All done except for the hormones

If we're not Facebook friends then you might not know this but the babies are here and I'm home from the hospital. I'm slowly working my way back to to my usual sunny state. I'll write up a birth story later but for now here are some of the boring post-partum details.

The Babies
The Boy and The Girl arrived via scheduled c-section on March 23rd. The boy was born at 11:52, weighed a hefty 6 pounds 13 ounces and was 17.5 inches long. The Girl was born at 11:54, weighed a teeny 5 pounds 9 ounces and was 17 inches long. The boy had some breathing issues (probably brought on by inhaling something or other at birth) and had to spend some time in the NICU but he's getting better and stronger every day. In spite of her tiny size The Girl had no issues at all and is 100% healthy.

The Agony and the Ecstasy (but not really)
The c-section was not as terrible as I expected it to be. I mean, it sucked and I hated it but I didn't like, die or anything so I guess it could have been worse. One really neat part of the whole thing was after the babies were out and I could hear them both crying. The guys were hurrying back and forth between the warmers then coming over to me to squeeze my hand or rub my arm. It was a really happy, emotional time and I got to enjoy it without feeling any pain.

That said, c-sections are not the way I hope to go in the future (assuming I ever lose my mind and want to do this again). I'm nearly a week out from surgery and I still want to do nothing more than curl up in bed with a bottle of pain killers.

Pump It Up
I'm pumping breast milk. The main reason I do it is because I think it's good for the babies. I feel like I gave them the best I could for nine months and if I've got the resources and the ability to give them the best for a little bit longer then I should do that. It's like a parting gift.

I also have selfish motivations. I know pumping will help me take the baby weight off quicker and help to keep the post-partum hormones in check. I have to remind myself of those things several times a day. Every time I go to pump I have the urge to throw the whole contraption in the closet and never look at it again. Pumping is not my favorite thing. It's a hassle, it's uncomfortable and it involves the use of obscene looking plastic cones that I have to hide away whenever someone comes to the house because I don't want people seeing them and thinking "Her boobs were just in there!"

The babies are sucking down about 2 ounces a feeding now so I'm keeping it up. For now.

Baby Blues
I'm tired, I'm crabby and I occasionally burst into tears for absolutely no reason at all. Seriously. The other day I cried because my mom made me a pan of my favorite kind of brownies. The day before that I cried because Jesse told me a joke that I didn't think was funny and I felt guilty for not laughing. I'm slowly feeling a little bit better but everyone around me is praying for a quick end to the baby blues.

In Conclusion
I'm a little sad that this surrogacy is over. It was neat carrying two babies. There's a tiny part of me that wasn't ready to be done.

Mostly though I'm very happy. When I see the babies with their dads I am thrilled with the little part I had in helping to build their family. I'm proud of myself for making it to 37 weeks without any major problems. I'm happy to be back with my delightfully weird children. I'm excited to spend the summer in the garden and in my craft room. I'm looking forward to walking without pain and taking a deep breath without having to struggle.

Small post-partum complaints aside, life is good. I have nothing to complain about. (I just started crying as I typed that. *eye roll*)

At the doctor's office

"You've gained a pound!" the nurse reported cheerfully. "The babies are growing nicely."

"Yes..." I responded as I wiped a stray Thin Mint crumb from my shirt. "The babies..."

One year ago today I locked my family out.
Two years ago it was St Patrick's Day.
Three years ago today I did a meme.
Four years ago today I was a boring mommy-blogger.

Please pardon the brain stain on my pillow

Bed rest is turning my brain to mush.

When the doctor first said "Bed rest!" I thought "Ok, cool! I'll get to take it easy and have lots of naps. In between that I'll watch lots of documentaries and read lots of books and write all those witty blog posts I've been composing in my head."

That all lasted about 24 hours. By day two I had settled into a routine of watching true crime shows, Golden Girls reruns and birth shows on Discovery Health.

True, I'm very rested but every night I feel a little more of my brain leaking out onto my pillow. If this doesn't end soon I'm going to end up like ... I don't know, Rose Nylen.

Luckily there is an end in sight!

The original plan was to do a c-section (since this girl is stubbornly head-up) on March 30th, at 38 weeks. Based on a scheduling conflict and the fact that the babies are attempting to rearrange my skeleton from the inside we've decided to move the c-section up to March 23, at 37 weeks.

I can't say I'm exactly thrilled at the prospect of a c-section I do look forward to the day that I can breath without feeling like I have a boulder on my chest or walk without feeling like I have a boulder between my knees or think without feeling like I have a boulder between my ears.

There's a lot about pregnancy that I really enjoy and carrying twins has been an adventure that in some ways I'll be sad to see end. But yeah, I'm about ready to be done. I'm excited to get my body and my brain back. I will miss all the Golden Girls reruns though.

One year ago Joseph knew me really well.
Two years ago today everyone misunderstood me.
Three years ago today I looked on the bright side.

A short play about the current state of my pubic bone and how I'm feeling most of the time

me: Ow!

The end

Four years ago today Elle was a vampire, I made fun of Sandy and then talked about baseball stuff