December 2011

Twins are 5 months!

We tried oatmeal!  They loved it!  Can't you tell?

We got our family pictures done!

The babies got their first introduction to Santa, and they did a pretty good job. No crying, screaming, trying to wriggle away etc.  They weren't thrilled, but hey, they'll figure it out soon enough.  For now, it's just another person mom and dad are trying to pawn them off on.  :)

Brax has learned to blow strawberries!  He and Daddy were swapping spit - that is, taking turns blowing strawberries at each other.  So cute!

 As I was creating the Christmas card, Elias told me he did not want me on the Christmas card.  Say what?!

We all went to an IU game with Grandpa Jim!  I think Elias likes the concession stand as much as the actual game. We played Notre Dame (and won!) on December 17, 2011. 

 So, months after the actual song came out, we found an IU song, "This is Indiana," and have now become obsessed with it.  Elias knows the words and sings it randomly all the time. This is Ollie and Elias singing the song on New Year's Eve.  This is also the same night that IU beat Ohio State.  Yes that's right, IU beat Kentucky, a number one seed, and then Ohio State, a number two seed, in the same season.  We're back!

New Year's Eve!  Ben and family came over to watch the IU game with us but left before the new year.  Surprisingly, Elias and Brax were both awake, but I didn't have the heart to wake Brant up.  This year has been so great.  We have a beautiful new house, added to our family, spent lots of time with friends and family, work at good jobs...I'm not sure it can get any better, but I'm so excited to start the new year and see what adventures we can find ourselves in!  Happy new year!

Five Months Old

The babies had their first Thanksgiving.  We enjoyed lunch with the Pugh side with 80 others and went to Mimi and Papaw's for dinner on Thanksgiving.  The next day, we ate lunch at Mamaw and Grandpa Jim's.  We also went downtown to see Uncle Jeremy's new apartment and watch the lighting of the Christmas tree.  Elias got to spend the night with Mimi and Papaw and all the cousins.  Saturday night, Mom and Dad went a Mystery Dinner where Mom solved the mystery! 

Brax is now also getting some occupational therapy through First Steps.  They are most concerned about his reflux and the possibility that he is aspirating.  We are taking him to get a swallow study and a pulmonologist for his lingering cough.

The babies have discovered each other!  They have also discovered how fun fighting can be!  Usually Brax (the smaller one) picks on Brant.  :)

Brant's cute little cry has turned into a terrible screechy cry.  He has also learned that if he skips the fussing and goes straight to all out screaming, we move a lot quicker.  Luckily, he hasn't taught his brother that yet.  Smart, really. 

I wake Elias up every morning singing the Raffi song, "Rise and shine!  The day is calling. It's time to rise and shine..."  This morning when I went in there singing, he told me to stop singing that song.  He also said, "Didn't you see the sign outside that said 'No singing!'"  I must've walked right past that.

No matter how upset Brant is, he will always cheer up and laugh as soon as you say "Boo!"

Christmas Card

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Four Months Old

Here's a glimpse into our lives this month!

Dad asked Elias why he always woke him up instead of mom.  Elias said, "I don't know.  That's just how I was made."

Brant's head still has a flat spot, and so we have been referred to a plastic surgeon for a helmet.  The first appointment, the doctor came in, looked at him, and said he would definitely need a helmet at 6 months.  We are returning in 4 weeks to see if there is any change.  He was also referred to First Steps for his torticollis.  We were given stretches (which he hates!) and a physical therapist will start seeing him once a week next month!

Even though we've been trying to lay the babies down in their room.  They find a way to weasel themselves into our room almost every night.  Even Elias tries to work his way in some nights.  I guess it's a good thing we have a king-size bed.

Brax automatically rolls to his right as soon as you put him down.

I finally broke down and got them a bathtub.  With Elias, I could just lay a towel down in the bottom of the tub and run an inch of water.  But with these guys, I can never find the time for that.  So we have a whale tub now and I took some videos of them in it!

Four month old doctor appointment stats:
Brant: 13 lbs, 5 oz;  23 3/4" long
Brax: 12 lbs, 1 oz; 25 1/4" long


The babies have started to put everything in their mouths.

Steve is getting Lasik eye surgery.  He got his 3 year bonus and has decided to use some of it to get his eyes corrected.  His vision is 20/400.  The man is blind!

I have been sick the ENTIRE month of November.  First I got strep throat, then we all got a stomach virus (except Elias, not sure how he escaped that!), then the flu which turned into a fantastic cough.  Lucky for me, Daddy is a fantastic Daddy and took care of everyone while I laid in bed. 

We enjoyed our first Halloween!  Unfortunately, we couldn't get a group picture because Elias went out trick-or-treating by himself (with Daddy, of course) while Brant, Mimi, Mamaw, Grandpa Jim and I answered the door.  Brax slept through the whole thing (he wasn't feeling well).  By the time Elias got home, Brant had already puked all over his costume and had been changed.  By the time Brax got up and got his costume on, Elias had already changed and was getting ready for bed.  Oh well, they all looked very cute.  Next year, we'll get a good picture!

