RaptorMama

We spent 2 days in the PICU while Xander got his IV antibiotics.  Y’all, the people there could not have been nicer or more accommodating.  Not only did they bring me a breast pump and store all of Mia’s pumped milk, they even found a bed for her to sleep in.  Fun fact: when you take your breast milk home, they have it in sealed biohazard bags.  lol.

Here’s another layout I did documenting our time there.

Still loving Treasure Map!  Those whales!

 

So, remember how Mia was supposed to be our problem child?  Well, Xander decided to give her a run for her money.  Back in April at the wee age of 2 1/2 weeks, Xander aspirated some of his spit up and stopped breathing.  Literally the scariest 7 minutes of my life were while I was on the phone with 911 watching RaptorDad do CPR while we waited for the ambulance.  Side note: parents- learn to do infant CPR!  Once we got to the ER, the chest x-ray showed what could either be aspirated spit up (duh) or pneumonia (super scary but super unlikely).  His temp was low since he’d been unswaddled in the ambulance so they put him under the warmer.  He loved it.  Since he was just a tiny peanut, they had to do a lumbar puncture.  Sadest thing ever.  It took 3 doctors 6 attempts over 2 days.  🙁  They admitted us to PICU for IV antibiotics while we waited for the results.

Here’s a layout I made with a iPhone pic I snapped in the ER.  Xander is just chilling in the warmer.  I used my new Treasure Map goodies- I freaking love them!  I’m totally going to be ordering more of the papers.

I even got the stamp set which I never do since I’m always too cheap.  But those whales!  I had to have them.  I made the whale embellishments by stamping them, fussy cutting them, and then going over the stamped bit with dimensional adhesive.  I love how they turned out and I can’t wait to make more with the rest of the stamp set!

 

 

…and Mia apparently has the rarest form of Down syndrome: Robertsonian Down syndrome.  From what I can tell, this means that she has an extra copy of the 21st chromosome stuck to one of her 21st chromosomes.  So she still has 3 copies, 2 are just stuck together instead of them being 3 in a row.  My understanding is that this has no impact on anything, but it is interesting.  I kind of want to do that 23 and Me DNA mapping on her just to see what it looks like.  We’ll see.  It’s kind of pricey.

And here’s the first (of many) baby layouts!

Most of it is from the Jillibean Soup Cool as a Cucumber Soup line.  I lurve it.  🙂

I tried my hand at a layered border and I really like how it turned out.  🙂

 

 

Mia had another weight check on Wednesday and she had only gained 6 ounces in the past 12 days which puts her at 6 lbs 12 oz.  🙁  She’s supposed to gain .5-1 ounce a day, but they really want it closer to an ounce a day so her pediatrician isn’t too pleased.  ::sigh::  She can’t help it if she’s just a little peanut!  Her 2 month visit is in 9 days, so they’re letting us wait until then for the next weigh in.  Dance movies have taught me that I should just stuff a roll of quarters in her diaper, but sadly they weigh her naked so that’s not an option, lol.

Current plan is to give her a bottle of pumped breast milk after each feed to see if that helps.  Historically, Mia just lets that dribble out the side of her mouth since she filled up at the breast, but we’ll give it another try.  It’s frustrating since it seems like we were just able to ditch the bottles, but I know that plenty of kids with Down syndrome end up with a feeding tube so I’m just going to count my blessings that we’re able to just nurse most of the time.  It is going to cut into the awesome freezer stash I’ve been building, but what are ya gonna do.

Oh, and the little stinker decided to eat in the exam room right after they weighed her.  I halfheartedly suggested that the nurse weigh her again, but she wasn’t having it.  She did say that Mia had a beautiful latch and that she could see that she was eating great.  When Mia was done, I showed her that I could still squirt milk across the room so she wouldn’t worry about my supply.  She had been skeptical when I told her that Mia didn’t eat from both breasts at each feeding since I assigned each twin a boob of the day.

If you made it through that, here’s a crafty reward.  It’s another older layout; I found it going through pictures for Project Life.

Picture credit goes to Happy Soul Photography.  Super cute pics!

