Dreamin’ of a White Kitchen

Day dreamin’ that is because it’s finally d-o-n-e!  AND it cost us just under $1150 (not including the appliances we bought a couple of years ago)…dirt cheap when you talk kitchen remodels!

Let’s see, where’d we leave off twenty million weeks ago…oh yeah, the tile backsplash.  Had we gotten it done sooner than the week right before the double troubles came, I woulda coulda shoulda written up a detailed tutorial but you’ll have to settle for the nutshell version and seek out more wiser sources if you’d like a splash too.  So, first we washed down the wall real good like and then took some sandpaper to it to get it nice and rough for good adhesion.  To protect our nice, new countertops, we simply taped some garbage bags all around.  Then, it was spread mastic on a small section of wall and place tile, repeat, and repeat again…over and over until… 

…there was full coverage of the most modest kind.  

The ends were a source of much deliberation.  We could either have ended the tile aligned with the top cabinets or the bottom, the latter sticking out a couple inches more.  We chose the top cabinet line-up.  Also, we chose to have a bull-nosed look on each visible end  by grabbing some larger bull-nosed tile (we couldn’t find bull-nosed tile in the 3 x 6 variety in stores) and cutting it down with a tile saw.

Then it was in with white grout and a strip of caulk between the bottom row of tiles and the countertop and wala, a shiny new surface had we.

But anyway, back to the bigger picture.  Look how far we’ve come since I took leftover brown paint to the cabinets a few years ago.

Using my highest status of wifey quite efficiently, I finally persuaded Anthony to rip out the ugg wooden overhang and mini florescent light over our sink (but  not before I tried to rip them out myself) and replace them with a new pendant and seven more necessary inches of light.  Hello 2012.

And here’s the other side, taken from a mixed metal mess to sleek stainless with the addition of the microwave.

Read about how we went from cabinet to shelf and microwave here.  Any day now I’ll fill up that shelf with some more colorful cookbooks, probably of the dessert kind just to stay with my craving trend.  Much better than before, don’t cha think?

Then, just for a 360 feel, here’s the before-new-appliances/present view from the laundry room:

And now for the whole shebang: (right before we moved in)

I still have plans to add some much needed color with a painted runner and a couple of other nick knacks and maybe someday we’ll replace the florescent light and Anthony will let me repaint the laundry room with leftover guest bathroom paint but for now we’re loving the new, lighter and brighter look!

Here’s what it cost us:

Countertops:  $850 (Staron solid surface - Home Depot on sale, with a 10% off coupon, and 5% off matching Lowe’s credit card offer)

Sink: $120 (found clearanced from $420 because of an unseen-once-installed tiny-ish dent)

Faucet:  $80 (Southeastern Salvage)

Pendant light kit:  $15 (Home Depot)

Pendant light glass cover:  $15 (Lowe’s)

Wood and supplies for shelf above microwave:  $20

Primer:  free (already had)

Paint (Valspar’s Promenade):  2 quarts at $13 each

Sander:  free (borrowed)

Sandpaper for said sander:  $5 (Lowe’s)

Deglosser:  $5 (Crown Liquid Deglosser NEXT from Lowe's)

Labor and sick skills of one pregnant lady and her adoring husband:  free

Support and safety enforcement of two buns in the oven:  priceless

Total spent:  $1136 ($3350 if you include the appliances)

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And now I must go love on our little bobble-headed babes…happy weekend everyone!

P.S.  I, Miss Pretty D. Proud, typed this entire post with one hand.

P.S.S. Tag Camille, you’re it…get your kitchen reveal up pronto!  :)

Insta-Hijacked

I don’t have a smart phone and I’ve been especially jealous of all you Instagramers out there.  How my one free arm would love to snap pics of the sprouts and have them instantly available for everyone’s viewing pleasure.  This conundrum has caused me to hijack Anthony’s smartie, download Instagram, and snap away when he’s not looking…okay, so maybe I got his permission first and maybe he’s eternally grateful for all the moments I’m freezing in time like this little gem:

Have a great Tuesday!