My family has become addicted to Angry Birds!

Brax Playing 5 Little Monkeys

Fall Break

 So this week, we are on Fall Break!  In the past, I would've loved the relaxation of the 4-day break.  However, these days...it's more work to stay home than it is to go to work! And to add to it, Steve has drill all weekend.  Boo!

Elias, however, needs a break.  More like his teacher needs a break from him.  He has been in trouble so much this school year.  He's been in the principal's office more than once.  Well, more than twice; sometimes for hitting, sometimes for throwing mulch, a lot of times for talking out when he's supposed to be quiet.  Imagine that, right?  We've punished him, rewarded him, threatened him, and called everyone I know to help him.  Hopefully, he'll mature a little soon and stop getting in trouble at school.  Here's to hoping, right?

Update on the babies...they are 15 weeks now.  They are very smiley and talkative.  They slept through the night for the first time, in their own cribs, on their 3 month birthday.  Now, we can pretty much count on Brant sleeping through the night consistently.  Brax has been getting up around 3:30, eating and then going back to bed.

We've also been taking lots of trips to the doctor.  We think Brax has silent reflux.  He has been foaming at the mouth, coughing and sneezing, seems to be uncomfortable, arches his back, wants to be held, digs his face into blankets and shoulders, is gassy and burps gross, gets the hiccups a lot, has low weight gain (he weighs almost a whole pound less than Brant) and so on.  The doctor started him on some Zantac.  He seems to be happier, but the cough has lingered.

Brant has a flat spot on his head.  We've noticed for awhile that he likes to only look to the left.  This has caused a pretty significant flat spot.  The doctor has been keeping an eye on it for a couple of months now.  We try and do neck stretches with him, but he belts out loud, painful screams still.  So we have First Steps coming out to address tightness in his muscles...not just his neck, and an appointment with plastic surgeons at St. Vincent next month.  He may end up needing a little helmet to reshape his head.  Otherwise, he is pretty perfect.

Fun facts: Brant rolls from his belly to his back.  Brax rolls from his back to his belly.  Also, Brant is grabbing toys now.  However, he doesn't know how to let go.  He gets mad and yells at it, rips his hand around...nothing works.  :)

Final note, I'm about to run short on breast milk.  I think we're gonna have to supplement here soon.  Right now, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to go about it.  Brant is fat (according to us, not the doctor) and Brax has been having so much trouble with the reflux.  Should I keep Brax on breast milk only since it's easier to digest? Or would formula help his belly and help him sleep through the night?  Will Brant gain too much weight on formula? Or should I treat them the exact same?  Ahhhhhhhh!

Inspiration

Recently, we've had what feels like a lot of people die around us.  Closest to us was Grandpa Vince.  Steve Jobs, the Apple guy, also died.  This was something he said once that resonates with me:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s ...change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

 Now as Steve and I are raising a family, I want to not only follow my heart and intuition but teach my children to do the same.  I think about my Grandpa a lot.  He taught me so many great things in his life and already, he has made me get up and do things with my kids and husband that I normally would have made an excuse not to do.  I'm committed to make as many memories with my family as I can.  Enjoying the ride!!!

King's Island

Our first family(ish) trip to King's Island!  Steve has lots of good memories of him and his family going to King's Island every year while he was growing up, and now he wants to create the same with our family.  The babies are still too little and needy to go, so Steve, Elias and I dropped them off with Mimi and Papaw and headed out!

I'm not sure who was more excited about going...Elias or Steve.  But Elias stayed in green on the Friday before, so he called Daddy and said, "King's Island, here we come!"

We had a fantastic time.  Elias was sooo good.  I didn't have to discipline him at all, he tried all the big rides, and he WALKED almost all day.  The only problem came in at the end of the day.  It is Halloween time, and the park becomes haunted at night.  We thought it was only in one part, but instead, the whole park became dark, foggy, and scary.  Elias flipped out, and would not let Daddy put him down.  He wouldn't allow me to carry him.  Only Daddy could protect him.  We ended up leaving before nine.  Normally, Daddy would have never allowed us to leave early.  He refuses to leave before park closing EVER no matter what the conditions.  He is adamant that he will get his money's worth! :)

Twelve Weeks Old

Our babies are almost three months old now.  So much has happened since the last time I wrote.  I've gone back to work, we've had more scares, schedules have been set, weight has been gained (by the babies, of course), sleep has been missed, and personalities have started coming out.

I decided to go back to work at 6 weeks.  I was getting very bored at home.  All I was doing was grunt work: feeding, burping, changing, feeding, burping, changing, and so on.  I needed to get back on a routine, and I missed my normal life.  So I packed up the babies and introduced them to their new babysitters: Miss Karry and Miss Angie.  Six weeks later, the babies are starting to sleep through the night (only if they sleep in the swing), and they seem to love Miss Angie.