Time for a project update!  I’m currently working on Week 7 in 2014 Project Life.  I use the term working loosely, lol.  Mainly I’m ignoring it because I’m sick of making digital layouts.

I’m on Week 10 in 2015 Project Life.  I actually have some hope of catching up on this one.

I’m currently working on May 2014 in the big scrapbook, but I’m also doing some current layouts just because I want to scrap pics of the babies.  Once I get through August, there actually won’t be that many layouts in each month due to a combo of me being pregnant and working full time, and Kate starting kindergarten.  The picture taking has picked back up now that we’re all at home again!  🙂  I’d really love to get May, and optimistically June, of 2014 done this month but that might be a pipe dream, lol.

 

Since Mia has Down syndrome, she qualifies for services through the state.  We had our evaluation yesterday and it went very well!  It’s weird to be hoping that your 7 week old has a demonstrable developmental delay, but that’s our new normal over here.   Mia is going to be getting occupational therapy once a week where we’ll work on her motor skills.  Our first goal is to get her to bat at toys, which is just about the cutest IEP goal I’ve ever heard of.  🙂  They’re actually a different acronym for the under 3 set, but I can’t remember it.

Here’s another layout from last May.  Still love those Doodlebug sequins!

I also outlined the stickers and such with a marker to help them stand out from the busy paper.

 

 

I’m trying to carve out some time to be crafty each day.  It’s necessary for my mental heath.  🙂  I was editing/ printing photos from May 2014 and I came across some photos of layouts that never made it on to the blog.  Here now, for your viewing pleasure, I give you: Egg Dying!

The supplies are all at least a year old since I scrapped this a year ago, but just consider that motivation to dig into your stash.  lol.

I colored the wood veneer (both the card and the stars) with some markers and added some of the Amy Tangerine mini washi tape and a flair button.

I like how this one turned out even a year later.  I got a big box of new goodies this week, including the much anticipated (by me anyway) Treasure Map line from October Afternoon.  It was worth the wait!

 

 

 

Breastfeeding is super important to me.  After a bit of a rocky start, Raptor and I had a great nursing relationship.  She self-weaned when my milk dried up at 15 months.  Imagine a rant here about my OB who insisted I go on birth control pills when she was a year old because of some period issues and assured me it would not impact my milk supply.  Not true.  ::shakes fist::

So when we found out we were having twins, I started obsessively researching how to be successful breastfeeding multiples.  It can be done! I highly recommend a twin nursing pillow.  I have this one and it’s the bomb.  It lets me feed them at the same time so I don’t lose my mind.

Mia is nursing like a champ!  We’ve pretty much gotten her off of the supplemental bottles!  She (and Xander) both had to have a few mls of formula in the hospital, Xander due to blood sugar issues and Mia due to jaundice, but I’m pleased to report that I’m currently managing to exclusively breast feed them.  It’s pretty much a full time job (I’m actually nursing as I type. lol) but it’s so worth it.  I went into this with the mindset that I would basically be doing nothing but nursing babies for the first 6 months.  Anytime I get discouraged, I remember that I knew this was going to be a huge time commitment for 6 months, but that I can do anything for 6 months.  With Raptor, things got a lot easier once we introduced solid food so I’m keeping my eye on that prize.  My ultimate goal is to nurse for 2 years which coincides with the end of flu season.

Nursing feels like a huge accomplishment for 2 reasons.  1, because TWINS!  Duh.  I was so worried about my milk supply.  If I’m being honest, I’m still worried about it.  Right now, I have plenty to feed the babies, plus I pump once a day and freeze 3-4 ounces in case of emergency.  Like last Friday when I had a margarita emergency at the prospect of my baby graduating from kindergarten.  ::sob::  2, because often children who have Downs syndrome have feeding issues even with a bottle, so the fact that Mia nurses almost full time feels like a huge accomplishment.  I think the fact that she has a typically developing, boobie addicted, twin helps.  He helps keep my supply up, and when I tandem feed them he helps get a letdown for her.

