twins birth story

This is a long post but lacks much detail. I already wrote the entire birth story in my own journal so this is the condensed version.

I was admitted to the hospital on December 2 at 11:45pm after several hours of back labor. I was almost sent home since the contractions weren't strong enough, but "luckily" I broke out in a fever and had to deliver the girls via emergency c-section. We were already planning a c-section since both girls were breech or head up, but the plan wasn't until later in December.

This picture was taken around 2:45am on December 3. I'm waving goodbye to Logan before being wheeled to the operating room to get my spinal block. Logan couldn't come in until I was completely prepped and ready for surgery. To say I was nervous in the picture below would be an understatement!

The spinal block and c-section were much less scary than I thought they would be. The doctors did an amazing job and we had the best nurses. There were 13 people total in the operating room. Each twin had to have their own doctor and their own team of nurses, plus the anesthesiologist, me and Logan. It was a full house!

The girls were born 1 minute apart at 3:09am and 3:10am on December 3, 2013. It was crazy to hear their cries within minutes on being sliced open ;) The girls were very good size for being born at 35 weeks and the doctors couldn't believe I had that much "baby" and fluid in me. They pulled out 2 liters of fluid besides the babies. I honestly don't know how I had that much in me!

Nora was born first, weighing in at 6lbs 1oz.

Reagan was born second, weighing in at 5lbs 3oz.

Nora was born with an infection and was put on antibiotics for 1 week. Nora was also put on oxygen because she was having a hard time keeping her blood oxygen level up on her own. Both girls were admitted to the NICU since they were small and had trouble eating on their own.

Logan went with the nurses down to the NICU after the girls were born and got to see the girls for a little while. At this point it was around 4am. I was sent to a recovery room and less than an hour later I was taken to my room on the mother/baby level of the hospital.

I fell asleep because I was still highly medicated and woke up around 9am, anxious to hold my girls!

I wasn't able to go until I was able to get myself up and into a wheelchair with help. Thankfully I had good motivation to get up! It only took 30 mins or so and I was in a wheelchair :)

Here I am holding Reagan for the first time.

And then Nora for the first time.

That was probably the most amazing feeling in the whole world. I was still quite drugged up, but I had a huge rush of emotion poor over me and I was overwhelmed with love.

We were told the girls would be in the NICU for appx 2 weeks. We were not too thrilled about this, especially cause we knew I'd only be in the hospital for 4 days. We did not want to leave our girls there and go home without them. But we knew it was necessary because they needed to grow and be strong enough to come home with us.

These girls sure love eachother, look at Reagan's (right) grin!

Logan is already the best dad, he loves his girls more than anything.

Being in the NICU for 2 weeks was a bit of a struggle. My mom would drive me to the hospital for their 11am feeding and I stayed at the hospital til about 3pm to help with feedings and to hold them. Then we'd go home and have dinner. After dinner, Logan and I would go back from about 7-9pm. I felt like I lived at the hospital!

Nora was on oxygen for 2 solid weeks. The nurses tried each day to take her off it, some days she could go 1 hour without it and other days she could only go 5 minutes. They told us to just expect her to go home with oxygen. This was a daunting thought but if that meant she could be home with us we were willing to do it.

On Sunday December 15 we got a call from the girls pediatrician saying that Reagan was ready to come home. This call was bittersweet for us. We were thrilled to have Reagan come home, but were sick at the thought of leaving Nora there alone. I couldn't imagine leaving her there by herself with Reagan happily resting at home. The doctor said that our insurance wouldn't let us leave Reagan there longer than needed, so we had to just deal with the situation.

Reagan came home and we were so happy. She had a rough couple nights without her sister, we could tell she felt like someone was missing. She wouldn't let us put her down, I ended up having my hand on her chest all night so she could sleep.

On Monday, December 16, Nora made huge progress. She had pulled out her oxygen tube over night and the nurses didn't notice because her oxygen level was at 100% without it. She ended up going off oxygen cold turkey. We feel it was a miracle because the stress of having her on oxygen would have made having 2 babies at home that much harder. Such a blessing. She also took all her feeding on her own without needing a feeding tube, it's like she knew she was alone and had to work hard to get home to her sister. As heart wrenching as that experience was, it was a blessing to not have Nora on oxygen anymore.

