Sturtevant Twins

Juliet's Visitors

2012-05-25T17:40:58Z

Juliet loved having her family & friends welcome her in to the world

"Thanks a lot for the gold and frankincense, umm, but don't worry too much about the myrrh next time. All right? Thank you."

In the hospital:

At home:

Life - As Told By Juliet

2012-05-24T06:24:43Z

My Life, as told by Juliet Sturtevant (1.5 weeks old)

My middle name: O'Brien chosen by Nanny is from my Great, Great Grandmother & my Great Grandmother. I'm honored to carry on such a special family name. Nice choice Nanny!

My favorite food: Milk, shaken not stirred

My favorite color: Right now, black and white. Ask me again in 2 mos!

My favorite movie: My birth story. Get a tissue, it's a tear jerker. Dad will post it soon.

I spend my days: Sleeping, eating & eliminating. I'm living the dream!

My brother: Adores me & is eager to start playing with me but isn't too keen about sharing his Mommy all of the time.

My sister: Loves taking care of me (she's been practicing for years) & thinks I'm "her baby"

My mommy & daddy: Are over the moon. You should hear the way they gush over me.

My nicknames: Baby-Baby (there are lots of "babies" around here but apparently I'm the baby-baby), Baby J, Sweet Baby J (when Mom says this, she breaks out in song... "rock-a-bye sweet baby J"...so embarrassing!)

My pet peeve: Mom's camera. She's never without it. I see an intervention in the near future.

I sleep: All day and turn in to "crazy baby" at night.

I like: Being held, my sling, warm baths in the sink, laying out in the shade, snorting & squeaking

I dislike: Bright lights, socks, bottles, waiting (at all, for anything) & that darn startle reflex

Mom put me in her 37 week belly cast when I was a week old. It's hard to believe I fit in there!

Big Sister Bettie loves holding me. She's soooo sweet and gentle with me. I like touching her cheeks & following her eyes.

Big Brother Quade likes reading to me & playing sock puppets. He really wanted to feed me, so Mom gave him a bottle of EBM for me to drink. He was so proud of himself!

I've been co-sleeping with Mom and Dad. They call me a "bed baby" but shhhh...don't tell Bettie & Quade! They were put in a crib from Day 1, but I've worn Mom & Dad down with my demands for milk every hour on the hour. Oh and I totally play up the "I'm your last baby" card. That always does them in!

Mommy loves dressing me up. She bought this gown 2 years before I arrived because it felt very special to her for some reason. She had to have it, even though they weren't trying for another baby yet. Two years later, I am wearing that same gown that Mom held on to. She says that I have always been in her heart.

Juliet's First Bath

2012-05-19T15:56:42Z

We are finally getting in to a groove and although it can be challenging at times, we are truly enjoying every single minute. It is wonderful to have a precious new baby at home! It's amazing how much easier it is to have just one healthy, full-term baby as opposed to two, preemie infants. She is truly a joy!

Here is Juliet getting her first at-home bath in the kitchen sink with her Puj tub and her California Baby Lavender wash. She fell asleep for hours after this. I guess I should have saved it for bed time!

In Love

2012-05-16T05:28:02Z

A picture is worth a thousand words...

She's Here!

2012-05-13T18:32:15Z

Juliet O'BRIEN Sturtevant
May 7th 2012
6lbs 2oz and 19.5in long

Here she is just minutes after she was born - healthy, alert & gorgeous

Coming home from just 3 days in the hospital

The happy and proud parents

All dressed up & ready to come home. Baby Juliet was a show stopper in her new outfit. It took us about 30mins to make it out of the hospital because everyone was stopping to admire her preciousness!

I will post more as soon as I'm able to. As you can imagine, I am still recuperating from surgery on very little sleep and we are adjusting to life with a newborn (read: up all.night.long) + two very active four year olds. Wish us luck!

