Compassionate Care

One of my husband's professors from the University of Denver is doing a study on the effects of infertility and compassionate care from the health care providers.  She actually got a grant for this study and is paying $15 for your responses!!  If you have a few minutes to help out I'm sure she would really appreciate it! =)

https://udenver.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_dd6LvjeoEJI7gA4

Pregnancy in Review and Professional Maternity Pics!

Total length of Pregnancy: 38 weeks and 1 day

Total weight gained: 52 lbs

Total weight of the babies: 13lbs 3oz!

How long it took to lose the baby weight: About 2 weeks!  Currently (3 weeks after the birth) I am only up 2lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight.

Food cravings: During the 1st trimester I craved mac & cheese!  During the final couple of weeks it was orange soda.

Morning sickness: NONE! 

Food aversions: Meat of all kinds!  The only meat I could eat for weeks was bacon. 

What I miss the most: Feeling the babies moving around and wondering what they would look like

Hardest part: The last couple of weeks of the pregnancy..... I was HUGE!  Also, Baby B (Evelyn) had some body part stuck in my ribs.... I think it was her foot!  In fact, my ribs still hurt in that spot now when I sit a certain way!

Scariest part: At about 8 weeks or so I had a bleeding episode.  I was so afraid that it was all over.  When I went in for the ultrasound and saw their beating hearts I was the happiest person ever!  It was a huge sigh of relief... but honestly I never stopped worrying.

Something I thought I wouldn't miss: Strangers talking to me.  At the time I didn't like it when people would randomly ask me when I was going to pop.  Now when I go out by myself nobody talks to me!  Its very strange.  However, when I do go out with the babies EVERYBODY talks to me! 

Keeping the names a secret- am I glad?:  I am SO glad that we kept the girls' names a secret during the pregnancy.  It made it much more special to surprise everyone with their names.  It was really fun to finally say them out loud too! 

Favorite maternity outfit:  I have two actually.... 1.) The orange shirt that I wore in a lot of the maternity pictures that I took.  2.) A black dress that my mom bought for me... its in the pictures that we took at Alex & Mary Lee's wedding. 

Overall feeling: I really loved being pregnant!  It was a very long and hard journey for me to become pregnant and I was so lucky to have an easy, uneventful pregnancy.  I really did not have any morning sickness and I did not end up on bed rest.  I worked up until about 35 weeks and felt really pretty good.  I didn't have any back pain at all either which I was pretty shocked about.  Yes, I may have complained a bit during the pregnancy (who doesn't, right?) but I truly enjoyed every part of it.  The ultrasounds were so cool and they really helped me bond with the girls before they were even born.  I think part of me realizes that these may be my only babies so I wanted to be thankful for every step in the journey.  Although infertility is horrible and I wouldn't wish it on anyone, it helped me to be thankful for these girls in a way that I can't fully describe.  They are my miracle babies! I love them in a way I didn't even know was possible.

Brian always liked talking to the babies.

This is my favorite orange shirt!

HUGE!

 Mama & Papa



Breast vs. Bottle

Every woman has to make the decision to either breastfeed, bottle feed or both!  I made a decision early on that I really wanted to breastfeed the girls.  There are tons of benefits to breast milk over formula.... especially that formula is crazy expensive! 

After the girls were born I tried to breastfeed them right away.  The hospital provides lactation consultants to help you get started... which was much appreciated.  Charlotte took to the breast pretty much right away but Evelyn wasn't having any of it.  I guess she was doing something strange with her tongue and lip therefore not able to latch properly.  The lactation people kept trying to help me but were pretty much unsuccessful.  Evelyn wouldn't do more than pretty much just chew on my nipple which is seriously painful.  I thought about scraping the idea all together but everyone I talked to said the first while is the hardest and then it gets easier. 

Fast forward to today: 3 weeks later

Evelyn still won't really latch properly.... and Charlotte still will.  The problem is that I need both girls to gain the benefits from the breast milk and I only am producing enough for one baby plus a little more.  I have PCOS so I knew that making enough milk for both would be a stretch but I thought I would try anyways.  The doc put me on Metformin and an herbal supplement which is supposed to help.... and it is to a degree. 

So instead of just breast or bottle feeding I am doing a combination of both.  I breastfeed Charlotte and then pump for Evelyn.  Sometimes both girls just get formula too.... because if I breastfeed Charlotte every time then I won't have very much to pump for her sister.  Yes, it sounds a little crazy and I admit it is a little nuts sometimes but I really want to give the girls as much breast milk as I can. 

Oh, and no, I haven't given up on breastfeeding Evelyn.  I still give it a go sometimes and she still just chomps on my nipple.  I may seek out a lactation consultant to see if there is any hope for her!