The second scare we had came right before I went back to work.  The babies and I had decided to eat lunch with Daddy.  While at the restaurant, Daddy held Brax for a bit while he ate.  When he finished, he put Brax back in the seat, and the babies and I drove to Greenwood to go shopping.  During the drive, Brax randomly yelled out.  Usually he sleeps so well in the car (at this time, anyway), so I was confused as to why he was having so much trouble.  When we got to the store (after drive a half hour on the highway), I climbed in back to feed him thinking he may be hungry.  It was then that I noticed he WASN'T STRAPPED IN!  Somehow, I didn't lose it.  I was immediately thankful that he hadn't been thrown out of his seat.  He was only slumped down a little.  My heart did break thinking that he was probably crying out as he was most likely being thrown around in his seat.

So now to the third scare...maybe I should put something sweet in between before someone calls CPS on us...nah.  This one is short.  I woke up in the middle of the night because one of the babies was crying in the bassinet.  As I'm reaching over the side of the bed, I hear something behind me.  I seriously did a 360 to find a baby sleeping in a boppy in the middle of the bed.  I immediately woke Dad up to find out when he put the baby there and how long our poor child had been sleeping in the SIDS risk.  He, of course, tells me that he hasn't been up all night.  I about fell out of bed.  I had zero recollection of waking up, picking a baby up, putting him in a boppy and then falling back to sleep.  What else could I do without knowing it?  Very scary for mom.  Baby slept just fine.

Two month doctor stats:
Brant: 10 lbs, 11 oz; 22 1/4" long
Brax: 10 lbs, 1 oz; 23 1/2" long

So now for the cute stuff.  You babies have started talking and laughing.  Your little personalities are starting to come out.  Now I wish that I could go on maternity leave and stay home to watch you little people grow up.

Fun note: Brax is my pooper.  Poops out of his diaper all the time.  Brant is the spitter.  You can count on a little something on your shirt from him.

Funny Things About Newborns

1) Their pooping noise can embarrass any adult in the room.

2) The rooting reflex is comical (although frustrating) when they get to a feverish pace.

3) The little faces they make, specifically when they put their mouth in an o shape and the smooshy
sideway face when they stretch.

4) Sleepy smiles (so cute).

5) Grunts, snorts, and whatever else they come out with.

Two Weeks Old

This week brought your first baths.  We put a towel in the sink, and neither of you particularly enjoyed the water.  Otherwise, nothing really exciting to say.

One of my favorite things you two do is grunt talk to each other.  When one of you start grunting (which seems to be almost constant), the other one usually joins in.  Very cute.

Daddy went back to work this week.  He had been so helpful at night, helping feed you two every time you got up.  Now I have to do it on my own.  Sometimes I get to sleep for a couple of hours at a time, and sometimes you wake me up every hour.  I'm trying to get you on the same schedule.  It's not going real great.

I swear you two like sitting in poop.  Every time I change a poopy diaper, I get a dirty look like, "Mom, I worked hard for that," and then you promptly poop again.

We got a nice gift from a neighbor.  They brought bread and t-shirts.  It was very sweet.

One Week Old

So I'm writing this twelve weeks after the boys were born.  I should have done this much earlier, but...um...I've been kinda busy.  So, from what I remember, this is the birth story of our twins!

I don't remember exactly how early Steve and I had to be at the hospital, but I drove us there and waddled my 190 lb. self to delivery.  Yep, that's right, I gained 70 pounds for these babies!  They took us back to our room immediately.  We got a huge room usually used for water births.  Steve thought we got a hot tub. :) We also had a couch and little table.  It was all very nice.  After the normal vitals check and all that, the nurses started the meds.  My mom and Linda eventually made it to the hospital and we all hung out for most of the day.  Throughout the day, each time Linda would leave for a walk or drink etc., the doctor always came in.  We started trying to kick her out at random times just to hurry things along.  But my mom almost missed the birth altogether.  She had gone out of the room to get something to eat when the doctor came in and said I was fully dilated and ready to push.  After frantically texting her, she made it back just in time.  So after hours of waiting, I was getting nervous we would go home babyless, and so I gave the babies an ultimatum of 5pm.  And by golly, they almost hit it! 

At 5:40pm, Brant Douglas was born weighing 5lb 14 oz and 18 inches long.  I pushed a total of four times during one contraction.  My mom held one leg and Linda the other.  Daddy stayed up by my head and held my hand.  He swore that he wouldn't be able to look, and he didn't.  I watched in a mirror.  Since Daddy didn't feel comfortable cutting the cord, Mimi did it for him.  After Brant was detached from me, Daddy followed him to the nurses' station.  Brant screamed for a long while, and Daddy tried to comfort him as best as he could.  He also came over to kiss me, and I noticed that he was crying.

