Afton and Lilly

We would like to introduce the newest members of our family

Afton

March 25, 2008

4 lbs 14 oz.

18 inches long

7:23 P.M.

Lilly
March 25, 2008
3 lbs 9 oz
16 inches long
7:27 P.M.

We are so excited that they are here!!!

I am not sure if you can see in the handprint/ footprint picture but each of their hands is about the size of a AA battery. Their feet are about 3 quarters stacked on top of each other.

Here is the story of how they came into the world....... On Tuesday morning I had an ultrasound to check the growth of the babies. My doctor had told us that if the second baby was in the 10th percentile or less or would I be induced. Well the second baby was measuring less than 10%. I was sent down to labor and delivery being told that I am here to stay and my babies would be born today. I was just one day shy of making it to 35 weeks. Jim and I got to watch cable all day since my doctor was in surgery all day. We know a lot about Cash Cab, Dirtiest Jobs, How things are made, college basketball, etc. My doctor came about 5:30 P.M. and my water was broken for the first baby around 6:00. I was at a 10 by 7:00 and got wheeled to the operating room (just in case). I pushed through about 5 contractions for Afton and she was born and then about two pushes later Lilly was born. I know I am extremely lucky to have been able to deliver them both without a c-section

Babies are doing great. They are in NICU and will be there for a little while (Lilly will probably be there a little longer just because she is smaller). They are breathing on their own, are already trying to nurse, and are doing pretty good at keeping their body temperature. They do both have a NG tubes (nasal gastric) in their nose to help with their feeding. Afton has just a little bit of jaundice and today got to start tanning. Lilly is in a isolette thing just to help her body.
temperature. Afton has sandy brown hair that is actually kinda thick for my babies who are usually bald. Lilly has just a little bit of dark hair. Lilly is the fiesty one so far and kicks and moves around a lot more than her big sister. We will spending a lot of our time in the next few weeks up at the hospital.
Here is a picture of Afton with her eyes open.




Ethan and Lizzie can only look at pictures right now. Since it is RSV season still they won't allow kids in NICU. They seem excited and want to see the babies. I am doing well. I cannot express how amazing it is to be up and moving and walking around. Today I actually went to check the mail and when Lizzie wanted a hot dog, I was able to get it for her!!!! I will post more pictures later.

We are extremely humbled and grateful for how well everything has worked out. We still have a lot of stress and worry ahead of us but these babies are beautiful and amazing.

Happy Easter!

Ethan and Lizzie are at such cute ages right now. They woke up this morning to Easter baskets and thought it was the coolest thing. The Easter bunny kinda skimped on Easter this year due to other events on the Easter bunnies mind. Their baskets only had 3 things totalling like $3 but they just thought they were the coolest things in the world. They were so excited about some chalk they got. Lizzie was so amazed at the chocolate bunny that was left for her and just keeps talking about it. Ethan also got a chocolate bunny but was more interested in the egg filled with Nerds. He just keeps opening and shutting it smiling each time he sees the Nerds inside. It is hilarious to see them get so excited over such little things. They had to show Jim and I and each other their basket stuff at least a hundred times in a hour time period.

Vegas odds

By some miracle I am still pregnant!!!! Anybody who put Vegas type odds on me should be raking in the dough :) I have managed to stay at a 5 and 90% effaced for over two weeks!!! As of today I am 34 weeks and 4 days. Even if the babies were born today they probably would not have to be in NICU for very long and we are getting so close to the time when they may not have to be in NICU at all. I am so grateful and a huge stress has been taken off Jim and I. We have worried so much about the health and safety of these babies and trying to not get them here too early- that it is awesome to know we have made it this far. I feel like jumping up and down to celebrate but know that wouldn't be the wisest decision :) We know we are not out of the woods yet but we are in a really good place twin gestation wise.
I do have an ultrasound on Tuesday morning and if Baby B is still measuring a lot smaller than Baby A then they will start talking about inducing me. Otherwise, we just keep going and try to get these babies as big and fat as we can.
Jim and I are so humbled and grateful because we know a lot of the reason we have been able to make it this far is through all of the prayers, thoughts and concerns of others. We have felt it and are so honored to have such great friends and family. Thank you.

Time Bomb

As my doctor said today- you are just a time bomb waiting to go :)

As long as I make it to Wednesday March 19th I will be 34 weeks. That is just amazing and I have already gone past what my doctor thought my body would be able to handle. I guess there is a lot to be said about modern drugs, prayers and thoughts from others, and 14 quick weeks of bedrest...... Yes, that is right- 3 1/2 months of bedrest! Right now I am measuring about 4 weeks above what I really am (so I am measuring at a 38 week pregnancy). I have managed to stay at a 5 and 90% effaced for over a week now. Well at least a week that we know of, I could have been there for a little while before I got checked. I am assuming this is the last pregnant picture of me. Jim and I and the kids are excited to meet these babies. I will try to hold out a littel longer but who knows when the "time bomb" will go off.

Other updates- Lizzie's next surgery has been scheduled for April 10th. We are hoping everything will be taken care of this time.



Here is a picture of Ethan's "treasures." He has a see through container he puts all his treasures in and on rare occasions will dump them out. He also has a whole bucket of Halloween candy and Valentine's candy that he says he is saving for the 4th of July. I am not sure what he has planned for that night but at least he will have refreshments :)

Almost there.....

I am officially 33 weeks today!!! Good stuff! Most know that I was in the hospital from Saturday morning to Monday morning and hated every moment of it. No offense to where my mother in law works :) I just knew the babies were not coming and did not want to be there.
I was having contractions that my terbutaline would not take away like it used to. So we went in. They gave me new medicine to stop the contractions, hooked me up to an IV and checked me. That's where we found out I am at a 5 and 90% effaced!!!!!!!!!! I think it also surprised the nurses but also guaranteed I would not be going home any time soon. My doctor came and thinks I have either gradually been getting to a 5 or have been there for a little while. Luckily I did not change the whole time I was at the hospital. Since my contractions stopped and I didn't progress that was good news. On Monday morning my doctor gave me the okay to go home. He said it is probably not the wisest decision to let a high risk pregnancy with twins at 32ish weeks, at a 5 and 90% effaced go home but he will still let me. I just have strict orders that if anything changes (contractions or water breaking) I have to get to the hospital as soon as possible because once it starts things will go very quickly (like my last two labors). He thinks I can last a little bit longer and will let me try to do them at home.
I know my days or hours are numbered but I am so glad to be home.

we made it, we made it, la,la,la,la,la

Only because I have two little kids I decided to do the tune from Journey to Ernie from Sesame Street for our title :)

I am happy to announce that we have made it to 32 weeks. That is such a HUGE milestone for us and we are very excited to be here. We had an ultrasound and non-stress test this morning. Ultrasound showed that everything looks good. Babies are growing. Their guess is that baby A is right around 4 lbs and baby B is in the 3 lb range (I have already forgotten the exact weights they told me). We will still watch baby B closely. She needs to gain some more weight. Baby B has flipped and now both babies are head down which is awesome! Non-stress test went just fine also. It was great to have a day of good news.

In other exciting news Jim went to parent teacher conference today for Ethan and he is doing excellent in school. We are very proud of our kindergartner.