Almost 37 Weeks -- The Grand Finale!

Here we are... on the eve of 37 weeks... 

My mom arrived ten days ago and has been a tremendous help, pulling together all the stuff that I couldn't do in the last couple of months. Mostly every day I just have been laying in bed or on the couch, with my little protector, Oatie. He has a major affinity for "The Hill" as I like to call my belly, either sitting on it or wrapping his little body around it. I think he knows the twins already. 

My mom arrived a week after I sprained my ankle twisting it off my shoe and shortly after I was diagnosed with Cholestasis, which is bile spilling into your bloodstream. It affects approximately 0.7% of white pregnant females. Apparently I am good at weird odds. About two weeks ago, I'd suddenly been up for two nights with intense itching all night long (sleeping with a towel to itch myself instead of using my fingernails), and ended up in labor and delivery on a Saturday morning. Luckily Kaiser was familiar with Cholestasis, and had me started on medications even before all the labs came back. I was feeling way less itchy after about four days. It's an important one to catch, because if it gets out of control or goes undiagnosed, you have a higher risk of preterm labor or stillborn birth. With Cholestasis they want to deliver twins in the 37th week. 

So we are truly nearing the end with week 37 looming on Wednesday. I'm thankful to be here, and thankful the end is in sight. At this point, I have a uterus which is contracted almost all night long and quite a large chunk of the daytime hours as well. This means every night, I am awake most of the night. It will stay contracted for 5-20 minutes or more at a time and never really releases to normal/soft. It's pretty painful and very hard to sleep when it does this. Changing positions, drinking water, or taking magnesium does nothing. The overnight contractions started about one week ago or so. It's good sleep training for when the twins come, but it is pretty horrible and makes it impossible to sit up at all. 

So I cannot wait to be able to sit up again, and to breathe and to eat normally. And to meet these two little buggers who are in my tummy. It is hard to believe that in not so many days, I will have two kids. 

I've posted a pile of pictures below.

Our delightful OB, Dr. Brass, who also had twins. This was our last appointment with her before birth and final growth ultrasound.

Oatie relaxing on the hill riding in the car. 

We had a handyman (Jeff) in this week to fix the ceiling in the basement where the HVAC people left a huge mess after installing our furnace. Four before pictures of the mess. My mom has built like ten new houses so has a lot of experience with this sort of thing and was able to be there to make decisions and help while I laid on the couch upstairs.

 

The Kathy helping Jeff tear down the wall and get rid of the door.

First after, more to come.

Oatie protecting The Hill.

 Oatie Ha hiding in my robe on the couch. 

Dug out my mom's 1972 Singer, which works like a charm, to sew together car seat covers for the Charlies. I bought the fabric months ago but couldn't get around to doing it until now. My mom helped a little with the placement of the straps because I was too pregnant to think but I sewed it all myself. She also did a little trouble shooting on the machine, as it had been quite a while since I had used it and with pregnancy had threaded something wrong!

 Finished product

Remnants of the ankle sprain- one month now, still lingering... :( The last time I sprained my ankle it stayed swollen for 3 months. I'm hoping once I lose some of the 40 pounds I've gained, it will go down. This is even with wrapping, heating and icing it.

This was a few days ago. About 36.5 weeks along here, measuring 48 weeks pregnant. 

 The BAG is packed and ready to go! We got the little hats from one of Justin's customers in the Midwest.

My sweet niece Lily (6) drew a picture of her whole family, which includes Justin at the end holding "boy & girl". Pretty amazingly sweet drawing. 

 This is a crooked Hill. They are way off too the right. Which explains why most of my pain is on the right side.

Gorgeous handmade quilts from Great Grandmom Winona in North Carolina. She made fishermen and kiters for our son and little girls in bonnets for our daughter. She worked on them since February! They will be with the kids for a long time. 

33 Weeks: Third Trimester Update

33 Weeks

And now I can see the finish line. It could be any day really, but hopefully not until August. I've thought all along that I'd be carrying these little Charlies until the thirty-eight week mark and end up with an induction. But the last few weeks have me wondering if they will stay inside that long.

The third trimester arrived, and overnight I became a pregnant lady who couldn't breathe, couldn't sit, couldn't walk, and felt like nonstop whining.

Until a few weeks ago, I was the poster child for a twin pregnancy. I was walking, biking or paddle-boarding daily, working full time, and generally feeling like myself only larger. I'd had some difficulty breathing, occasional back pain and mild exhaustion, but it was nothing I couldn't manage.