At 5:56pm, Brax Robert was born weighing 6lb 7oz and 19 3/4 inches long.  I only had to push four times with him also.  This time, Daddy peeked and told me that he would watch the next time we had a baby.  Grandma Linda cut the cord this time.  Brax didn't cry nearly as long as his brother.  And after what seemed liked forever, I finally got to hold the babies. 

Lynn and Brooke came in later that night.  Lynn commented that I seemed very calm.  I was watching the Cubs game and chilling in bed.  There really wasn't much else I could do!  Papaw brought Elias up to see his brothers.  He was extremely excited and was heard saying, "Now I never have to play with mom and dad ever again!"

Around 10 o'clock that night, we were moved to a postpartum room.  It was very, very tiny.  Daddy slept on the couch "bed."  Brax scared us that night when he started coughing and gagging on a ton of mucus that he eventually spit up.  We were told that mucus was normal, especially for babies that don't hang out in the birth canal very long.  After that, we asked for both babies to be kept in the nursery while we slept.  Neither of us trusted ourselves enough to wake up if it happened again.  And it did happen again, more than once.

In the hospital, I noticed that Brax seemed to be very aware of things going on around him.  I even saw him follow a person as they walked past his bassinet.  He was very calm and chill.  Brant, on the other hand, was more high maintenance.  He was constantly hungry and never seemed satisfied.  I did try to breast feed them.  Brant had no problems, but Brax couldn't latch on.  The lactation consultant later determined that the roof of Brax's mouth was too high for him to latch.  He hadn't eaten in the first 24 hours, so we had to decide between pumping immediately or allowing him to be formula fed.  I started pumping colostrum.  It was a little frustrating pumping every 3 hours and only getting a mL of colostrum that Brant downed in seconds and Brax had trouble finishing.

Over the next two days, we had more visitors, both boys endured a circumcision, and we about went stir crazy in the tiny room.  We almost had to stay due to the loss of weight by both boys and Brax's trouble with taking a bottle.  Luckily, the hospital's pediatrician allowed us to leave as long as we saw our own pediatrician in the next few days.

Stats from their first doctor's appointment on July 11...
Brant: 18 5/8 inches, 5lbs 9 1/2 oz
Brax: 18 1/2 inches, 5 lbs 15 oz

In this first week, the boys have shared their first smiles.  Brant has even giggled.  Elias says they smell like marshmallows.  We've had lots of visitors, and my friends have taken turns bringing us scrumptious dinners.  Daddy tries to get lots of skin-to-skin time in, and we've tried to do a little tummy time too.  We've noticed that Brant hates the hiccups and will get mad and cry whenever he gets them.  We also had our first scare.

Brant was downstairs laying in his seat while I ran upstairs to get Brax.  As I was coming down the stairs, I saw Elias holding Brant and walking across the living room.  I about fell down the stairs.  Very calmly, I took the baby from Elias and made him promise never to pick up a baby without permission EVER again.  I don't even want to think about what could have happened in the two minutes I was gone.  I do have to mention that Elias was holding him perfectly with one hand supporting Brant's head and had the other around his body.

Oh well, we made it through the first week.

Thirty Eight Weeks, Two Days

On Tuesday, I had my last non-stress test and regular doctor's appointments. The stress test went perfect and at my appointment she said that not much had changed....still 3 cm and 50% effaced. I had just finished telling the doctor that the PUPPP had cleared up and I felt like I was good to go the rest of the time when she tells me she's leaving for vacation. So now I had the choice to induce and for sure have her as my doctor...or leave it to chance as to which doctor would be on-call if I delivered next week. This same, exact thing happened to me with Elias. I chose induction with him (only 4 days early) because I was a first-timer. This time I wasn't so sure and I wanted to talk to Steve first.

Of course, he said he didn't care what I chose. My mom thought I should go ahead and be induced. Linda didn't say anything. So I decided to go ahead with the induction since we've had a few glitches here and there with the boys and I'm a little nervous about being a high-risk pregnancy with a doctor I've never met before. And the PUPPP was starting to come back after being off the meds. I really couldn't face that again.

So here I am, at 1:30 am on Thursday morning, not able to sleep. My restless legs are keeping me up...along with my anxiousness and nerves and excitement. I have to get up in 4 hours, but I keep wondering about how tomorrow is going to go. Will I be able to deliver both vaginally, or will I end up with a c-section? Will the boys be healthy? How am I gonna handle two newborns at once? Will the induction even work? How long will it take? Elias took 24 hours. And so on and so on.

Today was my last day with just me and the boy. We really didn't do much. I really can't do much. But as we were running errands, he says to me, "Mom, I hope you don't die." Wow. What a thing for a kid to be worrying about. He went on to tell me that if I died, Daddy would never, ever be able to leave again. So now, I'm worried about that too! Later tonight, after we had dropped Elias off (at Mimi and Papaw's), bought the stroller, gone to dinner (Olive Garden) and ice cream (Baskin Robbins) and a movie (Transformers 3)...I was telling Steve about Elias' comment and he says that he would lose two people. So sad.

