Thursday, October 30, 2008

YAY for gaining weight!

So for those of you who thought I was talking about myself...you're crazy! I'm talking about the girls! But for the curious, I am currently about 9 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. I never did gain the 40 pounds that Dr. L wanted me to gain. I think I maxed out right around 33. But I sure gave it a valiant effort!! I drank more Ensure and Carnation Instant Breakfast than I ever care to look at ever again. Which just may have contributed to why the babies were as big as they were.

Anyway, the girls got weighed again yesterday and the results were AWESOME! Adalyn is now officially above her birth weight. She weighed 6# 3oz. That is a total gain of eight ounces in six days. And Alivia now weighs 6# 10oz. So she gained nine ounces in six days. I am so proud of them!! We will still be headed back to the pedi next week for one final weight check.

Oh boy, gotta go. Got some crying babies on my hands! Sorry no pictures today!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Another week has flown by

Yup. Another week is in the books.

On Wednesday, we took the girls to ultrasound to visit with Paula. She not only had a gift for the babies, but she made us dinner! And the receptionist also gave us a gift and made us banana bread and cookies! Nate and I are so amazed at the generosity of people.

Then on Thursday, the babies had a weight check at the pedi's office. Adalyn gained an ounce and was up to 5#11oz. Unfortunately, Alivia lost an ounce and was down to 6#1oz. So guess what that means? Well, we'll be headed back to the pedi's office on Wednesday for yet another weight check. And here I thought I would go through withdrawal with not having to go to the clinic every week!!

Otherwise, we're doing well. The babies are little crankheads between the hours of 11pm and 5am, but because they're so gosh darn cute, we forgive them!
Yes, we wear our pants like old men.

Deer in headlights. (Alivia)

Such a sleepy-head. (Adalyn)

Resting with mom. And no, I am not sleeping.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Has it been a week already?

Where has the time gone? Mommy woke up this morning with tears in her eyes. I was up at about 6:45am and realized that in just 20 minutes, my first child was born one week ago. And of course, followed by her younger sister just 28 minutes later. I can't believe it has been a week already. I just want time to stop until I am ready to move on to the next stage.

The girls are excellent. We had a lactation appointment on Friday, and afterwards, we ran into Dr L in the hallway. She wanted to hold both babies right away...so of course we let her. Then we migrated down to ultrasound to see Paula. She was so shocked to see us because she had actually called L&D over the weekend to see if we had checked in!! Of course, we had checked in very late on Sunday night, so we fooled her. Anyway, she told us that she has a gift for the babies and wants us to stop back in this week to get it. She is the ONLY person who knew what sexes she was buying for before the girls arrived. Everyone has been so fabulous to us and the babies during this entire pregnancy.

We had a pediatrician appointment today. Alivia weighed 6#15oz at birth and now weighs 6#2oz (up from her lowest weight of 6 pounds even). Adalyn was 6#0oz at birth and now weighs 5#10oz (up from her lowest of 5 pounds 5 ounces). We have to go back to the pediatrician on Thursday for another weight check because the girls fell below 10% of their original body weight. So Dr K just wants to make sure that they continue on the upward swing. They are eating so much better though in the past few days, so I am confident that they will continue to gain weight and become our chunky little monkeys! But Dr K did say that we have some TALL, SKINNY babies. I told Nate that they definitely sound like basketball players. But he still thinks he's going to make them into swimmers. We'll see.

We're still trying to adjust to life with 2 newborns. We have had either my parents or Nate's parents here every night so far. What lifesavers!! But we know the day is coming when we are going to have to make it on our own...and I think we're rather petrified of the idea! Right now we are running a zone defense (yes, a basketball analogy). Once our help is gone, it will be down to man to man. And if I have to go to an appt or Nate needs to run up town, well, then we're outnumbered.

Our little praying ladies. Adalyn and then Alivia.

Eyes wide open (Adalyn). This is for uncle Jason who doesn't think they ever open their eyes!

More eyes! (Alivia)

Getting ready for our first family walk.

Look at those long legs!

One of our only decent family photos. We're going to have to work on this!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

October 13, 2008......

....we welcomed our two PRECIOUS babies into this world.

At 7:05am, Baby A arrived weighing 6 pounds even, and was a little GIRL! Miss Adalyn Jean.

Twenty-eight minutes later, at 7:33am, Baby B arrived weighing 6 pounds 15 ounces, and was another little GIRL!! Miss Alivia Mae.

Everyone made it through delivery just fine. Both girls were extremely healthy and did not require any time in the NICU! How fantastic and amazing is that? After all of this time worrying about their health, they came home with us just 2 days after delivery.

There will be more updates to come. But for now, mom and dad are trying to get their rest and settle into a routine caring for 2 newborns. Last night (our first night home) was pretty rough, but we are hanging in there.

