Double Trouble

[woodcliff]

Kim! First steps and teeth? Oh, your babies are growing...yes how quickly it must seem ... how time flies...
I think of such things twin moms write about and it makes me not want to miss a moment...but I get so exhausted way too easily!
My little girl is still throwing up...once a day, but I changed formulas and tonight she seems OK (night's not over yet though)
The nanny has only 7 or so 'shifts' left...
she is still a cold fish, but the Jamaican nannies my babies have during the days, and other 'nights' that the cold fish is not here, have more than made up for her badness!

BUT we are running out of $$$ and I now need to ease up on the help and jump into the fray ... fortunately the babies are turning a corner (6 weeks) or at least my son is...he eats a LOT so will be the better sleeper...

Kim, I'll send photos or PM you my email address so you can give me yours so I can send them...hope this makes sense.
I am soooo fuzz brained and seem to get nothing done, spend so much time in the nursery then am so wiped out can not think.

I have learned that not everyone is good with twins...anyone else learn that lesson? One nanny I adored could not handle teh 2 of them...refused to pick them up at the same time to put on her lap...she was expensive so she is gone, gone, gone...I need people I can trust to not leave a baby crying for TOOOOO long (they cry but you know what I mean!)
ok, off to see who is crying now

[laurie35]

Hello Ladies.

Sorry to crash your site but i am hoping that i could get some advice.

My beautiful twins are just over 12 weeks old. Cooper and Melody were born on the 18th feb (4 weeks prem) weighing 6lbs 5oz and 4lbs 2oz.
They are both eating well, Cooper now weighs 12lbs2 and Meli weighs 8lbs 10oz...

My problem is sleep.......................
I know i shouldnt moan i mean we wanted this for so long but im so tired, and while everyone else in the house is stil sleeping i thought i could ask how you ladies were going.

Heres a rough guide to a normal night in this home...
Bath at around 6pm, followed by there feed and they love going to bed at 7pmish give or take 10 mins, they then wake again at 10/ 10.30pm, when i feed again....they will then go back down untill about 1am which is when its all goes wrong! after feeding they are up every hour sometimes more, i offer food, water, i wind , i change sometimetimes i just leave them but they cry so long and loud that they wake every one else up!
In the end i just give up on bed and we come down stairs...we have been up now since 5am and they are just dosing back off in there chairs.

My dh works long hours and does try to help out with the night feeds at the weekends but he doesnt wake when they cry so its always me that has to get up....i cant believe im moaning like this(sorry)!

I have no family that can help out and my friends live quite far away, as do his parents so i have no one to help me...

They seem to be so tired from the nights that all they want to do is sleep all day....i have real trouble keeping them awake, they sleep alot in the mornings, but i try to keep them up in the afternoons, but then that involves Alot of screaming...and i just feel like im failing at everything i try. Dh says im doing a great job but lack of sleep says otherwise.
Im totalling about 3 hours sleep a night and struggling...
I have 2 other children(teenagers)..sleep was never an issue! and i house to run!
I love being a mum to the twins so much but just need some advice as to were im going wrong! i just want to enjoy this.

Thank you all so much for reading this and any comments will be gratfully recieved

Laurie xx

[kholtan]

Hey! OMG!!! We have been so busy that it seems I have had no time at all to post anything. Just saw our final house guest off this morning and we should now be on track! WHEW! 8 people in our house is sure fun but a bit crazy!

Laurie~ First of all sweet heart, you are NOT failing! I know how it feels but always try to keep in mind that we can only do so much and we are not perfect. Your babies have a wonderful mommy! Give yourself a big hug and then a nice break.
As far as suggestions. . . I was a babywise mom. Some people don't like it but it worked for us and Annelise was doing great early. It took my son a bit longer and he had other issues and we would pick him up at night out of guilt for his pain but after we got past that hurdle we started the babywise theories again and he was right on track! Every day we would just do our best and there were days of MANY tears but it got so much easier once my babies hit 12-13 lbs. I kept mine on the same schedule while they were young but after about 4-5 months I went seperate because my daughter could make it all night easily. Maybe since yours are so different in size you could try just letting Cooper cry it out and at night and feed Meli since she is still pretty tiny. Sort of starting him first. AT least you would have one sleeping thru the night and that is what saved my sanity. We have never had any help either, not even an hour, so I understand how you feel but having said that, if I can do it. . . ANYONE can! I'm pretty calm with the babies and have been from day one and that has helped a lot as well. The crying rarely gets to me and I just tell myself "As soon as I can get to it, I will, but no baby ever died from crying." I hope anything I have said at all may be of any help to you. HUG! I wish you the best of luck. If I can help with anything else please feel free to ask!


