYI - any attempts to dredge up evidence of further dorkiness will be flatly denied, at least on my part. I'm willing to share a Brownie moment, but let's just say that our journey with Girl Scouts didn't end at the Brownie level. And, wait a sec...yes, Sara agrees. She just sent me an ESP message. Who needs any other form of communication?

Check out Sara's version of the newborn shot here.

"Don't Twins Skip A Generation?"

I guess not.

This is just one of the many questions I get asked these days. So, to prove that they do not skip a generation, here's an oldy but goody of Sara and me as newborns...

Who would have thought we were identical from this picture? Oh, and just to be fair, one of us (not naming names) was a healthy weight at birth, although it's hard to tell with an anorexic twin next her. I was 6lbs.9oz. next to Sara's 5 lbs. Okay, I named names.

Take me out to the ball game!

Matt experienced coaching a baseball game at AT&T Park, for the second time, on Tuesday night as SI went up against Sacred Heart, with the coveted Bruce Mahoney trophy a stake. Last year, I forgot my camera, and have not heard the end of it! This time, I remembered the camera- Matt wanted full documentation! But, I didn't quite get a shot of him coaching first base. I did get him with his little bat girl after the game, though. And, with these smiling faces, you might think SI won. Sadly, they lost, but we all had a great time. Yes, all of us... Annie and Tessa made their public debut for the big game. We were definitely a spectacle, but I had a lot of extra hands to hold babies, replace pacifiers, and entertain the "big girls," since there were quite a few Stechers and Cecchins there!

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!

Little Picassos

Today I decided to cater to the whims of one little Megan, who wanted to paint. With Joey, actually, but she settled for Bridget. Resisting the urge to think about the havoc this could create in my house, I got out the paints, and the girls had a great time! A good hour of entertainment, and some priceless artwork that is sure to be worth big bucks someday!

Best Hide n' Seek Spot Ever!

Now that cabinets are installed in our bathroom, Megan and Bridget love playing in them, and show absolutley no originality in finding a hiding spot during Hide n' Seek now. I'd also like to draw your attention to the fact that this is one of two cabinets they can both fit into at the same time. That's right - we'll have two sinks in there!!! Yay for a functional, pretty bathroom!

No babies yet, thank God!

Well, we made it to 34 weeks, and I honestly didn't know if we'd be here 2 weeks ago. But, I had a great round of appointments on Tuesday. Things seem to be looking up! I saw a different OB since Dr. Wiggins was on vacation, and this one was so optimistic she even said she thought I would go full-term with these girls. Ask me in a few weeks if this is still my desired outcome! And, I took another FFN test, which came back negative, indicating it'll be at least 10 more days before labor starts. After that, I went to the perinatologist again, for the first of several non-stress tests I'll need to have. The babies did great, and I only had a couple contractions over the course of about 30 minutes, which is totally normal. Yay!

I decided to celebrate today by talking the girls on a small outing to the "indoor park" at the Rec Center down the street, basically a big gym with slides, tons of little cars and trikes, and a jump house. I think they were really confused that I was actually going with them, since all other activity outside the house these last two weeks has been with fun aunts and doting grandparents. They got to play with Joey and Clara (who they hadn't seen in 2 weeks!) while Sara and I caught up. It was a great morning, and I don't think my cervix is any worse for the wear (I know, too much information yet again!).

My next goal is to get to 36 weeks. Even at 36 weeks, the babies may have to stay in the NICU for a little while. I'm really hoping we can avoid that - keep us in your thoughts!

Meanwhile, we have plenty to do before little girls 3 and 4 get here, namely:

Minivan shopping. Ugh. The thought of dealing with car salesmen and figuring out car seat scenarios in each different van is more than a little overwhelming. I am really looking forward to all of the features, though, like automatic sliding doors and more space!! I just wish we could skip the shopping part.

Finish our bathroom remodel. We'll see how that goes, but we may be in the home stretch. Matt's been working so hard, in the middle of baseball season, no less. We hope to have this done in the next two weeks. A bathroom on the same level as our bedrooms (and not two flights downstairs in the middle of the night, multiple times/night) would be handy right about now. Either that, or Pull-Ups for both Megan and me! I can't wait to have this done - we'll definitely post pictures with the finished result.

Organize lots of little girl clothes. I started this last night, and I also put the bedding in our bassinet, where one of the girls will sleep. Going through little newborn clothes got me really excited. Or was it because I was watching The Millionaire Matchmaker at the same time? Hard to tell.

Name little girls 3 and 4. You'd think this would be a piece of cake since we can narrow it down to two and call it a day. It's almost harder to come up with two that sound cute together, fit in with Megan and Bridget, and come up with middle names we can agree on. I have a feeling we'll be on day two at the hospital again before we decide! Some contenders are: Mary, Theresa (Tessa), Anna or Annie, Caroline, Kerry. Comment away :)

Get ready for our lives to be insanely busy for the next 18 years.

Almost 33 weeks!

Luckily, my bedrest situation isn't as dire as I feared. New doctor's orders: "modified" bedrest. My OB was much more lenient and relaxed when I met with her on Friday. She says I can still have the girls at home with me as long as I spend a lot of time lounging around and not doing anything strenuous. Translation: Lots of cartoons and less of a need to change out of PJ's. The girls are sticking to a pretty similar routine :) And, my FFN test came back negative, which is almost a guarantee that these babies won't be here for at least another week. I'm really hoping to make it to 36 weeks, though, and avoid any NICU time with these babies! This whole pregnancy is just so different than my other two, and I realize how important it is to stay off my feet and really limit my activity. Looking back, I'm amazed at what I did in the final weeks of my pregnancies with Megan and Bridget, namely cleaning the garage, installing shelving (actually using Matt's power tools!) and going to Tahoe a couple of weeks before Bridget was born. Oh well.

The fact that I can't even consider taking the girls out on my own at this point is the hardest thing about being housebound. Megan still asks every morning, "Where are we going today?" Most days, the answer is not what she wants to hear! Fortunately, we have had lots of help in getting them out out every couple of days. I'm optimistically thinking I'll be able to resume some of our normal activities like going to the park, library and the zoo once the babies arrive. We'll see if that happens. The bigger barrier might be transportation. You'd think we would have figured that out by now, but we still need to go minivan shopping. Yes, I said the "m" word. When you have 4 kids, you can have an opinion on whether you want one or not :)

So, having whined about all of the terrible things about bedrest, the best thing is being able (forced) to lie back and just watch the girls play, or cuddle with them without thinking about all of the housework or errands I need to do. It's nice to appreciate this time before our life becomes a zoo!!