Let's just hope and pray that nothing terrible happens today and that we come home healthy with two beautiful baby boys that are going to change our world forever.

Thirty Eight Weeks, Zero Days

I really didn't want to take another 2 week progress picture, but here we are...

Last Thursday, I had been pretty busy, but hadn't felt the babies move all day. So that night, when they are usually the most active, Steve and I sat on the couch and waited for something. I drank my water, put an ice pack on them (I know this works from having PUPPP), and moved them around for a bit, and still nothing. I then called Aunt Myra...she tells me to drink some caffeine and wait a half hour and they should be jumping around. So Steve gets me a flat, gross coke...still nothing. So I called the doctor around 10pm. She tells me, of course, to head in to Labor and Delivery. Poor Grandma Linda had to come sit with Elias while we went in.

At the hospital, they put me on the monitors for a non-stress test. Brant of course responded pretty quickly, but Brax was taking his sweet time. They checked my cervix (no change), told me they looked fine on the monitors and to call Dr. Soper in the morning to schedule an ultrasound.

The next day, I went in for the Biophysical Profile ultrasound which measures body movements, muscle tone (flexing of the arms and legs), breathing movements, and amount of amniotic fluid. Each criteria is scored with either a 0 if absent or 2 if present. It was extremely uncomfortable laying on my back for an hour and 15 minutes, but I was really excited to see just how big the babies had gotten. Unfortunately, that didn't last long once she was finished. Both babies are measuring two weeks small. I was 37 weeks, 3 days:

Brant measured in at 35 weeks, 4 days; 5 lb 3 oz and had a heart rate of 133.
Brax measured in at 35 weeks, 3 days; 5 lb 15 oz and had a heart rate of 138.

The ultrasound can be off on weight by 14 oz either way. Also, Brax never practiced breathing. So Brant got a perfect 8/8 and Brax only got 6/8. The doctor assures me this is fine, but I can't help but worry a little, especially since Elias still has to get breathing treatments.

So now I'm torn between wanting the babies to be born so I can keep an eye on them and make sure they're not going to lose any weight or have any other trouble and keeping them in as long as possible so they can hopefully get bigger and work on the breathing thing. I guess it doesn't really matter, since I obviously have NO SAY! :)

On an positive note, I no longer suffer (and I mean suffer) from PUPPP. I cried (yes literally cried) at my last doctor's appointment because I thought I might have a nervous breakdown and she prescribed me a medication that is usually given to those with severe poison ivy and after the second day, it stopped itching for the most part, and by day five, most of the rash has gone away. Now it's mostly the scabs from me scratching until I bled. Thank God!

I can definitely wait out the last couple of weeks now with hardly any problems. I can still get around pretty well and I feel good. In fact, I just put together a big piece of furniture in just six hours (I'm very proud) even with a big belly and having to get up and down off of the floor.

Fun fact: My fat feet can no longer fit in any of my sandals or flip flops. I've been wearing my tennis shoes exclusively for about 4 weeks now. BUT...I can still tie my own shoes!

Thirty Seven Weeks, One Day

No sleep + Elias being rude + PUPPP + not being able to take my baby clothes to the resale shop when just the DAY before, the sign said they were taking boys clothes and today it says toys and equipment only + the van sputtering at one stoplight = sobbing preggo. I'm not kidding.

So now that I'm 37 weeks, I've decided that I no longer need to be on my restrictions. I miss exercising and I'm HUGE and getting huger by the day, so we are now going on family walks each night after dinner. What's that? Walking can induce labor? Hmmm....I had no idea. Well, I guess that wouldn't be so awful. ;)

Speaking of huge. I can no longer sit in booths at restaurants. I have to sit sideways.

I finally finished the babies' room. For now, anyway. I still want to get these cute light switch and outlet covers that match the bedding and hang some pictures that I have yet to find or buy. I'd also LOVE to put some pictures of them up there. Maybe someday.

Thirty Six Weeks, Zero Days

The picture is from my stress test today. Everything went well, and the charge nurse took this picture of my crazy belly. I also now have PUPPP. From Baby Center:

"PUPPP usually begins in the third trimester and is more common among women carrying twins and those having their first baby. The eruptions usually show up first on the abdomen around or in stretch marks (if you have any(Yeah, I have just a few ;). PUPPP is harmless for you and your baby, but it can itch like crazy! (And it does! I can scratch til I bleed.)"

I also had another doctor's appointment today. At 36 weeks exactly, I am a little over 2 cm dilated and 25% effaced. My goal was 36 weeks, so now that we're here, I'm ready to have these babies! But, I wouldn't mind holding off until Monday (today is Tuesday) because:

1. I want to make sure the babies are a good size, and I don't want to see them with any tubes or
anything else attached to them.

2. We have a Meet the Coaches night for t-ball tomorrow night, and the first practice is
Saturday.

3. Friday, Cars 2 comes out, and we really want to take Elias.

4. Saturday is also a birthday party for Elias that he's been very excited about and that night is
Libby and Josh Barker's wedding reception, and I'd like to go.