Holy Headbands!

I know I mentioned I’d get this little headband post up a little earlier but I’m learning more and more how tough it is to keep up a blog with two little sweet thangs sucking up all my love and attention making anything other than a Saturday post an unreachable goal at this point.  C’est la vie.  I love doing and writing but at this point, posting once a week is all I can do until the twins are a few months older.  But, enough complaining, here’s what we’re really here for:

Here’s how they went down.  First, I grabbed up the extra pillowcase fabric I had left from making the twins baptismal gowns.  Using the lid of a jar that measured about three inches in diameter, I traced a bunch of circles (eight for each headband) onto the fabric and cut them out.  I also used a quarter as a stencil to trace and cut two smaller circles to attach the elastic of the headbands to.  

Then I measured the girls heads and cut two thin pieces of elastic an inch and a half longer than their head  measurements.

Using my handy dandy hot glue gun, I glued the elastic ends to the smaller circles I cut out like so: Side note:  Make sure the elastic isn’t twisted…one of my pieces was and the glue was on and dry by the time I noticed.

Next, I grabbed a fabric circle, folded it in half and then in half again to get this little shape:

Then I glued five of the ‘petals’ around the small fabric circle and then three standing up in the middle.

Easy peasy!  I’ve got so many fabric remnants that I can’t wait to turn into headbands!  As the girls grow I can always attach new, longer pieces of elastic thereby making them cuter than buttons every time they wear them and virtually immune to any questions or comments of “are they boys?” any cray cray peeps pose…especially since pink is a fashion staple every time we go out…   

Happy Headbanding!

Twice Blessed

I don’t know if you’ve seen or heard all the hype about pillowcase dresses (making little girls dresses out of pillowcases for those that haven’t), but thanks be to whoever got that ball rollin’ because that’s where I got the inspiration for our girls baptismal gowns.  You see, right after the twins were born I was given a very old pillowcase made by my great-aunt.  My first thought was, “Pretty, but what am I going to do with one pillowcase?”.  My second thought, hours later and right before I handed it down to someone else more appreciative was, “Omgosh!  Pinterest!  Pillowcase dresses!  It’s a future set of baptismal gowns!”.  And then of course my third thought, “How the heck am I going to make them?  I’ve never made a dress in my life!”  Enter the creative genius and source of my ambition and courage, my sis Farrah.

Following is our rendition of the pillowcase dress trend.  Farrah did most of the work while I either slept or nursed, my two priorities these days, so to her I am eternally grateful.  Here we are with the oldie but goodie: My favorite part of the case was the gorgeous lace around the open end, darned entirely by my great-aunt.  I loved that fact and the special, sentimental value that would be built into the dresses.

So, since we needed to get two dresses out of one pillowcase, the first step was to fold it in half lengthwise and cut down the fold. So far, so good.  Easy-peasy.

Next we had to cut out the neckline and arm holes.  Since we didn’t have an official pattern to go by, we simply grabbed a newborn outfit with a top outline similar to what we were going for and traced it onto the fabric.  We also made sure to pin the unhemmed side of the dresses together to prevent shifting.

To make sure each side was exactly the same, we traced one arm hole…

then folded the entire piece of fabric in half lengthwise…

and cut.

Times two and we had the beginnings of what were beginning to look like dresses.

Next, we (she, Farrah) sewed the unfinished side of each dress up along with the tops of the straps and put a tiny hem around the unfinished arm and neck holes by simply folding and sewing.  We didn’t worry about folding the seams over twice, which would’ve been the “professional” thing to do, because it was hard enough to fold the seams over once making tiny hems and it would’ve required more seam allowances than we had.

All sewn!

See the teeny tiny hem?