We got a call Tuesday morning that Nora was ready to come home. Logan drove straight home from work and picked me up. We didn't waste any time getting to the hospital so we could get Nora out of there and be done with the NICU!

The girls seemed thrilled to be home together and instantly took a nap together.

Nora (left), Reagan (right)

The girls were home for their first Christmas! What a blessing to not have to be in the hospital on Christmas day.

We are slowly adjusting to having 2 babies, it has been intense! Thankfully my mom was here for a month and helped a ton. I don't know how I would have survived without her. Now that she has left, my mother in law is here for a few days and it has been great. These little girls take a lot of work, it's going to be interesting adjusting once my mother in law goes home.

While it is a ton of work, it is a blessing that this is all we know. We cannot imagine only having one baby. These 2 girls are a huge blessing to us and we love them more than anything.

28 weeks

The 28th week was a pretty good week. I felt good and some of my aches and pains weren't as bad thanks to a new belly band I bought.

This belly sure is growing, obviously it gets bigger every week but mine is realllly getting bigger each week. I'm afraid of what's gonna happen in another month or so when my shirts no longer stretch far enough!

We had another ultrasound this week, which I love of course. The babies are looking very healthy and growing right on track for size. I love that with twins they do more ultrasounds, it's fun to see our little girls more often :)

current stats for week 28

They are both measuring about 2.5lbs each (yep that's 5 lbs of baby at 28 weeks, phew). There is only about a 7-8 gram difference in the 2 and the doctor was very thrilled about that, as were we. It's very common for one twin to be 1-2lbs bigger than the other. That could still happen as it gets closer to the end.
They are both laying transverse across my stomach with their heads & backs together on my left side. No wonder I could feel so much kicking on my right side and not much on the left side, there are 4 little legs and feet kickin over there!

We hadn't gotten a good profile shot of each of them so we asked if we could get one this time. The baby on the bottom was pretty squished at this point and the top one was also a little hard to get. But we got a little blurry one and I was thrilled! I mean, come on, is there anything cuter than a profile shot of your baby?! My dr joked and said to just copy it and flip it upside down and it'll be the others profile. Dr's sure love twins jokes I tell ya!

I made the twins some dolls and I think they are just so cute! I wrote about them on my other blog here.

This is a bad picture but I have been trying to make a lot of progress on the babies room. I am quickly running out of energy and the ability to move around so we are trying to do a lot real quick. I am making them monogrammed pillows for the room. N is for __? JK it's not a secret, but if you don't know yet, I'll make you wait to find out the names :) The other pillow has a "R" on it and no that's not for Robins!

Here's a sneak peek of the nursery so far. I wanted to do some kind of wall treatment but with time and money we didn't have a ton of options. But then, I remembered seeing a picture on pinterest of a wall with little hearts on it and thought it was adorable! Well, as much as I love hearts, I thought it would get too busy in the room. So I cut out some tiny 1" circles in vinyl,we measured and stuck them on. I love how they turned out, it is so much cuter in person too. The best part is if I want to change it I just have to peel off the dots, easy peasy.
I'd love for the other wall in the babies room to get done too, where the other crib will be. But I am at my husbands mercy since I can't stand on a ladder and it's a 2 person job. We'll see if it gets done ;) We still have a few other things to do anyway.

Well we're 28 weeks down tomorrow, that means no more than 9 weeks left, single digits! We're still super anxious for them to get here but also a bit terrified! If only we could all afford a live in nanny right?! Here's to a good week 29.

first crib in our home

This is a milestone for us, the first crib in our home! We received the crib in the mail about a week ago and finally got around to cleaning out the twins room. We vacuumed and decided to get the first crib set up!
As we were setting it up Logan mentioned that he wished he had more pictures of his parents before the kids came so he could see what their life was like. So I took pictures of the whole process and I'm documenting it, even though this post is mostly just exciting for us.

So to our sweet girlies on the way- here is what your room looked like completely empty and clean :) And then Dad brought in the crib and got it all set up! We're still waiting on the second crib but we figure you 2 will sleep together for awhile anyway ;) Love you both!

