Saturday, March 29, 2008

Baby William and Baby Jonathan

Holding daddy's hand
(Aaron's mom took this picture of Aaron holding baby A's hand. I love how she got the measuring tape in the background of the picture.)
Here is our baby formerly known as baby A, now and forever known as William Aaron. He was the smaller of the two at birth, and continues to do well. Aaron got to feed him his first bottle last night and William did a good job of drinking it. It is kind of hard to see in this picture, but he is off oxygen all together! I got the word this morning that they will both be taken off their precautionary antibiotic today, which is also great news!
This is the former baby B, now known as Jonathan Aaron. He was the larger of the two at birth and has progressed so well since birth. He is completely off oxygen as well, and takes a bottle really well. Aaron got to feed him a bottle yesterday and I got to feed him some last night as well. When I fed him, he drank as little as possible and then just fell asleep with his head in my hand. The nurses told me this morning that he ate well again last night. At this point, it looks like eating is really the only thing keeping them in the NICU. Once they get the hang of that and can eat a little more at a time, then they will go home. I am here until at least Monday anyway. My platelet counts are on the rise but I still can't have Motrin or anything like unto it. I don't mind.

I have been known to disappear from my recovery room for hours at a time to be with the babies. I find that some nurses don't like it if you aren't around to have your vitals checked...who knew?!?

I just wanted to give a quick update this morning. Love to you all and thanks for all your messages, emails and phone calls! (And we are especially grateful to everyone who has been helping out with Emma. She has been having a lot of fun with her Grandma JoLayne, BB and all of her Higley and Graves cousins. She doesn't even want to come to the hospital to see any of us!)

Friday, March 28, 2008

Surprise! They're here!

Let me just say that few things could have preparedme to hear the words: "We are going to have to deliver your babies today. And by today I mean in the next half hour. And your platelet counts are low enough that we are going to have to put you out. And your husband can't be with you."

Wednesday morning I woke up feeling pretty rough. "No more pepperoni pizza this late in pregnancy," I thought. My ribs and lungs hurt so bad. I did what anyone would do-I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast. Thinking I would feel better after whichever baby was in my lungs got out, I laid down on the couch and watched "Dora" with Emma. A few hours later, I threw up. I was still hurting pretty bad and feeling quite nauseous, decided not to eat anything, but drink as much water as I could. Fast forward several hours-I ate some saltines, drank more water, and Aaron got home from work. I explained to him how bad I was feeling and that no matter how I laid, I couldn't get the one baby off my rib cage and I just couldn't breathe. So I took a bath. No better. In fact, that was when contractions started. Regular contractions.

So we started the phone calls. It was 11 pm and there are ward members all in our neighborhood that told us to call them in the middle of the night if we needed to. None of them answered their phones. So we called my cousin, Bonnie, to see if she could possibly come sit with Emma, who was asleep, until Aaron's mom could come down from Chattanooga, an hour and a half away. (My family was all in Utah, dropping off my younger brother at the MTC.) So anyway, Bonnie's husband wasn't home from work yet, so Bonnie sent one of her friends over who happens to live nearby. (I met this girl once, on a playdate with all of our kids-she is so awesome!)

At midnight we got to the hospital and got checked in. Sure enough, I was having contractions every 2 minutes. However, there was no dilation or effacement. I should not have been in labor. I was scolded a bit by the doctor on call for not having called into the office for something for nausea (but I only threw up twice!). I was told that they were going to put me on medication to stop the contractions, send me home, and go on bed rest.

A few minutes later the same doctor came in with a stack of papers-my labwork. Apparently I had a very observant nurse who decided to check a few things-like my liver. Although I had no other signs or symptoms, I was suffering the ill effects of toxemia. My counts of whatever in my liver were in the multiple hundreds. They are supposed to be under 100. My platelet count was low. The only signs of me being sick were the sore ribs/lungs and trouble breathing and the vomiting.

The doctor decided we would all be safer to just go ahead with it and deliver. I was told all of this at 3 am and Baby A was born at 3:27am (4 lbs 11 ounces) and Baby B was born at 3:29am (5 lbs 5 ounces). I didn't get to see or hold them until 4 pm yesterday. I was put totally out for the taking of the babies and slept off the anesthesia most of the day.

I can honestly say that those early morning moments were some of the scariest of my life. I knew the possibility of a c-section was there, but I didn't even think about having to be completely out for the delivery of my babies-or completely without my husband for one of the scariest moments of my life.

Aaron gave me several priesthood blessings over the course of the evening and night. I was so scared once I found out what was going to happen. I was so scared for my little guys that could've used a few more weeks to grow. But each time Aaron gave me a blessing, deep down I was calm, and I knew that we would be okay...I am so thankful.

So, here are some good pictures of the boys. I tried to find some that showed mostly them. They are off the big oxygen masks and just using the nasal oxygen (they have me on the same thing off and on) and they are being fed formula through a tube in their mouth. They are doing better all the time and will hopefully continue to improve! We are (obviously) still thinking of names. I thought I had a least another week or two! This is me and baby A. His legs are just folded up underneath him (they look a little funny but I like this picture of me and him). This is the first time I got to actually touch him.

This is me and baby B. I got to hold him (I guess because he weighed a little more?). However, I was still so out of it here, that I had to put him back because I kept falling asleep. So, I only got to hold him for a few minutes.