After the four-day Fourth of July holiday weekend, I went to work that Tuesday, huffing and puffing through the day, spending the lunch hour laying sideways in my car with the seat reclined, trying to catch my breath. My heart racing, I shuffled from room to room, trying to make it through the twenty-two patients on my schedule. The week before, I'd noticed a sudden increase in exhaustion, and thought perhaps it was low iron, so I had my OB check that, but I was holding steady and still not really anemic. (It's very common/normal for twin moms to be anemic.) The day of the huffing and puffing, I'd noticed almost no fetal movement (less than 10% of normal). I kept waiting for them to "wake up" but they never did. Typically they move all day long: when I'm driving, sitting, seeing patients, walking, if I get up to go to the bathroom, etc. And they are quiet when I go to sleep. They are very active little Charlies. So it was a quite a difference.

I called the advice nurse after work on the way home. She said I could try to lay down and do a kick count but that it was hard with twins, or I could come into the hospital for fetal monitoring. She suggested coming in. We did, and they were fine. While we were doing the monitoring, an alarm repeatedly went off in our room. We thought they were trying to make us go insane. Later we found out that I kept setting off the alarm because my oxygen saturation was dropping below 95%. It's been in the 93-95% range (below normal) when I was at appointments, resting and laying down. I'm sure it's lower when I am running around huffing and puffing. Our OB said for twins it was normal to be as low as 90%. It just feels like you are suffocating at times, which is a creepy feeling. Heart racing, flushing, wheezing, out of breath, nauseous, dizzy, generally feeling weird. Not nice. But normal for twins. Since all the labs were normal, my OB concluded that the weird symptoms were all related to breathing problems. Our baby girl is transverse (sideways) in my ribs and baby boy is breech below, propping her up. She said it was the worst positions they could be in as far as obstructing my lungs. If he would even flip to vertex, it would be a better situation.

We got home so late that I ended up staying home the following day (Wednesday). I went to work the next day, that Thursday, on a day with an easy schedule. I ended up having several more low oxygen episodes. Laying on the floor in my office between patients to catch my breath, I wondered what I should do. I contacted my OB and told her how things had changed. She said I should be off work. I asked what happened, why I suddenly got so much worse when I'd been doing so well. She said that I'd only done that well because I had started out so healthy. Most twin moms never made it that far working full time. She had twins too, so she knows.

So at 32 weeks, I was pulled off work. I'd been planning to make it to August 1st, which was 34.5 weeks, and got pretty close. Most twin moms get pulled off at 28-30 weeks, or sooner with bedrest. We did great.

Something I didn't know was that your heart rate increases with pregnancy. Mine runs between 95-120, even when I'm sitting down. With twins, we have double blood volume as compared to normal (a singleton has 1.5x blood volume), so our hearts are in overdrive to keep the blood moving (normal to have up to HR of 140 with twins). It's especially weird since I used to have a resting heart rate in the 60s. Right away in the first trimester, it had jumped up to the 90-100 range. During the second, it calmed down a bit and now that they are trying to gain a pound a week combined, it's higher than ever. It's so weird: there are three hearts beating inside me.

Another interesting thing is that it is so hard to keep eating enough to keep up with two babies. I've struggled to gain the weight I have gained (about 34 pounds so far). The last three weeks of work, I had not gained anything. The scale was stuck at 168. In the week and a half since I've stopped, I've gone up to 172. During the third trimester, the twins will add a half pound each per week, so I am supposed to gain two pounds per week (one for them, one for me). If I don't gain weight, they are taking it from me. Which is why my arms and face and everything else has gotten thinner with pregnancy. It's hard to keep up. I've resorted to high calorie ice cream, lots of snacking, and keeping food at my nightstand so when I wake up at midnight or 4AM hungry, I just have to reach over and grab something. I had wondered why a lot of my friends who had twins had looked so thin by the end of pregnancy. Now I know.

So we are settling into the last 2-5 weeks of the pregnancy. We have the baby room mostly ready. We have a few things to order yet, but we're getting there.

My emotions are bubbling up under the surface. Wondering what it will be like to meet these two little people who have been keeping me company for the last almost eight months. I'm imagining my birth. No vision of vaginal or c-section, whatever happens happens. As much as I wanted to experience a vaginal birth, if I don't get it, well, I got twins. That's an amazing experience that most people don't have. So I am feeling at peace no matter which way it goes.