5. Finally, if I go into labor on Monday, Steve gets a solid two weeks off work.

Otherwise, the bags are packed, the beds are up, the clothes are washed and put away, the rooms are painted and so on and so on, and we're ready to meet our little men!

Thirty-Five Weeks, Five Days

A lot has happened in these two weeks. I finished painting the babies' room. I still have the bedding to buy and some decorations to put up, but it's looking pretty good (just don't go in the closet). And my feet only turned purple a few times.

We had the baby shower. Amanda did a fantastic job and we had a really good turn out. The weather was nice, not too hot, and the kids had fun. The food was yummy and there wasn't much to clean up afterward.

My mom volunteered to wash all the preemie, newborn, and 0 - 3 month clothes for me, so that rocks. I did get all the bottles washed and put together. After the shower, I went out and got the necessities, so the babies now have car seats to come home in and a bassinet to sleep in, bottles to drink from and some clean clothes to wear.

Elias has made up a song to sing to the babies when they cry. It starts out, "Oh poor babies..."

Daddy got to "play" with the boys for a little while one night. After he would tap on my belly, the boys kicked back. This went on for about ten minutes and was very cute.

Elias found his gift that he gets to open after the babies get here. So now, when people ask if he's excited about the babies, he says, Yes! I get to open my gift when they are born! Nevermind his brothers.

At my last appointment, my fundal height was 42cm. Hopefully this will be the last two week picture I take!

Thirty-Four Weeks, Zero Days

So the contractions have started again. This time, they're pretty far apart. One night, I could barely walk after school and had contractions about every 20 minutes. Daddy was not happy and yelled at me (he really yelled) for still working and doing too much around the house. He also told me that if I ruined his four-day weekend (over Memorial Day), that I would be in big trouble. :)

I had another doctor's appointment. I only gained 1 pound this time which made me feel much better. I am now dilated to 1 1/2 cm. I know...watch out! :) I'm also scheduled to start the baby stress tests once a week. She is going to let me do both appointments in one day, so that will be much better than losing two mornings a week. They last until delivery. She also said that 34 to 36 is good for twins, so after next Tuesday, they will no longer stop labor. I'm hoping to make it to 36 weeks, but after that, I'll be running around the block daily. :) It's crazy and very scary to think that I'll have two babies in the next few weeks and I have NOTHING done for them. I still need to paint their room and wash/organize clothes and bottles and make sure my pump works and find someplace for them to sleep and so on. I am notorious for procrastinating, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me too much.

Fun fact: Public bathrooms are becoming an obstacle. Depending on where I go, I can no longer fit in the stalls where the door folds in unless I stand behind the toilet, which is just gross. The handicap toilets sit up higher anyway. :)

Thirty-One Weeks, Two Days

These two weeks have been pretty quiet. Really only complaints that I'll just keep to myself. :)

The day after I took this picture, we had an ultrasound. The babies looked great. The tech mentioned several times that there wasn't much fluid in there and the babies were really smashed in there. I asked the doctor about the fluid, and she said it was 10 cm and normal is between 5 and 25. Unfortunately, we couldn't get any 3D pictures due to the lack of fluid.

However, we did learn that Brant is measuring a day behind at 3 lbs 9 oz (give or take a pound) and Brax is measuring right on at 3 lbs 11 oz and has hair! They are both head down, locked and loaded....ready to go. Hopefully, they hang in there a few more weeks.

The doctor said that everything looked good...no more dilating. She told me I was disgustingly healthy. I also gained 8 pounds in a week after not gaining anything for 3 weeks. Ugh.

Twenty Nine Weeks, Two Days

Someone is having the hiccups. The first time I only noticed because I put my hand on my belly and could feel them from the outside but not the inside. Now, I can watch my belly go up and down!

We went to a Cub's game at Wrigley field to celebrate our one year anniversary. I was a little worried about the car ride and the walking and the stairs and the sitting, but I went anyway. The car ride was fine...except for my back which always hurts so whatever...we found a man on a bike with a little carriage thing (rickshaw?) to ride us to the stadium from our car...which Elias found extremely exciting...I only had to go up a ramp and down like 8 stairs...and I stood up between every inning and stretched. The only hiccup was the first time the Cubs hit a long ball...which was, I don't know, the very first batter...I stood up too fast and blacked out, started to fall over, caught myself on Steve which then caused him to spill his one and only beer for the day on the girls in front of us. Oops.

So the whole family came in for Easter, and it was so nice to see them all. The topic of discussion for the day: my cankles. Love you all too! :)

Doctor appt. update: I gained more weight. Even the doctor mentioned the jump in my weight when she came in (11 pounds in 2 1/2 weeks). I asked her if I should be concerned and she said it's perfectly normal for twins. My blood count had also dropped which means that I'm now anemic and going on iron supplements. Hopefully that will help with the tiredness. Everything else sounded/looked/measured great!

