New technology

Last night I ordered a pint of cookie dough ice cream delivered to my door. I placed the order through my Tivo. Scary, right? 14 years ago I was trying to figure out how to dial into the internet to check if anyone had sent me one of those new fangled emaily things. And now I'm ordering ice cream through my TV.

The Mom Salon reminder

Lexie and I are so excited and thankful to everyone who has donated money to the Mom Salon. If you are interested in adding to the pool of donations, please contact me at khightshoe@gmail.com by 11/20.

Thanks so much!
Kristina

Five pounds

I took the babies in for the first of their 5 Synagis shots. Synagis is a medication that helps lessen the severity of RSV, should they contract it this year. The shots weren't particularly notable, but their weight difference was. Evelyn is 21 1/2 lbs and Clara is 16 1/2 lbs. That's a 5 lb difference. We know Clara burns more calories because she works so much harder to breathe. Now I'm guessing she also burns a lot more because she's so much more mobile - crawling around everywhere. But, man, 5 lbs?? The doctor doesn't seem to care so I guess I shouldn't freak out. My other issue is that it means it's going to be a looooong time before she gets to 20 lbs - the magical weight we can move her to a front facing car seat.

Oh, and the doctor said their heads looked better than they did two months ago. He said they were holding them up better.

TTTS - 5K Race for Hope

We walked in the Fetal Hope 5K this weekend. I was pretty thankful there weren't a lot of people speaking about TTTS or other fetal issues. I'm just not ready to cry in public over my hot mess of a shared placenta. They did say that more babies die every year from TTTS than from SIDS. Crazy.

Anyway, there were tons of double strollers and it felt good to be with my people. No one asked if they were twins. No one told me that I must have my hands full. No one accosted me, asked to take a photo, or otherwise bothered us. Nope... the only question we got was, "How old are your twins?" It was such a nice change of pace to not be the freak family.

And then today I dared the aquarium where I was asked (3 times), "Are they twins?" and I even got a, "You must have your hands full!"

Back to reality I guess.

One year

A year ago today I moved into the hospital. It feels like a really, really long time ago. I can't believe it even happened to me- it feels so out of body. Although right now I have a friend in the hospital and reading her blog is too familiar so maybe it does still feel a little like it happened to me. All the information about accelerations, decelerations, long monitoring sessions, inadequate nursing, babies going off the monitors, growth checks, BPPs, etc... it's a crappy club to be a part of and no one should have to live it. No one should have to fear for their babies that much.

I also think sometimes about the one women I was in the hospital with who had the cerclage. A few years ago she had an ectopic pregnancy and lost one of her tubes. She got pregnant again though a lot of fertility treatments. Her cervix was measuring so small that she was on bed rest at home at 16 weeks. At 24 weeks she was moved into the hospital. At one point, her cervix measured 4 mm (as a reference, mine was usually 4-5 cms). Her wheelchair and floating privileges were taken away and she was only allow to sit up in bed minimally. I last visited her at 32 weeks after she had been there for 8 weeks. She was like a caged animal. It's completely unnatural to live your life like that. So, yeah, I'm glad I was there. I believe it saved their lives. I believe Clara would have died if I weren't being monitored. But, man, I can't believe I woke up and lived every day with such a heightened sense of urgency and anxiety. I'm glad this year is over and everyone is doing okay.

On to other news... we're working on day 6 of Alex sleeping at night with no diaper. So far, no accidents that we can tell. Hurray!

Take care,
Kris

Updated photos

Evelyn, Clara

Clara, Evelyn - they have the same hair whorl thing off to the bottom left

Evelyn and her little nose crinkle

Clara

Evelyn (front), Clara (back)

Evelyn (L) and Clara (R) at the Museum of Nature and Science

Clara (L) and Evelyn in their first big girl bath

Clara (L), Alex and Evelyn

Halloween - Evelyn is the bee, Clara is the ladybug

Buzz Lightyear

Evelyn eating Cheerios

Clara eating Cheerios

Alex doing a back float at his swimming lesson

Alex in a hay maze

The family at the pumpking patch - Clara is in Greg's lap, Evelyn is in mine