Final Countdown

2012-05-07T07:20:46Z

In less than 12 hours, we are going to meet our brand new baby. It doesn't seem real. How could 9 months have gone by so quickly? Part of me will miss having "just" Bettie and Quade to care for & part of me will miss being pregnant. Mostly, I am really excited to welcome Juliet in to our family and begin our new lives as a family of five. In so many ways, it feels like she is already a big part of our family. Some mention of Juliet or "baby sister" is made in almost every conversation that we have. I love the fact that Bettie and Quade already feel so close to her! Baby Juliet is so lucky to have a brother and sister that already love her dearly. It goes without saying that we are very fortunate to have a new precious baby in our lives too.

This was our last weekend before Juliet's arrival and this is how we spent it:

We kicked it off with a brand new minivan for our growing family! Woo hoo! I'm so happy that we will finally have room for three car seats. Bettie and Quade are not big enough for booster seats, and won't be for quite some time. Our cars did not safely fit three car seats, so I wasn't quite sure what we'd do. Andy fulfilled my wildest VANtasy and bought me a Honda Odyssey! Now we'll have room to safely fit all of us in one vehicle plus all of our gear!

We had dinner at my favorite Japanese restaurant...

Danced at a ukelele jam held at a local, outdoor cafe...

Went with Andy to the airport to watch him fly...

Took the kids to the park on this perfect, Spring evening and played...

...and played...

and topped it off with Ben & Jerry's ice cream!

38 Weeks

2012-05-07T06:30:38Z

38 weeks along and almost there!

False Alarm

2012-05-04T04:32:03Z

I spent 4.5 hours in L&D last night and another 3 hours being monitored today and....nothing.

I was feeling lots of contractions and cramping last night, then the baby started doing this weird shaking/twitching/spasming thing. I pulled out my handy dandy Doppler and heard that baby's heartbeat dropped when she shook, so I drove to L&D at 1am. They kept me on the monitors for several hours but the contractions were not following a regular pattern and baby was stable, so they sent me home.

I was back again this afternoon for my 3hr NST and ultrasound. The good news is that the blood flow through the umbilical cord and to the brain is still ok. The bad news is that they suspect that she has a mild cardiac arrhythmia. We won't know for sure until she is born, but even then, it's most likely mild and something that will resolve on it's own.

Now, I am going to hold tight and hope that I don't go in to labor over the Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend which also happens to be a Full Moon. Dios Mio!

USS Hornet

2012-05-03T04:32:38Z

A couple of weekends ago, we were looking for something new and exciting to do. Andy suggested the US Navy aircraft carrier museum, the USS Hornet. Admittedly, it didn't sound all that exciting to me, but we are always up for a new adventure, so off to Alameda we went!

I can't believe that we had never really explored the island of Alameda before. It's a really cool place! We had lunch at a great sushi restaurant overlooking the bay, visited the local park and then went on to the Hornet.

The ship was breathtakingly large and we had so much fun literally getting lost in all of the ship's rooms. Bettie and Quade were having a blast exploring and it was neat to learn about all of this ship's history from it's involvement in WWII to the Apollo 11 space mission.

Can you tell Bettie and Quade's favorite part was the flight deck? They were running like the wind until the grumpy old, retired Navy volunteers put a quick end to that. With the fresh air, a huge runway and fighter jets, they just couldn't stay put and I can't blame them!

Posing in front of the Grumman F-14A Tomcat

Checking out the F-8 Crusader, the Navy's first supersonic jet fighter

Bettie playing Landing Signal Officer - telling the jets to "STOP" & Quade being adorable

Cloud Dough

2012-05-01T06:44:31Z

I've gotta keep these kids busy and engaged while still resting as much as possible, so thank goodness for all of the great, crafty projects you can find on the interwebs.

Our latest sensory activity - Cloud Dough

Half the fun is pouring, measuring & mixing the flour and baby oil. We end up with a silky, crumbly dough that smells divine.The kids love using the kitchen "toodles" (tools) as much as they love the texture. We're definitely doing this one again!

