I Grew a Pair....

Yesterday was the first day EVER that I have taken the twincesses out all by myself. I mean, I have done a car ride alone with them, but never to go somewhere just the three us. The idea of doing it alone has always frightened me. What would I do if both girls start to cry and/or scream?!? My friend, Jen, who is also a mother of twins, have been pushing me to do so. She has been a SAHM since her twins were born, so she's definitely a pro when it comes to taking care of two. She has been telling me to make a trip to Publix just to get out of the house. Just thinking about it makes me tired lol. Feed the girls, change them, have the diaper bag ready, put them in the car seats, go to Publix....and then what? Umm, I definitely can't push two carts or push a cart and a stroller by myself. So basically, I would have two car seats in ONE cart and no place to put groceries in lol. Either way, I will absolutely do it one day.

Anyways, back to my story. I'm a memeber of a Mom of Twins Group that periodically gets together for play dates. Jen, who has been a member for a while, said she was going to a play date and that I should go too. Ok what the heck, I'll go! I would really love to meet other moms and well, the twins are older and much easier to take care of. Luckily, Brad had the day off, so he was able to help me get the twins ready. I got in the car and met Jen, who lives only a few blocks away from me. Then, I followed her to the mall. As I'm driving, things seemed to be going well. The twins were entertaining themselves with toys, didn't cry (they hate their car seats!) and eventually fell asleep (thank God). Wow, this isn't so bad. Ok we get to the mall, I get the monstrous stroller out and off we go! We go inside and go straight to the playground. When we got there, I realized that you can't bring the stroller inside the playground.  Duh, I knew that, just never been faced with that situation.  Ugh, why can't they crawl already?  It would make things much easier.  With Jen's help, I get the twins out of their seats.  She offered to hold one, Isa. As soon as I sit down, I smelled...POOP! Seriously, I can spot a dirty diaper from miles away. Crap, ok now I have to change her and the closest bathroom is kind of far away in Dillards. Once again, Jen was nice enough to offer to stay with Isa while I went to the bathroom with Juju to change her diaper. I took the diaper bag and went to Dillards with Juliana. Ok, so far everything seemed to be going well. I got to the bathroom, changed the diaper, scanned a few baby clothes (hey, not my fault the bathroom was right next to the infant section) and headed back. As I approached the playground, I could see that Isa was crying and that Jen was doing everything in her power to make her stop.

Ohhh no, not a crier!

Isa totally freaked out when I left. Apparently, she was having separation anxiety. I think is more the fact that I left her ALONE with complete STRANGERS! Ok, I admit, rookie mistake. Note to self: don't leave them alone unless is with someone they know, especially Isa. I've realized that she really doesn't like big crowds....ummm I wonder who she gets this personality trait from??? DAD! My poor child was crying so hard her entire face was red and she had boogies running down her nose =( I grabbed her right away (after putting baby A down) and started talking to her. She immediately stopped crying. We sat there for about 15 mins and I briefly talked to a few moms, whose twins were much older; 2-4 years old.  At one point, I had both girls on my lap or one sitting next to me while the other one was on my lap. Ok, maybe a play date this young wasn't such a good idea. After all, they can't walk or play yet. Afterwards, we went to the food court to get lunch. Once again, I had to leave the twins alone with Jen so I could buy my food. And, once again, Isa started to cry. Ahhh, she’s supposed to be my happy, easy going baby. Juliana, on the other hand, was sitting in her car seat playing with her toys, not making a sound!!! We left right in time before having cranky, tired babies. Isabella quickly passed out on the drive home.

Overall, the girls did great. We all got home safely and I didn't feel like killing myself haha. Besides Isa's two outbursts, the twins enjoyed the outing and loved looking around at things. Would I go out again to a playmate by myself? Absolutely! I just have to wait a little longer.  I want the girls to be able to interact with other kids, or at least be able to explore things on their own.  I'm happy I finally grew a pair and ventured out of my comfort zone to meet some great people.

