1 Month!!

Dear Ella and Violet,

I can not believe it is already time for me to write my first letter to you girls! I know the first year always goes by so quickly...but your first month just flew by! Probably due to exhaustion! :)

You are both such good babies. You both only cry when your hungry or are getting a diaper change. The logistics of having 2 babies though mean you each sometimes have to cry while we are tending to the other baby or Lily. I feel awful when I have to let either of you cry! Like Lily though, you both like to use me as your pacifier, so it's usually easy to calm you down when I get to you. Ella can also be easily calmed by Daddy strapping her into the baby bjorn and walking around. Violet is sometimes calmed by this too.

As for eating, you both are breast feeding, but not gaining enough on my milk alone. To make sure you both are gaining, we've been supplementing with four 2oz bottles a day of formula each. Our typical schedule right now is a bottle at around 8am, 2pm, 8pm, 2am, with frequent breast feeding sessions in between. I do spend most of my days stuck on the couch nursing, but is all worth it to give you girls the best stuff on Earth. I'm working really hard to give you both the benefits of breast milk.

You both seem to be doing well with weight gain now. It was pretty slow at first before we started giving you both 4 bottles a day. We've been going to your doctor, Dr. Friedman, almost every week since you were born to check on weight gain. Here's each of your stats so far:
Ella:
Birth: 7lbs 1.7oz
2 days: 6lbs 6.8oz
5days: 6lbs 6oz
1 week: 6lbs 10oz
3 weeks: 6lbs 15oz
4 weeks: 7lbs 7oz

Violet:
Birth: 5lbs 10.5oz
2 days: 5lbs 2.8oz
5 days: 5lbs 4oz
1 week: 5lbs 5oz
3 weeks: 5lbs 11oz
4 weeks: 6lbs
We are excited to see that you are both over your birth weights now!! I hope we've finally found the right balance between breast milk and formula. We go back to the doctor next week for your one month appointments, so we will see how this week went! As for what sizes you are both wearing, you started out life with almost everything we had for you being to big, even preemie stuff for Violet. Now Ella is fitting well into newborn, and some 0-3 month items. Violet is just now outgrowing her preemie clothes, especially in length (at 3 weeks both were measured and Violet had grown to 20 inches! Ella measured 20.5 inches!). Newborn stuff is starting to fit better on Violet. For diapers you both are still in the newborn size.

With the exception of your slow gains, you both are doing really well. You both are hitting all you milestones for this month on time. You both are focusing on our face like you should, and lifting your head briefly while on your tummies to turn you head from one side to the other. I'm very happy to see that your smaller size isn't holding either of you back at all! Ella is even able to support her head while held upright, and is lifting her head about 45 degrees while on her tummy (you held it up for a good minute last night Ella..VERY exciting!!) Violet does really well on her tummy too...and I'm sure in a day or two we will see her doing the same as Ella!

We're already staring to see a difference in your personality. Violet is definitely the more laid back baby. You will sleep very contently during the day, and it can take a while to wake you! You also are so quiet while you sleep that I have to keep checking that you are breathing! When you are not sleeping you are very interested in looking around at everything in the room. You've got the widest eyes!! You are often very content just hanging out on your pillow or play mats. This reminds me a lot of how you were inside me. You were the calm and quiet baby most of the time! When you do cry though..it is not calm at all! You have a very high pitch and strong shriek! You are definitely a Mommy's girl, and are most happy while cuddling up to me and nursing!

Ella, you are a much busier baby! You move around a lot and are easily startled in your sleep. You're also a very noisy sleeper! We always hear you making little sighing and cooing sounds in your sleep. You're also a very noisy eater! I've been hearing you swallowing and gulping since the first time you nursed right after you were born! I also sigh a lot while eating! You must really enjoying your milk! I've never heard anyone drink so loudly though! It's so cute! You are definitely a Daddy's girl. You love sleeping on Daddy' chest and rubbing your head on his beard! We think you are starting to get really close to smiling! You smile a lot in your sleep (gassy smiles!!), and in the last couple days you've been looking like you might smile at any second! We are really looking forward to seeing your first real smile! Your cries are completely different from Violet's. You actually sound like a cat meowing when you cry! If fact Lily would meow and pretend to be a cat during your first week after you cried! When you are desperate to eat though you scream in a way that makes us think you are really mad!