The Sea Serpent Within VIDEO

2012-04-30T16:45:31Z

This is what I do every night after the twins go to bed - I eat ice cream (preferably Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream), then I sit back and enjoy the show!

Glow Bath

2012-04-29T04:54:35Z

What cost less than $1 and bought me one hour of guilt free, happy-kids-playing-together time? Glow Bath!

Ingredients: 2 dirty kids + warm bubble bath + 2 glow sticks

Directions: Combine all ingredients and let marinate 1hr +/-

Results: Clean, happy kids and a happy mommy who had uninterrupted time to make dinner and dessert!

Conversations With Juliet

2012-04-28T04:32:53Z

We talked to Bettie and Quade awhile back and asked them how they felt about exchanging presents with Juliet when she is born. You know, a nice little sibling welcome gesture - a peace treaty perhaps? When they heard "presents", they were all over it!

We already have the presents and are just waiting for the big day, or so I thought. Quade brought it up randomly this week and I thought it was too cute not to share...

Quade exposes my belly and says to me matter of factly, "I need to tell Juliet something"

Ok, sure. What do you need to tell her?

Quade (talking to my bare tummy) - Juliet, I changed my mind. I want a different present. I know I told you I want a monster truck, but now I want a BIG monster truck with a remote control. That means that it can go by itself if it has batteries. Ok, Juliet?

Well, I think Juliet already bought you a regular monster truck because that's what you asked for originally.

Quade (talking to me) - I already have "Green Machine" at home, so I wanted a different kind of monster truck. Do you think Juliet can take that one back to the store and get me the one with the remote control instead?

No. I'm pretty sure she won't have time to go to the store again before she is born. She's very busy getting ready to meet you & Bettie.

Yeah, she's very busy, huh? Well...(long pause)...that's ok.

Mommy Update at 38 Weeks

2012-04-27T05:55:27Z

I delivered the twins at 36 weeks, so I've never been this pregnant before. Wow. What a difference a few weeks makes on Mom! Don't get me wrong, I've had a fabulous pregnancy but these last two weeks have been much harder than I expected. I wasn't prepared for all of these changes to hit me like a ton o' bricks.

*begin rant*
It's as if someone swapped my body for another one overnight. This new body is tired, in pain and falling apart. I can literally feel my joints coming apart when I ~~walk~~ waddle, my back is killing me. I can't sleep, have leg cramps, foot cramps, heartburn and on and on. Oh and these pregnancy hormones are on the rampage! I feel so bad for my poor husband and children!
*rant over*

My sanity savers these last couple of weeks have been: Andy, Nanny, ice cream sandwiches, fresh pineapple, Tums, 7 pillows on our King bed, evening walks around the block & letting the kids watch way too many episodes of Dora the Explorer.

Baby Update - "Healthy Babies Are Worth The Wait"

2012-04-27T04:43:14Z

I'm going in for twice weekly monitoring now. It's been so nice to be back in the Perinatologist's office. I never thought I'd say that. I went in today and the Perinatologist himself performed another ultrasound to measure blood flow through the umbilical cord, heart rate, blood pressure & amniotic fluid levels. He spent a lot of time explaining what he was seeing and why.

The long and short of it
He's seeing restricted fetal growth due to placental insufficiency. This is likely due to "advanced maternal age" Hmph! He explained that biologically, we are designed to have babies in our teens. In our 30's and beyond, our bodies are no longer as efficient as they were in our prime, which makes sense even though it's hard to hear.

He checked the blood flow to the baby's brain *way cool* and saw that Juliet is getting plenty of blood and oxygen to her brain. Yay! He is not concerned about body growth and does not want to deliver early as long as Juliet's brain is still developing and I agree. Apparently, a baby's brain at 35 weeks weighs 2/3 of what it will weigh at 39-40 weeks. That's a big difference! He is also not concerned about genetic syndromes or chromosomal differences because those babies show different growth patterns throughout the pregnancy and not just in the last month of gestation.