Good luck!!!!

Woodcliff~ YEAH! The nasty nanny is almost gone! What a relief! Hope your little girl did alright last night. Poor thing! I have learned your same lesson. My niece babysits for EVERYONE I know. She is 18 and adorable, sweet, compassionate, and patient BUT when I paid her to come over one afternoon and help out while I cleaned for house guests, she was a wreck in 5 minutes. She literally was overwhelmed when I left the room and we ended up just playing witht he babies and chatting. That was my 5 minutes of help. WHooohooooo!!! I love her dearly but no one seems to understand how much work it is. Except us mommies! I hope it is all getting easier for you. You can do it and I love hearing about the babies progress. It's great to see them grow up but so sad at the same time.

Kim~ Walking!!!! What the????? I thought you had babies???? I don't want to see a single tooth on my babies because I can just see these days slipping away before my eyes. Pics? Has she done it again? How exciting and yet some how sad. Sorry but I know these may be your last and mine as well so I'm just grieving for us both! I need some new pics.
I'm so useless that I hired a sitter for Saturday with all our houseguest here so we could all attend this wedding, well. . . by 10 a.m. that morning I had to call and cancel. I cannot leave my babies. It's rediculous!!! They are sooooo funny now days and do so many whitty things that I cannot imagine being away. I should give myself a break but my theory is that they go to bed at 7 so I have 3-4 hours alone w/ dh. We'll see how it all works out!
Birthday pics for sure and details galore!!!!

[kholtan]

I'm back!!!! Had to run last night in order to save dinner.

Vickerx3~ I love that your Dr. is so mellow. Sometimes you hear about people having different weight babies and they come on here freaked out and worried sick. I totally agree with your Dr. that you ahve a big and little one. My big one has turned into my little one now. Funny! Also, my u/s was over a lb. off at birth. Hopefully, your wife will be feeling better about her next few months soon. If not, maybe her sweet husband could do some pampering to ease her misery??? Good luck and keep us curious mommies informed!

Kimberli~ How exciting!!!! Your time is coming so soon!!! We love to hear new baby stories around here. I don't know if I'm the "Go-To" girl for bfeeding but I'll help if I can. The twins are still solely bfed here at our house and we are a little over 8.5 months.
My babies were in the NICU for 16 days but I started bfeeding right away. Mine were just what they call Feeders and Growers. No medical issues so that was good but at 34 weeks they were slow, weak feeders. The best early advice I got from the nurses was NEVER feed more than 30 minutes. They expell too many calories trying to eat longer and get too tired. What a help this was! In the hospital I had to nurse them seperately so it took 1.5 hours because I had to pump afterwards. As soon as I was home I busted out our tandem pillow and nursed them together. WHOOOHOOO! It was soooooo much easier. I also had issues w/ pumps and rented 2, bought 2 and NOTHING worked. Some people are just like that I learned and it doesn't mean a thing about your milk production. I could hand express fine but gave it all up at about 2 months and just bfed. I was only doing it to give them one bottle at night w/ added calories but they quit taking that anyway and I HATED to clean all the stuff, deal with the bottles, and even find the time. Breastfeeding was easy, neat and tidy, and my babies were soooo sweet when they ate. It's still my favorite times of the day. My babies do this thing where they rub their hands on my skin and both are so happy afterwards even still. Since my babies preferred the boob, nipple confusion just simply never happened here. They would take either always.

I did have cracked nipples and stuff but I just pushed thru. It was worth every single effort. Also, I have never entertained the notion of failing at it. No one is a failure if it doesn't work out for them but for me, I desperately wanted to do it so I had that attitude from the beginning of IVF. It helped a lot for me. Also, I had baby goals along the way. At first it was 1 month, then 3, then 6, 9, 1 year with my ultimate goal being 18 months. I felt like I had accomplished something at every marker and it was a miny celebration for me. Good luck to you and please feel free to ask me anything. You can do it!

