Wordless Wednesday: Daddy's Little Girl

Bedrest Memoirs

I don't think I've mentioned it much outside of my birth story, but before the twins were born, I spent 12 days on hospital bedrest. I didn't start this blog until after they were born though, so I don't really have a good account of what went down in those 12 days. And this was not just "prop your feet up, take it easy" bedrest. This was "flat on my back, bed tipped head-down, do not sneeze, do not sit up, do not pass go, do not collect $200" bedrest. I tried to write about it in my paper journal but I was high as a kite the whole time and only wrote in there about 3 times. Oh, and we have one really hysterical and disturbing video that Chris took of me, cross-eyed and rambling about chicken fingers from Dairy Queen. I don't know either.

(Sidenote: I find it ironically funny that I was THAT pregnant lady who absolutely wouldn't take anything more than Tylenol - I even Googled the ingredients in my facewash before I would use it. Then I went into labor at 22 weeks and spent 12 days being pumped full of all kinds of drugs. Best laid plans, right?)

Anywho, Birthday Week has made me all weepy nostalgic, so I thought I'd talk a little about the time I spent in bed. Most of it is one big blur (see again: high as a kite) but there are some things that still stand out in my mind.

-Trying to brush my teeth was hilarious. Like I said, I couldn't even sit up, so they would bring me my toothbrush and put one of those vomit-catchers next to my head, and I would have to crane my neck to spit without getting it all over me. It took a couple tries to get it right but I was a pro by the end of it.
-Eating was hard, too. I quickly got to the point where I could only handle soft, easily digested foods. My poor father-in-law went to Cracker Barrel three days in a row before he was able to scrounge up some of their sweet potato casserole for me.
-The Mag Sulfate IV I had made me feel like I was burning up from the inside out. I was constantly begging everyone around me to turn the air down "just a little bit more pleaaaaase". Except then my feet would freeze, so I would beg for more blankets. I would literally have four blankets folded up and piled on my feet, and beads of sweat on my forehead at the same time.
-The hospital TV had like, 9 of the most random channels. I watched SO MUCH Food Network.
-Chris had made friends with a few of the ER nurses during his time on road patrol with the Sheriff's Office, and one of them came and washed my hair for me after a couple days. It was at 3am after her shift had ended and she used a (clean) male urine catcher and a (clean) bedpan.
-Audrey's water ruptured about a week into my stay. The nurse I had that day cried when she told me my AmnioSure test came back positive. I cannot say enough how amazing my care was while I was there.
-The babies had to be constantly monitored because of all the aforementioned medicines, but they were so tiny at the time that it was hard to keep them on the monitors. One particularly crafty nurse made the nursing students stand for 20 minutes holding the monitors on my belly so we could get a good reading. They had just come from their first birth experience, they were all so pumped up and then they got to me and had to just stand there for the better part of half an hour. Poor kids.
-Before everything went down, my biggest fear about labor was that I wouldn't have time to shave my legs before delivery. How's that for perspective? Pretty sure my legs were the hairiest they had ever been by that point.

Crazy times. I still can't believe that was a year ago.

Welp, It's Official...

I have ONE-YEAR-OLDS.

Crazy.

The party was a huge success. We could not have asked for a prettier day and (most) everyone we loved was there to celebrate with us. It was a lovely celebration of our crazy year!

I know I've said it over and over, but I feel like the luckiest mama alive.

DITL finale!

It's just before midnight, so I'm totally getting this in on time!

The babies' birthday party is tomorrow and then their birthday is Sunday. I can't even stand it. I'm pretty excited for the weekend but tonight I'm going to cry myself to sleep. I'll be back Monday with tons of pictures, our 1-year update, and some pretty sappy letters to the babies.

But for now, here's Part 5, the final part of our DITL!

Time check!


After-nap nursing

Part 4!

Time check!


After our "lunch" it is naptime... can you tell?

Part 3 of Our DITL!

Let's look at more of my life, shall we?

(I told yall there was nothing exciting here. But maybe it is for the best, because when I do venture out it just ends up awkward.)


Morning nap time is over, so I put on some kid's music


And toss the babies on the bed to get some cleaning done. Not pictured: me making the bed around them. Not as easy as it sounds.

