Nana's Noodles

We love our Nana and so do mom and dad! Oh my...what would we do right now without the help of Nana? Nana is burning her candle at both ends as well to help us out right now. Laundry, cleaning, cooking, nap time for Roger and I, driving us to doctors appointments, emotional support...you name it, she does it! We can't thank her enough!

We do have hair!!!

Too cute not to post...check out Emmet's hands

Our first picture at home

Our first close-up

At the hospital with daddy

We love our daddy!!!

We've arrived!!

Welcome our beautiful babies!!!!!

Ada Lee (on right) was born via vaginal birth on March 20th at 2:38pm. She was
5 lbs 8 oz and 19 inches long.

Emmet Lee (on left) was born via c-section on March 20th at 2:57pm. He was 5 lbs 9 oz and 19 inches long.

My (Ada's) water broke around 5:15am on Monday morning. I received an epidural around 10:30ish and started pushing at 12:00pm. Emmet turned transverse again once Ada was delivered. The docs worked so hard to try to turn him from outside my belly. Once they had him breech they worked to get a hold of both of his legs but were unable. It was decided a c-section was in his best interest. They cranked up the epidural but I was still feeling pinching...Emmet's water broke at this point and they wanted him out NOW - so I was put under general anesthesia at that point. Not the way I imagined my labor and the birth of these two happening but they are here safe and healthy and that's all that matters.

That first day after they were born was difficult as I was on IV pain meds, drugged up and yet still in pain. Each day continues to get easier and I'm feeling better. I'm working on weening myself off of the oral pain meds and hope that by mid-week or end of this week I will be on Ibuprofen only. We were discharged on Friday and are so happy to be home! We are utterly exhausted trying to get breast feeding up and running...they are eating about every 3 hours now but sometimes it takes 2 hours to complete the feed. That means one hour in between feeds for mom and dad to sleep. We've had some awesome help from the family. Nana and Doug came today and after stock piling some breast milk Roger and I were able to sleep for 3 hours straight!!!! Ahhhh!

Ada and Emmet are doing well. We had a doctors appointment yesterday and today and will have another one on Tuesday. They are concerned about their weights at this point as they both had not started gaining yet and keep losing. Yesterday we found out that Ada had put on 2 oz but Emmet had lost 2 oz. So, we increased the formula supplementing and Emmet put the 2 oz back on today. Our goal is to have them gain weight right now!

I will attempt to post some more pictures and updates, although I can barely see straight at the moment so it may be a little while. Thank you too all of you for your support, prayers, cards and love! We are so happy they are finally here and as exhausted as we are we are loving every minute of it! We often find ourselves just staring at these two beautiful bundles in awe...are they really ours? It's such an amazing feeling! We are absolutely in love!!!!

I forgot

I can't believe I forgot to post this yesterday!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!
and
HAPPY 35 WEEKS!!!

Hello again, hello....still here! Just a quick update...
Saw OB yesterday. The appointment was fairly uneventful. Heartrates were good and strong. He said that I can stop taking the Nifedipine this weekend. If I don't go into labor on my own within the next week we will schedule a date for induction. Hard to believe I would need to be induced after all of this - but that would be my luck! So, next week we will have a date for sure. The end is in sight - I'm guessing no more than 3 - 3 1/2 weeks.

Had a visit from some co-workers today - Jenny T and Andrea. Andrea brought her little man, Thor. What a cutie! Holding him made me want mine to be here now! It was great to have the company.

Roger and I (mostly Roger) have put together both strollers and the nursery is pretty much good to go. One of these days I'll take some pictures!

Time for dinner! Thanks for the support to EVERYONE!!!

Still cookin'

We're still cookin' and we are now 34 weeks and 3 days! I'm so happy to have made this milestone for several reasons. The chance of these two being healthy and needing very little hospital care after delivery at this point is good. For me, the end is in sight - I know that within the next 3-4 weeks I will no longer be pregnant and we will finally be able to meet these two monsters that have been making me so miserable for quite some time!

My birthday dinner was fabulous! Mom, Doug, Greg, Gina, Roger and I went to Fitch's and had some yummy food! It was great to get out of the house and feel like a normal person (as normal as possible being this large) again, make my own decisions etc. After dinner we all came back to our place for some mom-made chocolate cake with chocolate frosting! It was a great night!

As impossible as this seemed 3 weeks ago, I am sleeping worse than ever! I thought it was bad getting up to pee every 1-2 hours...every 30 minutes is something else all together! I keep trying to remind myself that this will all be over soon enough and I'll have a whole new list of complaints and probably about the same amount of sleep! There is a whole list of "I can't wait for" that I won't bother to list here but let's just say I think about them EVERY day! I see the OB tomorrow and hope to get the plan for the next several weeks...we shall see!

What a little sunshine will do!

