I know, I know...  I started off Part I and never got to anything having to do with birth.  I'm sorry!  I started writing and it got so long that I felt like I needed to stop...  But I have a guest collaborator for Part II!  My awesome sister!!!  She'll be writing in bold to distinguish between the two of us

 

If you don't already read her blog, you should - funny, Catholic, and educational!

Anyway, when we left off, I was heavily pregnant and all alone in Williamsburg, VA, 2.5 hours from my OB, husband & hospital where I'd be delivering.  I just had a couple weeks left of teaching my little hooligans before joining Andrew in Northern VA, and my due date was in mid-July.

Sure, I was huge, but I had PLENTY of time left!  Every woman in my family who has ever had a baby has always been ridiculously late.  The secretaries in the office were convinced I wouldn't make it to my due date.  My students made jokes constantly about my water breaking in the middle of class.  But John Paul stayed put and there was no early arrival!  I packed my bag full of maternity clothes and headed up to NOVA to join my husband.

Only a month left!

I was ready for John Paul to be REALLY late.  My sister joined us after her school year ended and we spent every day either sitting in the pool or trying to do random things to keep our minds (well, my mind) off of when this baby would make his appearance. 

Have we mentioned that this meant all three of us were staying with Andrew's father at his house? Just imagine the bizarre dynamics that led to.

  It was HOT.  I was swollen.  And exhausted.  And the baby was staying put.  And every time I didn't answer my phone, my mom would leave a frantic phone message asking where I was and was I in labor and did we need her and she was going to call the hospital to see if we had checked in!!!

I have no recollection of going to the pool. What pool would we even have gone to? Maybe I wasn't there yet. But I do remember many, many panicked voice mails. I'm pretty sure one time she even started driving to NOVA because we didn't answer the phone....

My strategy to keep my mind off of the due date was to plan something exciting for every day past the due date that I was pregnant.  I was due on July 14, so we decided that our due date excitement would be seeing Ice Age 2 in theaters (WILD, we were!).  I was pretty excited to see the movie!  I figured there was no way I'd have had the baby by then...

We also went to the Newseum.  Not the first time I took advantage of a free wheel chair while heavily pregnant...

Well, Monday July 13 came and at about 5 AM I woke up feeling serious stomach cramps.  I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep.  10 minutes later, same thing.  10 minutes later, same thing.  As Andrew's alarm went off, I told him, "I've been having contractions for an hour but they don't hurt that much, so I don't think it's anything..."

"Do you want me to stay home?" He asked.

"No, I'm sure I won't be having the baby any time soon, just go to work and maybe we can go to the hospital when you get home."

The contractions continued throughout the day, still about 10 minutes apart, not really increasing in intensity.  When Andrew got home, we walked around outside for a bit, timing the contractions.  Things weren't speeding up, so we decided to go to Mass and to my friend Leslie's house.  Having contraction all through Mass was not a pleasant experience, since it's not like I could lie down or bring my exercise ball in!  We chatted with some friends in the parking lot afterwards and headed to Leslie's for a late dinner.

It wasn't until after Mass that Rosie mentioned to me that she was in labor. I'm a fairly observant person but had missed her evenly-spaced grimaces throughout the day. At that point, we just figured she was really good at being in labor and that the whole delivery would be a piece of cake since the early part was. Ha.

The best part of the whole day was borrowing books from Leslie. We were at her childhood home so all of the books were pretty much at a 6th-grade reading level or below, but that didn't bother me. It's not like anybody was going to see what I was reading and judge me. (We call this foreshadowing--something those books did not have.)

After we got home, I promptly vomited up everything I had eaten.  The contractions started picking up and by about 2 AM they were 5 minutes apart.  We called the hospital and they said to come on in!  I was so excited - I had been in labor for 21 hours already, surely I would be 8 cm dilated and practically ready to push by the time we got there!  But I was also concerned that when we got there they'd just send us home for not being far enough along...  I was torn, and so was Andrew - should we stay or should we go?

