The First Week

**There will be a post about Matthew and Kayla's birth below**

I can't believe that (over) a week has gone by already. In some ways it feels like it went by really quick, but in other ways it feels like it dragged on.

We were discharged from the hospital at 10:30am on Sunday. We were so anxious to leave that we delayed their feeding times and skipped our morning showers. I teased Jon on the drive home because I don't think I've ever seen him be such a law-abiding driver on the road.

After church was over, Jon's parents and my family came over for cake and coffee...and the visits kept coming after that. We've tried to limit the visits to only two a day, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, so that neither the babies or ourselves get burned out.

The first couple days at home became a breast-feeding nightmare. Both babies were fighting me when it came to staying latched on: they would latch on, suck for a bit, and then de-latch themselves. When they realized that they were de-latched, they would start to freak out and become quite frantic trying to find me. Repeat. It took about 45 minutes to feed each baby each time, and so that was all I was doing.

On Tuesday we had our first outing as a family of four: to Dr. Shah's office. The babies were weighed (Matthew weighed in at 5lb 12 oz and Kayla weighed in at 5lb 14 oz) and had a general look-over. Dr. Shah said they needed to eat more, and so we had to see him again on Thursday for another weigh-in, and he wanted to see that their jaundice had cleared up. I was really at a loss for how I was going to manage to feed them more, and so Jon and I decided that we were going to switch over to pumping and bottle feeding to see how that went. For the rest of the day, the babies were fed formula so that I could pump to 'get ahead' of them. You should have seen them drink that first bottle of formula...they chugged it! We figured that the babies were struggling so much with the breast feeding and being so frantic because they were hungry! Since Tuesday, I've been pumping and bottle feeding and it's going great! Both babies are super-content most of the time, and the time it takes to feed them has not only been cut down drastically, but the pressure for me to do it all is now gone.

We saw Dr. Shah again on Thursday for a follow-up, and he was more than impressed with them. Both Matthew and Kayla weighed in at 6lb 4oz (back up to their birth weights!) and their jaundice was pretty much all cleared up. Yay! Our next appointment will be for their 8 week immunizations.

On Saturday, both Matthew and Kayla's umbilical cords fell off...which was noticed during the same diaper change! At least they don't take after me...mine took 4 months to fall off.

The timing of their births could not have been more perfect for Jon and I. I don't know how I would be surviving if it weren't for Jon being on Spring Break and therefore being able to do 50% of the baby-work. Tending to their needs during the day isn't so bad, it's the middle of the night stuff that gets annoying. It will definitely be an adjustment for me when Jon has to go back to school next week and therefore won't be able to help near as much as he does now.

Weight Loss:

As of the first day we were home, I had lost only 18 lbs. As of this morning, I'm down 33.5 lbs already! 16.5 lbs to go! The lbs are coming off slower now, so I'm sure it will take a little while still. I tried on my pre-pregnancy jeans and dress pants on Saturday in hopes of being able to squeeze into one of them for church on Sunday, but I still have a couple inches to lose on my waist. Not that I was honestly expecting them to fit.

Another Side Effect:

I have carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand still, as a result of the weight gain and swelling from pregnancy/labour. My index and middle fingers are tingly 24-7, and I can barely feel when I am touching something. It makes typing a little difficult :) I'm hoping it goes away soon because it can get annoying.

I think that's all I have to post about. I'm trying to record as much as I can so that I don't forget anything!

Matthew & Kayla's Birth Story

Thursday, March 17

2:00pm

Checked to see how dilated I was...only 1 cm and 50% effaced. First dose of induction gel.

10:00pm

Given a sleeping pill.

Friday, March 18

3:00am

Still only 1 cm dilated. Given morphine with gravol to help ease the discomfort of the mild contractions so that I could sleep.

9:05am

Checked to see how dilated I was.

10:30am

Checked to see how dilated I was...2-3 cm. Dr. ruptured membranes.

12:45pm

Monitor was attached to Matthew's head to monitor him internally.

12:50pm

IV with Oxytocin was started.

5:00pm

Dr. broke my water for Matthew. Weirdest feeling ever! The water was so warm it reminded me of sitting in a hot tub :)

6:00pm

Given nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to help ease discomfort of contractions. It did nothing. If anything, it was annoying. It's hard to focus on only breathing through your mouth.

6:20pm

Given morphine to help ease discomfort of contractions.

7:30pm

Checked to see how dilated I was: 5cm. Received an epidural. Pure bliss!