Next up, sleeves.  I really wanted a simple ruffle instead of an actual sleeve so Farrah folded the excess pillowcase fabric to create four layers…

cut out the shape shown below, best described as a quarter of an oval, cut it out…

sewed two parallel basting stitches on the straight edge, and pulled to create these: 

Then she pinned and sewed them onto the dress.  After much deliberation (seriously, it took us forever to make up our minds), we decided to go vintage and left the edges of the sleeves raw  instead of hemming them.

So, at this point, the dresses were pretty much finished except that there was no way the twins heads would fit through the tiny head holes without some sort of additional opening.  I decided that the easiest way to add some room would be to cut a six inch slit up the back of each dress and then add some ribbon to secure them once on.  Zippers or buttons would’ve worked even better but I have yet to learn all about buttonholes and zippers still scare me…

Two cuts, 12 ribbons (blue for Mama Mary), and a sewing machine later and the dresses were finished…two days before their debut.

Here are the girls in all their angelic, peaceful, newly-minted Christian splendor…funny because the middle picture was actually taken after they acquired their sainthood whereas the two outside, angelic ones were taken before sooo, in case you were wondering, apparently just because you’re a saint doesn’t mean world peace, smiles, and happiness 24/7, it just means you now have the edifying task of making your parents saints… 

Godparents, Fr. Dan, Megan Rose, Dan, and Lauren – always inspiring us to become better, holier people.  The twins are so blessed to have them as prayer warriors and incredible examples.

 

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I’ll be back sometime this week with a little tutorial on how I made their headbands so don’t stay away long!  Until then, have a great weekend!

Fake Out

What a happy Saturday it is!  Happy here because I finally have a project to blog about…’er, rather have found time to blog about!  Here’s to hoping I can get back on my regular Saturday schedule from here on out plus maybe squeezing in more posts during the week since I’m usually confined to zee couch with one or two infants in my arms…and since my one-handed typing skillz are world class these days. 

Anyway, I’m all about covering windows.  There isn’t a window, or door for that matter, that isn’t adorned with some sort of fabric in our house except for this one: 

The one in our master bathroom.  Well, I’ve had plans to cover it for many moons but indecisiveness about fabric and the baking of two buns has left it naked…until  now.  Let me digress.  A few months ago I had an itch to switch out our plain white duvet cover for something more flavorful but, like usual, didn’t want to spend a ton of money…as in no more than 20 bucks.  Well, I found a new cover but when I got it home, I realized I had bought the wrong size and unfortunately for me, I bought it at a huge discount - $10 – at final sale.  Poo.  So, I did what I do best and conjured up another use for it… A decorative blanket/quilt/extra layer on the end of our bed.  Still unable to find a suitable fabric for the master bathroom window at this point, I had a revelation soon after to use the included pillow shams to cover it up. 

The plan:  to make a fake roman shade (similar to this one in our guest bedroom).  To do first:  take apart the two pillowcases.  At eight months pregnant, at which point I began this project, laziness efficiency took over and I simply just cut off the backs of each case (since they wouldn’t be seen anyway), took the seams out of the sides that would be sewn together, and made them one.

To achieve a roman shade look, I hand sewed 12 plastic rings onto the backside of the shade in three vertical rows that were evenly spaced apart and then gathered each row together using another plastic ring that opened.  Hopefully these pictures help explain that mumbo jumbo: 

So, fast forward to this past week during a 15 minute slot when both twins were passed out.  As quickly and quietly as we could, we stapled the new shade to a pre-cut piece of 1 x 2 wood, attached two L brackets to the underside of the wood, decided on and measured its placement over the window (see side note below), and got ‘er up.

Side note:  While planning for the valances we hung in our dining area, I came up with a simple way to figure out the height at which to hang window treatments by holding up a folded piece of paper at a distance, adjusting until I was satisfied, like so:

Once again, I’ve learned to never underestimate the power of a window treatment.  See what a difference this one makes?