That was Tuesday...

The Great American ER Tour Continues...
Friday night, I woke up several times with painful pains like I was gonna start my period. The babies weren't moving around very much either. I tried to ignore it for most of the day. But I couldn't do much, the cramps were coming and going and getting stronger, I felt nauseous and a little dizzy, and I was about to cry. So I finally called the doctor who of course sent me directly to labor and delivery. I thought for sure that they'd check my cervix, find it long and closed, monitor me for an hour and send me home. It was such a beautiful day and I didn't want to spend it in the hospital.

So we get to Methodist, they hook me up to all the monitors and everything looks fine...until they check my cervix and find it had opened to 1 cm. The good news is that it's still really thick. So they gave me a steroid shot for the babies' lungs right then and another one 24 hours later.

Once I got moved up to my own room, the monitors were all hooked back up. The babies heart rates were great and they started kicking at the monitors a lot,but I've never had a true, stomach-hardening contraction...even with Elias, so I wasn't surprised when the nurse told me that I was having contractions a couple times a half hour. Also, the cramps were getting worse and worse, so they gave me a shot of Terbutaline to relax my cervix. It made my heart race and I got very shaky, but it finally gave me some relief.

I also got to spend the night. They gave me a sleeping pill, which I was extra excited about...but I still woke up 3 or 4 times. Oh well...the cramps stopped and I was able to get some sleep. Doctor sent me home the next day with instructions of no work for the week, bed rest only the first 2 days, and light movement the rest.

Only when I'm on bed rest does Elias do things like spill an entire cup of chocolate milk on the floor, pee the bed (for the first time in years), fill the family room with little sytrofoam pieces, and throw his hat in the van, which then makes me have to crawl around in the van until I can find it. I was a little worried that I was gonna kill him, but instead, I scheduled his kindergarten shots for tomorrow morning. Payback!

Fun facts: I am now the size I was when Elias was born, and I'm already starting to leak! :)

Twenty Seven Weeks, Two Days

I missed a two-week picture, so you get a whole month's worth of updates in one post. :)

So after I told Steve that I didn't want to bet on the NCAA tourney to name the kids...I won the NCAA tournament! I also won the NIT. Which means, had I not been a huge wimp, I could have won the right to name the babies outright and shut him up. Oh well....at least I won.

I had a small baby shower with people from work. They wanted to have one with just them, at my house, on a weekend night so they could drink. Crazy girls. It was very nice and the babies got some cute clothes and other necessities. We should be having another shower in June that will be a baby shower/housewarming/party at our house. Hopefully I'll at least have the painting done!

We went to Branson, MO for Spring Break. Besides the van breaking down, the wet, rainy weather, Steve recovering from Gall Bladder surgery and me having to go to the ER for wheezing, the week was great! Since I'm pregnant with twins, they immediately sent me to labor and delivery where I got yet another ultrasound. Baby A is now head down and everything else looked fine. After watching for contractions for an hour or so, they sent me on my way. The other fun part of the vacation was having Daddy push me in the wheelchair up and down the steep hills at Silver Dollar City. Elias usually rode along too. And the doctors told him he was supposed to be resting. Psht. Not our soldier.

I had my follow-up Doctor's appointment. The baby has moved off of my cervix. Yay! No more previa and all of my restrictions have been lifted. She also told me that the babies could now survive, but of course, to keep taking it as easy as possible to keep them in there. I also drank my glucose drink which wasn't as bad as I remembered. And my fundal height is now measuring as large as a full term woman for single baby. Fantastic. :)

I guess that could explain why work is getting harder and harder. My back hurts all the time, especially when I'm sitting. But if I stand too long, the pressure is insane. I got a belly band to help hold those babies up. It doesn't help my back all that much, but it does make me potty less, which is worth every penny. I'm still working on painting the kitchen (6 weeks after I started) and the babies' room and playroom are next. I hope I make it!

The babies are kicking like crazy ALL the time. Elias got to feel them finally. He was so excited. He wanted to walk around with his hand on my belly all day. :) Steve says he feels them at night when I'm sleeping too. Maybe they'll tire themselves out now and sleep through the night when they get here. It's possible....right?

Twenty Two Weeks, Four Days

Daddy finally felt the babies move. I won't tell you what he said because it included a cuss word, but he was very excited!

I also had another ultrasound. The babies were head to head and Baby A (Ryne?) is taking up most of the space. The tech said not to worry though because Baby B (Brax) is kicking him in the head. :) Nice to know they're already fighting.

We also got to see Baby A pee. The tech said she's never seen a baby do that. Later we noticed he was drinking it. Both babies are measuring right on time with B 23wks 4 days at 1 lb 5oz and A 23 wks 2 days at 1 lb 3 oz.