I think I'll be a quiet birther either way we go. I'd guess that tears will stream out of my eyes when these little Charlies enter this world--the whole feeling of creating a person -- how my mom and dad did this for me-- how my dad would be proud-- and my mom will be there with us, ready to be grandma of twins and her first grandson.

Throughout this pregnancy, we've felt love from all over the world. From old friends, and new. From patients. From strangers. It's a grand hug we've felt, and we feel very fortunate to be the recipients of all this goodwill.

I can't say I know how it will turn out. I'm thinking my babies will be in the 6-7 pound range, and they will come between the 12-18 of August. We have our names figured out for the most part. Now we just have to patiently wait for the two of them to arrive.

32 weeks

 Braxton-Hicks contraction- my belly gets really misshapen. The left hill is baby girls' head and the right hill is her little butt.

 Attempting to flip our Little Breech Boy. 

When I was still riding my bike. 

 I was always a master of headstands since I was a little kid, so I decided to give it a try. Didn't last too long but I did it. June 14th. 28 weeks. 

Quite a long time ago when I could still paddleboard. June 14th. 28 weeks.

 We've mastered the Moby Wrap using Oatie. He loves it. And he's great company when I am resting. Which is a lot these days. 

Twisted my ankle yesterday morning, seemed like it was okay until I couldn't walk on it at all at toward end of the day and Carrie and Justin had to get me to the car. Ended up in Kaiser Urgent Care (I was so happy to realise they'd have a wheelchair there) and thankfully only sprained it. (Everyone was so nice, and only one hour total to get everything done). Lord have mercy, this pregnancy. Even when you're doing nothing you can still injure yourself. :) No biggie. 

The Day We Found Out Baby Charlies' Genders

Proud Parents-to-Be!

(PS The lady sitting behind us with the glasses is Carrie, who filmed the video)

In case you didn't see the video: 

(Caution: may cause tears)

Justin & Sara's Twins - We tell you the genders! from Pixel Hawk on Vimeo.



Monday after we finished our ultrasound and appointment with the doctor, our technician Jessica came out with two sealed manila envelopes marked "Twin A" & "Twin B". I stuck them in my journal and stuffed it into my black and red chicken tote bag. Dr. Brass came out as we were about to leave and asked us our guesses. We scheduled our next appointment with her and headed out the door. Everyone was is so sweet to us in perinatology. Like a bunch of old friends.

We had a carload of errands to do: Home Depot, Powell's Books, UPS, New Seasons. Stopping in the rain here and there along the way as we drove north back to our house to check each item off the list, it took a while to get home.

Molly texted me at about 4:00PM while we were in the car: "So are you celebrating? :)" I told her we hadn't looked yet. She said, "When are you crazies going to look?!?"

Delayed gratification. It is an art. Justin and I are pretty good at it.

Truthfully part of it was that we were both nervous about opening the envelopes. It's good to know but then there's no turning back. I was definitely scared to find out. We had both hoping for one of each.

Originally, we'd thought we'd get a coffee or treat after the appointment and go up to the top of Mount Tabor or to our bench under the trees in Fernhill (the park that we live on), but water kept falling from the sky, and the cool air wasn't too inviting.

"Maybe we should just do it at home," I said.

Justin's idea: "I think we should go to Cha Ba Thai." Which is not a fancy place at all, but it is the place we always go to, maybe about twenty blocks from our house. The wait staff already knew us. It was kind of like home.

Around 7:30, we hopped into my car, carrying Justin's good camera and the little manila envelopes. I sped there and got a spot in front of the door. We dressed nice (for us) for the occasion. Since I'm already starting to have difficulty fitting into a lot of my normal clothes, I had a limited selection. Justin put on my favorite shirt of his. We were ready for some life changing news.

"Sit wherever you like," the cute Asian guy at the door told us.

The air was a little loud with conversation in there, and we wondered if it was the right place to be. We chose the wall where it seemed most quiet. And because we liked the barn-looking backdrop.

We sat down and Justin put our little "The Charlies" Valentine's card at the table next to us and the two envelopes sitting out between us. We ordered dinner- red curry duck for Justin and red curry tofu for me.

After the food was ordered, we thought maybe that was the time to do the deed. Who could record it for us? Justin thought the waitstaff but they seemed too busy. I thought maybe the two ladies behind us. We hmmed and hawed. I went over and asked the ladies if they could film us and told them what we were doing. One woman said she could not work a camera, but the other woman with shoulder-length grey hair and aqua glasses thought she could. Justin showed her the basics. Her name was Carrie.