So, if anyone’s keeping track of the DIY madness, so far we’ve tiled the floors, painted the cabinets, painted the laminate countertop, and stenciled a wall in here.  Even though, in my mind, the room isn’t yet “finished” (will it ever be?), it definitely looks a lot more complete and homey (if you can call a bathroom that) just because of a little (cheap) addition over the once naked window.  :)   

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Stay tuned for more finished projects!  The girls were baptized a couple of weeks ago and my sister and I made their gowns and accessories and then of course, I’ve got finished pictures of our “new” kitchen to share as it’s finally done along with progress pics of the nursery!  See you soon! 

2 vs. 1

Home alone with the duplicates this eve and I say, “If you can’t beat ‘em, film ‘em”.

IV Magic, Tremors, and Paranoia

*In case you missed the rest of this story, read part 1, part 2, and part 3.*  

Sorry about the wait…a couple of days turned into a week plus.  But I’m back, running on almost five hours of sleep, and going to finish the last details of this birth story once and for all.

So, the twins were born, joy and tears abounded (along with stitches and pain meds…a scary place to which I will not wander), and it was finally time to go to our own room.  Completely unlike the room we were placed in while I was induced and starting labor, our new room was complete with a flat screen TV, a beaut of a bathroom, and lots of space to spread out…or in our case, to store two brand new babes.  I don’t remember much about the couple of hours after the twins were born.  I was probably mesmerized by them and since I couldn’t yet feel my lower half, I had nothing to do but stare at them.  Speaking of feeling my lower half, remember that higher dosage of epidural magic I was given?  Feeling not a thing during labor became feeling not a thing until six hours after the potion was needed.  Aaandd, that’s not all.  It gave me the shakes unlike anyone naked in Antartica has ever seen before and stole from me anything and everything I had eaten and gave it to the trash can held by my adoring, but slightly grossed out hubs.  It was marvelous.  The one bathroom trip I had whilst hanging on to two poor nurses ended in an almost black-out and the wonderful visitors we had were probably scarred as I tried so hard to relax and keep still, clenching my hands together thinking one shaking extremity could hold still the other shaking one.  Never have I ever been phased by anesthesia but this anesthesia packed quite the punch and really made me question the value of an epidural for future, pain-free births.  By late that wonderful night, all side effects had subsided and on came the new challenge – taking care of not one, but two, sweet, little needlings.

I mean, how hard could it possibly be?  I’ve been babysitting for something like 15 years and consider taking care of kids pretty simple.  Yes, I knew sleep would evade me and breastfeeding and changing diapers would become things I could do with my eyes closed but I really thought beyond that, how hard could loving on my two angels be?  I will tell you…I have never, ever been a paranoid person in my entire life, especially when it comes to kids.  That all changed the ninth of July.  I know for a fact that if I didn’t have a little red button attached to my bed that instantly brought me a nurse, I’d be sitting in a psych ward somewhere.  Multiple times Seraphia started gagging on pesky, leftover mucous from birth and I thought for sure we’d have lost her if it wasn’t for a heroic lady in blue coming to our aid (one who then went on to pet our beginner parenting woes by telling us about the incredible ability newborns have of keeping their airways open).  Needless to say, we chickened out both nights we were in the hospital and had the twins sent to the nursery for fear we’d do something wrong or not do something we were supposed to.  By the time Wednesday rolled around and it was time to head on home, we were petrified and almost begged our nurses to let us stay just one more day.  But, sooner than we both knew it, Anthony was behind the wheel of the Twinmobile and I was in the back seat, nicely jammed between the two, now occupied car seats (I had to keep an eye on them in case something happened), and profusely leaking tears of both joy and absolute terror the entire way home.  Ten minutes later, home we were where the first thing we did was set the twins on the kitchen table and hold each other, me still crying of course, seemingly so unprepared for the future. 