Here they are! Hope you like the pictures and we will get more up sometime soon. Right now, I am going to see if I can stand up again (maybe this time I can go longer than 2 minutes!).

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

A little scared...

Okay, so lately I have been having some issues. I had my first emotional breakdowns for this pregnancy the other night (aside from the emotional breakdown I suffered when I found out I was having twins).

I am so scared that Emma is going to have to "grow up" too much when new babies come into the house. I am afraid that I won't get to give her all the attention that I want to give her. I am scared that she will feel like she is less important for some reason. This may seem incredibly ridiculous to some of you. Did anyone else feel like this when you had your second (and third) kids? This is really weighing heavy on my mind, and making me quite sad. It has been the source of quite a bit of emotion lately. Anyway, I thought that maybe I would feel a little better about it if I got it out. I figured my blog was safer than actually having to say the words...Let me know if you have any advice.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Easter Dinner

Yesterday I hosted an Easter dinner at our house. It was our first Easter being away from all the family in Utah. It was my first Easter out of that state since we were married. It was a little sad for me. There was no weekend at Grandma Hale's-stuffing my face with all sorts of delicious food and candy, playing games with Grandma and Grandpa (and winning!). There was no Jones family feast with all the Jones family, homemade wheat rolls, and a table that sat 60-family and misplaced students. I mourned the loss of a Utah Easter a little.

While mourning this loss, Aaron and I came up with a plan to host an Easter dinner at our house. We invited my two cousins and their families, along with one of my cousins' brother-in-law and his wife to come have dinner with us. I wanted to do something big and fun before I can't do anything. We made a delicious honey ham, hashbrown casserole (also known as funeral potatoes), my cousins brought lima beans, salad, homemade rolls, caramel pie, and I made a lemon icebox pie.

We had a lot of fun, and I realized how much I love entertaining. And that I have a great kitchen to entertain in. Here are a few pictures:Emma and me in front of the table. (Yes, I forgot napkins.) My decorated easter table. I took a page out of Aaron's Aunt Sandra's "Holiday Table Decorating" book and decided to have a table strewn with jellybeans and other decorative Easter egg decorations. (If you have ever had the pleasure of eating a meal at Sandra's, you know that she has everything decorated for that season or holiday-not to mention a delicious meal, too!)

So, to any of our Utah family that reads our blog, we missed you yesterday! We hope that you missed us just a little, too. And to our family and friends around here, this was the beginning of what I hope will be many more fun dinners and days here at our house! Just don't count on coming until at least July.

Happy Easter!

When I was growing up, it was kind of a family tradition to get all dressed up for church and then take family pictures. This has resulted in some hilarious family pictures over the years. My mom always went to great lengths to have us all in a matching color. One of my brothers always hated this and would never smile in the pictures, and was even crying in some of them.

Today I tried to match us up. I started with my own outfit since I have, like, 3 things I can still wear. Then, Emma's pink dress wouldn't fit over her head. (I am a little upset about this since she has never worn it before, I bought it last year, and it is absolutely adorable. If I had known it was made for toddlers with shrunken heads, I never would have bought it.) So I told Aaron to wear whatever he wanted to.Emma had to go ahead and wear her yellow dress. It was also FREEZING outside. (Okay, it was really about 40 degrees, but it was 70 the day before!)

On Saturday, I bought Emma some new white shoes, since Easter is the official start of white shoe season (does anybody still go by that rule anymore? I have heard that it no longer applies, but I don't want to be in danger of being fashionably wrong). She loves the shoes and thinks that she is so grown up in them! And here is the family picture. I put it last so that everytime I go to my blog I don't have to see myself. I think that I will put on a little tinted lip gloss next time I let someone take my picture! Oh, and I am never wearing my white shoes again while I am pregnant. I should have gone with some more sensible shoes. Hello, swollen ankles (or at least they were last time I was able to see them)!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Since you asked so nicely....

I have had several requests for pictures of myself lately. I decided that I would give in and post a couple. I will be 33 weeks this week which means I have 5 weeks left at the most. Everything is going good!

Aaron took these pictures of me before our ward party on Friday night (the same night the tornadoes trashed downtown Atlanta). We took the first one so that you could see how the house looks with our stuff in it. I got a new recliner and a new dining table. Other than that (and the rug) the rest of the furniture we brought out here with us. Hope you enjoy! Here is a side view. I didn't realize how big I really am until I saw this picture. It was kind of a shock. Now I understand why I have been getting some strange looks lately, especially when I tell people that I still have over a month to go! Oh, Emma wanted to be in the pictures, too!

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Babies Update

I have a few minutes to update while Emma is asleep.

I had a doctor's appointment today and the babies are weighing in at 3 pounds 11 ounces and 4 pounds 1 ounce. Their combined weight is already more than Emma weighed at birth. I know that individually that isn't that big of a deal, but for my body, it is a HUGE deal. I am definitely feeling the effects of more baby and all that comes along with them! The doctor said that everything looks great, and he was really impressed with their weight gain. I think it has something to do with all the Easter candy I have been eating.

I have had a few picture requests, and really there isn't anything to see. Aaron has been working late and by the time he gets home, I usually look pretty spent, so maybe I will get him to take a picture of me on Sunday when I actually take time to put on something other than pajama pants. Don't laugh, nothing else fits very well. So anyway, I promise to put up a picture of my preggo self very soon.

I also have some pictures of Emma...and will post pictures of the house with our stuff in it...when I can find the camera. For now, I am taking a nap while I have the chance!