Our Family has Grown x2!

Well, hello there, I know it has been a long time. And let me tell you this past year had been busy busy.

The most important thing you need to know is that we have just welcomed our two beautiful boys into the world. Yep Aria is a big sister! I found out I was pregnant in September and it's been craziness since then. In October the doctor surprised us with the news that it was twins! Shock of my life, let me tell you. I've always thought it would be cool to have twins, always. But never, in a million years would I have thought it would actually happen. I still can't believe how incredibly lucky we are to be blessed with TWO new babies!

There were many ups and downs during this pregnancy. It started off with a bang with terrible, horrible morning sickness at barely 5 weeks. And it lasted through week 17. Ugh, I forgot how much I loathe the first trimester. Finally in the end of December I started to feel better. But alas being a twin pregnancy, all the later aches and pains of growing a child hit me earlier this time around. I started to feel like my pelvis was splitting apart come March. 

Also in March at our 28 week growth scan (we had scans every 4 weeks to ensure that the twins were growing properly), we were told that our "Baby A" had an enlarged left lateral ventricle of his brain. This condition is called vetriculomegaly. Normal ventricles are about 4-6mm and his was measuring at 10mm which was just the cutoff or high end of normal. Of course I had brought my mom to this appointment with me to have fun and see the babies and they spring this news on us. To make a long story short, we did a fetal MRI the next week and they found no other "abnormalities" so the condition was considered isolated and therefore less likely that he would have any serious problems (with a 97% probability that he'd be fine). We found this out the Friday before St. Patrick's Day and I had been saying extra prayers to St. Patrick so felt like he was watching out for my Baby A, who is now known as little Patrick Christopher. That 3% chance of a problem left me nervous the rest of my pregnancy but I just had to trust that things would work out as they should. When the babies were born I was absolutely thrilled that they were both healthy as can be. We will just continue to monitor his head size and whatnot through his pediatrician.

My beautiful precious little boys are now 12 days old and working hard to gain weight. We have been having weight checks everyday until they finally gained weight on Thursday and now don't have to go back until this coming Thursday. The doctors have us feeding they breast milk in bottles for now so they don't burn calories trying to nurse. I miss being able to nurse them but it is nice that Kevin can help with their feedings every 2-3 hours. We have been splitting our nights, where I go to bed around 11pm and then we trade between 4-6am. This has been allowing me and Kevin to get more sleep which is amazing with two newborns.

Quick version birth story: Thursday (May 9th) I went into my appointment after the 24 hour urine collection and had massively high BP and tons of proteins in my urine so doctor said we needed to induce that day. They induced but luckily I had walked in already at 5cm (had been feeling tons of Braxton Hicks that were apparently dialating me!). The induction started at 3ish by breaking my water and it was less than 2 hours before the babies were born and in my arms. With twin births you have to place an epi and give birth in the OR as a precaution. The anesthesiologist was just there to place the epi before the nurse realized it was already time to push (no time to pump it with meds). The boys were born 10 minutes apart and I had no tearing! Unfortunately after their birth I had to be put on magnesium for 24 hours b/c of my BP and had horrible side effects which tainted my otherwise amazingly easy delivery! I'm feeling so in love with my babies ♥ 

Of course once the boys started to gain weight my poor big baby Aria came down with a horrible virus. She had a fever of 104 and has been so so sick. I had to send her to my parents house to try and minimize exposure to the boys. I felt so sad when my mom came to get her, like I was abandoning my child in her time of need. But I know she got the best possible care with my mom and Auntie Dobby. She finally came home yesterday and I never knew I could miss a little person so very much. She is still running a low fever but it much much better.

Well, there are a million and 1 more things that I should update on and I will attempt to keep a weekly update just as I did for Aria's first year. Wish me luck and I WILL be back soon!

xoxo Until Next Time, Rosie