I feel a huge amount of guilt about the formula they got in the hospital, but I’m trying to let that go.  I’m having varying degrees of success with that.  lol.  I wanted to include a picture but, while I’m far from modest about breastfeeding, even I draw the line at posting pics of my droopy boobs online.  Once the babies are bigger and their heads provide a bit more coverage, I’d like to take some nice pics of me nursing them.  We’ll see.

So, our house almost flooded last night.  That was fun.  Not.  Luckily the neighbors went around clearing the storm drains during a break in the rain and the water started receding, but it was inches from my front door.  Might need to rethink my policy of declining flood insurance on the grounds that we’re nowhere near a body of water and it never rains here.

Raptor had a blast jumping in the puddles which, in her mind,  more than made up for the time spend “hunkered down” in the hallway yesterday during the tornado warning.

I can’t decide if I love that it’s downright cold this May or if I’m irritated that we can’t go swimming yet.  It’s usually swimming weather here right around mid-April so this is definitely throwing me for a loop.

I shot these pics with my brand spanking new 35 mm lens.  I <3 it.

Meet Alexander James (Xander) and Emilia Marie (Mia).  They’re here!  And they’re perfect.  Loud, messy, sleepless, and perfect.  🙂

Here they are at 1 month and 1 day.  I love that Xander is such a flirt and Mia’s all whatever, ::sigh::.  🙂

Our lives are definitely changing and in more, and different, ways that we expected.  I never blogged about it, but we had a ridiculously complicated pregnancy with the twins including, but not limited to, a prenatal diagnosis of hydrocephalus for Baby A (that’s our sweet little Mia) so we were expecting her to need brain surgery (at a different hospital) within a day or two of her arrival.

They were born at 37 weeks 1 day gestation via an unplanned, but not emergency, c-section.  Maybe I’ll blog about that at some point.  We had mentally prepared for Mia to be whisked off to the NICU, so we were pleasantly surprised when both twins were allowed to room in with us.  The pediatrician came to examine them and gave us the great news that, while Mia would still need an MRI and to see a neurosurgeon, it did not look like she would need surgery right away.  In fact, she might not need it at all!  And there was much rejoicing.  🙂

Then he dropped a bomb on us.

“Has anyone talked to you about the possibility that Mia has Down syndrome?”

Um, come again?  What are you talking about?!?

Due to some of our earlier pregnancy complications, we had not been able to do the blood work to screen for chromosomal abnormalities at 13 weeks.  That said, I pretty much had an ultrasound every week of my pregnancy and there was never any indication that Down syndrome was a possibility so to say that we were shocked would be a massive understatement.

It took about a week to get the genetic testing back, and it showed that yes, in fact, Mia does have Down syndrome.  No lie, it took me some time to process that, but now we can’t imagine her any other way.  She (and Xander) are perfect just as they are (though Xander could do with sleeping a bit more, lol.)

I imagine this blog will be undergoing a bit of a transition.  I’m still crafting (well, not much, but I will be!!!) and I’ll still blog about my crafty adventures.  I just envision that I’ll also be blogging a bit more about our adventures with newborn twins and a 5 year old.  After all, it’s only been 5 1/2 weeks and we’ve already had to call 911 (Xander had to learn the hard way that we don’t breath in our own puke!).  Who can tell what adventures the summer will bring.  🙂

 

Sorry for the radio silence last week.  I have been wiped out.  Pretty much I get home from work and want to go to bed.  So much for the blog buffer, lol.  I did drag myself out to get Raptor an Easter dress and managed to take a few bluebonnet pics.

It’s nothing like last year’s amazing sea of bluebonnets, but I managed to find a pretty good field.  The fact that it had a little ditch helped.

It made it easier to crop out the hotel in the background.  lol.

As much as I would love to pretend that I’m going to take pictures of the babies in the bluebonnets, I think there’s no way that’s going to happen this year.  Plus, how do you take pictures of a newborn that can’t sit up yet in what are essentially spikey weeds?

I had fun taking Raptor out for one last solo photo shoot though.  It’s hard to believe that in a week and a half (or less!) she won’t be an only child anymore.  I’m getting a little teary thinking about it.