8:00pm

Catheter was put in.

9:10pm

I mentioned to the nurse that I had to go to the bathroom, and so I wanted to know what she wanted me to do because I was hooked up to an IV and a few monitors. The nurse was quite shocked, and so she checked to see how dilated I was: 9cm. Apparently the pressure I was feeling was the baby, and not a bowel movement :). The medical staff went into panic mode as they weren't expecting me to have progressed this quickly. Our nurse had just mentioned that she figured the babies would be born at 3am.

9:38pm

Dr. Checked to see how dilated I was: 10cm.

9:54pm

Moved to the operating room. It was still chaos at this point as they weren't quite prepared for me. I kept wanting to push, but they wouldn't let me because they weren't ready yet.

10:47pm

Matthew John Struik is born.

11:01pm

Kayla Rose Struik is born. She didn't cry for what seemed like forever, and Jon says she was completely blue when she was delivered. Thank goodness I didn't see that! I had to deliver both of their placentas still, so I was concentrating on doing that and listening for her cry. I felt like I was a part of a tv show or movie, where everyone is working quickly to try to get the newborn to cry.

They're finally here!

This is Candice updating the blog for Laura. After a long wait, the babies are finally here. We no longer have to call them the "babies" but can now call them by their names, Matthew and Kayla.

Here is the important information:

Matthew John - 6lbs. 2oz. - March 18 - 10:47 pm
Kayla Rose - 6lbs. 4oz. - March 18 - 11:01 pm

They were born just 14 minutes apart! Both of them are doing amazing and are super cute! Laura is also doing great. Laura will update this in more detail when she gets home.

It's Induction Day!

*There's a new post below this one as well*

The hospital just called...I go in at 1:30pm. Wish us luck!

38 Weeks and...still pregnant

I was wondering if I would ever have to do a 38-week post. I should have known! These babies were hard to get in me, and they're also hard to get out. Maybe my uterus is just too cozy for them?

I called the hospital this morning at 9:20am because I just couldn't wait any longer. I figured they would call me with my inducement time by 8:00am at the latest, but that wasn't the case. I spoke to a nurse and she said that I was second on the list for being induced, and that they'll give me a call about an hour before I have to come in. If I don't hear from them by mid-afternoon then I'm supposed to call back. More waiting. It's brutal. I'm tired of cleaning, but if I don't clean, what am I going to do?

Jon got up to go to school this morning, but decided not to go after all because he's too nervous. I really don't want to have to wait until tomorrow to be induced because then we have to go through the waiting game all over again.

I'll try to remember to quickly update this blog with our inducement time when I find it out, that way we can have extra prayers sent our way! Hopefully the delivery goes smoothly and two healthy babies are born. That's all in God's hands though.

37 Weeks + Dr.'s Appointment #12 + Fetal Monitoring #4 + Ultrasound #8 Results

Wow, I cannot believe that I'm actually considered 'overdue' now (it's a day past 37 weeks). I can't believe the end is here. We're almost done.

I started this week with an ultrasound on Monday. Here are the results:

DATA	BABY A	BABY B
Heart Rate	137	141
Lie/Position	Cephalic	Cephalic
Est. Fetal Weight	2819 g (6.21 lbs)	3086 g (6.80 lbs)
MEASUREMENTS
Head Circ.	328 mm	336 mm
BPD	94 mm	93 mm
Abdominal Circ.	315 mm	322 mm
Femur	66 mm	71 mm
Gestational Age	36 weeks + 3 days	37 weeks + 4 days

I had asked the technician if she knew the approximate weights when she was done taking her measurements, just in case I went into labour before I would have access to the results. When she told me that the boy was approximately 6lb 3 oz, I nearly died. And then she said the girl was approximately 6lb 13 oz! Here I thought I was going to be giving birth to preemies! The technician went on to explain that fraternal twins typically develop at the same rate as singletons do, because they each have their own placenta to feed off of. Interesting! No wonder I weigh so much now, I have over 13lbs of baby in me! My weight gain so far is 49.5 lbs. Almost at the 50 lb mark. It will be interesting to see how much of that I lose just from the delivery alone. Would 20lbs be asking too much?

On Wednesday I had another fetal monitoring appointment. It went really well. The nurse was impressed at how well she was getting readings of the twins' movements, and kept jumping every time they moved because you could see it in my stomach. She couldn't believe how tight my belly is. She said that you could tell on the readings that there is little fat around my belly right now because every time one (or both) of the babies would move, the contractions monitor would show that my abdominal muscles were reacting. I guess if there was more fat in between the babies and my muscles then the muscles would not react as much. I think it only took about 20 minutes before she had enough readings.