Mom has always loved Jenny Lind spindle cribs and the vintage feel they have. When we thought it was a boy we considered a different crib but when we found out you both were girls we couldn't wait to get 2 of the adorable cribs, certainly made Mom happy :)

22 & 23 weeks

Here's a little baby bump update. I am currently at 23 weeks, more than half way for sure. With twins the doctor won't let me go past 38 weeks and I can go any time between 34-38 weeks. So my due date is basically anywhere from Thanksgiving to Christmas, oh joy. We are hoping these sweet girls stay in til about week 37 (mid-December) so they won't have to be in the NICU, or at least for not as long. We are still so excited to meet our little girls. We have definitely had some stressful times these last 2 weeks since finding out but we know it is a huge blessing to be getting these two in our home. It's quite the roller coaster ride!

This Friday is our 5 year anniversary and we are celebrating by taking one last (small) trip before the twins come. We are headed to St. George to relax at a hotel and to see Mary Poppins at Tuachan. I am praying we don't get rained out! We've gotten so much rain the past week. But it will be a nice break from work and it will be nice to relax with my feet up.

22 weeks

23 weeks

Identical twin fun fact (that made me tear up): Researchers from University of Padova in Italy recently studied 3D ultrasound videos of five sets of twins in the womb. When the fetuses were just 14 weeks old, the researchers noticed that the pairs seemed to be reaching out for each other, touching head to head and arm to head. At 18 weeks, they were stroking each other more often and were in physical contact about 30% of the time. Even more phenomenal, the fetuses seemed to be extra gentle when touching around their siblings' eyes (likely because this area is so delicate, the researchers posit.)

and then there were two

I thought I'd share a little more info about our "twins" story and how everything happened.

Back on May 29 we went in for my first appointment with the doctor. We did an ultrasound and the doctor assured us there was only one baby in there and that it was definitely a boy or girl (funny doc).

Before the ultrasound, Logan had the thought that he'd be pretty excited if they were twins. Once the doctor said there was only one, we thought nothing more of twins and moved on.

Two more appointments passed and we heard the heartbeat each appointment. The doctors didn't feel around too much for the heart beat so they only heard 1 at each appointment but said it was strong and healthy. After 3 appointments we knew for sure there was only one baby and we were getting pretty excited to find out if it was a boy or girl. All along we thought it was a boy and basically everyone else did too.

I scheduled my 20 week ultrasound for August 23, the day before my birthday since my birthday was on Saturday. That month felt like an eternity because we were so anxious to find out the gender. I wanted to start buying things but there wasn't much I could do til we knew the gender.

My parents came into town on August 9th and that helped to make the next two weeks go by quicker. August 23 finally arrived and we went in for our appointment at 3:40pm. They were a bit behind and we ended up waiting about 45 minutes, then we finally were taken back and we sat in the ultrasound room for another 15 minutes. Our excitement was starting to wear off and I kept thinking, hurry up just get this overwith.

The doctor finally came in and we were his last appointment so he was able to take a little extra time with us. He popped a DVD into the player to record the ultrasound and we got started. At first the doctor said, wow this baby's head is way far down so he looked around some more to see it's position and within one minute he said "you guys know you're having twins right?" I will never ever forget those words, in fact they play through my mind daily. Logan and I both looked at him and said "you're joking right??" "tell me you're joking". He said "no...I'd never joke about something that big". Logan and I started busting up. Both of us sat there in shock laughing and me with tears streaming down my face. Neither of us knew what to think and most of the ultrasound was a blur at this point. The doctor did some measurements on the first baby and then he said "well looks like you've got one little girl" and tears streamed down my face again. I was so excited to hear we were having a girl. The doctor moved over to the other baby, did some measurements and then said, "yep looks like another girl". We were blown away. Logan was hoping the second one was a boy but we were so excited. Two girls!! Wow.

The doctor joked with us that we were taking the news really well, probably because neither of us could stop laughing. He asked us who our first doctor was, I rotate through doctor's at my clinic, so we told him it was Dr. Melendez and he joked that we should schedule our next appointment with him just to give him a hard time. We assume the second baby was hiding behind the other one in the first ultrasound but we really have no idea how he could miss TWO babies (I actually think it's the blob in the picture above on the right side of the screen).

