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As mothers we tend to make note of those precious milestones. We jot down dates for first smiles and holding those heads up. We call our mothers when the baby finally reaches up to us from their crib, and we grab camcorders to eternalize those first scoots around on the floor. We are so pleased and proud of our precious bumpkins as they drool endlessly, the first indicator that they are teething. "My baby is growing up" we proudly beam! But the euphoria is short lived for those of us who breastfeed that precious little one. The first bite is a big surprise. We hadn't before connected the gummy clamps and the nursing grins to what would become the greatest agony since childbirth. The pain rips through the breast all the way to the tips of each hair on our head. All ten toes curl back onto themselves and the left leg cramps on the back of the thigh. Every vertebre of the back pinches and slumps in surrender. With all the energy left, we clench our eyes and refrain from the initial impulse to pull that viper off our boob. As a tear gently rolls down our cheek onto the forehead of the innocent, dear hubby cocks his head to the side and asks, "you okay?" We nod as we suck back sobs. Doesn't she like me? we think to ourselves, why is she hurting me? I don't know...is the the next thought...if I can do this for a year. How many teeth will she have then? EIGHT...TEN!! And we stick a finger in the side of her mouth and pull down her lip to see the source of all this pain just to see a small, white, speck of a nub poking out of little pink gums. 

Tags: Breastfeeding Teething Milestones 6 Months Pain

I don't know if it's just me, but I seem to have become very tired and very lazy all at once. The old me would bounce around the house doing chores, cooking, and managing the kids from 5am to well past 10pm. But for some reason, these last few weeks, I have become incredibly tired. 'I'm tired' I absent mindedly whine to my husband when he comes home and asks how my day went. He's tired too. Tired from the long drive, the thankless job, and the long hours. And as I sit on my chair nursing one of the twins for the 8th time today I watch him doze in and out of sleep I wonder if I have any right to complain. I run through the trials of my day and I take inventory of my activities. With a pot still on the stove and putting one baby down to pick up the other and I know. I may not want to, but I have to continue to do what I do. I don't have time for tired. Then yesterday, as I made the bed, my husband leaned over to kiss me. "Thank you for all you do. You are appreciated. This house would fall apart without you." I think I got a little energy in that moment, and I'm not feeling so tired anymore. 

Tags: Sleep Twins Mom Baby Life Marriage

I have been suffering for a long time with an umbilical hernia. Ever since the first set of twins. The second set four years later just made matters worse. The doctor said he would try to fix it when he did my cesarian. He didn't. So, exasperated and in much pain I was referred to a surgeon who performed the surgery 3 months post partum. Big mistake. I should have waited.

As my milk supply dwindled to nearly nothing I had two very unhappy, squirmy, pushing, pulling, biting, screaming, pinching babies. They stopped gaining weight and seemed to be stuck at around 9 1/2 pounds each. At four months this is not good.

To add insult to injury I caught the flu. Now here I am, in the bed, with two four-year-olds downstairs unattended while two four-month-old babies share a bed with mommy. Nursing inbetween bouts of vomiting and diarreah.

The total loss...milk supply, mommy's weight (about 2 weeks of liquid diet), babies weight, the house is a mess and mommy hasn't had much sleep as her babies are not well fed...

After a week of drinking 1 1/2-2 quarts of Mother's Milk Tea I just started on Mother's Milk Plus. Let me tell you that concoction is no joke. Burned my chest and sat there like I drank some hard liquor. I told my hubby that drinking it was like taking a shot of brandy. I told him the bottle said I could drink it with about 2 oz of liquid. He asked if it will be Coke. LOL.  That was this morning...we will see how it goes.

Tags: Surgery Breastfeeding Supply Weight

My husband had a three day weekend. He kissed me long this morning before he went to work. He misses the quiet times. Me too. I can just barely recall the times that the house was quiet in the middle of the day because all the kids were gone to school. Now the days are full of requests for juice, water, trips to the park, time to ride bikes, or skates, or scooters, demands to take naps and refusals to settle down, and the incessant "I'M TELLING" coming from the other room. The time that we should have alone, in our room, late into the night, cuddling and laughing, we spend peeking at the baby monitor looking at big eyes gazing up through the darkness, or worse yet, looking back and forth from between the folds of my nightgown and the covers trying to keep both of us warm while this twin or the other takes their fill of a late night snack.

Today are remnants of a third day off. No extras accompanied that treat except another opportunity for my husband to mow and fertilize the lawn, a chore that should have been completed Saturday morning, except that we had opening day for tee-ball that morning and I sat in the car with the babies because it was too cold to stand around outside. I was the runner, running back for coffee for my husband and jackets for the kids. And, home one last time because I hadn't realized when I got dressed that there was no possible way to breastfeed in the top that I wore. Then, as I sat in the parking lot, waiting for them to finish ceremonies and pictures, I inadvertently left the headlights on. I winced as I saw my husband trailed by two bouncing, cheery four-year-olds and the SUV whined a sick whirrr and click, click, click as I turned the key.

Sunday morning the pastor's wife mentioned that I looked good, well rested. I had slept nearly 12 hours straight Saturday night, only rousing long enough for my husband to hand me a child to latch on and in what seemed only like minutes to me, he would return to take a baby from my arms telling me we had laid that way for over an hour. Growth spurts make a mommy of twins very tired. 

So here it is, Tuesday morning. I'm all alone with the four little ones. I type fast on the computer because the babies will wake soon to nurse and I hear "NO!" coming from the other room where the preschoolers were told to sit quietly and watch Backyardigans until mommy finished checking her email. I yell back, "Stop it! Sit down and watch your show like I said." Where is my husband and what happened to our long weekend? I think that kiss this morning was a wish of good-luck or good-riddance, or maybe good-grief, as he is well aware of what is ahead. And I kiss him back, secretly wishing we had one more weekend day.

Tags: Breastfeeding Weekend Working Husband Growth Spurt