He recommended as much bed rest as possible to keep my stress levels down and allow for the maximum blood flow / nutrition to pass through to the baby. I go back again twice next week and then D-Day is right around the corner!

37 Weeks

2012-04-24T23:03:08Z

Here I am at 37 weeks, all ready for my night of celebration. I didn't want a traditional baby shower, but I did want to celebrate Baby Juliet's upcoming arrival with my best friends, so my friend Lara planned an evening out for all of us. It was perfect!

About 12 of us had dinner together at one of my favorite restaurants. We enjoyed food, drinks, strawberries, petit fours and just hanging out together. It was just what I wanted! I had fun getting dressed up for the evening, seeing my friends without all of our kids in tow, opening adorable presents for Baby Juliet and talking about all things baby.

Afterwards, a few of us headed to a local wine bar where we chatted it up until the wee hours. It was such a treat and a night I'll always remember Thank you Lara!

Stressful Week

2012-04-24T06:35:39Z

I had a bit of a scare last week when I went in for my regular appointment. It looks like everything is ok, but they are keeping an eye on me and I'm being monitored twice a week until my due date which is just 2 weeks away!

Here's what happened -
I saw a new Doctor to go over my c-section, birth plan, etc. I mentioned that my super active baby had become really lethargic. For 3 days in a row, my kick counts (the amount of time it takes the baby to kick 10 times) went from 15mins to almost 2hrs. She thought that was odd and checked the baby's heart rate. It was low. She then did a quick ultrasound to measure the baby and saw that Juliet, who was always "right on target" was all of the sudden measuring small. Hmmmm. Then she noted that I had a lot more fluid than normal. Hmmmm again. She immediately sent me for a fetal non-stress test.

The test showed that Juliet's heart rate was low but she responded appropriately. They suspected that the placenta stopped functioning and was no longer delivering enough oxygen/nutrients to the baby. The ultrasound was scheduled 3 days out. So, I had THREE DAYS of waiting & worrying until I found out if my baby was ok or if they would deliver early. Grrrrr.

The Doctor mentioned placental insufficiency and also said offhandedly that they see this pattern of growth with genetic disorders & chromosomal abnormalities. Wait....WHAT?!

She didn't know that I already have a child with special needs and when I heard the words, "disorders" and "abnormalities", I flipped. I had those concerns in the back of my mind, but once our screenings came back normal, I didn't allow myself to worry any further. However, once I opened the door to it, the worries all came flooding forward. I was worried about Juliet not growing, about her brain development, about having a child with Downs Syndrome or another chromosomal difference, about Juliet's health during those three days of waiting for the ultrasound, and on and on.

In those 3 days, I must have googled off at least a decade of my life. Thanks to my wonderful brother's help, I was able to see the top specialist and discuss my ultrasound results with her. What a relief! I wouldn't have been confident in anyone else's assessment, so I am beyond thrilled that I got to see the top specialist! No more googling!

The Doctor reassured me that Juliet was still ok and although her growth had slowed down a lot, she was "petite" but healthy. Since I am petite, she is not alarmed and thinks I will make it to my due date. She didn't say anything about birth defects or abnormalities. They think Juliet is about 5lbs. On the ultrasound we were able to see her hair and her ears sticking out.

After that appointment, I was able to take a deep breath and finally relax! I'm at peace again. I'm going in for twice weekly monitoring to check on the blood flow through the umbilical cord. Today's appointment was good & I'm feeling Juliet move more frequently which is reassuring.

I can't wait to see her with my own eyes. I can't wait to hold her, love her and bring her home to meet her brother and sister. I'm ready.

