The Nielsen/Massey Family Blog: In The Beginning...

In the beginning... there was a very big belly, and a very uncomfortable Kate. My back, my hip, my everything hurt! I was measuring at something like 46 weeks pregnant if it had been a singleton pregnancy. I was proud of that number because I wanted something to point to to illustrate how uncomfortable I felt. I had gestational diabetes. I was on bed-rest for one month. Bored and sore! And trying to eat often to make the babies grow. Finn (called then "Pudding Pop") was in the 4th percentile so we were worried about his growth. I tried to eat as much as I could, and as healthy as I could, because I read that that (my weight gain) would help the babies not be premature, and be bigger when they did come.

In the beginning... there was pre-eclampsia and a surprise C-section. Even though I was planning a C-section at "twin term" which is 37 weeks, the twins arrived 1 week early because pre-eclampsia is a serious condition that can have dire consequences for mom and babies. So I went in on a Monday to get my blood checked (based on the advice of the ante-partum nurse who visited me that day and noticed my blood pressure) and had them at 10:06 and 10:08 that night.

In the beginning... there were tubes and the NICU. The nurses were kind and funny and knowledgeable. We have good memories of those women. It took us until Saturday (5 days) to get the babies home. They began with feeding tubes and monitors stuck on their little bodies. Olivia had some breathing problems and Finn had some blood sugar problems. I wish I had a photo of his little foot. It was covered in scabs from the many many pokes he got in his heel. That's where they get stuck to take infant blood. Every two hours they pokes him! Poor guy. Not a nice welcome to the outside world.