While we are starting to see personality differences, we also are seeing you both doing some of the same thing. While nursing you both will pull at you checks, almost poking your eyes. Lily use to do this too! You also both always get the hiccups right after you finish a bottle. It's so funny when you are hiccuping at the same time! You also have both started cooing a bit. We most often see that when we put you down together, and you will "talk" to each other! It's so neat to see your relationship as twin sisters growing!

We are so overjoyed that you both joined our family a month ago! It is so much fun to watch you starting to interact with each other now!! I'm looking forward to watching your special relationship grow! We are so proud of the milestone you have already reached, and we're looking forward to all that are coming! The next big milestones are smiling and rolling over. I can't wait to see you both reaching those!! But don't grow up to fast on me, ok?! We Love you both so much!

Love,

Mommy, Daddy and Lily

And now for the abundance of pictures from the last month!! Starting with those that I never got to share from our hospital stay when the girls were born!

Daddy and Eleanor, 1 day old:


Violet's tiny feet:


Violet 1 day old:


All dressed and ready too come home! All the outfits we brought were huge on our tiny babies! All the hats we brought were huge too!

Ella in her car seat, waiting to go home:


Violet getting in her car seat:


Ella snuggled up on Daddy while Daddy takes a nap:


Ella's first tummy time:



Some of the visitors the girls had in their first week....meeting both sets on grandparents and one Uncle!

Meeting Papa:
Meeting Uncle Andrew (with Violet):


Meeting Grampa B (with Violet):


Meeting Gram B (with Violet again):


Nanie stayed with us for the first few days home. These are from the day she had to go home :(

Nanie and Ella:



Nanie and Violet, and big sister Lily:



A few of Ella:

Ella and the only binky she will use:
Nap time:



Showing off her head lifting skills:

And a few of Violet:

One week old and dreaming:


3 weeks old:



And our one month photo's:

Mommy and Ella:


Daddy and Ella:


Mommy and Violet:


Daddy and Violet:


Mommy and the girls:


Daddy and his girls:


Ella, one month old:




Checking out her fist:


Violet, one month old:


Getting close to smiles!:

Sunday Morning At The Burkes (and Violet's first bath)

I was fortunate enough this morning to document several of our activities, so I thought what a great opportunity to record and share a typical lazy Sunday morning in our house!

I give you A Morning at the Burkes, in pictures:

Sean and Lily had fun reading a couple books together, while Violet napped on Daddy (and Ella nursed!)


Lily's book of choice today..."The Great Pumpkin Strikes Again". She just loves Charlie Brown


Lily showing her love for her sister Violet:




Violet's tummy time:


All three girls playing together:



Violet's first tub bath!!


Hating it just as much as her sister!


She did enjoy the water being poured on her though!


She did not enjoy the time after the bath as much as Ella though!


Violet all dry and dressed again:


After Violet's bath, Lily gave her pony a bath!


Ella was being a good girl hanging out on the play mat while her sisters played in the water:


All worn out from her bath, napping on daddy:


After cleaning up the mess from the tub ( which Lily thought it was fun to splash water everywhere, of course!) Daddy and Lily played a bit with her blocks:


And clean up time....


If you're wondering where Ella was for most of this, for about half the pictures taken she was attached to me nursing. I'm just that talented...taking pictures and nursing at the same time!! :)

Eleanor's First Real Bath!!

After Ella's morning bottle today, she was alret and happy, so we thought it was the perfect opetunity to ruin her day...er..I mean give her a bath! :) Of course, just like her sponge baths, getting in the tub was no fun for Ella! Poor thing screamed her head off the whole time she was in the water.



Lily knew how to calm her down after her bath though...with a gentle kiss:



She actually seemed pretty calm and alert after her first bath...maybe she was just glad it was over?




She was so calm infact, we took the opertunity to get in a little tummy time...and for the first time she didn't scream the whole time!

I hope this is the start of Ella beginning to enjoy tummy time!