Adalyn is in purple. Alivia in green.


Alivia

Adalyn
The girls getting ready to go home. Adalyn in dark pink. Alivia in light pink.

WE'RE HOME!!!!

Adalyn

Alivia

Friday, October 10, 2008

Let the swelling begin

Still here. Still pregnant. Oh yes, and still huge!

I've started to swell a bit in the past couple of days. It's not terrible. Just enough to make my ankles and feet uncomfortable when I jam them into shoes.

I've also started to feel "off" in the past few days. So I'm thinking that it's not much longer now. But what the heck do I know...the babies have had everyone fooled for weeks! They are very much on their own agenda. So as much as I may feel as though delivery could be just hours or a couple days away, my motherly instinct has sucked!

However, the exit out has dilated to 3cm now. And my belly has essentially become one big contraction that won't go away. It's constantly rock solid. Dr L agreed that it's going to be very difficult for me to determine when I start experiencing regular contractions because of my "solidness," so I'm going to have to rely on other signs. Great. For those of you who don't like labor talk, just skip to the next paragraph (i.e. don't read any further).......she even said that it might be hard to tell if my water breaks because Baby A is so low that its head will just act like a cork! Again, great. So how exactly am I supposed to know if I am in labor? I can't rely on contractions. I can't rely on knowing if my water breaks, etc. She said we should definitely know I'm in labor if we see HAIR!! Haha. Ok, funny but not. So we just wait.

Anyway, for those of you who prayed to keep these little ones in place weeks ago...I think you may have prayed a tad too hard! Just kidding. I do appreciate the prayers to get them this far. But now start praying that they make their grand entrance...soon!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Still no babies

Can you believe it?? I really don't even have much to say. My appt today was rather disappointing. My body is screaming to be done.

The belly is getting massive. I am measuring as though I am 45 1/2 weeks pregnant! That's 5+ weeks overdue if I was carrying one baby! Or 9 weeks further along than I really am. Dr L was absolutely shocked that I am still pregnant. She thought I would have for surely delivered while she was on vacation. And I thought so too. But here I am. Still pregnant. Talk about two stubborn babies!

Dr L actually has me coming back on Friday. I'm not exactly sure why because I didn't exactly ask. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, but I'm hoping that if I have progressed any further, she will admit me and help the process along.

Since I stopped the terbutaline on Saturday, I have been contracting every 4-5 minutes. So for over 72 hours now. Unfortunately, they are not terribly painful...yes, I WANT them to be painful because I know that's the only way this is all going to end. And they're not getting any closer either. I've gotten very little (if any) sleep during this time, which in the end, makes everything a lot harder to deal with. I seriously think I am going to get MORE sleep after the babies are here. I'm only getting about an hour a night right now. But I'm still trucking along. Despite my miseries, I am ever so grateful to have made it this far.

So really, there isn't much to report. The only thing I really know for sure is that these babies will NOT reside in their mobile home longer than 11 more days. Eviction day is still no further away than October 18th.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

We're at 36 weeks ghouls and guys

Which pumpkin does not belong??



So yes, it is only October 4th. And maybe we're a little anxious for Halloween to come. But can you blame us? By then, we know our two little pumpkins will be here! And we wanted to actually do something fun now that I am off of bedrest.

Speaking of which. We left the house at 12:01 this morning to go to Perkin's for dinner. Or breakfast. Whatever way you want to look at it. I felt like a kid in a candy store...riding in the car, down a brightly lit street, completely wide-eyed, taking in all the "new" sights. Wow. That sounds really pathetic. But it's oh so true!

Friday, October 3, 2008

11 pounds

That's how much the babies' combined weight is estimated to be. Baby A is estimated at 5#4oz and Baby B is estimated at 5#12oz. As always, "A" is sooo low that it was impossible to get an accurate head measurement. In fact, Baby A is so far down in the birth canal that Paula actually said "I'm surprised that this baby hasn't shot out of you yet! Or just fallen out!" And yes, I think everyone is surprised.

Paula gave both Nate and me a big hug before we left and made us promise that we would bring the babies in to see her. She is the only one who knows what the sexes are. And she has been fantastic at not letting it slip! She actually told us that she would love to be a little fly on the wall during the delivery so she could see our reactions.

In other news, I don't think I ever mentioned this, but the babies have become hiccup kings/queens! At least 4-5 times a day for about the last six weeks, each baby will take its turn getting the hiccups for at least 10 minutes. In fact, Baby B just started up again as we speak. It will be really interesting to see if they hiccup a lot when they are born.

Tomorrow marks 36 weeks, which was my ultimate goal from the very beginning. And I will officially be off of bedrest...after 67 long days. Otherwise, I'm still hanging in there, as miserable as I am. The babies just don't know that a green light means GO!!!