Paying for all those Postpartum with Twins Poptarts

Last week I found myself settled in the dentist chair, pleading with my dentist to attempt to fill two cavities without using novacaine (I don't like the 3 hours of numbness afterwards).  He humored me by agreeing to fill the lower cavity without novacaine, but insisted on numbing the more complex cavity in the upper part of my mouth (but only gave me one small shot, so not obnoxious numbing).  And yes, I'm horrified I had two cavities.  This after a nice long 10 year stretch without a single issue.  And if I'm pointing fingers, I'll point at those long weeks of being postpartum with twins.

Image from Cafe Press



Those postpartum hormones really do a number on you. Particularly with twins.  But then I was breastfeeding on top of that.  Which made me HUNGRY.  That's right, hungry, hormonal, and sleep deprived.  Shudder.  And so it was in the middle of the night I'd be up feeding my twins (who refused to be fed together - so they had to be fed individually) and what did I turn to for comfort?  Those brown sugar cinnamon Poptarts.  I bought them in bulk.  At Sam's.  And they tasted divine.  In retrospect, it's a little crazy.  It's not the sort of thing I eat in my normal, nonhormonal life.  When I eat sweets, it's typically things I've made from scratch.  But oh how I loved those Poptarts then.  I'd eat a couple every night, in the wee hours of the morning, as the twins filled their bellies with milk and the room spun around me in a soggy sleep-deprived delirium. 

Now do you think I got up out of bed to brush my teeth again after eating those Poptarts?  No.  I crashed once the twins were fed.  Into the depths of a postpartum coma, for all of 2 or 3 hours, or until the next time the twins woke up screaming again.  And that, my friends, is why I was having two cavities filled this past week.  Payment for Poptarts. 

I don't think I've eaten a Poptart since I weaned the twins at 13 months.  Not a one.  I have no desire.  In fact, they don't even sound appealing. The twins, though?  Oh do they love some Poptarts.  I guess if I'm going to let them have a Poptart treat now and then, I need to remember to brush their teeth afterwards, huh?!

On Weaning the Twins, Sniff

The twins turned 13 months last week.  It's hard to believe how quickly the time seems to go lately.  With 13 months came a very big milestone.

I finally weaned the twins.

It was hard.

Much harder on me than on them, I think.  Pierce weaned himself, so I didn't have to go through this with him.  Part of the reluctance on my part was that breastfeeding was something we fought so hard to make happen.  You can read about it HERE.

And part of it was that these are my last babies, and so it was sad letting go.

After our initial struggle, I feel fortunate to have had such a successful run of it with them.  I was lucky.  Truly.

So over the past month or so, we've been gradually dropping feedings, one a week.

Until, sadly, they were all eliminated.

The twins are still getting some of the good stuff from the deep freezer.  We have about enough to get them through another month or two if we feed from the supply twice a day.

They haven't faired to well with whole milk (stomach issues), so for now we're also feeding them vanilla soy milk.  Cort, who has a sweet tooth, took right to it.  Reid isn't so sure.  Hopefully it'll grow on him.

I know some people might ask why push weaning at all?  It was just time for us.  The twins were more distracted and restless during feedings, and I knew that the amount of solids they eat on a daily basis is sufficient for them.  Physically, feeding two boys was really taking a toll on me.  As my running distances grow longer, my body was not recovering well at all, and I was having significant deep joint pain.  The production of milk really has a toll on a mom, particularly in duplicate.  Happily, just a couple of days after weaning I went for a 15 mile run, and felt so much lighter and faster.  My body recovered without any of the pain I had grown used to, and even though it was an increase in distance, it was the best run I've had in the past 2 years. 

And so, although it doesn't necessarily make it any less hurtful, I think it was the right decision.

As for the twins, well, you can see from the pictures that they are none the worse for it ;-)

The First Few Weeks with Twins

I had promised a post about the issues we faced in the early days with the twins.  I've already written about the breastfeeding issues.  Which we were fortunate enough to overcome.  It is a lot different coming home with two babies instead of one.  And having a toddler at home as well! 

On sleeping:  although we initially had two bassinets, we put the twins in the same bassinet to sleep for the first 4 months (until they were too big to fit in there together - at the end they were crammed in like sardines).  After trying some different types of swaddles, we went with The Miracle Blanket on the recommendation of friends.  I was fortunate enough to have my friends Heather and Carolyn loan me some spares.  A lot of people claimed that their twins slept through the night early on.  This didn't happen for us.  At all.  At 5 months old we did cry it out and now the twins sleep from 8-5 am on most nights.  And I am SO thankful!

On eating:  the consensus is to feed twins at the same time.  This didn't work for us because Cort was so distractable.  So I fed them individually.  However, when one twin would wake up at night, we'd wake the other up to eat as well.  This kept them on the same sort of 'schedule'.  I use the term schedule in a very, very loose way.