Shortly after the Ella was worn out from the busy morning, and went down for a nice long nap:



So that was Ella's eventful morning. Violet slept through her sisters big day. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get a chance to give her a bath too!! I'm sure she'll love it just as much as Ella did! :)

A Few Pictures of the Day

Lily giving Violet a kiss:


Violet:




Ella:


(Don't mind her gooey eye. Ella has a clogged tear duct. Our doctor says it should clear up on it's own. Lily had the same thing.)

The girls...as always, Violet is trying to bite Ella!


The girls and their protector...Orion:



And we can't forget Lily...just up from her nap...and clearly still tired!

Birth Story

I'm finally getting the chance to post a detailed birth story of the girls!

We checked into the hospital at 6:30am on dec 16th. The day before at my doctors appointment I had been 3cm and 80% effaced. I got hooked up to the pitocin at 7am, starting at 6milliunits. I was thrilled to see that one of my favorite nurses was in charge of my labor, nurse Darleen! Unfortunately she didn't get my IV in perfectly at first...so it stung for a while. Contractions were the same that I had been having, and the same as they were on the previous Thursday when I had the failed induction. Not very strong and still at a zero on the pain scale. My IV was hurting more than the contractions! Sean and I spent a few hours just talking, joking and listening to the radio on the laptop. ( We listened to "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me" and a Billie Holiday Pandora station.) I spent most of this time in the rocking chair just watching the monitors and trying to keep both babies heart monitors in the right spots. Both babies had a nasty habit of wiggling away from the monitors!

Last pregnant picture of me, 39w1d:



At 11 Dr. Cluett came in to check me. I was still at the 3cm and 85% effaced. Since we were going all for it this time, she went ahead and broke my water for baby A (Ella). It was nice clear fluid! No meconium staining for us this time!! (Lily had passed her first bowel movement before my water was broke with her.) We also put in the internal monitor for baby A so we could keep an easy track of at least that baby. Contractions for about the next hour were getting stronger, but still manageable. As the pitocin kept going up and more time passed, contractions kept getting stronger. By 1 I was needing to really start breathing through the contractions. Contractions were 3 min apart by 2. It was around this time that I broke out my labor beads. (When I was pregnant with Lily I had met a wonderful group of woman online, all due in August. Over our pregnancies we all became close, and we each sent everyone in the group 2 beads each, with the idea that we would have those during labor to remind us that we had a whole support team of woman cheering us on! I used the necklace I made with the beads I had received to help me get through Lily's labor, and now this one too! On a side note, most of us from the original August group still talk every day online...and my best friend Becky who I talk about often, is from this group too!) During contractions at this time I would rub one of the flatter beads, then between contractions I was trying to remember who sent which bead! :)

My labor beads:


Contractions getting closer, at about 1:00. Blue line is Baby B's heart rate, and red line is Baby A's heart rate:



I was checked again at 4, and I was 4cm and 90%effaced. I was really discouraged at that point because I was hoping to have progressed more than one cm in the 5 hours since my water had been broken...and the contractions were really starting to be very painful at this point. They really picked up in intensity even more right after getting checked though. I think she may have stretched me some, and I was up to 22milli units on the pitocin. Contractions were coming every 1-2 min, and I needed to lean over the back of the bed to get through them. I was getting dizzy from my breathing too. After each contraction I felt like I was going to black out, and my nurse at the time, Kristi, suggested I slow my breathing down. I had been doing the whole "he he he hoo" pattern (thinking in my head "you can do it, you can do it" with each breath) , and she suggested that I wasn't getting enough oxygen with that pattern, so I moved to just taking deep breaths. I remember thinking I couldn't do this naturally at this point...because I thought it was going to take a lot longer, and I already felt like I was close to transition labor. I then switched positions and got on the labor ball, which made laboring easier, because I was able to sway my hips better on the ball. My pitocin was also turned down to 18milliunits then, which I think helped the contractions ease up. Sean was great during all this hard labor! I wouldn't have gotten through it with out him! With each contraction he would hold my hand and breath through it with me. Between contractions he would get me water, or feed me ice chips will I recovered. I'm so grateful that he is an active participant in my labors. He was the prefect labor partner!