Our moment was here.

We didn't have a plan. But we decided to shuffle and pick. I got Twin A and had to go first.

Opening that envelope felt like jumping off a huge scary cliff. My heart was racing. I was holding my breath and biting my lower lip.

When I saw A was a boy I was thinking, Oh my God, we're going to have two boys. It was a panicked feeling. I truthfully really wanted one boy. But I didn't really want two. It was probably just because I grew up with all girls.

Justin has more practice in being on camera, and using dramatic pause. He took his time opening his envelope. I was so surprised when he said "B is a girl". I really couldn't believe it.

After it was done, we were both so relieved. We both were a little scared of a house full of barbie girls or rowdy boys. One of each seemed like unbelievable good luck.

Our next ultrasound is on April 28th. They couldn't quite get all the views of the heart and spine that they needed. Justin will be in North Carolina, so my sister Carrie is going to go with me and see the twins in action.

So here we go along the way. What an amazing journey already.

A: Sweet Little Baby Boy Charlie

B: Sweet Little Baby Girl Charlie

Ultrasound #4: Feet and Heads and Two Healthy STUBBORN Little Charlies!

 

Apparently the mostly vegetarian diet is still working. (I have added fish to help with the protein.) The babies are thriving, growing, moving a lot and right on schedule.

This afternoon we had our fourth ultrasound, which was for the full anatomical scan and also for gender determination. We arrived at Kaiser Sunnyside Hospital to meet up with the perinatology department, and ended up with the same sweet ultrasound tech, Jessica, and our great doctor, Elizabeth Brass. Our last appointment was on the westside, so it was cool to see the same faces in a different location.

We were also fortunate enough to have the patient experience of "not getting checked in". We'd been there for thirty minutes waiting when I started to wonder. No one really ever runs twenty minutes late at Kaiser without letting you know. Kicking myself for not wearing my badge (which would have let me in the door), I was about to phone the desk upstairs when one of the MAs came out and called my name, and said I hadn't been checked in.

The anatomical exam was mostly successful, though not everything was visualized as our doctor wanted- so we have to go back in two weeks for a second ultrasound for more views of the heart in A and more of the spine in B.

We also decided we'd come home with envelopes telling us what the genders were. Justin had the idea that we should put them in separate envelopes and each of us open one.

This morning in bed we made our guesses:

• Sara: A: boy, B: girl  (though I have had SIX dreams that I had two girls-- I think it's just because I grew up with all girls.
• Justin: A: girl, B: boy.

Little Charlies A & B were very stubborn and neither wanted to be pigeonholed into a gender category for most of the exam. (Apparently they take after their mom & dad!) Fortunately our ultrasound tech, Jessica was also very stubborn and kept trying. We helped move things along by threatening to name them Pat Jean & Kim Terry. Finally they succumbed to the pressure and Jessica got their photos while we kept our eyes closed tight. She printed them out and hid them in labeled matching manila envelopes.

WE HAVE NOT OPENED THEM YET!

After the ultrasound, we had an appointment with Dr. Brass. She said everything looked great. They were right on target for size. Good amniotic fluid for both babies. We will be 19 weeks on Wednesday, so technically today we were 18 weeks 5 days today. Head sizes were normal for age.

• A: measuring 19 weeks, 1 day, breech presentation, laying right under my belly button
• B: measuring 18 weeks, 6 days, transverse presentation, laying above my belly button, almost under my ribs. 

(NO WONDER I FELT LIKE THEY WERE TAKING UP A TON OF SPACE! I thought they were way up there near my sternum and all the way down to my lady flower-- I was right!)

Cutest Lil Feet!

Charlie A always gets the better photo, but I think it's because Charlie B is up under my ribs almost.

Good news: I weighed in today at 154 (with clothes). Starting weight was 139 (without clothes). I am finally going up. I found a great online website, www.myfitnesspal.com, which I've been using to been to track my calorie and protein intake and am actually doing a lot better than I thought I was. The goal is 100-120 g of protein per day for twins, and I'm pretty close. Since we're into the second trimester, I'm trying to be more careful about getting the right food in. I'm still never hungry but I eat anyway, and am getting at least 2,000 calories per day- a lot more than I used to eat- I'm just naturally a crazy fruit and veggie lady, but the three of us are doing pretty well. One of of the mamas on my natural birth twins group pointed out that being pregnant with twins puts your body in nutritional distress. Which is about the way it feels. But we are doing fine. The Charlies are a strong and stubborn family! :)

Extra Protein-- I'm a BODY BUILDER now. A Double Body Builder!