On diapers:  I soooo admire people who do cloth diapers.  Paul mentioned it about 2 weeks after the twins were born and I started crying.  I was so overwhelmed by feeding two babies, loads of laundry for 3 children, etc. that I couldn't fathom dealing with one.more.thing.  So we use bulk Huggies from Sam's, and embrace our friends who are better at saving the environment than us.

On colic:  Around 3 weeks postpartum Reid started screaming.  And screaming and screaming and screaming.  It was obvious he was in pain.  I called the pediatrician and spoke to the nurse.  She said, "Have you tried swaddling?"  She's lucky she wasn't in the room.  I might've kicked her.  Instead, I said in a very firm (but nice) voice, "JUST ASK THE PEDI IF HE WILL CALL IN SOME ZANTAC".  Thankfully, she did.  Now I know there are a lot of people who object to giving a baby any medicine.  But let me say, it stopped Reid's colic.  He'd been screaming in pain and Zantac made him comfortable again.  It's one of those things where I feel the benefits outweigh the risks.

On Laundry:  Just buy a big thing of scent free All and wash the entire family's clothes in it.  It'll save you so much time.

On Sanity:  It'll be tough.  I cried a lot.  I felt overwhelmed.  I felt guilty, because I knew I was so blessed with having two healthy babies that it felt taboo not to be completely joyful.  My advice would be to join a multiples club if there is one in your area.  These women have been through it!  They know!  They came to my house bearing FOOD and lots of it.  And they held the babies and chatted and the whole thing brought such comfort to me. 

On the Body:  It takes time.  A long time.  At 6 months out I still have 5 pounds to lose and some definitely warping/flabbiness of the belly area.  No stretch marks except in my belly button.  Honestly, I'm not real worried about it right now.  I've got other things to focus on, and will reassess when the twins are weaned.

All that said, having twins will bring a lot of happiness too.  Seeing them smile at each other, reach out to touch one another's faces, having four hands grabbing and flinging baby food at once...it's all so fun.  We truly are blessed and hopefully, things will just get more enjoyable as they continue to grow and thrive!

My Struggle to Feed the Twins

When I was pregnant with Pierce, I took a breastfeeding class.  The class was very informative in a light way.  I felt prepared.  And then I had Pierce at 38 weeks (induction due to preeclampsia) and he was a growth restricted 5 lbs. 11 ounces.  Perhaps because he was small, or perhaps for some other reason, he didn't nurse very well.  I tried.  I tried so hard.  It broke my heart to watch him screaming and crying, beating me with his little fists, yet refusing to latch on.  I can't began to explain how emotional this was for me.  I went to see the lactation consultants.  I even had one come to the house.  We tried various holds, even tried a breast shield to get him to eat.  There were a lot of tears, from both of us.  Meanwhile, I was pumping to supplement with bottles because he'd lost weight and he was so small to start.  I never gave up.  Some days would involve more attempts than others, just depending on how strong I was feeling.  But every day we tried at least once.  It took THREE months but Pierce did learn to breastfeed. 

When I was pregnant with the twins I spent a lot of time hoping that they would both be easier than Pierce.  Right after birth, Reid latched on, ate, and then burped himself.  He's always been thrilled to eat.  I think he gets that from me ;-)  Cort was different.  He didn't really try much to eat.  This time around, I was lucky enough to have a baby scale at home, thanks to my friend Ginger.  So when he was not eating and losing weight I got him to the lactation consultant the very next day.  It was really something.  I had three lactation consultants working to get the boys latched on.  They did and sent us home.  But at home I didn't have three experts helping me out.  And things with Cort went downhill again.  I cried at least ten times one day over it, scared that it would take as long as it had with Pierce to get him breastfeeding.  We went back to the lactation consultants and they were so devoted to helping me.  One of them made about 5 calls to track down a supplemental nursing system (SNS).  Then she drove it partway to our house for Paul to go pick up.  This contraption fits around the neck and you can deliver extra milk through tubes to the nursing babies so they don't have to work so hard.  It was great in theory, but Cort was such a weak nurser it really didn't help.  They said he was more like a 35 week old baby than a 38 weeker.  I called my doula and she suggested not supplementing with bottles as I had been, but using an eye dropper instead.  Here I am patiently (it took forever!) feeding Cort with pumped breastmilk:

My doula had promised that 24 hours of this sort of feeding would give Cort a fresh start and make him forget about bottle feeding. 

All together, it took about 3 weeks of struggle to get Cort reliably nursing without a fight.  I found that he did better nursing on his own, because he was so distracted by having Reid near him.  I can say today that it was one of the most worthwhile struggles I've been through in my life.  I'm so thankful that both boys will nurse.  Cort, in particular, is not a snuggly baby because he's so active, so being able to bond with him in his feedings has been really important.  And Reid would continue to eat all day if I'd let him ;-)