Ok it’s been quite a long time since my last post – time has certainly slipped away from me now that these kiddos are born! Where I had free time to write and post now has been filled with bouncing babies or poop-filled diapers. Why write today, November 28, 2012? Because exactly one year ago today Todd and I were at Tampa General having the first procedure done and having these babies conceived in their little test tubes! While it definitely feels like a lot has happened over the year, the year seems like such a long time ago! Since it’s been awhile I thought I’d share some big milestones and things I’ve learned now that my babies are 4 months old already!
USF has already contacted us to make decisions on keeping or disposing of the remaining semen and embryos. Tough decision to make. We decided to dispose the semen since we have 5 embryos left and I’m not going to go through the whole IVF extraction again. But we need to decide whether or not to keep the embryos (i.e. do we only want 2 kids or will we want more in the future?) If we dispose of them and decide later we want more kids we’d need to go through the WHOLE procedure again at $15,000 a pop. Annual storage is $600 so there’s a financial factor, and there’s also the mental factor of knowing that my 2 beautiful babies were once frozen embryos. While I don’t want 5 more kids, these are 5 embryos that could lead into 5 more beautiful babies! I now understand why embryonic testing is such a huge debate – these could be little lives in those test tubes! It’s too early to say we don’t want more kids so this year’s tax return will go towards keeping those suckers on ice.
Emmett: His unofficial weight yesterday was 17 pounds! That means he’s gained 10 pounds since he was born, holy cow! He’s wearing 3 month clothes solidly, but is really moving into his 6 month clothes now and size 3 diapers. Emmett is the chatterbox, always wanting to talk and smile and make eye contact. He’s got a good grip too so when I’m holding him he almost feels like he’s hugging back. He’s a great little cuddle bug and always wants to play. The guy hates anything on his tummy though (except playing “airplane” with daddy) so I don’t know if he’ll ever be a crawler of even try to roll over. He’s got a favorite mobile toy that he can sit under for a good hour just giggling and talking to it. Sometimes when he gets really excited he flails his arms and legs and just goes wild over it. I regularly wonder what he can possibly be thinking about as the same 8 mobile shapes make the same round-and-round trek around his head.
Olivia: Her unofficial weight is 13 pounds, which is a good 8 pound gain. She’s still a little lady but is getting bigger and looks healthy. Olivia always has a very pensive look about her, I like to think she’s doing calculus in her little brain and that’s why she always looks so serious. But since she’s so serious all of the time when she does smile it just melts your heart because you know she really means it if she took the energy to smile! Olivia loves to have things in her hands and really likes the standard playmat with dangling things. She can lay on that thing kicking her legs and rolling around for a good amount of time. She is so close to rolling over and really enjoys sleeping on her side now. Olivia will most definitely skip the crawling stage and move straight into walking, she LOVES to stand and dance and she has really really great leg strength to hold herself up. Last night I put her in an exersaucer to test her legs out and she seemed to enjoy the new sitting up toy.
People also tell us we are so brave for taking our babies out and that they didn’t take them out until 4 months. Well, I’m proud to say that my kids have been to Disney about 8 times, they’ve stayed overnight in hotels, they drove a 2000 mile roundtrip holiday, they get out of the house nearly everyday, and go to restaurants once a week. I think people get scared of babies and think their lives need to change dramatically and they can’t do anything…not true. Just takes a lot of planning and preparation but it’s worth it to get out of the house!
The most important thing I’ve learned as a mother so far is that my kids really do know me and I know so much more than I thought I would. I was in a panic that I wouldn’t know what to do or my kids wouldn’t respond to my touch – completely false. I think I have that magical mother’s touch that makes them smile, or calms them down. I don’t know if what I’m doing is right or wrong (since I’ve given up on books) but it works and I feel good knowing that I’m sustaining two little lives. The best thing a mother can hear is “you’re doing a great job” because there are a lot of times I doubt myself but for someone to say out loud unsolicited that we’re doing well is a great feeling.
So, a little recommendation for any readers out there who know of a new mother – PLEASE tell them they are doing a good job and point out something specific that makes them know that you mean it! Affirmation goes a long way for renewing the spirit and encouraging people on a hard day where babies are crying and aren’t leaving momma feeling good.
