Kel's Philosophy

For me, life has slowed down just a little bit in these last few weeks since I now only work 24 hours per week. It took about 7 months but I finally convinced 'the man' that this could actually work (the man at work, NOT the man at home; he was all in favor from Day One). Since the new schedule began, I have 1-gotten a much-needed haircut, 2-taken WT on their very first play date, and 3- published my first blog entry in about 8 months.

I'd say the most important thing I have learned in these past months is just how quickly time passes when you're busy and yes, 'having fun.' While I worked full-time, rushing from home to work and back again, I kept thinking to myself, one day I will look back and regret what I am doing now. I felt stressed, too busy, and it seemed that I was simply going through the motions. I now have a balance. My goal is to spend as much time as possible with my babies while they are small. Once day, when the economy improves and NL are in school, my priorities and ambitions will shift once again and I'll be back in the workforce, clawing to get ahead like everyone else. For now, it's songs, nursing, naps, and playdates. Life is good.

The Return of Kel

Note to WT regulars: the deluge below is the result of seven months of pent-up memories by the main creator of Noelle and Lucas. Known as "Kelly" or "Kel", she's been referenced in various posts and even appears in several photos linked from this blog. Kel The Blogger has been absent since before June 25, owing to her motherly duties and nursing-time devotion to Desperate Housewives. For a break from the ordinary obnoxiousness, read on:


Yes, this post-partum post is a little delayed. In these past 7 months, free time has been extremely hard to come by. So I'll skip the apologies and excuses and get to the point. Here is my summary of the birth:

Tuesday, June 24: 36 weeks, 2 days gestation. I dutifully reported to work at 8am. I had recently returned to work, 24 hours per week, after staying home for 2 weeks due to high blood pressure. At about 1:00pm, I left work, making sure to leave everything on my desk organized and neat, 'just in case'. I picked up Karl and drove to Dr. C's office for a check-up. The nurse and Dr. C each took my blood pressure about 4 times before I was ordered to report directly to Winnie Palmer Hospital. We were permitted to stop at home for a few necessities: the bag I had yet to pack, a snack, and of course, the trusty video camera. Karl seemed somewhat frantic but surprisingly, I didn’t feel very nervous. We weren’t even certain I'd be delivering right away..maybe we'd be back home in a few hours-who knew? I had an induction scheduled for the next Monday and darn it, I was determined to make it to then.

I called my mom on the way to the hospital and she met us there after we checked in (about 3:00pm) and were shown to a room on the ante-partum floor. I put on the hospital-issued gown and sat on the bed, not sure quite what to do with myself. The nurse said she needed to draw some blood- that was fine, I'd had gallons drawn over the past 8 or so months. But-why was she drawing it from my inner forearm?! Before I realized what was happening, I had an IV in my arm. How could she trick me like that? Oh well, what's done is done, I thought. My blood pressure was monitored every hour and heartbeat monitors were taped on for Baby A and Baby B. I started to feel a lot of pain and pressure and the nurses confirmed that I was having contractions. That was when I realized I wasn’t leaving the hospital until after the babies were born. So the contractions continued to intensify and become closer together. At around 9:00pm, I asked for pain medication but the nurses said that my doctor wanted them to wait until I got to the Labor & Delivery floor and then I could get an epidural. Ok, what?! So when do I go to L&D?, I asked. 'As soon as a bed opens up', I was told. So for the next 3 hours, I alternatively asked for the medication and asked when my bed might be open. I got neither until after 12am. In retrospect, I think I'd have asked, even at that late date, to switch obstetricians. Hand me a phone book or Google directory and I'd be on my way to relief. Our Lamaze instructor had assured us nervous pregnant women that we'd get pain relief as early as we asked for it but I guess I was misinformed!