Twenty Weeks, Six Days

I went back to the doctor today for my normal visit. Everything was good...heart rates were 160 and 140. I gained ANOTHER three pounds this week. Seriously...if I keep going at this rate, I'll gain another 50 pounds before the babies are born. I did talk to her about feeling dizzy and light headed in the past few days. She just told me to make sure I eat every two hours or so and not to get up too fast. She also said blood sugars can do crazy things when you're pregnant. Don't have to worry about me eating...I think we've figured out that I do plenty of that!

I started feeling the babies move around 15 weeks, but just last night, I finally felt Brax kick on the outside too! I was so excited. However, Steve was already in bed, so he still hasn't felt anything.

On another note, Steve has been complaining lately that he didn't get a chance to pick a name even though he okayed the ones that I picked out. He even tried to bet that the winner of the NCAA bracket tourney got to pick the names. No way. However, if you ask, he'll say he doesn't know what he would want to name the babies...it's only 20 weeks. I can't figure out if he's just trying to cause trouble or if he's really going to put an effort into being a pain in the neck. :)

Final thought: the picture of me is in front of our new fireplace in our new house!

Doctor's Visit

I called the doctor today because I was feeling a ton of extra pressure after moving into the new house (yay!) all weekend. Good news: everything was fine. She said I have a case of the twins. Bad news: I gained 8 pounds in 3 weeks!

Eighteen Weeks, Four Days

Wow...the difference a month makes! I'm officially due in 5 months. The babies are kicking around in there a lot now. Still not strong enough for Steve or Elias to feel, but I love it! Sometimes I forget that I'm pregnant, and it takes me a minute to figure out what I'm feeling when they kick. Crazy, I know.

I finally gave my maternity leave notice at work. I'm hoping to work until the end of April which would put me around 29 weeks and come back in September. They kept hounding me about submitting my letter, so I just guessed. I can't figure out if they're worried about getting a good replacement or anxious to get me out of there. :)

We also went ahead a bought the cribs. I didn't really want to buy anything until at least 20 weeks, but I found such a good deal on them. I got two of the same, since we're gonna try the share a room thing, for less than the cost of one normally. Oh, and I ordered the valance for the bedding set so I could pick out a paint color. Just the valance though!

Sixteen Weeks, Six Days

Today was a big day with our ultrasound and doctor's appointment. After the ultrasound, I headed in to the doctor's office. Nothing too much...just weighed and measured me. My fundal height was 20 cm which is the normal size of a 20 weeker, so not too bad for having two in there. The smaller I can healthily stay, the longer I can work and stay off of bed rest, or so I hope. I do eat all the time...about every 2 hours. And I've been feeling little pokes and such since about 15 weeks. Other than that, I feel great, sleep terribly, but still seem to have a good amount of energy. Now if we could just talk that baby into moving off of my cervix...

Oh yeah...Elias insisted being in on the picture this time. Watch out...he's lasering you!

Telling the World

So after the ultrasound, I went shopping for outfits. I wanted a fun way to tell the world that we were having two boys. So I bought the outfits after tons of looking...cute boys' clothes are so hard to find...we invited Steve's parents (mine couldn't make it) out to dinner. I had Elias pull out the outfits one at a time and tell them the names we (I) picked out.
Later that night, I sent out a four part text to everyone else. First one said something about the fact that we had the ultrasound and I went shopping after. The next one was a picture of the outfit and Brant Douglas' name. The third one was the second outfit and Brax Robert's name. The last one pretty much just wrapped up that there we saw two healthy boys!

I've had lots of questions about the names. Brant just sorta came to me as Elias, Steve and I were driving down to Bloomington one day for a football game and we were discussing names. Douglas is the name of Steve's older brother who died when Doug was five. Braxton is a name I see a lot floating around on the baby boards, but I didn't think it sounded good with our last name, so I dumped the end of it. Robert is Steve and his dad's middle name and Steve's grandpa's name. Of course, now Steve likes to tease me about the names. He wants to name one Ryne and the other Sandberg. Jokingly, I hope. Well, either way, it doesn't matter...

Two Boys!

We had our ultrasound today. Steve got off work, but no Elias this time. The ultrasound tech told us that she was going to do all the measurements first and then the fun stuff, but one of the boys (Baby B aka Brax) was sitting spread eagle and didn't require any "looking." Steve threw his hands up in excitement. After we found out that we had one boy, I was okay with Baby A being either. He took a little work but we finally saw his goods too. The tech wasn't allowed to tell me, but I saw her write Placenta and Cervix right on top of each other meaning that Baby A (aka Brant) is still sitting right on my cervix.

I am 16 weeks, 6 days. I was a little worried because I haven't gotten much bigger lately. Even the ultrasound tech (who weighed no more than 100 pounds) mentioned right away that I looked small for having twins. But both babies measured at 17 weeks, 1 day and were 6 oz each. We got some pictures...she said both of their eyes were opened which just creeps me out and makes them look even more like aliens. But the profile pics are cute! The babies were laying head to head...hopefully being nice to each other.