This is my favorite part of the story. I stayed up too late reading a Sweet Valley Twins book--yes, I was 25 at the time--and had been asleep for an hour or two when Rosie came and woke me up. 

"I think maybe I'm having the baby but I don't really know because I'm having contractions but I'm not sure if we should go to the hospital."

"Well, what does Andrew think?"

"He doesn't know either."

It was about this moment that I figured out that I was going to be doing more than just getting Rosie ice chips.

"Okay, well why don't we all just go for a walk and see how you're feeling?"

So it was that at 3am Rosie, Andrew, and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. As we were walking back up the driveway, Rosie and Andrew were still torn. They wanted to go in but Rosie was worried that it was too early and we shouldn't go yet. She'd mentioned the day before that we needed to stop at the store and buy some hard candy, though, so I made the following ridiculous statement:

"Well, we have to go to the store to get hard candy anyway, right? So why don't we all get in the car and go to Walgreen's (or CVS - neither of us can remember - Rosie) and see what we think once we're there?"

Because why wouldn't we all go to the drug store to buy candy in the middle of the night?

Once we got to the store, I was pretty sure that Rosie wasn't going to be getting any sleep anyway so she might as well labor at the hospital as on the streets of suburbia. So I suggested that maybe we should go to the hospital. Rosie was a little woozy from pain and hunger and lack of sleep and Andrew was way too concerned with taking care of Rosie to be decisive so they agreed and we got in the car to go to the hospital.

Well, we got to the hospital and went to triage, where they checked me (after asking about a trillion questions, of course.  WHY?  I answered all of those on the pre-admission forms!!!).

1 cm.  Which is where I was at my last appointment.  The contractions had slowed down, and it was time to go home and come back when things sped up again.  But I still had a chance for a due date baby - it was July 14!

And I was going to get to sleep!

To be continued (in Part III - I'm the worst!!!  I'll try to get it up soon but my mother-in-law is about to come to town and time may be at a premium!)

5 Favorites - I'd rather be sleeping, though...

Ah, gotta love a late-night linkup when one of the babies won't sleep...  And since that means I don't get to sleep either, heeeere you go!

ONE

 Reusable Straw Cups

I'm loving these for smoothies and iced coffee (HAH, a week home and I've started drinking coffee - you all were so right!!!), and the kids are so obsessed that I told John Paul I'd get him his own for his birthday!

TWO

Gap foldover maxi skirt

I don't know why they style it with those stupid heels...  It's way better looking in person, and SO comfy, and 30% off if you buy it today!  And while I'm hesitant to spend that much money on a skirt, a black maxi is a closet staple that you'll be using forever!

Here's how I styled it yesterday, day 2 of Pants-Free July:

 

Psst, I'm posting outfit pictures every day at the facebook page, and then I'll try to recap each week on Fridays!

THREE

Flip diaper covers!

I know I've told you all about my favorite cloth diapering necessities, but there's a seconds sale at Cottonbabies right now and BumGenius & Flip stuff almost never goes on sale!  We've gotten a ton of "seconds quality" products and the only thing I've ever noticed was a black spot on one diaper shell.  One.  Out of quite a few that we've purchased!

I love the colors these come in, and they work so well for our babies once they're big enough.  The snaps are awesome for summer when you want the baby to be able to cool down in just a diaper but don't want her to pull the velcro and end up naked!

FOUR

These french fries 

I made them last week and didn't take a picture because I couldn't stop eating them...  Very little oil used, wonderful crunch, so tasty!

FIVE

Polyvore 

Mom Style 2 by rosiehill425 featuring leather shoes

It's like paper dolls for grown-ups.   What could be better?

Check out more favorites at Hallie's!

Twin Talk

 

Cecilia, 3.5 months

 

Mary Claire, 7.5 months

The twins are 7.5 months old and boy, are we having fun!  They're rolling here and there, army crawling, flinging themselves wherever they can, and in serious danger of turning my hair gray!