Sarahalf~ Congrats to you and dh! My twins were born at 34 weeks after a 2 week hospital bedrest stay so I'm not a good one for you to listen to. My only advice would be to take it very easy after about 28-30 weeks and keep your feet up a lot. Hopefully you won't have any helicopter rides in your future. How are you doing? It's such fun to carry around two! Good luck to you!

Kelly~ Our due dates were almost the same! Mine was Oct. 11th. My babies were born August 30th. I never stopped working and worked up until I went into the hospital at 32 weeks. Looking back I should have stopped but the thing is, I felt great! I was doing great, had gained very little weight, no swelling at all, babies were fabulous, Dr. was sooo proud of me and encouraged me to do what I could in moderation. I was working half days but I have a physically demanding job so thet seemed reasonable. Now, my advice would be to take it easier than you think you should but don't go crazy. No one would have predicted my situation so it is all very difficult to say but good luck to you and I hope you have healthy little ones!

Kimi~ How is it going w/o your mom now? I hope all is well! I need to go to your web page and check them out. Report back soon!

I better run. The babies have a busy day and we hope to still get this house back in order. My babies are LOVING the sun!!! They couldn't be happier than to be outside in the heat. Silly little things!

Take care~
Kimberly

[kimberli]

Kholtan,
Thank you for all the info on bfeeding. I'm determined to make it work as well. What position did you find worked best for you? I;ve been doing so much reading on it, it's nice to get a personal experience point of view. I do have a pump and bottles for down the road so that dh can help out with feedings but not until latching isn't an issue. How long does it typically take to do a feeding? I know time varies from the beginning and as they grow. Besides not nursing more than 30 min any other good advice I should know would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks, Kimberli

[kholtan]

Hey Kimberli~
The other thing I did was take a local Breastfeeding Multiples class at the hospital. It was pretty informative and gave me about 100 more reasons to stay focused. When I tandem nurse them, even still, they are in the football hold. Annelise has a nasty latch while tandem nursing to this day that kills me but I save time and now they are done in 10 minutes. I also have always made sure to do at least one feed a day seperate. It gave me one-on-one time with each of them and was just a super peaceful and sweet time. Now we nurse 3 times a day and if they are having a longer day because we have evening plans or something then they get one additional time. I'm not as exact with nursing as I am with their food. My babies can eat a TON of food and would nurse all day if I let them. bottomless little pits!
Good luck and I would look for a class at your local hospital. Well worth the time. Here we also had free consultations where I gave birth if you needed. While the babies were in the NICU I asked a ton of questions and it really helped. You'll have to get use to people grabbing your boobs and watching you nurse but I figured my OB had seen far more!

Take care~
Kimberly

[sugabeanzs]

Gosh, I dont read this for a few days and it goes crazy! Yay for all your twins milestones!!!

Well, today I was put on bed rest at 20 weeks. Only for 2 weeks to see how it goes....but they are worried about the length of my cervix. It is still in the great range but I have a lot of pressure on it. She can feel the pressure from the inside. Baby A is breech and lying right on it. So bed rest it is for 2 weeks. *sigh* Anyone else have to go on bed rest? This early? Hopefully I get the all clear in 2 weeks.

[Sarah V]

Well hello twin mummies and mummies to be. I am new, just 12 wks along, expecting my boys (although it was a bit of a guess-timate from the radiographer ). I have been lucky so far with not too much sickness or nausea and am bracing myself for the bigger changes expected along the track.

At this stage I simply wanted to say hi, can I join you? I dont have too much to add, or any questions at this stage, so I might just sit quietly and learn a bit from you all.

It is nice to see such a thriving thread.

Sarah

[buckeyegal]

Wow! It's been busy around here!

Sarah--welcome! Wow, you already know it's boys? That's pretty early. They must very very manly! good luck to you. You will have a great time here.