Juliet's Nursery

2012-04-18T05:40:43Z

Our sweet baby's nursery is all but complete now. Juliet has her bassinet, changing table, swings (thanks to Dina & Pam), bouncer (thanks to Pam), rocking chair, organizers (thanks to Grandma Dorothy) and a gorgeous crib (thanks to Jodi). I'm so thankful for everything! I love, love, love Juliet's nursery!

Andy and I finished assembling the crib & rearranging everything this weekend and when it was done, I had tears in my eyes. It's just so precious. Seeing the nursery complete made it all very real to me. We are bringing home a darling new baby! Yes, they are only material things and things that Baby Juliet does not even need or care about, but I'm happy to have them. Setting up the nursery has been a family project and I think it has helped Bettie and Quade bond with their baby sister since they are already able to do things for her. While all four of us were assembling the crib, Quade blurted out, "We love Juliet, huh Mom?" We sure do!

It's every mother's dream to create a special & beautiful space for her precious new baby. I am living the dream! I feel so incredibly blessed that, thanks to Andy's hard work, we are able to give Juliet everything I could possibly want for her, including her very own room! She is already one very loved and very spoiled baby

Big Brother / Big Sister Class

2012-04-17T05:04:26Z

While Andy and I were away on our Babymoon, Nanny took Bettie and Quade to their sibling prep class. It's a class specifically for children between the ages of 3 and 6 who will be welcoming a sibling for the first time. From what Nanny says, it was awesome!

Here are some of the things that they learned:

- Big brothers and sisters play a very important role and are great helpers
- Mom will be spending a lot of time feeding, soothing and holding the baby
- Babies like soft, round toys
- They can read to the baby & make funny faces
- They can rub the baby's head *gently* & help with diaper changes
- Washing their hands is very important
- If they want to hold the baby, they must ask an adult for help first
- Babies love their big brothers and sisters

The kids each got a doll and they practiced swaddling, changing diapers and holding their babies. Bettie was in heaven!!!

Quade was acting VERY disinterested for the whole class and pretty much refused to participate. I didn't know why, because he was very excited to go to his class. It turns out that I sold it as being just for "big kids" and when he got there, he saw that some of the kids were only 3yrs old. Clearly, this class included little kids and therefore, it was not for him. Hmph.

Despite that, they both really learned a lot from the class. They are very excited about Juliet's arrival and helped me pick out toys for her at Babies 'r' Us. Quade made me put back the wooden rattle I wanted because, "babies need soft, round toys". He was listening after all!

Bettie has been practicing her diaper changing technique with her baby dolls at home. She gets a stool, puts her baby on the changing table, gets out a diaper and wipes and goes to town. She does a decent job of it except that she goes overboard with the hand sanitizer - even putting it on the baby's face! Ummm yeah, we had a talk about that.

I'm so happy that Bettie & Quade are feeling included and are already bonding with their baby sister!

35+ Weeks

2012-04-12T22:56:18Z

35+ weeks and still going strong! Even though I have to take bathroom breaks every 15mins (or so it seems), I don't have any real complaints. For a while there, I was having lots of braxton-hicks contractions in the afternoons and evenings, but ever since our babymoon, I haven't had any. I guess those three days of total relaxation did Juliet and I some good!

I feel really fortunate that I am not in pain. I don't have any contractions, back pain, pelvic pain, indigestion or any of those common pregnancy complaints. I know a lot of preggo women are really miserable by now, as I was with the twins, but I'm happy that I still feel good. I can even sleep on my back or partially on my tummy, so I'm getting some decent rest. I still do get fatigued and I'm pretty much always hungry/munching/grazing. Speaking of which, I have gained 27lbs already and show no signs of slowing down. Oy.

They haven't given me any idea of how big or small Baby Juliet is, but I think that she is on the small side. I feel my belly and I feel a lot of fluid, but Juliet still feels small to me. Big or small, I just hope that she is healthy and full-term. I switched OBGYNs which is a long, sordid story and I meet my new Dr tomorrow.