Today John Paul ran outside and didn't shut the door.  Elizabeth, seeing her opportunity, started crawling as fast as she possibly could (about 1 foot/5 seconds) to freedom!  I'm so thankful that this is as far as they've gotten - I can still leave them on the floor and return to find they've only moved about 5 feet.  They're not trying to get into stuff they shouldn't, they're just happy with toys scattered about them to explore on the floor.

They've sampled a wide variety of food, with Mary Claire being more of a fan of everything than Elizabeth.  It's apparent who eats more solid foods when I change their diapers!  So far they both seem to love meat more than anything else, and tonight they get to try meatballs for the first time.  I think I'll have two little fans!

 

They still aren't sitting up on their own for more than a few seconds - we tend to have late sitters and early crawlers/walkers, so I'm not concerned. 

 

 They've also been more aware of one another, but mostly in the sense of, "That baby has something I want!"

At which point they use their newfound mobility to snatch said object!

Thankfully nobody minds...  Yet!

Can't get enough of twin babies?

 

Mary is having a virtual baby shower for Sarah (below), who's due with her twin boys any day now!

Ashley's identical twin boys are almost 1 month old and she already has their birth story up!

Sheena keeps it real and shows you that things CAN get accomplished with twinfants at home.

Abbey's TwinsDay Wednesdays are one of my favorite things, and her post for new twin moms is a must-read!

Adele just found out she's expecting twins - ever met a mom and thought, "SHE could absolutely handle twins!"  Adele's one of those moms - peaceful, poised, patient, incredibly loving, and amazing at conveying the beauty of a simple lifestyle.

Have I fed your twin addiction enough?  Should we call it a "Twindiction" just to be cute?  Go visit these other blogs - you won't be sorry you did!

John Paul's Birth Story : Part I

I'm going to preface this with the fact that I hate it when birth stories are in multiple parts.  I want it ALL IMMEDIATELY and I hate waiting to find out how it ends!!!  

But this is going to be one of those hated multi-part birth stories...  Because the whole thing took that long.  But it's almost John Paul's 4th birthday and I still haven't written up his birth story.

Sooooo here we go!

John Paul's Birth Story, Part I:  The Preface

Back in 2008 Andrew and I had just gotten married and moved into an apartment in Williamsburg, Virginia as he started his second year of law school.  Just 4 short months after the wedding, we found out we were expecting a baby!  This was a little bit terrifying for us, since I still hadn't found a job and we were making ends meet through student loans, singing professionally, my two nanny jobs and my tutoring job.  

Trying to keep it a secret was difficult, since my morning sickness was fairly debilitating and my sister was about to visit for Thanksgiving.  The two of us normally cooked Thanksgiving dinner together and there was no way I'd be able to hide my pregnancy from her!  But I was still in the first trimester and my mom always told me I should NEVER tell people I was pregnant that early on!

When she got to Virginia for her visit, I ended up showing her the "Grandpa" and "Grandma" shirts I had bought my parents as Christmas presents, and she got the hint pretty quickly ;)

We didn't think there was any way we'd be able to pull of  a complete Thanksgiving dinner with our side of the family and Andrew's side without someone sensing something was up...  After all, I spent most of the day curled up in a ball on the dining room floor while Sister cooked, and I'm pretty sure I only ate a couple of bites of mashed potatoes and the driest piece of turkey I could find.

Somehow, they didn't notice!  We pulled it off!  And we only had to wait another month before the big reveal at Christmas, at which point I would be 12 weeks along.

At the beginning of December I was offered a teaching job at the middle school down the road from us, replacing a teacher who was having a baby and leaving permanently.  Hallelujah!  I didn't break the news to them that I was pregnant, since I wasn't due until July.

So Christmas came and my sister rented a house for all of us to stay at near my parents, and we gave them our big news - she was going to enter the convent and I was going give my parents their first grandchild!  

Much fun was had by all as I spent the whole vacation lying in bed moaning and asking Andrew to peel me an orange or bring me a bowl of canned pineapple (but it HAD to be cold, it needed to be refrigerated overnight).  We managed to have a little bit of Christmas fun with our new Wii, creating characters for every member of the family including the new baby, whom we dubbed "Polycarp" in utero.