Sugabeanz--I hope you're resting and following orders--you need to cook for a while. Hopefully the baby will shift positions soon and get off your cervix. TAke it easy! And keep us posted.

kimberli--see, I told ya Khotlan would guide you in the right way! I hope Bfing works out great for you. Bottles can be a major hassle--you asked about time--I remember it taking FOREVER in the beginning. Like kholltan said, you want to limit their feeding time for sure--but I would bf, then supplement each baby. AFter all that, I would pump to help get extra milk and get my supply up. I swear it took like an hour and a half--and then 45 minutes to an hour later, I had to start again. That drove me nutz! I wasn't as lucky with the tandem nursing because my babies ate so differently--so, I honestly had a baby "jumping ship" all the time, so I was constantly readjusting babies...I agree with Kholtan though...the football hold worked best for us.

Kholtan--Ellie's been teasing me for the past week, but today she took 7-8 consecutive steps. YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!!! I can't seem to catch her on video, but I"ll keep trying. I do need some new pics, but they move so flippin' much that not many turn out. What to do? You amaze me with all your house guests! How do you do it? I hope things resume to normal soon. So, did you go to the wedding? I hope you managed to get out for a while...my DH and I try to get out at least once or twice a month. Have you had any more luck working? Or, have you decided to totally stay home? I can't remember what you decided...Any boating yet? We're headed to lake Erie this weekend. I'm a little nervous to see how mine sleep at the cottage. They are so good about their routines here at home--which is great--but, traveling is not so easy when routines are so set.

Laurie--how are you doing? Oh, the beginning is pretty hard sleep wise. And it's a vicious evil cycle--if you don't get sleep then you don't function well...then that doesn't help with anything! I'm also a babywise fan. It really helped my kiddos. Also, do you swaddle your babies? Mine loved being swaddled. The BEST blanket I found was the Miracle blanket. You can find it at MIRACLEBLANKET.COM. Another thought--do you bf or bottle feed? I'm just wondering if they're actually getting enough food at night, if you do bf? Do they sleep in the same crib? Maybe they're waking each other? Have you tried white noise? Those are just a few things that helped me. Is there a way your DH or teenagers could help out a bit on a weekend, just so you can nap? You really need to take care of yourself and get rest so you can be a healthy happy mommy. If I lived close to you, I'd come help you--it's so hard without sleep. Please keep us posted....I'll send sleepy vibes your way!

woodcliff--feel free to pm me! I'd love to see pics! How's DD doing with the spit up?

Hope everyone's doing well! For those of you going through tough times with your lo's....there's hope--mine are 11 months, and this is SUCH a fun time! Twins are great at this age...they have built in playmates!

[kimberli]

buckyedgirl and kholtan,
Thanks for the advice. I know at the hospital they have lactation specialists as well at our pediatrician's. I feel comfort knowing there is help out there. I just hate the unknown and not being able to practice before hand.

sugabeanzs,
I've been on bedrest since 26 wks I'm now 34. It was protocol with my drs office with multiple births. Thankfully my cervix is considered a "super cervix" and I haven't had any major medical issues knock on wood. All I can say is try to stay off your feet as much as possible. It's hard but as time goes by you will be wanting to lay down whenever you can. I know I do b/c I get tired so easily plus I'm not sleeping at night. Hang in there and hopefully it will only be for 2 wks.

Thanks to everyone else for welcoming me to your thread.
Kimberli

[buckeyegal]

Kimberli--you make me laugh.....it would be funny to be able to practice bfing beforehand! Maybe someone should come up with a way to do that! I would have signed up for a class.

Kholtan. I'm going to try and post a couple pics to the bucket. You better do the same!

[kholtan]

Busy Mommies!!!! Whew! Seems I never have time to type and then all the sudden WOW! Glad to hear everyone is keeping up the pace of twin babies so well. As another twin mommy told me a few weeks ago "We are a rare bread!" I couldn't agree more.