It never ceases to amaze me....the way that first nice day can make you feel so ALIVE!!! The sun was shining bright today with blue skies and those white whispy clouds! I actually ventured outside to get the mail today and let the dog out! If I could handle standing for more than 5 minutes I would have stood in the driveway all afternoon. I know it was probably only about 50 degrees but as most Wisconsinites know, that first 50 degree day can feel like it's actually 70 degrees! I sat outside on the patio in the sunshine for a while with the dog. Gina came over and played frisbee with Matdie, who was ever so excited! Then as the sun poured into the living room, over the couch, I read a book while basking in the sun with the patio door open. It was heaven!!!! This is one of the best and worst things about March in Wisconsin...we always get to experience a few really beautiful days but you can also expect snow and cold within the next week! The Spring Fever is really kicking in. I even found myself inspecting the plants to see if anything was sprouting...silly I know! I'm looking forward to the warmer weather, taking walks with our new babies and the dog, enjoying the sunshine! Can't wait!

After a long night of contractions (that eventually slowed down - of course) I was finally able to get some sleep around 6:30am. I also napped this afternoon...what else is there to do?? We had an appointment with our OB today. Once again, he was surprised to see us...still pregnant. He even mentioned that pretty soon we'll have to start discussing when to schedule inducing me if I keep going like this! He's still pretty certain that I'm going to deliver any day now though. He was very happy with the weights and positions of the babies. I was given permission to go out to dinner this weekend for my birthday - the BIG 30!!! I'll probably be so exhausted by the time I get there that I'll want to get take out! Roger and I even stopped for ice cream after the appointment. YUM!
So - one more day and we make the next big milestone of 34 weeks!! Yahoo!

Good News

We had our ultrasound this morning. We didn't get the level of detail that we have in the past because they are just so scrunched in there it's hard to see much. We did find out that both babies are head down. They are kind of stacked on top of eachother so I still have quite a bit of pressure down low and pressure up top in my lungs and ribs. We are happy both are head down as this SHOULD make for an easier vaginal delivery. We also found out that our little lady is measuring 5 lbs 7 oz and little man is measuring 5 lbs. We were VERY happy with the weights! Of course these are just approximate but it gives us a good idea of how big they are! This also means that I now have almost 11lbs of babies in me...no wonder I feel like a whale! Tomorrow we see our OB...I'm expecting an uneventful appointment. My rash is SLOWLY getting better and I continue to be pretty itchy so I'll ask about that. We will just continue to wait now! So, that's it for now. We'll continue to keep you all posted!!!

So, I reluctantly decided to put some new pictures up. People keep telling me to take pictures and I think "Of what? This giganto body? YUCK" I am assured that eventually I will want to look back at all of this. I can't imagine that right now but I have decided to play along.

Last week my uterus was measuring 42 weeks. So, this means that if I were carrying one baby I would be 2 weeks over due. I told my OB that I feel like I'm 2 weeks over due.

Time to go help organize the nursery!

Torture Test..can ya stand it?

A little blurry, but that's probably a good thing! Believe it or not, this sweater used to be HUGE on me!

Is that really me?

I can barely stand to look at myself and attempted to some how crop my face out of the picture but I can't figure it out. My apologies!

Here we go again!

Well, as usual as soon as I open my mouth.....
Contractions started up again yesterday evening but seemed to have calmed down by the time I went to bed. They did however wake me up in the middle of the night and by 3:45am they were close enough together (every 10 minutes) that I started paying attention. They were more painful than I'm used to also. By 5am they were about 5 minutes apart and felt stronger. We waited until about 6am and then decided to call. Another trip to the hospital! Heartrates were good for both babies and I continued to have contractions. They checked my cervix and found that it was unchanged - still just under 3cm dialated and 75% effaced. They monitored me for about an hour and checked again, still no change but contractions continued and were fairly strong. They gave me a shot of Terbutaline to attempt to stop the contractions and waited another hour. The contractions didn't stop but there still was no change to my cervix. They gave me the option of staying or going home, which of course we chose to go home - those beds are so uncomfortable! Things slowed down significantly this afternoon although seem to be picking up again tonight. We were informed again that once labor starts again they won't do anything to stop it. We've tried every intervention - Magnesium, Nifedipine, Terbutaline. Both the doctor and the nurse said they fully expected to see us again tonight or within the next couple of days. We'll see. Keep sending prayers and good thoughts our way, meanwhile I'll be on the couch!

Still Cookin'

We're still here! I just haven't had the energy to post lately! Sorry if I caused any alarm! I'll try to recap what's gone on since the last post! Oh, and Happy 33 weeks!