But the news of twins actually made a lot more sense to me at this point. I had had several symptoms early on that most women have in their third trimester. I was relieved to know there was a reason for them!

Anyway, the appointment eventually ended with several nurses coming in shocked at the surprise and us walking out feeling so overwhelmed, in a good way mostly.

We had planned a birthday lunch the next day with my family and Logan's parents to reveal the gender of our "baby". After dinner Logan and I went to Old Navy and bought 2 little dresses to use as part of the reveal. My parents were staying at my house and I was worried I'd spill the beans, cause after all, this was bigger news than the gender of one baby. Luckily my parents stayed out with one of my brother's for most of the night so I didn't have to worry about blurting it out.

The next morning came and I woke up super early, I could barely sleep cause I was so anxious to tell everyone! We met up for lunch and everyone kept bugging us to just tell them already. I kinda wanted to wait til we had ordered our meal cause I wanted to have enough time to share the news. Well we only made it through ordering drinks before we decided to tell everyone. I went around the table and asked everyone what they thought the gender was. It was about 6 boys to 2 girls. So I said, "well most of you were wrong, we're having a girl" and pulled out a little dress. Everyone was surprised and let out a little roar of excitement. Then I said "well actually you were all wrong (pulled out another dress) because we are having 2 girls". Everyone yelled! The entire restaurant was looking at us wondering what on earth just happened. There wasn't a dry eye at the table, everyone was shocked. I didn't get a good look at everyone's faces but I did see my mom's and let me tell you, it was priceless. Just across the room from us was a set of twins, two older men with some of their kids and they noticed what had happened and started clapping for us. It was so much fun to tell our families and to see the excitement in everyones faces. The rest of the day consisted of nothing but "twin" talk and all the stuff we'd have to buy.

We are excited beyond belief. We know it will be really hard for awhile but we are so excited to see the girls grow up together and see their relationship grow. My friend with twins said something I really liked, which helps me when I get overwhelmed knowing I'll have two babies. She said that this world is a pretty scary place but she is grateful to know that her girls will always have a best friend by their side. It's always comforting to hear the good side of having twins :)

We feel very blessed to be having these two come to our home and cannot wait for the adventures that await us.

the past month or so

I haven't done an update on the blog for quite some time. I think I'll just start posting my Instagram pics straight to here since I do that more often than anything else.

Logan worked for a good month or two leveling our yard and putting sprinklers in. Phew I can't even imagine how tired he was every day. He put in so much work, I am so proud of him. His parents even helped quite a bit and we cannot thank them enough for all their time and hard work.

Once the sprinklers were done we had the yard hydroseeded. It saved a ton of money and we're glad we did it.

About 10 days later we had sprouts! How cute are they!?

 It's takin it's time growing in but we have green grass! Yay! Can't wait for it to all fill in.

The company Logan works for was featured in the Salt Lake Tribune and look who's handsome face made the cover of the business section. Proud wife ;)

Spent an evening here with good friends, I just love this place.

 We spent the 4th of July in Salina with Logan's family and had a really good time.

Lorri, Logan, me, Brandi, Taylor, Emmett, Paul, Lynn, Inalee, Cy, Hank, Brent & Lisa (behind the camera :))

We've babysat this cutie a couple times this month. He's such a sweetheart, we just love our nieces and nephews.

He started saying "my water" ha, I don't think so bud!!

We found a way to get to the river trail by our house without having to go on the main road. We've been on it twice now and it's such a peaceful ride. We could ride bikes all day, we love it. I am keeping an eye out for a beaver, I'm determined to see one. We sure do love where we live.

Happy Summer!

christmas party

A week or so ago we went to my work's Christmas party, and we took this picture...

We had a lot of fun, even though Logan clearly doesn't know how to pose with props ;) JK neither do I

We were with Logan's family for Thanksgiving and I didn't take any pictures! oops! We had a really good weekend with them and ate a ton of food. We're heading down to his parents again this Saturday to spend Christmas with them.

I will try to take pictures this time ;)