Five bittersweet weeks later all four of us are alive and well, family members have been in and out, sleep has been playing hide-and-seek, and the twins are growing – Cecilia still only eight pounds and Seraphia seven – each having gained a pound in two weeks!  We’ve finally come to the conclusion that the only way the twins will sleep more than an hour at a time (and us too!) during the night is in their swings next to our bed after trying and failing at several ways to get some shut-eye – swaddled and laid in a co-sleeper (fail – they hate their arms being restricted and therefore hit and kick each other within the small confines of the co-sleeper),  moving a crib into our room (fail - for some undetermined reason they manage five minutes of sleep before wailing), and several jerry-rigged options involving blankets and boppy pillows.  Five hours of sleep any given night has become a luxury and by the grace of God, Anthony and I have felt semi-rested each day.  Awesome because I distinctly remember sitting on the hospital bed shortly before we headed home with the twins while Anthony was out loading the car and knowing things were going to be okay…crazy, but okay.  During those few moments as I sat staring at our miracles barely filling out their car seats, the song “Be Not Afraid” popped into my head and I started singing it aloud to the girls and soaking up the words:  “Be not afraid.  I go before you always.  Come follow me, and I will give you REST”!  At the time, I took it as God’s way of telling me to trust in Him and all would be well but since then, I’ve also realized He was letting me know He’d help me out in the sleep area too and that He has.

As for the twins birth and the thoughts and events surrounding it I could write forever but then I’d clue you all in on how crazy my mind really is.  :)  I’m sure I’ll have plenty of stories to share in the coming months but now I must be getting back to my passion – DIY.  I’ve managed to squeeze in a few projects during my waking hours that I simply must share and I simply must get back to my regular Saturday posts…crossing my fingers for this Saturday.  Also, my savvy sis Farrah and I have a plan up our thrifty sleeves to start a monthly link-up party soon so stay tuned for that.  Fun will abound. 

Peace, love, and joy until we meet again!  Adios!     

Bean Sprouts: 4 Weeks

 

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Despite the posts of the last few weeks, my intention is not to transform this here bloggity blog into one solely about my darling children (although their appearances will be numerous) but to keep on keepin’ on with projects, a few of which are being completed between sleeping, feeding, and sleeping so…stay tuned.  :)

The OR, Practice, and Finally

Well, 20 minutes came and went with nary a nurse or doctor or Anthony in sight.  In my mind I was already angry at Anthony for apparently running into someone he knew and holding a super long convo while his wife was laboring with twins floors above or on his way to Mickey D’s after taking one sad look at the apparent lack of selection at the hospital caf or just plain chickening out of watching his daughters being born…and then the door opened and in walked my prince with lunch and the reasonable explanation that there was a huge line for food.  After all, it was lunch time and people do eat.  I knew there had to be a reasonable explanation for his prolonged absence…

  Not five minutes after Anthony marched in with his lunch and started monging did my nurse and doctor waltz in with news that the operating room was prepped for landing and that they’d be rolling me on in to get some practice pushes in…practice pushes?  How hard could pushing be and was practice really necessary?  Heart racing at the thought of the twins impending arrival, I pulled the old smile and nod and let myself be rolled down the hall and into the brightly lit, heavily machined room where one of the best and hardest hours of my life would be spent.

Anthony told “If you feel like you’re going to pass out, just sit down, don’t look for a chair, just sit down on the floor”, stirrups occupied, and the very last shred of my modesty scrapped, the practice pushing began.  Since I obviously couldn’t feel my lower half, I had to be told when to push…a quite unnerving idea and fact.  At my nurse’s command, I had to push and try to clench my overstretched abs as hard as I possibly could for ten seconds, 3 times in a row.  And I thought the hard part was already over…the epidural was sure to make anything that occurred after it’s procurement a cinch, right?  W to the R to the O to the N to the G.  After ten minutes of this so called ‘practice’, our first-born hadn’t moved an inch.  Feeling quite the failure, having lost any energy my morning bowl of Lucky Charms had supplied, and still having no clue as to how I was to move my seemingly unmovable body parts any differently in order to expel her, my new focus was on trying to keep a chipper attitude and hold back imminent tears (and breakfast…lucky on the tears, not so lucky on the breakfast). 