Since increasing the Nifedipine and finishing the meds for the UTI, the contractions have slowed down significantly. Because I don't have enough to contend with at the moment, I have developed a nasty rash. I had some blood work done to rule out some rashes that can pose problems - results came back normal, however the rash has since taken over my body! Not only is it rather ugly looking, the intensity of the itch it produces is horrendous. I was using Benadryl cream while it was still just on my tummy and then switched to oral Benadryl after it became impossible to apply that much cream to almost my entire body. Neither worked very well. Last night I reached the end of my rope and decided to call the doctor today to say "I'M GOING TO LITERALLY LOSE MY MIND UNLESS YOU DO SOMETHING". So after a visit to the clinic I have now been given Prednisone (spelling?), which should clear it up within a few days. "It" by the way is a rash called PUPPP. Don't ask me what it stands for, all I know is that it is pregnancy related and will not entirely go away until I deliver. I'm looking forward to getting some sleep again...wait, I wasn't sleeping before this rash either! My OB again stated that I could deliver "any day now". I laughed and told him that he keeps saying that and yet, here I am - STILL pregnant.

Now, to fill you all in I have become completely miserable within the last week and even though I ultimately want these two to stay inside for at least another 3 weeks....I AM SO DONE WITH THIS!!!!!

On a brighter note...we had a wonderful shower with family and friends last Saturday! Greg and Gina opened their house for everyone so I only had to walk next door and even though carrying this @%^ lb body around is a chore, it was nice to get some fresh air! We had a great time and received many generous gifts...it's amazing really! I was exhausted afterwards from all the activity!

On Monday Andee brought her little Diego and Erin brought Eileen and Olivia over for lunch. It was such a treat to spend some time with my bestest friends and their kids - this doesn't happen nearly enough as we all live in different places now. I find myself wishing for the "old days" when we used to see eachother several times a week. Sniff, sniff...it's just the hormones, really!

On Tuesday two of my co-workers came for a visit. Sue brought some of her famous baked goods, which I have been missing since being stuck here at home. Jenny T. brought a bag full of goodies - books, movies and stamps! We chatted for a while about work and I felt like a normal person for a little while!

We (and by we I really mean Roger) have been working hard on getting the nursery all set to go. Mom (soon to be Nana) came over on Wednesday to help with some of the organizing, laundry and put together the swing! I enjoyed the company and wished I could help more than just sitting in a chair and folding laundry. The nursery is looking great and perhaps I'll even get a picture posted here eventually!

We have an ultrasound next Tuesday and another doctors appointment next Wednesday. We are hoping the babies are close to weighing 5 lbs. and are anxious to see them! Can't believe it's been a month since our last ultrasound already!

So! That should about bring us up to date. Thank you all for the support, prayers, phone calls and emails!!! Have a great weekend!

Maybe we should just book a permanent room

I have a feeling this will become a recurring theme until these two show up. Contractions started at 2am this morning...every 10 minutes. I stayed in bed hoping they would stop. Because my contractions seem to have fun for several hours and then poop out Roger and I decided to just wait them out. By 6am though we decided 4 hours was enough and called the doctor. Of course they wanted us to come him. We gathered everything up just in case. We arrived in triage, got all hooked up and I had 1 contraction and then 2 TINY ones and then nothing. They checked my cervix, which is dialated to just under 3cm, very soft and a little more than 50% effaced - and our little lady is way down in my pelvis but I cannot remember what station she said I was. Now, ultimately we are very happy that the babies are still cookin'...however, the frustration and exhaustion of being on edge constantly is well, not a whole lot of fun. I found out later this afternoon that I now have a urinary tract infection. My nightstand is covered with bottles and medications, ointments, tums etc. When it rains it pours.

So - we came home, tired and crabby. Dad was very generous and allowed Roger to take the rest of the day off so he could catch up on the sleep, which is exactly what we did.

So, as much as I try to be cheery and bright with the news...today is just not one of those days!

Another day down. I'm counting down the days until we hit that next big milestone (32 weeks) which will happen on Friday. Contractions were very few today but have picked up this evening, not a lot at this point but enough that I'm writing them down. UGH! My itchy belly has turned into some sort of rash and I told Roger last night that he was going to need to tape mittens on my hands so I would leave it alone...his reply was; "we are SO not doing this ever again!" Gotta laugh. If it's not one thing it's another!

Two of my coworkers came to visit today, which was SO wonderful. It was good to get caught up, get the scoop about work related issues etc. They also brought all the Valentine cards from the students, which are always fun to look at...I like the chocolate that comes along with them too!

In my mushiness last night I forgot to mention that another twin mommy who has been such an incredible support to me came to drop off a big box of clothes yesterday. She's been wonderful and has openly and honestly answered all of my crazy questions. She has twin boys who are just BEAUTIFUL!!! Honestly, they are so cute!

The hand-me-downs I've been receiving from friends and family are amazing! I've been told that babies go through 3-4 outfits per day....they will definitely come in handy!

Okay, time to lay down for real now. Till tomorrow!