What I Would Give For A Full Nights Sleep

November 25th, 2006: Madison and Mariann are one month old already! The first month was filled with 454 bottle feedings, 430 Diaper Changes, 150 pictures snapped, 4 Sunday family car rides, 20 loads of laundry, 25 visitors and many sleepless nights. (And I'm not exaggerating.... I might actually be underestimating!).
The first month was spent getting to know these babies...their personalities, what they like and don't like and especially what their different cries mean. Honestly, I couldn't figure out the crying thing for quite sometime. It's hard when your trying to figure out WHO's crying, let alone what that cry means!!!
Both babies slept in a large co-sleeper that is attached to my side of the bed. This made it so much easier in the middle of the night when they needed to be fed and/or changed. The 12:00 AM, 3:00 AM and 5:00 AM feedings gave me a chance to actually catch up on my "Greys Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives" episodes. TiVo is such an awesome invention!



At the first doctor check-up (at 6 days old) we found out that Mariann was actually LOOSING wait, and not gaining it! Come to find out, the problem was that Mariann (being the small little peanut she was), needed to "learn" how to suck. For the next few days, at every bottle feeding, we had to squeeze her cheeks and push under her chin to stimulate the reflex of sucking. When we went back to the doctor five days later, she actually gained 4 Oz! It worked!!!

During the first month the girls also celebrated their first Thanksgiving! Matt and I decided to have Thanksgiving at my mom's house since she lives the closest. This was going to be the first time that they spent a long period of time outside of the house (besides the doctors office!). They weren't able to have any turkey yet (obviously), but they were very good and slept almost the entire time!

By week 4 both babies were getting into a regular routine. Luckily they were on the same schedule together! The only thing that differed at times were their naps. Sometimes Mariann would fall asleep first, and even sleep longer. This didn't bother me much, since it gave me the chance to have one on one time with Madison. At nighttime on the other hand, if one woke up, I would also wake the other one up at the same time so they could both be fed and changed together. By 6 weeks they were only waking up once in the middle of the night, usually around 3:00 AM.

Madison and Mariann Are Born

Wednesday October 25th, 2006 at approximately 3:30 AM I went into Labor. By 8:00 AM we were on our way to Southampton Hospital for a C-Section. Labor and Delivery was slow that morning so Dr. Alamia was anxious to get us into the OR right away. After meeting the attending nurses, assisting doctor and the anesthesiologist we were ready to get underway. With Matt by my side, one by one the babies were born. Madison joined us at 11:02 AM and Mariann arrived a minute later at 11:03 AM. Both girls were doing wonderfully and their Daddy joined them in the nursery while they were being checked by the Pediatrician. Meanwhile, I was being shipped off to Recovery for an hour or so. The rest of the day was a blur to me. I know we had a lot of visitors that day, but with all the medication they had me on, I could barley hold my eyes open.

We spent the next three nights in the hospital with many visitors everyday(Luckily we didn't have to share a room with anyone else!). Saturday morning came faster than we expected and the babies and I got the OK to come home. As we were leaving everyone (nurses and all) came out to say good-bye to the twins. I guess they became pretty popular the first three days of their lives! Then off we were, in the pouring rain, to bring our babies home.

The first night was rough and disappointing, but we pushed through it. Everyday we were faced with new challenges, and everyday we came up with new solutions. For the most part we had very happy and content babies. I really got the hang of feeding, bathing, changing, rocking and holding two babies at once. I've come to the conclusion that Mom's of multiples really do need an extra hand... literally!

Months leading up their arrival I tried to do as much "preparing" as possible. I read, surfed the Internet, watched "multiples" TV programs, I talked in chat rooms filled with Moms and Dad's of multiples, and I even made a few "email" buddies that were also expecting twins.... I did everything imaginable. There was this one book in particular that I read called "Ready or not, here we come", and that was the BEST book I read. It really gave me a realistic view of raising infant twins (At times, it even had me laughing out loud!). I have to say that because of all the research I was doing, I was more prepared than I thought I would be when the girls were born, and because I had prepared myself so much, getting my girls on a schedule took no time at all.

