1.) How has it been after taking the twins home? Do you have any help?
Obviously it has been a huge adjustment! There is so much to learn and you kind of just get thrown into parenthood… instantly! How crazy is that?Exciting and scary all at once. Can I be completely honest? This is the most scary yet most rewarding thing I have ever done in my entire life.
Yes we have a lot of family close… which has been amazing. My mom comes over in the morning for three hours almost every day so I am garunteed three hours of sleep, which is saving me.
2.) Are you going to try the same eating/sleeping patterns with the twins?
Yes, but it only works so much. Some nights are better than others on sleep. Sometimes they will sleep 3-4 straight hours. Some nights they take turns waking up and eating…literally opposite schedules and I’ll be totally honest these nights are my personal hell. One night I was up 12-7 a.m. straight… that was interesting hahah I was so happy when my mom came over. I handed her the babies and past out for three glorious hours. It’s such a funny thing because during the middle of the night, when I have two babies screaming at me, I get so frazzled and frustrated (not to mention I feel helpless). Like “whyyyyy won’t you sleep?! Please sleep!!” Then my mom comes, I sleep a few hours and I wake up instantly missing my babies. Being away from them, even if it’s sleep, seems like forever and when I see them I completely melt. It’s the most pure raw love I have ever felt in my life.
3.) How did your spinal fusion affect your delivery?
You know this was surprising. I truly expected to have back issues during my pregnancy and I did not at all. I can vividly remember being 17 years old when I went to my spinal consultation before my spinal fusion surgery. My surgeon specifically made a point of saying “you will be glad you got this surgery someday when you get pregnant.” I remember being annoyed thinking, “yeah, sure whatever. That’s so far away anyways.” Well, if only I knew I would get pregnant with twins 🤣 I truly think the rods helped me immensely from being super uncomfortable during my pregnancy.
4.) How did you deliver?
I delivered both babies vaginally! I was really hopeful on doing this but I knew I had to keep an open mind because it just depended on the babies positioning. I was not one of those moms who had a birth plan with every detail planned out on their delivery. I’m not a type A personality at all so that might of had something to do with it 😝 Olivia was head down and born first. Oliver was breeched and was actually born feet first. My OB is absolutely amazing and knew what he was doing. If he hadn’t , I would have had to have an emergency C-section after Olivia was already born vaginally. Talk about a horrible recovery that would have been. Oh my goodness! This was by far one of my worst fears being pregnant with twins and attempting to deliver vaginally. I was told the safe route would be to just do a planned C-section so I wouldn’t risk having to recover from a vaginal and C-section birth. Recovering from both of those… I can’t fathom so thank the lord my OB knew what he was doing. I was very blessed.
5.) How did you pick the names Olivia & Oliver?
Before we knew we were having twins, I loved the name Oliver. It took awhile for that name to grow on Matthew. So I got him to watch the show Arrow, where the main guys name is Oliver. He’s a bad ass so Matthew slowly warmed up to the name hahaha. I also love the name Olivia and loved the names together. We chose the names off the meaning. Oliver & Olivia both signify the olive tree which symbolizes fruitfulness, beauty, and dignity. We also loved the idea of them having the same name meaning because they are twins and will forever have that bond.
6.) how long were you on pitocen with contractions? Once they took you into the OR how long did you have to push before they were born? How far apart are the twins?
I was on pitocen and “in labor” for 18 hours. When I was fully dilated and sent to the OR to deliver, I pushed and had both babies out in 35 minutes born 6 minutes apart!
7.) Were you induced?
Yes. What actually happened is I went into my Dr. appointment for my last checkup and my blood pressure was too high. I was starting to swell up everywhere and my Doctor didn’t want to risk preeclampsia. I was so ready to meet these babies (and over being pregnant 😂) so when he turned to me and said “head to the hospital, it’s time!” I was so excited/nervous.
8.) Are you glad you got the epidural?
HECK YES! I literally didn’t feel a thing. I felt pressure and discomfort but there was no pain with my delivery. A few of my followers were surprised I didn’t want to deliver naturally with no epidural. HA! Nope. I was the pregnant lady that said “give me all the drugs!”. I admire women who deliver naturally, don’t get me wrong, but I was not going to put myself through that pain. Call me a pansy, I don’t care…that epidural was phenomenal.
9.) Were you scared to deliver twins?
Yes, but I really trusted my doctor who specializes in delivering multiples. I trusted him a lot more than my OB in madison… who didn’t even catch that I was having twins…HA!
10.) Are the twins similar? Can you tell yet?!
They are completely different. It’s hilarious and I love it.
Olivia has dark dark hair, almond eyes, a tiny button nose and full lips. She is much more vocal than Oliver and a slight diva hahah. If she had it her way (which she gets most of the time… ALREADY!) she would be held and snuggled every waking moment!
Oliver has blonde hair, bigger eyes, a bigger nose than Olivia and a wider mouth. His demeanor is much more calm. He only cries when he is hungry. I’ll feed him and right back to sleep he goes. He is content to just snuggle all day which I love but doesn’t cry when I lay him down to keep sleeping.
11.) Are you breastfeeding? If so, what made you decide to do it or formula?
I’m going to be totally honest and it’s going to sound so superficial. My initial reason was because I heard it burns a ton of calories hahaha. I don’t care how bad that may come across because, lets be real, what woman doesn’t want to lose a lot of that baby weight as fast as possible? Just trying to be as honest as I can be with you guys. That was my first thought. But of course I had more than just that reason! Obviously it’s very healthy for the twins and helps build up their immunities. As a new mom I’m already paranoid about everything so knowing I’m benefiting them tremendously by breastfeeding made my decision easy. I do pump everyday so I have extra milk on hand in case Matthew or my mom are by. I’ll hand them a bottle and the milk and have them feed a baby. It saves me about 30 minutes! I feel like a walking milk bottle for the twins but it is so worth it.
12.) Did you enjoy being pregnant?
Hmmmm…I’ll be brutally honest. I am not one of those women who LOVES being pregnant. The first few months were really hard because I was crazy sick. Like throwing up all day sick. I would say I had a honeymoon phase of a few weeks where I really enjoyed it because I was done with the “sick” phase and not into the “I’m a huge beached whale” phase. I think the whole pregnancy process is undeniably a beautiful experience but would I have wanted to be pregnant any longer? No! I definitely am enjoying having these babies out where I can love on them all day long and be their mommy. I LOVE being their mom. I am a tired happy mess all wrapped up into one. I’m still making my way and figuring out motherhood but I am so crazy in love. I don’t remember what life was like without them anymore and I don’t care to.
Hopefully I answered all the big questions you guys had for me! However, if I missed one that you really wanted answered. DM me on Instagram and I’ll gladly answer it (: Thank you for following my page and being so supportive!