I never dreamed I'd be eating protein bars!

Quiet Morning Lake Quinault: Peace has Settled In

Cozied in under the covers last night in our room overlooking Lake Quinault, trying to read my Northwest Gardening book to figure out what to plant and where in our newly barren yard, my eyes could not stay straight. Rolling into the back of my head over and over. You are going to sleep now, they protested. I didn't have much say. What can you do when your eyes are rolling backwards on their own accord?

It was only 8:30. 

I decided to give up. By 9, I was in another world. Justin beside me reading in the dark. Bailey zonked out on the floor. He has no qualms about sleeping anytime or too much. Unlike us over-productive humans. 

My dreams have switched tone in the last two weeks, thankfully. Night after night, I'd been dragged through vivid nightmares. From break-ins, to homeless people living with us swimming in the river behind our house. Avoiding semi-automatic weapon gunfire. Drinking cider beers and forgetting I was pregnant. Long drawn out, colorful dreams, persistent in their disconcerting nature. I almost dreaded sleep. 

But the last few nights, they've been colorful but more amusing. Like a lady whose maroon curly hair  (only part of her hair was a wig) got caught on my phoropter (the thing that has all the lenses in it in front of your face to check your glasses) and hung off the top when I pulled it away from her eyes.  It was funny, and oddly amusing and so colorful. It makes me happy to remember it.

I wake up on my back with my arms above my head, fingers intertwined like I'm praying, or maybe in my mind I'm out in the grass in a field looking up at the blue sky. I always know I'm relaxed when I wake up like that. It's weird, like babies sleep and I've only done this in the last few years since dating Justin. I wonder what we do at night. 

So some sort of inner calm has settled in. Maybe I'm finally relaxing into the pregnancy. It only took three months to relax. I'd guess this might be normal. 

We're happy to have this retreat from Portland. After months of adjustments to reality, endless efforts on the house, we deserved a getaway.

Charlie can't stop working in the yard. 

The floors will be sanded and finished on Thursday.

16.5 Weeks.

The Calm in the Storm of Twins- & Flashback to 10 week Twin Ultrasound with Interpretation

Ultrasound from week 10. This one is interesting because it shows both at once. Twin A (on my left side) will be the presenting twin (born first), because s/he is lower. If Twin A is larger (which s/he has been all along by about 2-3 days), then a vaginal birth will be attempted and possible, no matter what the presentation of Twin B is. Twin B can be manipulated in the womb if breach or transverse.

A lot of the hard work is done. We hired a doula who specializes in twins. She has forty twin births under her belt with only four c-sections. We've found a birthing class nine blocks from our home and a Dads 101 class for Justin. I found prenatal yoga classes near our house. We have a good OB lined up who also had twins (though we are not guaranteed her for delivery). I've have made it through several twin books. Friends have offered a crib, and a double bob stroller. Baby clothes and maternity clothes. And love and support. And excitement.

The kitchen will be done next week. Today they installed the hardwoods.

I've gained about seven pounds now. And there's enough out front that patients have actually asked if I was pregnant. At sixteen weeks with twins, you're not exactly flat anymore.

Monday was my day off. I hopped on my old 1979 Schwinn which I'd recently outfitted with new tires, brakes and cables and pedaled up the hill. The wind and rain questioned my choice of transportation. I could barely get up the tiny hill next to our house. But I moved forward. Intrepid. Dressed head to toe in rain gear. Even rain boots and rain gloves. After a quick stop at the Community Cycling Center where they adjusted my brakes, I coasted down the hill to the Albina Library.

It was quiet day aside from an appointment at 2:00 with my counselor. Who ironically also has twins (which I didn't know until recently). Adopted. With nine days notice. They had just decided they didn't need to have kids, and weren't even in the process of adoption when it basically fell into their laps. Suddenly they had two daughters. The girls are 18 now, and everything turned out fine. It made me thankful that we likely have 6-7 months to prepare.

