The Birth Report

This will be lengthy, but there will be pictures of cute babies. Feel free to skip past the words and just admire my adorable children. It won't hurt my feelings.

The story starts on Thursday afternoon with a regular dr. appointment. It quickly went:

• They don't think Baby A is growing enough
• I get sent across town to a specialist for a more advanced ultrasound
• Specialist agrees Baby A is much smaller than B
• We need to deliver babies the next day
• I freak the f*ck out

So at 34w4d (and not ready AT ALL), we travel to the hospital Friday afternoon for a c-section. We quickly get set up in pre-op where I take a million pictures every time the nurse leaves the room.

Much to the husband's chagrin.

Before I know it, I'm walking down the hall into a bright, freezing cold room full of 20-25 people. The massive anaesthesia needle terrified me, the two waiting little baby stations over whelmed me, and the red Craftman Roll-Away storage cabinet... confused me.

Wtf?

The surgery itself is beyond bizarre. I've seen a Baby Story, I've talked to friends, but nothing can prepare you for the sensation of knowing you're buttass naked and getting cut open. "You're going to feel some pressure" doesn't come close to preparing you. Thankfully, it all happened very quickly.

Dr: A is out! It's a boy!
Me: Is he crying?
Husband: Yep.
Me: How big is he?
Dr: B is out! It's another boy!
Me: Is he crying? How big is he?
Husband: Oh yeah, he's crying.
Me: HOW BIG ARE THEY?
Nurse: 4-9 and 4-13
Dr: (peaks head over the curtain) This may have been a been a bit of a false alarm.
Me: Awesome.

(Seriously, I'm glad they were a "little wrong" rather than "a lot right" with baby A being too small, but still. Story of my life.)

We took some pics, and off I went to recovery.

I lost quite a few hours in there, but soon I was back in my room and it was time to visit my babies for the first time. Or so I thought. The nurse said I had to get myself into a wheelchair to go to the NICU.

I sit up.
I literally feel my guts fall back into place after months of being up in my ribs.
I yak.
I get Zofran and 20 minutes in bed.

We try again later. I get stood up... and repeat yakking/crackers/20 minutes wait. But this time with the addition of post-pregnancy sobbing. Fun for all!

I finally get to see my babies, and while teeny, they are perfect. Theeeen I yakked again and had to go back to my room. "Someone take this baby! Pink bucket NOW!!!" Apparently the NICU people don't like you doing that around their sensitive equipment or while holding babies. Oops.

The next few days in the hospital are a blur of visitors, trips down to the NICU, warm cookies at 3:00, and Motrin every 8 hours on the dot. Sweet, sweet Motrin. The nurse said some people don't handle a lot of Motrin/Ibuprofen very well because it upsets their stomach. That made me laugh. She has no idea how much Ibuprofen I've taken over the years. I have an iron gut with that stuff.

Leaving the hospital without my babies was the hardest thing I've ever done, but we came back all day/night for the next 12 days. We survived a roller coaster of feeding tubes, IVs in their head, getting out of the hot box and into a crib, earning a trip back to the box for a temperate plummet, and a minor blood shitting incident. These boys certainly are dramatic. NO idea where they get that.

But now the boys are home, and we couldn't be happier. The adventure of giving birth wasn't quite what I expected, but I wouldn't trade their birthday for anything in the world. My pregnancy was wonderful, my recovery has been easy, and in the end, I'm blessed with the perfect Husband and two beautiful, healthy, amazing children.

Pregnancy (and post-pregnancy) by the numbers

It's now been 2 weeks since giving birth, and I've got to say that I feel pretty great. I think running back and forth to the hospital for so long didn't allow for a sissy recovery. Thankfully both boys are home and doing fantastic.

Since I spend most of my days counting dirty diapers, time spent eating, temperature fluctuations, and a million other things (times two), I thought I would capture some stats on me. I do love crunching numbers as much as the next runner, so here's a few for documentation sake:

-Days pregnant: 34 weeks 4 days

-Final stomach circumference: 48 inches (whoa shit)

-Weeks measured: 44 weeks+

-Amount of babies carried: 9 lbs 6 oz (total)

-Weight gained during pregnancy: 34lbs (photos taken on birthday morning)

-Weight lost by The Husband during pregnancy: 25lbs

-Weeks ran: 33 weeks

-Weeks walked: 34 weeks 3 days (we took one last walk the night before delivery)

-Duration of c-section from first cut to first baby: 4 minutes (I told her to take her time!)

-Times yakked post-surgery: 4

-Times getting kicked out of NICU for said yakking: 2

-Total days boys spent in NICU: 12 (9 days for Sam and 12 days for Luke)

-Weight lost (so far): 26 lbs (holla for fitting into my fat jeans)

-Days since I last fixed my hair: 14 (and counting!)