My new job started and my belly started growing: 

  

Since I didn't know my new students or co-workers very well, I wasn't really sure how to tell them I was pregnant...  So I just kept wearing tight-fitting clothing and there came a point when a student asked me, "Um...  No offense, but...  You just look like...  Are you maybe pregnant?"

I glared at her.  "You NEVER ask a woman that question if you're not absolutely positive that she's pregnant!!!"

She looked horrified.  What kind of a mistake had she made???

I couldn't keep a straight face for long, and my students were ecstatic to hear that I was pregnant, just like their old teacher!  The rest of the school year went smoothly (aside from the student who threatened to punch me in the stomach and kill my baby.  Did I mention it was a little bit of a rough neighborhood?), although Andrew and I were still traveling to Northern Virginia every weekend for our singing job and to go to our awesome pro-life NFP OB practice up there, since we'd be there for the summer.  We lined up a private Bradley class because I knew there was no way I'd be having a medicated birth - if my mom, who cries when she combs her hair because it hurts to much, could have 4 totally drug-free births, I could do it too!

 I was craving some very specific things - McCain Ellio's frozen pizza, Celeste individual frozen pizzas, Tina's frozen pizza burritos (sense a theme?), boiled potatoes with cottage cheese, and canned pineapple that was as cold as possible!  I didn't want to eat ANY meat, except sometimes bacon...  These were the food themes for all 3 of my pregnancies, so you can imagine how angry I was when NO grocery store anywhere near us sold pizza burritos when I was expecting the twins!

(Because Katrina wanted to know!)

There was also an incident in which I cried because Andrew wouldn't buy me potato chips, but I won't go into that...

We started amassing the baby clothes (we found out at 20 weeks that we were expecting a boy), cloth diapers, and other baby gear.  My belly kept getting bigger.  My co-workers were convinced I wouldn't make it to my due date, and when I was about 34 weeks pregnant Andrew left to stay in Northern Virginia to start his summer internship.

It was just me, Polycarp, the DVR, and the internet.

To Be Continued...

WIWS - A Baby-Free Mass

Do you notice something rather strange about my attire this week?

 

 

Check out that neckline!  That is NOT a nursing-friendly dress!  

But I was able to wear it this week because I left the babies at home with Andrew and took John Paul and Cecilia to the 8:30 on my own.

See, the babies wake up anywhere from 5-7.  Which means by about 8 or 8:30, they're exhausted and ready for naps.  But the only Mass we can make is the 8:30, since Andrew has rehearsal for his noon Mass at 10:30.  So this week, instead of trying to placate fussy babies the entire Mass, we just let them sleep.

 

Attire:

Dress:  Newport News from college - it's a lot snugger than it was back then, but I can still zip it up so it's a win!

Shoes:  DSW repeats
Belt:  Kohl's

Blazer:  Benneton (also college - can't button it but who cares?)

Jewelry:  A gift from a sweet sweet student (I could wear dangly earrings to Mass because I had no babies pulling at them!!!)

Grades:  

I promised the big kids sausage biscuits at McDonald's if they were good.  For once, we had NO yelling, NO fighting, NO need to threaten to take either of them out.  And while they didn't necessarily pay attention or pray the whole time, they were far less distracting than they usually are!

John Paul:  B+ - had to yank him away from the priest after Communion because he was trying to convince Father that it was time for an impromptu first communion...

Cecilia:  B+ - started to inch out of the pew while looking at me, daring me to scold her.  Came right back in when I threatened her with a loss of her treat.

One of the prayer intentions was for couples to be willing to have large families - that was the one time that I wished we had the twins with us, just to be a witness to the whole large family thing.  But I think at this point we're a less-than-ideal witness at Mass, since we're usually so frazzled and snappy at the kids because they're craaaaaaazy!

Now off to cook all day for a party this afternoon - hopefully the rain holds off so we can grill!

Tomorrow begins the first day of July, my pants-free month - want to join me in the challenge?

Check out more lovely linkers at Fine Linen & Purple!