I’ll skip the doom and gloom of the next half hour (spent doing exactly the same thing as the previous 10 minutes with almost the same conclusion) to the moment when my nurse had called my doctor back up to the OR knowing he could remedy the situation at hand – baby having barely moved down and out after 45 minutes of ‘pushing’/me scrunching up my face in hopes that my lower extremities would follow suit and scrunch up and out too.  Well, he did just that.  Wielding the powerful suction-cup-to-head-of-baby tool, I distinctly remember him saying “Get ready to meet your first daughter” minutes after his arrival and out came Seraphia Marie (directly after which I felt tons lighter already and the second amniotic sac was broken) followed by her sweet sib Cecilia Rosaline a mere five minutes after.  The flood gates of tears opened and our amazement was once again compounded as we gazed upon our two little souls in the flesh.

We’ve had glimpses of what heaven must be like in those precious moments after our girls were born and everyday since.  The birth story isn’t over yet though.  Stay tuned for the fourth and final installment coming your way, hopefully, within the next couple days.  :) 

 

 

*In case you missed it and want more, read part 1, part 2, and part 4.*

Bean Sprouts: 3 Weeks

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In case you're wondering if I'll eeevvveerrr finish the twin's birth story (ahem...Grace), I will.  I'm working on catching up on sleep - so necessary to type complete and understandable sentences yet such an unreasonable goal considering the two night owls we've inherited - and brushing up on my one-handed typing skills followed by my new interest in learning how to type with the tip of my nose, the latter of which I'll be more likely to use as my hands are usually preoccupied these days.  :)

Bean Sprouts: 2 Weeks

TV Guide, Super-Epidural, and Anthony's Disappearance

So, four centimeters before labor even really began and my mind thinking it might be easier than I thought, especially since I was getting an epidural (strongly recommended, sometimes required for having twins in case an emergency c-section is needed...or the doc has to literally reach up and grab Twin B lest she decide to swim away).  Next came the waiting and the ever increasing intensity and frequency of contractions.  The TV was on but I vaguely remember only seeing TV Guide channel's rising list more than an actual show...our attempt to see what was on and change the channel according to what we felt like was obviously failing.  We both thrived on hearing the heartbeats of the babes on the monitors and so very often, the dull thuds of their kicks and brushes against the monitors.  It was sometime during those moments that the question of how I would get to the bathroom hit me.  Of course I asked, thinking I could just unstrap myself and wheel the IV stand over yonder to the potty but upon asking, I found out I was restrained to a bed pan...lovely.  Good thing I didn't eat breakfast and drink a large glass of orange juice followed by a few hundred gulps of water earlier that morning... 

So, contractions.  At first, it was just the normal tightening of my abdomen/uterus I was very used to but as my pitocin drip was steadily increased, on came those I had never experienced before.  I was bound and determined to go as long as they would let me before getting the epidural but was also very concerned with not missing the window of opportunity - apparently once your cervix is past a certain point, you can no longer get an epidural - and I knew that my sweet nurse knew enough to not let me pass it up yet I remember asking her to death if she thought I was still okay and safe within that time frame.  After an hour or so of contractions that pushed Cecilia so far up into my ribs and lungs that I thought for sure she had broken and punctured both, I finally broke down and asked for the anesthesiologist.  Twenty minutes later I had a tube in my spine and was slowly losing the feeling in my lower half...one of the weirdest feelings I've ever felt.  I wasn't thrilled with the fact that my legs began to feel like they each weighed a thousand pounds but I was so relieved that I could no longer feel my rear end, already going numb on it's own from sitting on the rock hard hospital bed. 