Afterward, I glided down Ankeney Street toward Sizzle Pie Pizza on Burnside to redeem my free slice from a donation to the Give Guide. With my bike locked up outside, I plopped my green backpack on the table and picked out a tofu olive pizza. It was okay. But as I sat there, I thought how much I was enjoying my freedom. How I should savor these months. Soon this will come to an end. Riding around and doing what I want. Watching people. Enjoying the world.

I've been told that I should stop riding my bike. In case I fall off and damage my babies. I am planning to ride until I feel that my balance is compromised. Plus I only ride on quiet streets and not fast. I guess I figure I could get in a car accident. Fall down the stairs. Fall walking. Or slip in the shower. I could wear full body armor and a stomach protector. But I am just going to live my life instead and hope for the best. I'm pretty sturdy. I'm sure my kids will be too.

We found a few people off Craig's list to come and take away most (about 15-20) of our overgrown plants in the yard. Justin and I have dug up the front yard and planted seedlings inside. We might go a little overboard this year. Then we can decide if we need to scale back and put a patch of grass in the front yard. Justin thinks we need a patch of grass for the little Charlies to sit in while we garden. He might be right.

It's weird to imagine going from "us" two to "us" four. I just have no idea what it will be like. I'm sure everyone who has had kids before me has gone through this thought process. As well, the experience of my body changing into something else as it's creating two little beings. I would've never understood had I not experienced it. How we create other little people from such a small bit of cells. And then it somehow works out. It's pretty amazing.

I'm starting a writing class this week. Probably the last in a while. Carrie and Justin and I and the dogs are headed to the rainforest this weekend for a getaway and hiking.

We're just planning to enjoy ourselves and our little life for now. And hope for the best.

Another Strange Omen (before I knew I was pregnant): A Thank You Letter for Our First Pregnancy Gift

I donated to the Baby Blues Connection through the Give Guide. Every year since 2004, one of our local alternative papers, the Willamette Week, conducts a donation drive. I usually enjoy picking out places to send a little money. This year, I went a little overboard and chose about 20-30 non-profits.

Back in December 2014, a while after I donated, an emailed showed up from Baby Blues Connection that I’d won an art print they were giving away.

Here's the thank you I sent them: 

January 22, 2015

Hi,

I donated to the Baby Blues Connection through the Give Guide. And then later heard from you guys that I’d won one of the prints you were giving away.

It arrived in the mail - I opened it and thought, hmm, wonder what I should do with this? Maybe I should give it to my sister who is pregnant in Minnesota. But she would probably not hang it up. It’s not her style.

So I just put it back in the envelope and stuck it under the Christmas tree.

About two weeks after, I was pretty late with my period. I finally decided to take a pregnancy test the morning I was flying out of town to see my partner’s family in North Carolina.

It was positive.

We’d been trying for a few months.

I got on the plane and wondered at the news I’d discovered.

I thought I could keep it a secret until our anniversary, but I told my partner the next day. He was so surprised, happy, and couldn’t believe he would be a daddy.

About a week later I remembered the pregnant lady print that I’d won, and thought how strange it was that I won it right before I found out. (And was actually pregnant at the time you sent it.)

We are 7 weeks along, which is not much. But I somehow feel that print was a good omen.

And now I know what to do with it.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks.

And you gave me the first “mom” gift that I’ve ever received.

Keep doing your good things.

Sara

The Kolache Pregnancy

The night before our first ultrasound I got the urge to make Kolaches. A czech sweet bun with a prune filling. When we were kids, my grandma Agnes would make them for us at Christmas or for the holidays. The sweet bread mixed with fruit wafting from a hot bun. A touch of butter on the top. I pulled up my recipe and dug out the old Osterizer that my mom had found for us from a Goodwill years ago. I thought I didn't need it. I thought liked doing everything by hand. But I was wrong. The old Osterizer is beloved.

I'd thought kolaches would be a perfect pregnancy food because they had prunes and wheat buns. My mom said prunes daily would be a good thing.

The Osterizer on the counter, and the few ingredients ready, I went to work. Substituting whole wheat flour for white. Oh I didn't have real sugar. But coconut sugar would do. No milk but we had oat milk. So many substitutions I wondered if I had veered too far off track. Would all whole wheat flour rise? Would they taste weird?

Turns out they were perfect. I'd channeled Grandma Agnes' baking genes and made perfect hippie Kolaches. I look now at the picture and think, there were three of us there. Who would have thought?

The kolaches were made on Sunday night. By Wednesday they were almost gone. Maybe Sunday will be baking day for the three of us each week. Time to connect with the Czech roots.