Twin Bond ♥

As I sit here watching my daughters interact with one another, I wonder if they will ever realize how lucky they are. They have a built-in best friend for life. It's amazing to see how much they both have changed since they were born. Although they're twins, they have their own unique, individual personalities that stand out. I love that they are finally starting to realize each other's existence. Last night, as I was in the kitchen with Brad, I could hear both of them just talking up a storm in the living room. So I went to check up on them. What I saw, not only made my heart melt, but it made me realize how lucky they are to have each other. The twins were laughing and talking to each other!!! I quickly grabbed my camera to record what was happening, when I realized that it was dead. Ugh, how did I forget to charge it? Oh well, I'm sure I will have a million more chances to record them doing that. I know that growing up having a twin sister will have some challenges. I can only hope that I am able to guide and help them as they get older.   

Wow, I'm getting HUGE!

So I have wanted to write about my pregnancy and birth story for some time now.  I want to blog about it because I don't want to forget it.  It hasn't even been six months yet since I gave birth and I feel like I don't remember parts of it already.  I want my girls to know ALL about it when they get older. 

Six months before Brad and I decided to start trying for a baby, I stopped taking my birth control pills.  I went to my OBGYN for a yearly check-up and to find out more information about pregnancy.  I started taking prenatal pills soon after that.  When we finally decided to start "trying" it was a very special moment.  It is something that I will never forget.  The first month was disappointing.  I was so eager to get pregnant that I took like 3 pregnancy tests; all 3 came back negative.  A month after that on a Friday, I felt a very weird feeling in my stomach.  It was a feeling that I had never felt before, sort of like a stomach ache.  I didn't want to get my hopes up so I didn't think much of it.  As the day went on, I started to feel worse.  Since I was still at work, my friend, Toni (another 1st grade teacher) let me bring my class to her room for a read aloud.  I remember very clearly that one of my students, Xavier, asked me if I was pregnant.  It really caught me off guard.  That day on my way home from work, I called Brad to let him know I wasn't feeling so well.  I told myself the month before that I didn't want to waste any more pregnancy tests.  Those things are expensive lol.  So I promised myself that I would wait until 5 days after my missed period.  So that night I did not take a pregnancy test.  The next day Brad had to work, so I met up with my family at a park in Largo.  Ironically, none of the spouses had come with them either.  It was my parents, two sisters, brother, my nephews and niece.  The feeling in my stomach was still present.  After being at the park for a few hours, we decided to go to my sister's house.  I rode with my sister, Claudia, back to her place.  I told her how I felt, but she didn't think it was due to pregnancy.  When we got to her place, she and Ricardo went to get food with the kids.  Then, I told Nadia how I felt.  She immediately said we needed to buy a pregnancy test.  I didn't want to.  I told her I would just take one once I got home since I had some there.  She had the great idea of going to the dollar store and getting a cheap one.  So, I gave in.  We went to the dollar store and bought a pregnancy test for a DOLLAR! She promised not to mention a thing if it came out negative.  We got back to the house and went straight into the bathroom.  Usually, pregnancy tests take about a minute to show the results, but this test immediately showed TWO lines!!!!!!  We both were mesmerized by the results.  She screamed so loud and sat on me while I was still sitting on the toilet lol.  We started to cry!!!  My parents came running; knocking on the door asking if everything was okay.  We told them the amazing news.  Soon after that, my sister and brother came back home to find out the news as well.  Claudia started to cry right away.  It was such a happy moment.  We went to the store to buy another, more expensive test to double check.  Yup, once again it showed that I was pregnant =)  I didn't want to tell Brad this life changing news over the phone, so instead, I decided to surprise him after he got home from work with a beautiful, hand-made card and a red and pink, heart-shaped box with the pregnancy test inside.  I deliberately slept on the couch downstairs because I wanted to be able to hear him when he got home at 6am.  All I remember him saying was....are you serious? are you sure? and then we hugged for a very long time.  It was amazing! That day was amazing! We were both so happy that we didn't want to go to sleep.  We had been waiting for this moment for a long time.  We waited for the right time to get pregnant.  We both wanted to have stable careers, I wanted to have my degree, travel, have a beautiful house, and financially afford a child. 