On Thursday I had my last doctor's appointment. Dr. Huckell told me that if I don't go into labour before Thursday, then the hospital will call me on Thursday morning to let me know what time to come in to be induced. If, for some reason, the hospital doesn't have enough room for me on Thursday then I have to go in for fetal monitoring, and then they will induce me on Friday. That's one week from today. This weekend is officially our last weekend as just Jon and I (at least, for the next 20 years or so...or, if you're my parents, probably forever because there is always someone over. Usually me, I know). A Thursday/Friday induction is PERFECT for Jon and I because this coming week is his last day of classes before he has a two-week spring break. That means he gets to be the one to help me out in the middle of the night instead of a family volunteer. Lucky Jon :) This will give him two weeks of spending time with us before his crazy schedule resumes again.

I'm 'officially' done work now, at least in Service Canada's eyes. I won't be going into the office this coming week at all; they're worried that I might go into labour at my desk. If I feel like it I'll put in some hours from home, and then I'll just bank them and get paid out when I switch over to parental leave or when I return next year. Next year. Not working for a year. Crazy. I didn't work much this week due to all of my appointments, but to have it be official that I'm on maternity leave now is crazy. And scary. Makes everything more real, you know? Here's hoping the application process for maternity benefits goes smoothly! I hear that it can be a real pain some times.

I'm still feeling really good, for the most part. I definitely am more tired than I was a month ago...but it also doesn't help that I haven't been working a consistent schedule so I'm sleeping in some days and not others. Last night I didn't fall asleep until after 12:15am, and then woke up at 4:30am wide awake. I started doing some kakuros (math puzzles, sort of similar to sudokus) to put myself to sleep, but started getting hungry at 5:00am. I got out, made myself a peanut butter and jam sandwich, poured myself a glass of milk, and climbed back in bed (yes, with the food...Jon's a deep sleeper) to continue my puzzles. By 5:30am I still wasn't feeling the least bit tired, so I decided that I might as well just go to work early and then I could always sleep afterwards. Unfortunately, I wasn't tired until 4:00pm at which point I climbed in bed to "rest"...just because it's more comfortable to lie in bed than on the couch, and I fell asleep. Until 5:30pm when Jon came home. SIGH. Exactly what I did NOT want to do. When I sleep for too long in the afternoons or early evenings it throws my sleep cycle off, and that is exactly why I am typing this post at 11:45pm, wide-eyed. It's going to be another messed-up sleeping night. I'll just have to set my alarm so that I wake up on time in the morning and then be tired all day. I have 6 days to get my sleep cycle straightened out and to be perfectly rested before the babies come. And then...well...then their sleep cycle becomes my sleep cycle.

Here is my 37 week picture:

Anyways, I think that's all I was intending to say in this post. My stomach is telling me that it is yet again hungry, so I shall make myself a sandwich in hopes that it keeps me satiated until morning. And not 5:00am morning, but 8:00am morning. We'll see. I'm not counting on it.

6 days...but hey, who's counting?

36 Weeks + Dr.'s Appointment #11 + Fetal Monitoring #3

Here's what all happened since last week's post:

Wednesday - Fetal Monitoring
Went really well...the nurse laughed at how active the babies were. She figures that Baby B (girl) is the one that instigates all of the playing/fighting because her heart rate was always the first to increase when there was movement. Baby A was more active though, which could be a reason as to why he is a little smaller. I had a braxton hicks contraction while I was there so it was neat to see the line on the paper slowly ascend, and then descend.

Friday - Doctor's Appointment
My blood pressure is still perfect and both babies' heart rates were good. Dr. Huckell is quite impressed at how well I am doing. She says it doesn't happen very often where women with twin pregnancies are doing as well as I am. If everything continues this way and I haven't had the babies before my next appointment (Thursday), then she'll set up a time for the hospital to induce me the next week. Won't be long before they're here!

My mom is definitely getting impatient, which makes each day funny. Long gone are the days where she would wait on me hand and foot so that I wouldn't go into labour early...now all she talks about is sending me for long walks to Two Ee's. Too funny.

Anyways, Jon wants to go in the hot tub (oh man, can't wait to do THAT again!), so I'm going to finish up with a picture:

Maybe THIS will be the last picture?