More of our DITL!

Did you miss Part One? It's here if you need to catch up!

Onto Part Two...



Time check! It's almost 10:30 and the babies just went down for their morning nap.


I'm still rocking the pajamas and some serious bed head. Sexy and I know it.

We're just getting started...

A Day in Our Life

Have you ever heard of the DITL Project? DITL stands for "Day In The Life" -- basically, you just take pictures documenting a random day in your life. People always ask me what I DO all day staying at home with twins, so I thought it would be fun to do one. I was afraid I wouldn't have much to photograph but ended up taking over 100 pictures!

So, in an effort to blog more and avoid the fact celebrate that my babies' birthday is so soon, I thought I'd post our DITL here. (But don't worry, I'll break it up a little so that you don't have to see all 100 pictures at once!)

Without further ado... here is Part One!



Good morning! Chris wakes me up when he leaves for work.


He puts the babies in bed with me before he goes, where Grayson snuggles and Audrey practices crawling.

There's more after the jump!

My Little Leprechans

Last year, I celebrated St. Patrick's Day from a hospital bed. Chris and my mama came and taped shamrocks all over my room and brought green beads for me to wear so that I wouldn't get pinched in my hospital gown :)

This year?

So much better.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

So... this happened today.

There she goes! from Jessica Lee on Vimeo.

Looks like my Saturday plans just became "babyproofing". Watch out, world!

Happy weekend, friends :)

(Not-so-)Wordless Wednesday: One Year Ago Today

I will never ever, as long as I live, til the day I die, EVER forget the look on my midwife's face as she peeked over the curtain, asked me when my last ultrasound was, and told me she was sending me to the hospital "just to get checked out". Getting "checked out" led to "staying overnight", which led to "here for the long haul" which, we all know, was 12 days in all and ended with my babies being born at 24 weeks and 1 day.

Our journey really began one year ago today. What a wild year it has been.

A Picture Update!

Wanna see what we've been up to?

We got a new stroller! Haha not really big news, but it was pretty exciting for us :) It's a Baby Jogger City Mini Double, and I LOOOOVE it! The babies like it too!

We got our last Synagis shots, Hallelujah! For one, those once-a-month shots are AWFUL. Two, that means that RSV season is almost over, which means our hibernating days are almost over!

Grayson started sitting unassisted. This is a major milestone!

This is BIG NEWS... we were chosen as the Ambassador Family for our area's March for Babies! The March of Dimes funds and supports research to prevent premature labor and to support premature babies, so it is obviously an organization that is SO close to my heart. I am thrilled!
(Shameless plug: if you'd like to donate to our MOD team, you can do so at http://www.marchforbabies.org/jlee22! )

We celebrated the twins' first Valentine's Day! How rotten can they be, really?

We started party planning (WHAT?!?)

I spent a day here, at the Georgia State Capitol, lobbying for the March of Dimes. It was such a cool experience!

Audrey decided she was a big girl. Where are my teeny tiny babies?!?

And last but not least, I was in a wedding last Saturday for one of my way-back-when friends. Has nothing to do with the babies, but I had a wonderful time! Congrats Michele and James!

Well hey, Blogger.

It's been awhile, huh?

In fact, it looks like I skipped the whole month of February. Oops! I didn't do that on purpose.

The thing is (and this is me being real and honest here), I've been having a really hard time with this time of year. It was this time last year that I was big and pregnant. We had found out on the first of February that we were expecting a boy and a girl. We were planning the nursery, picking names, buying things in pink and blue. The babies were just beginning to be really active and Chris was just beginning to be able to feel them from the outside.

One of the last belly pictures, taken March 5 2011 (almost a year ago exactly!)

I was one of those insufferable women who really LOVED being pregnant. I felt amazing, I carried it well, my hair was awesome. My pregnancy was perfect until it wasn't. And now, looking back on that time in my life is so bittersweet. I was so blissfully unaware of everything that was going to go wrong. I'm glad I have those wonderful memories, but I also still mourn the trimester I never got. I have moments where I am jaded and bitter and angry. I'm not proud of them, but they are a part of me and a part of this whole preemie-mom experience.

And all I can do is keep moving forward from it.

They make it all worth it :)