After 7 long years, it happened.   

We are expecting TWINS!

Overall I had a very healthy, normal pregnancy.  I didn't get any sickness, although I did have horrible back pains.  We were very shocked when we found out we were expecting TWINS!!!!  My dad is a twin, but I never thought that it would happen to me us.  Needless to say, Brad and I were very excited and overwhelmed when we found out.  I started showing very quickly.  I loved almost every part of pregnancy except for one.  When I was 18 weeks pregnant, they realized that my cervix was a bit thin.  I was put on moderate bed rest.  I was able to work, but had to take it easy once I got home.  This also meant no more sex lol.  I really tried my best to sit down as much as possible at work and to not walk around a lot.  On my 26 week ultrasound, the doctor realized that my cervix was extremely short and wanted me to go to the hospital right away.  She said that I could no longer work and that I had to be on strict bed rest, meaning I could only get up to go to the bathroom.  She said that carrying two babies was putting too much pressure on my cervix, specially being a teacher and having to stand most of the day.  When she said I could no longer work, tears started running down my face.  I got angry.  I wasn't angry at her, but at the situation I was facing.  A million thoughts started running through my head.  Who would take care of my students? I have so many standards left to teach! What am I going to do about parent-teacher conference night? I didn't get to explain to the substitute my rules and procedures? I need to finish report cards! Ahhhhh!!!!  Then it hit me.  Being on bed rest would take up most of my maternity leave.  Coincidentally, I had spoken to HR a few days before about my maternity leave.  I told the HR lady that I was considered a high risk pregnancy because I was carrying twins and that there was a possibility that I could be placed on bed rest.  That didn't matter.  If I was put on bed rest, it would take away from my 15 week maternity leave (I got 3 extra weeks due to Thanksgiving and Christmas break).  At that point I didn't care anymore.  I started thinking about what was really important.........the health of my babies. 
At first, Brad and I were hesitant about going to the hospital.  I felt fine.  Why waste time going to the hospital? When I got to the hospital, I was admitted right away.  After getting hooked up to a thousand things, it showed that I was having contractions.  Luckily, I could not feel them.  They gave me medicine to stop them and said that I would have to stay in the hospital overnight.  The contractions eventually stopped, but as a precaution, I got the steroid shots to mature the babies' lungs.  I ended up staying at the hospital for two nights.  My doctors were trying to decide whether to let me continue my bed rest at home or at the hospital.  I was so grateful when they let me go home.  I admire patients that have to stay at a hospital for a long period of time.  I was only there for two days, but it felt like an eternity. 
After that, I had no other issues with my pregnancy.  I had to take Nifedipine pills four times a day to stop contractions for the remainder of my pregnancy.  Towards the end, it didn't really help because I had contractions the last month of pregnancy.  Every time we went for a check-up or ultrasound everything was normal.  I was able to extend my maternity leave a month longer and things worked out very well.  I was very lucky to have carried my twins full-term at 36 weeks and 5 days.  Although I had mentally "prepared" myself  for the possibility of the twins having to stay in the NiCU, they were born healthy and were able to stay with me the entire time, but best of all, they were able to come home with us! ♥

8 weeks

15 weeks

19 weeks

25 weeks

28 weeks

32 weeks

35 weeks

Last belly picture at 36 weeks and 5 days!  Day of induction! Total weight gained: 44 lbs

Happy twins, happy mami!

There are a few things that I want to blog about but I just don't have the time right now. So I'm here to quickly share a video of the twins laughing.  They LOVE it when I pretend to eat them!  It must be the silly sounds I make.  It's always nice to come home from work to happy babies.  This last week of school has been d...r...a...g...g...i...n...g and my students are so anxious and ready for the school year to be over.  Slowly, I've been packing up my classroom and putting all my things into boxes.  It's crazy to think that I have relinquished my position and that I won't be using all these materials for at least another year.  Yup, makes me EXCITED!

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."  In my case, I have two little hearts ♥


                                       Ok gotta go, Brad and the couch are calling my name!