Pregnancy & Childbirth

Taking Care of Mamas

I could not fall asleep last night. I was haunted by an NPR article I read about maternal mortality rates in the United States. The article shared the heartbreaking story of Lauren Bloomstein, a new mother who died 20 hours after the birth of her daughter because her medical team failed to notice the symptoms of […]


Here Come MY Girls!

Juliet and Elinor were born back in August, but last week we received a formal letter from the White House celebrating their birth! I’m not on a first name basis with Barack or Michelle, but my girls still got a great note to add to their baby books. Making the request was easy: just go […]


A 3 am Stroke of Brilliance

Now that the twins are more than two months old, we are slowly getting into our new normal. But, three months ago I was losing sleep every night as I wondered how we would make it through these perilous first 12 weeks. I am convinced that the hardest part of having a new baby is […]


Sleepless in Chicago

The old saying “sleep when the baby sleeps!” sounds so reasonable and hopeful and optimistic. Why of course! I should sleep when the baby sleeps. But the problem with that old saying is that it conveniently forgets about the pesky little truth called life. Life keeps happening even though there is a newborn in the […]


Life Language

One of the best things about my pregnancy with the twins was sharing it with our big kids. Evie was with me at my 20 week ultrasound when we found out it was twins! Vivian and Ben came with me to a fetal non-stress test. Mack attended a routine check up with my OB. It […]


Botched: An Epidural Story

When I delivered Elinor and Juliet three weeks ago I opted to have an epidural. To many people it seems like an obvious choice, but because I’ve delivered single kids without the pain blocker I actually would have preferred to go drug free for babies #5 & 6… …but, everyone – and I mean everyone! […]


Elinor Rose and Juliet Johanna

Twelve days ago, two little new miracles joined our world. I’d like you to meet Elinor Rose and Juliet Johanna. After what felt like the longest pregnancy in the history of the world, we welcomed our girls at 36 weeks. And after eight hours of Pitocin and a botched epidural (a story for another day), […]


The Last Supper

The babies are coming. Soon. Like, today. Despite the flurry of the past few weeks, with nesting in full gear and a to-do list that never ended, Chris and I took the kids out for one last dinner as a family of six last night. We went to Club Lago, our favorite neighborhood family restaurant, […]


Swimming Lesson

Ugh. Of all the aches and pains associated with this pregnancy, perhaps the most persistent and annoying has been the feet/ankle/calf swelling. It is worse while sitting, moderately better while walking, and minimally improved while laying with my feet propped up. Walking is uncomfortable. Sleeping is uncomfortable. Moving is uncomfortable. I’m uncomfortable. All the time. […]


NST = Not So Terrible

For the past few weeks I’ve been going to the hospital twice a week for fetal non-stress tests. The nurses and doctors monitor the babies’ heartbeats, my blood pressure and contractions, and they occasionally draw blood and perform a quick ultrasound. It really is no big deal, and I’m in-and-out in about an hour. But, […]


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