Wednesday, June 25: The Twins' Arrival. Finally, after I was moved to L&D and got my epidural (hey, I never said I was brave) all in the world was OK again. Dr. C came to check on me at about 4:00am and again at 12:00pm and little to no progress had been made. In between, I vacillated between continuing with labor or giving in and going for the C-section. Even with the epidural, I was rather uncomfortable, plus exhausted and hungry. But what made the decision for me was that I could no longer deal with the unknown. Already, after about 20 hours of labor, I was only dilated to 3cm. Would it be another 20 hours before the final stage where, finally, all the Lamaze practice would pay off? What if, even then, the twins refused to budge and I ended up with a C-Section anyway? Or worse, if one budged and one didn’t, I'd have double trouble- 2 recovery areas and 2 babies!?

So, in the end, it was my intolerance for the unknown that made the decision for me. One thing I didn’t expect was just how anxious I'd get over that decision and then, the realization that someone would be cutting into my abdomen. I honestly didn’t think about the reality of this until I was right there in the moment.

I was prepped for the surgery while Karl & Mom gowned up. I have to say, I just wanted it to be over as quickly as possible. And it did-before I knew it, the doctor was lifting up Noelle, Baby A, and announcing that she weighed 6 lbs, 4 oz. Then Lucas, Baby B, came out screaming, his hands on either side of his face (he still does that when he is crying). I have pictures of the babies being held up by my face, and pictures of Karl and I with the babies. Mom even videotaped the birth. Still, it seemed strangely like a dream. All I was thinking at the moment was, could these babies really be mine? Is this really happening?

The babies were whisked away to the nursery, while I was whisked to a recovery room. That darn blood pressure was up again, and so I was kept there for a few hours, hooked up to IV medication. As the nurses bustled in and out of the room and down the halls, I grew more and more upset and frustrated. I'd barely even seen my babies and hadn’t held them at all. I needed to get out of here. Once again, the permission from my doctor could not come soon enough. Jeff and Liz came to visit, and headed up to my room. I was actually crying in despair by the time I was wheeled up to the mother-baby unit, and to my room. The babies were there, along with Karl, Jeff, and Liz. My mom had gone home to rest. I was still in disbelief that these beautiful tiny creatures were ours. Noelle & Lucas looked so much alike at first that I worried I'd never be able to tell them apart. Jeff proclaimed that Lucas was the tiniest human being he has ever seen.

Thursday & Friday- June 26 & 27. Over the next 3 nights, I recovered, nursed, and began learning about baby care. The nurses showed us how to hold, burp, and swaddle the twins, brought them to and from the nursery, and helped me stand, walk, etc. The babies were taken to the nursery for daily weigh-ins. After a rough, painful, first day, by the second day I was up and walking around, even outside the hospital. The babies received several visitors: first came my boss Brenda and co-worker friend Cheryl. Next was my good friend April and her mom (her twin girls were born 10 days later). Denise & Shyam and Steffani came later that day. Mom, of course, visited daily.

Saturday, June 28: Homecoming…and the Life Beyond. Discharge day was here at last…at last?? What would I do without the 24 hour assistance from the nurses? Who'd handle the dreaded 2am feeding and take care of the babies when I was tired? And most of all, what in the world was I to do with 2 newborn babies? Once again- realization. I didn’t know the first thing about babies and now I had 2 of them. Thank goodness for my Mom. A voice of reason, someone experienced and remarkably patient with 2 tiny crying infants. I don’t think Mom left at all for the first month, and then gradually after that. And yes, Karl- who knew even less than I did about baby care but who was always willing to pitch in and help out when told what to do. The first few weeks were difficult, as predicted. How do you do it? You just do-you don’t have a choice! Listen to the advice of experts and twin moms alike-sleep when the babies sleep, accept help, let the housework slide. Eventually, we got into a routine and the babies began sleeping through the night (yea!) at around 4 months. Nursing, while at challenge at first, gradually became easier for all of us and now is like second nature. Solid foods have gradually entered the mix since about 5 months and now, at 7 1/2, the twins have tasted about 10 different types of veggies, fruits, and grains in addition to milk. They are into a regular nap routine and, in fact, are about to wake up from one anytime now. So, I will use my remaining last few minutes to do some laundry and cleaning. I am hopeful that it will not be another 7.5 months until my next blog entry. I'll be optimistic and try for next week.

We Have a Crawler!