-Days since wearing a normal bra: 14 (and counting! I actually had to search for one to take the above pictures)

-First long walk: 14 days post-baby (it felt wonderful)

-First run: TBD (we'll see what the doctor says on Monday, but I'm dying)

-Days until first race: 56 days (woo hoo!)

-Number of perfect, adorable, cuddly, amazing babies sleeping at my feet: 2

I'm thrilled to report that both boys came home on Thursday and are doing fantastic. They do plenty of eating, sleeping, pooping, and looking cute. Nothing too complicated so far. We're both quite tired but loving every single second of being parents. It's better than I could have ever imagined.

Week 1 observations

First, thank you all so much for all the congrats and kind words about our baby news. Especially all you lurkers.

Life with the boys is going really really well. We're beyond anxious to get them home, and hopefully that'll be soon. Since I have time now, I thought I'd reflect on the first week of being a mom. And include pics, of course.

1. Having your babies in the NICU is one of the hardest things in the world- My heart breaks every single night we leave at night without them. There have been tears. Many, many tears.

2. Having your babies in the NICU does have some perks- I don't worry about their health, I get daily instructions from awesome nurses, I sleep plenty, and best of all: FREE DIAPERS!

3. A healthy active pregnancy makes post-pregnancy way easier- I weighed myself this morning, and so far I've lost 25 of the 34 I gained. My (fat) jeans even fit too. Once my hibernating abs come back to hold in my guts again, we'll be golden. At least I now look just a little chubby instead of still pregnant.

I'm going to start walking next week (when I'm not at the hospital all the time), and I'm dying to start running soon. We'll see what the doctor says. One week post c-section is close enough to six weeks, right?

4. Nursing makes you starving- OMFG. I've never been this hungry and thirsty in my life. Not during marathon training and not during summer bricks. I need to eat constantly.

5. My brains have fallen out of my head- I can't remember anything. It's not like I have the "lack of sleep" excuse either. Hopefully my brains come back some day. It's tragic.

6. I love my husband more than I ever thought possible- He's amazing. That's all.

7. I have the cutest babies in the entire world- duh.

Sam:
Luke:

We have babies!!!

Well, we did it. We became parents to the cutest babies on the planet!

Lucas Matthew
4lbs 9oz
17.5 inches

Samuel Steven
4lbs 13oz
18 inches

I'll type up a full report later, because a birth story deserves at least as much blog real estate as a race report. Not to mention I have about a billion more pictures.

Everyone is doing fantastic, and hopefully the boys will get to come home in a week or two. Thanks for all the well wishes, encouragement, and support along the way. Life is damn good.

Love,
Matt, Niki, Sam, and Luke

One hardcore (looking) walker

It's not totally easy, but I'm surviving this no running business. It's particularly hard on a sunny, warm, breezy, perfect evening when I'd normally drive home, toss on my shoes and decompress the day on the road.

I thought about riding my bike trainer or swimming to stay active, but that won't really work. One nino is a little peanuty and the doctor is anti-aerobic since she wants him getting all the blood, oxygen, and calories he can get. Also, it's really being outside that I miss.

Enter, walking! Oh, do I walk. Walk walk walk. It's not very fast and I get plenty of sympathetic/shocked looks from people who think I might explode, but every day I'm out there hauling my 9-10lbs of baby down the sidewalk.

But you know what? I'm doing it in style! Well, selective style since I'm wearing baggy shorts and whatever maternity shirt I can find that fits. Even if it's the shirt I just wore to work that day and not at all intended to be worn while working out. Whatever. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

The rest of me, however, is totally runner legit.

Exhibit A: The Kicks
I love them. (Well, I don't love the ultra-girly pink, but they are a more "hot pink" and less "carnation pink" in person. Plus, this color was on sale, and diapers ain't cheap.) They arrived in the mail a couple weeks ago, and it's probably the first time I've ever bought the same brand two times in a row. I might ditch my rep as a brand ho and keep hooking up with Pearl Izumis for a bit. We'll see.

Exhibit B: The Shades

Purple Ryders glasses from the awesome MCM Mama giveaway! (Ignore the hot mess of me.) I was super stoked to be the first winner since I totally had my eye on these when she announced the contest. They are even better than I thought they'd be. Guess that's what happens when your previous workout shades were free.

AND as if she wasn't lovely enough, her cutie boys sent a couple books along for the twins. How thoughtful was that?

So anyway, for the next couple weeks at least I'll keep looking hardcore on the top and bottom. No comment on the middle.

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!