At 5:30 I was checked again- 7cm. My doctor also said I was in transition at this point. They set my pitocin back up to the max. I labored uncomfortably in bed for a bit longer, and around 6:15 Dr. Cluett and nurse Kristi came in because we had lost baby B from the monitors. She pulled out the u/s to check exactly where the heart was. While she was checking that I said I was feeling a lot more pressure with each contraction now. So she checked me again, and I was completely dilated and effaced and ready to push. They started getting prepared for delivery, and calling in everyone else that was suppose to be there for the birth. (other nurses, and the pediatricians) Suddenly I couldn't stop myself from pushing...my body just took over...and while mid scream and pushing I was saying to the doctor, " I need to push! I'm sorry I can't stop pushing!!" My poor doctor at this point is rushing trying to get her gloves and other gear on, while paging the other nurses again yelling "we've got babies coming!!! Get in here!!". Sean looks down and yells "She's crowning!" And I'm still apologizing because I can't stop pushing. Dr. Cluett abandons trying to get her gear on and gets into position and within that push Eleanor Rose came out! Seconds later the rest of the team that was suppose to be there walks in! So Ella was born with only my doctor and nurse in the room! I think the whole delivery of Ella, from that first real need to push to her being out was only about 2 minutes. She was born at 6:31pm. For about a minute after she was born I still didn't know what she was. Everyone was saying she, but no one had straight out said "it's a girl!" and I had to ask! We were so thrilled to have another daughter! Eleanor's apgar scores were 9 and 9.

Eleanor Rose, just born:



After Eleanor was born we had to wait for baby B to come down into my pelvis. Contractions completely stopped for a while, so we just waited and Sean got some good bonding time with Ella. We both just kept saying how much she looked like Lily when she was born! We weighed her while we were waiting for B. Eleanor was 7lbs, 1.7 oz and 20 inches. Everyone kept asking me if I wanted to hold her, but I was to scared of the contractions starting back up again. I did hold her briefly, and of course my contractions started again while I was holding her! I will say that time between deliveries was the best I had felt almost all day. I was completely alert and with it that whole time, asking my doctor questions and staring at my new baby girl. I was feeling great!!

Nurse Darleen weighing Eleanor:


After about half an hour my contractions started up again, and my doctor kept checking on B's position as she came down. After a while she was finally low enough to break the water, and once my doctor did that, baby B fell the rest of the way into position and it was time to push again. I pushed through 2 contractions, and Violet Anne entered the world at 7:27pm! Almost a full hour after her sister! This time they remembered to say right away that it was a girl! We are doubly blessed to have 2 more girls in our family! Violet weighed in at 5 lbs 10.5 oz and 18 inches long. So much smaller than her sister! Violet apgar scores were also 9 and 9.

Violet Anne, just born, getting checked out by the pediatrician:



Violet getting weighed:


After Violet was born my body did go into shock a bit. After the placenta's had been born (which had fused by the way....very interesting! And Violet's umbilical cord was a lot smaller/thinner than Eleanor's. ) I started shaking uncontrollably. I was feeling really out of it for a little while. People kept asking me if I wanted to hold the girls, and try feeding them...but I was so nervous I was going to drop them! It was a while until I felt comfortable holding them, but once I did, I stop shaking, and we tried tandem feeding for the first time! It didn't go so well, but it was great to hold my girls finally!

I couldn't have been happier with their birth! No pain meds at all, my doctor just let nature work like it should and waited patiently for B to come down, there was never any talk of a c/s, and I didn't even tear!! When I found out it was twins I was terrified of what my birth story would end up being, and that my chances of having a natural delivery were pretty slim. I feel so so so lucky that things went so perfectly, and that both girls are just perfect! Recovery has been so much easier than it was with Lily ! We are all just so in love with our new family...even when things get crazy!

Lily's First Snowman

On New Years eve we got a bunch of fresh snow. Of course we couldn't let it go to waste, so on New Years day Sean took Lily out to play. They went sledding of course, and together they built Lily's first snowman!


Of course Lily thought it was more fun to knock the snowman down!

They both had a lot of fun playing in the snow! Maybe next time I'll be able to go outside to play too! (I was trapped inside wit the twins...taking pictures out the open window!)