Those familiar with There's Something About Mary may connect this blog title to a line early in the film. Though, instead of a painful rush to the hospital, what we have on our hands is a darling seven month old chubster inching along a kitchen floor. Yes: after a half year of remaining in the location she was last deposited, Noelle is now mobile and about to be outfitted with a global positioning system. Lucas, meanwhile, says bah to that and just lunges forward repeatedly like a runner preparing for the starting pistol.

On top of physical achievements we have some impressive acoustics to report. Noelle is a hair away from the second half of the alphabet and produces "meh meh meh". Mostly this is overhead just before a feeding or in the midst of a bottle refill. It seems to be her gentle reminder to us that she's hungry and won't take it anymore. As much as we'd like to pretend, the new sound is not quite "mama." But, she's got the right idea. Before long it'll be mother, mumsy, then monkey, and on to rhubarb, Roquefort, and voracious. Lucas isn't that interested in verbal gymnastics. He's just fine with his easy smile and giggle.

As for teeth, not a one. The pets' tails and ears are safe for now. Though NL have moved into their eighth month, their baby choppers are still hibernating. I do a daily check and will update the blog in the event of a breakthrough.

Golden Gate Angst

NL's uncle Jeff has stationed himself in Orlando for the weekend. Naturally he couldn't do without a dose of the twins for much longer. We promise to return the favor in mid-April. That's right: the Wieleckis will abandon all grips on sanity and load up luggage, kids, stroller, and Costco-sized Advil for a transcontinental voyage to the city by the Bay. This endeavor will require that our 20-lb. packages of delight will rest on our laps from takeoff till touchdown. The kicker here is that while I'm already dreading all thought of the ordeal three months before it's reality, NL will remember none of it.

Isn't that something? No matter how hard you furrow your brow and scratch your head, it seems beyond the scope of human capability to recall anything from your first two or three years of life. So, all this giddiness we experience with the kids--all their smiles and chortles, tearful tirades, oopsie-daises, shameful defeats in thumb wrestling contests--all of it stays in their memories just temporarily, to be recorded over by new experiences later in life. They'll remember none of these minutes, days, and months that are so monumental to us parents. Naturally we'll relate these happenings to NL over a Flag Day dinner in 2017 or during a contemplative stroll through a shady pinewood forest. But--they'll have to take our word for it; they'll have none of their own genuine sympathies for dad's three month anxiety over a six-hour stress yet to materialize.

Disclaimer:
Oh, but the delight of spring in San Francisco! And of all the time spent with my newest family. I may carry on like a complainer, but I complain in jest (or, in "jape" (as I can now proudly use a word lately used against me in Scrabble)); I'm grateful beyond measure for my 'ordeals' since last June 25th.

WT (Finally) Acknowledge 2009

This is my first and likely last post generated at work. It's about time I inform of NL's 6-month pediatrician visit and time is currently out of stock at home. Still, as blogging from the office requires repeated screen minimizations it's turning out even less relaxing than blogging from home, where I type in constant dread of the next pained wail from the kids' room.

So, to the point: at their January 6th appointment, Noelle weighed 17lb 3oz, and Lucas 16lb 13oz. There.

Feeding: For a few weeks now we've been interspersing the kids' milky diet with thicker fare from jars, with flavors of sweet potato, sweet corn, sweat pea (too many sweets, in my opinion), and an occasional avocado/banana medley. Bibs and diapers have changed colors accordingly.

Facial Maneuvers: Lucas has grown into quite the smiler. Now the happy-neutral-displeased proportion of his disposition is roughly equal. Noelle, meanwhile, casts a leery and suspicious eye at all who venture into her field of vision.

Travel: On New Year’s weekend we vacationed in Clearwater, my former place of employment. It was but a one-night excursion, though our strolls along the beach-walk next to grassy dunes and a quick knee-high dip in the chilly Gulf were relaxing enough. There’s something about the atmosphere of the shore that resets my circuits. En route home we toured the Belleview Biltmore Hotel, a grand century-old wooden complex that effuses history from its creaky wooden floors. Its long, dim corridors and 20 ft. ceilings are eerily reminiscent of The Shining.


Photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gros.islet/NewYearSDayInClearwater#