December 30

I can't believe this year is almost over! I also can't believe the twins will be 4 weeks old tomorrow! My how time flies. Our Christmas was great. Lots of family, food, and gifts. The twins were fairly quiet although that is over for us at home. Today there was at least one baby crying for about 5 hours straight. I guess they are both colicky which I'm trying to read about and figure out how we can get through it. So far, Dr. Harvey Karp's book told us to try the 5 S's, which David seems to be an expert at: Swaddling, side-lying, Shh-shhing, swinging, and sucking. This definitely worked tonight when they were just a little fussy. I want to see if it works when they are screaming. He claims it will work like an off switch for the baby. If that's true, I hope he's a very rich man. I laugh when I think of the days when I thought having one infant was so hard. Having twins is more time consuming than I ever imagined. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I have to go back to work. How do parents spend enough time with all their kids? I'm sure we'll survive, but I certainly can't wait until summer!!!

Cole's 4th Birthday!

December 6, 2010

The boys are here!!!!! They arrived December 3, as planned. David and I got up and got to the hospital at 5:30 that morning (ok, maybe 5:45). Dr. Hix told me we were the planning to be the first c-section that morning and I think he was right.

We really didn't have to wait too long and by 7:43 am, we welcomed Taylor Hubbard aka Baby A into the world he came out crying and weighed 6lbs. 6oz. Brayden Scott joined us two minutes later (Baby B) and weighed 6lbs. 8oz.


It is really hard to describe and it's amazing to me but I don't think I've ever felt more relief in my whole life, as I did when he pulled Brayden out from on top of my ribs. I had a spinal, so of course I felt no pain, but I could feel him pull the babies out and as soon as Brayden came out, I could breathe, after not being able to breathe well for several months. And the babies were perfect! Lungs were developed and they got to come to the room with us as soon as the were cleaned and weighed and such. They did have to go under the warmers for a little while that evening, just because their body temp had gone below where they wanted it to. It made me nervous, but the nurse said it was perfectly normal and she was right. Personally, I think the hospital room was just really cold and we never could get it to warm up.

I got to go home yesterday, even after a few blood pressure issues. They said it was related to just having twins, but given my family history, it's definitely something I want to stay on top of. We got home around noon, then we went to JumpZone for Cole's 4th birthday party. I really just sat while everyone else served food and such. I was just so happy to see Cole. I wasn't going to miss his party for anything.
The first night home was surprisingly good. David stayed up with them first. Then I got up for a few hours, then my mom took over after that. We are very lucky to have her help. She cooks and does our laundry, as well as taking care of the babies. She is definitely helping in my recovery process.

December 1, 2010

Well, unfortunately for the blog, I missed posting anything the month of November. That really is because it was such an uncomfortable month for me. I didn't want to do anything except lay down or sleep. But it was actually more uncomfortable to be laying down and I couldn't sleep for more than an hour or two at a time before I either had to go to the bathroom or my hips started hurting too badly for me to keep laying down. I really was lucky, though, that the worst symptoms didn't appear until the very last month. I didn't even have major swelling until last week. It was like, I ate turkey and stuffing for thanksgiving and it never left my feet and ankles! It was quite an eventful month, though. Right around Halloween, I went in for a routine visit and the doctor said from now on I needed to get weekly NST's or Non-Stress Tests. Basically, I had to go to the ER in the women's hospital and get hooked up to the fetal monitors to make sure the babies were not under any stress. It was difficult because I had to lay on my back in whatever position they could find the babies heartbeat in and stay there until they got the reading. They had to have around 20 straight minutes of readings from the babies, which meant if one of the babies moved, they'd have to come in and rearrange the monitor and start over. It usually became about an hour long process, sometimes more. Anyway, this first time I had to get the NST, they also found out I was having contractions around every 4 minutes! They decided to admit me into the hospital to monitor me and the contractions. I was totally unprepared for this, of course, and was terrified the babies were coming that night. I was only 32 weeks at this time and I knew that meant the babies would have to go to the NICU. Luckily, the contractions were first slowed with medication and then, eventually, they slowed on their own. They never did completely go away, but the doctor said I will probably just have irregular contractions until I give birth. Great! This also meant they wanted me to stop working immediately! I had not finished my P/T conferences and wanted to work one more week to get things organized and to prepare the students. Unfortunately, I had to be done and that was that. So, I spent November at home, sleeping, watching the baby shows on TLC and eating. Dr.Hix decided the c-section date would be December 3, if I made it that far. I didn't think there was a chance in the world I would go that long and actually in the middle of November, when I thought my uterus was just going to fall out of me and was more uncomfortable than I'd been in my life, I even tried to convince him that he needed to deliver the babies then. It didn't work. And surprisingly, here we are now, two days away from what I've been calling "C day!" I'm so excited and anxious at the same time. I will be delivering at 37 and a half weeks, which is pretty uncommon for twins. I'm thrilled both babies are over 6 pounds, so they should be healthy enough to avoid the nicu, I hope anyway!

October 21, 2010

So, this morning, I was getting dressed. I had on my bra and jeans, but no top yet. Cole came in and his eyes got big and said, "Whoa, Mommy! Your belly is REALLY big!" and he just giggled. I said, "I know, remember, I have two babies in there." He said, "I want it to get bigger!" Then his little eyes wandered above my belly and said, "Wow, Mommy! Your muscles have gotten a lot bigger, too!" "Yes, Cole," I said, "My "muscles" have grown, too, haven't they?" :)

October 7, 2010

I am starting this blog to post about my last few weeks of pregnancy with twin boys. It has been quite a rollercoaster since we first found out we were having twins in April. I was quite surprised when I took the pregnancy test and it came up very positive. When I got pregnant with Cole and took the test, the line was very faint and I wasn't sure I was pregnant. This was a definite plus sign. We had just moved into our new house, so there was a lot to be done but I had never been so tired in my life. Then we had the first ultrasound, I think about seven weeks into the pregnancy. Dr. Hix came in joking, saying, okay, let's just see how many babies we can find! Ha, ha, I said. But then we were all surprised when he really did find 2 babies! He said he could only see one sac, with no dividing membrane, but to come back for another ultrasound further into the pregnancy. Having miscarried two years before that, I think I was scared to even get too excited about the babies. And then with the whole sac issue that I didn't even completely understand, it was just too much for me to deal with, so I was in denial for awhile.
The sac issue was an issue for the first six months of the pregnancy, off and on. I'll write more about it later, but everything is good now. The babies are in their own sacs and are getting plenty of nutrients! The both are weighing in around 3 lbs. and I still have several weeks to go. I took the day off today because I have not gotten a full nights sleep in too many days to count and I was having what I think were contractions last night. I decided it would be best for me to take it easy now, so as to avoid bedrest for as long as I can. Maybe if I take it easy and just slow down, bedrest won't be necessary or necessary as soon... who knows. I am still pretty tired and am hopeful for a good nights sleep tonight. We'll see!!!