After about a half hour of epidural juice running it's course, after I couldn't even attempt to lift a leg, after the contractions had been almost reduced to a number on an electronic box to my right, I could still feel a sharp pain above my left leg that throbbed every time I contracted, and it didn't go away and didn't go away.  Even after being helped to lay on my left side so that the juice would travel thataway, it still hurt.  Back came the anesthesiologist who decided to reposition the tube in my back AND up the dosage a teensy bit.  Ten minutes later, the pain was gone and my legs felt like they had each put on a thousand more pounds.  The time was close to 11 am.  Again we waited and waited, TV Guide constantly scrolling through its scheduling and the twins still kicking like crazy. 

Around 12:30 pm, my nurse came in to check my dilation shortly after Anthony had left to go secure some lunch in the cafeteria.  While performing the shameless act, her eyes grew wide and she surprisingly exclaimed "Wow, nine centimeters!  You'll probably start pushing in twenty minutes or so!"  My already crazy mind zoomed straight ahead to thinking about how the 'labor' and my life as it used to be were almost over and the 'delivery' and our little sprouts were quickly approaching...and "Where the heck is Anthony...Why is it taking him so long to grab food...What if he misses it!"

...Hungry twins...gotta go!  Until then, I leave you with a glimpse of our two little peas in a pod...

*In case you missed the rest of the story and want more, read part 1, part 3, and part 4.*

 

Breakfast, Immodesty, and Water With an S

Welp, I'm currently parked on our sectional with my two little souls asleep and cuddled up next to me in a blanket and thinking there's no better time than the present to start telling the story of how they came into this world.  I think setting a goal of getting it all down in one foul swoop is a little unrealistic considering they eat, soil their diapers, and steal my attention and kisses at least every five minutes so it'll come in bits and pieces over the next few days...dare I say weeks?  We'll see how it goes.  I'll try not to create too many cliffhangers.  ;)

The story goes a little somethin' like this...

Twas the morning of July 9th, 2012, the very morning of the twins scheduled induction, and around 5:15 am.  We weren't supposed to be at the hospital until 6:30 but I really wanted to get up early and eat breakfast because I knew I was going to need all the energy in the world to push two kids out.  So, after a huge bowl of Lucky Charms and some strawberries, I threw on the only t-shirt that still semi-fit and some sweat pants, got Anthony to snap a 37 week photo, and off we went.  I couldn't tell you what exactly was running through my mind except for one thing, that at the end of that day my life would be drastically and forever changed.

Ten minutes later we had parked our car and made our way up to the labor and delivery floor where we where I checked in and was given one of those scandalous, open-back hospital gowns (hate them), and led to a small delivery room to change and hang out until my doc came to induce.  Most immodestly, I crawled into the most uncomfortable hospital bed I've been in in my life and tried as I might to watch the 12 inch TV screen mounted to the wall.  I couldn't even tell you what we watched but I can tell you I was thinking "this is it...no turning back now...oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh...wonder when they'll break my water, I mean waters, or will they break on their own...wonder what I'll get to eat for dinner tonight...will the girls have lots of hair or be baldies...this bed is killing my back...please stop kicking me in the ribs Twin B.................." 

Around 7:30, I was IVed and pitocin started slowly making its way into my bloodstream.  My burgeoning belly was also strapped with no less than three thick straps of equipment, two monitors keeping track of both girls heartbeats and one tracking contractions.  Then my nurse asked me if I had had anything to eat that morning.   I happily replied "oh yes", only to hear "oh, you shouldn't have." Oops.  Sweetheart that she was, she assured me that it would probably be okay.  Ignorant (nobody told me!) that I was, I prayed those Lucky Charms would give me the lucky and leave the charms in my stomach.  So...shortly thereafter, my doc came in to break the lowest baby's sac (Seraphia as she is now known) and check my dilation - four centimeters before we really had even begun!  Somewhere in my mind I had convinced myself at that moment that since I was already four cm, getting to 10 was going to be pretty simple, not totally pain-free, but simple.  Wrong and right.

- And I interrupt to tell you I thought I'd get more of the story down but I've got two diapers to change as the babes have each been working on relieving themselves as I've been

writing...stay tuned. -


*Want more?  Read part 2, part 3, and part 4.*