And Then He Saw TWO!

March 30th, 2006 was our first appointment with Dr. Hunt at Hampton's OB/GYN. This particular appointment was going just as we thought until the Doctor said those magic words...

"Wait, I think I might see two heartbeats"!

After measuring both fetuses and looking at the heartbeats, Dr. Hunt confirmed that there was indeed two babies and both had very strong heartbeats. "Congratulations, your having TWINS!". Matt's face turned white, and I couldn't stop laughing for the duration of the appointment.

Our parents had known that we suspected that we were pregnant, so breaking the news about twins, was hilarious! When you have such exciting news like TWINS, it's hard to keep it to yourself. We decided to tell our news right away. The first person who we told wasn't our parent's....it was the FedEx delivery man Barry! Living in a small town, you really get to know everyone... including the FedEx and UPS man! Barry just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Next stop... Town Hall to see Matt's mom. As we walked in, she was anticipating just a simple "Everything is great!"... but instead Matt held up two pictures, "Would you like to see a picture of Baby A, or Baby B". She just about hit the FLOOR and I think a few curse words might of slipped out as well!

Matt went back to work, and I continued on my Journey to my mom's house. Aunt Gail was there with Brandan for a little visit. As I walked into the door, I said, "Well I have some news"... thinking I was just going to say that I was pregnant (which she already knew), hearing that we were having twins blind-sided her.

Later that night a few more phone calls were made and we sent out an email with the ultrasound pictures attached informing everyone of the exciting news.

Our Twins were "due" on November 11th, 2006.

The next 9 months were filled with many, many, many doctors appointments (at LEAST one every two weeks) and many ultrasounds (at least once a month, but the last month and a half we had an ultrasound every week) The next nine months also meant many blood tests, a lot of rest, and much anticipation of bringing two healthy babies into the world. Here is just a sample of the "babies' first pictures" that we took home with us!

"Baby A" "Baby B"

"Our Girls"

And the rest is HISTORY

Our first date in Bridgehampton led to many more. Dinners, beach BBQ's, and movies are just to name a few. While working in the Restaurant biz and Matt in the Marina biz, we rarely saw each other that first summer. He would meet me at Citta after closing on a Saturday night for a cocktail and then we would spend all day together on Sunday. Other than that, our lives revolved around work. After a long summer of late nights and early mornings I had finally taken Matt up on his offer to move in.

It was the end of September and I was packing my things and making airline reservations for Matt and I to head to South Carolina to retrieve my belongings from storage. Matt's parents had been by the house numerous times to help rummage through some of Matt's "pre-Ryann" belongings. About 10 dump trips later we were ready for paint and off to the airport. (I might add that when making the airline reservations, I had mistakenly made the flight for the evening!! So when we showed up at the airport (LaGuardia no less) at 6:00 in the morning, we were a BIT early! Luckily Matt told a little white lie about a relative and we were able to get on the flight!).

After a long ride back to East Hampton in an 18 wheeler (another one of my mistakes!) and only one traffic ticket, I was ready to move my stuff in. Matt was exhausted from all the driving, so I started unpacking. It took a few days, but all in all it was a successful move... with just a FEW "bumps" in the road.

After living together for 6 months and dating for about a year, we got engaged in April. We had actually picked out the ring together, but I wasn't able to see it after we left the store and until the proposal. It was Carole's 50th Birthday party and before going to Fiddlers Cove, Matt told me that there were more whale sightings off Main Beach. So we headed off to town to check it out. To my surprise, there were no whales, BUT my best friend got down on one knee and proposed on the beach. It was beautiful and totally UNEXPECTED.

We started planning a wedding for that September! Only 6 months away. We found a spot in Montauk, off Camp Hero State Park, that was perfect. On the Bluffs, overlooking the Atlantic is where we exchanged our vows. It was the HOTTEST day of the year, but that was okay for me seeing that we came hours away from getting hit by a Tropical Storm (I believe it was Ophelia)! All of our Friends and Family gathered at East Hampton Marina for an afternoon of eating, drinking and dancing; The perfect way to begin the rest of our lives together...