Kim~ YEAH ELLIE!!!!!!! So fun to watch them do something so big and she must have been so proud of herself. I love her hair bows!! Annelise has so little hair to speak of that I have to still stick them on w/ Karo Syrup. I wish she had a bit more hair but the future will have plenty I'm sure.
AS far as house guests go, we simply shove them EVERYWHERE! In the Toy Hauler, the office, an air mattress anywhere is a great bed! WE only have one bathroom though and although we have almost 1900 sg. feet the one bathroom makes for some interesting scheduling. You want to be sure you get there early in the morning and have the men go last! The nice thing is that my babies did GREAT!!!! The went to bed at the normal 7pm while we were home and napped on the go during the day. It's so much easier with all our own stuff around. We did attend the wedding w/ the babies and it was a late night but I'm just not ready to be gone that long. They were a big hit and there were lots of children there so I didn't feel bad. It was a country wedding and we even brought the dog! Only us!!!! She's been left less than the babies!
AS far as work goes. . .as long as we keep our main business busy I'm just going to cherry pick my jobs if I work at all. If I can bring them and if the job is ideal and a good money maker then I will do it. If not, oh well. It's just not worth it to me and if we can get by then I just can't justify the time away. I can do without some things so we can be together.
We did take our boat out but the babies just stayed on shore that day. We had all our house guests here and they all wanted to wakeboard so it just never happened for them but they will get there chance for sure! Good luck to you at the lake! It is more difficult but I just slap them in the jogger and they both pass right out! They still nap 3x's a day still and cannot get by with less yet. Heck, we jsut got down to 3 from 4! Rediculous! Let me know how it goes and check out there pics on their web page. I'll try post a few on photobucket.

Welcome Sarah V!!! Congrats to you and dh! Glad you are joining us in the Dynamic Duo world! It's so much fun!

Better go get ready while I can!

Take care!
Kimberly

[buckeyegal]

kholtan--I'm laughing my butt off right now--sorry, the teacher in me! "We are a rare breed....not bread!" Although, if I were bread, I'd make it something really fattening!

I love how adaptable your babies are. I wish mine could be more flexible. But then again, I'm not that flexible, so I guess I deserve it!

I don't blame you at all about the work situation. I wouldn't if I didn't have to. I'll keep you posted about the lake--I tried their life jackets on them yesterday---they SCREAMED! Oh, this will be interesting!

UPDATE: Ellie started waving today, and Braeden started clapping!

I'm off to see your blog----

[kholtan]

KIM! Sweet Jesus! You can count on me to spell it bread! OMG!!!! Seriously, I should attempt to use spell check but I don't have the time to wait for it. How sad is that!!!!! I once painted a mural for a Grocery store and actually spelt broccoli wrong???? Don't ask!

Glad to hear your babies hate the life jackets as well. Mine look rediculous in them and can't even move. Dh is not willing to let us sit the summer out either so we better work it out soon! I also cannot hold them both in their jackets. Have you? They have to be standing or laying down because mine can't bend in them. The babies are still so tiny and the jackets sooooo big! What to do?

I say all that about work and realize I have committed to a HUGE job starting the end of the week. What was I thinking?????? I dread it right now. The babies are so happy and we are so content in our every day adventures but I already said yes! I better suck it up and quit my crying!

MIL was over tonight. . . . . I could do w/o her most all days. She has the worst english I have ever heard, acts like I am doing everything wrong, talks baby talk to the babies (BTW. . .I do NOT do that!), and is just plain old ignorant on so many things. She was trying to convince me that the oil prices are a conspiracy of the US. On the babytalk, I just simple do not want my babies calling everything "Nummy", "Num-Nums", saying "I sees you", or any other stupid phrase she says in a soft high pitched baby babble. Tonight she suggested shole milk for the babies because they aren't fat and they need to be. UGHGHGHGHGHGHHG!!!!! I need a drink! Must run! Hopefully some new man will kidnap her to his country in somewhere like Russia! I can dream!

Have a great night!
Kimberly

[buckeyegal]

There's no possible way for me to hold them both in their life jackets--ain't happenin'! Luckily there's always family around at the cottage, so I don't think I'll need to worry about that. I actually think our life jackets are pretty good, but the kids just hate the extra bulk--prevents them from moving, which they hate. I'm hoping once they're on the boat and feel the wind on their faces, they'll realize the jackets are associated with a good thing!

Good luck with the job....and I'm with ya on the babytalk! ugh.

I checked out your blog--OMG--they are so flippin' cute! And they've gotten so big! Bodie has the cutest smile and Annelise has gorgeous eyes! She's quite a bit bigger than him, isn't she? Just like my Ellie. I've got to keep more current on your blog.

Have a good night gals! I have so much to get ready and do before our big weekend...ahhhhh!