At 1 Month

For some reason blogger isn't allowing me to rotate this picture.

Month 1 stats: (well 6 weeks)

Ethan 10lbs 11oz (25th percentile), 23 1/8 in. long (84th percentile)
He is our little cuddle bug
Loves laying on his tummy and having his back rubbed
Has an awesome hair line, long on the sides and back and short on top.  We call it our little old man hair.
Has a cowlick in the front like his daddy.
His hair is dark brown
Has blue eyes like his mama, for now anyways
Ethan's umbilical cord fell out on 2/8.
Loves his paci
Loves being swaddled

Ellie 8lbs 1oz  (2nd percentile), 22 in. long (50th percentile)
She is our little peanut
Does not like tummy time
Always wants to be held
Loves sleeping on Mommy's chest
Has an adorable little dimple on her right cheek
Her hair is dark brown
Has blue eyes, again... for now
Has long feet
Loves to wiggle down so her face is hidden in her blanket when she sleeps
Loves being swaddled

Mommy and Daddy love napping with babies on their chest and hardly ever put them down.

They're Here!

I know I am very late in writing about this but to be honest I debated back and forth whether or not I should even post the story of their birth or just try to forget it.  In the end I know that I will one day look back and wish I would have documented it so here it goes.

The end of my pregnancy was really hard.  The babies weren't coming and I wasn't dilating anymore than 2 centimeters.  I was 39 weeks and my doctor said this is the time to either schedule a c section or to induce.  This was the decision I had been dreading my entire pregnancy.  I was torn between the ease and non stressful c section or the preferred vaginal delivery with possible c section in the case something goes wrong and the other one can't come out naturally.  After much prayer and a blessing I came to the decision of scheduling a cesarean.  I didn't know how the babies or I would do on Pitocin and I didn't want to find out the hard way and have to have both a natural delivery and a c section.

I scheduled it for Friday, February 3rd at 1:00 PM.  The time came for us to go and I couldn't be more excited.  We arrived at the hospital and I was practically giddy.  Surprisingly I had not a single nerve.  I wasn't nervous about the spinal injection or the delivery or anything.  We were sent to a small patient room to change and be prepped.  Brian was there any my mom got special permission to be there also.  Here is us before we made the short walk to the O.R.  I am HUGE!!!!

We walked to the O.R where I had to part ways momentarily with Brian and Mom while they gave me the spinal and prepped me for surgery.  Everything seemed so easy, a slight quick burn of the numbing needle, small pressure from the spinal needle and legs numb in seconds.  What came next was not expected, I laid down and immediately fell short of breath, I asked for oxygen and they put the mask on... it didn't help.  I couldn't breathe, I remember looking at the nurses trying to say, "Can't breathe, can't breathe, can't breathe."  The anesthesiologist was behind me and said, "I'm sorry, it appears I have given you too much."  NOT what you want to hear!   The nurses kept saying, if you're talking you're breathing Honey, your lungs are moving, slow deep breaths.SO ANNOYING!!  Normally the spinal only numbs you from the waist down, I had so much that it numbed me from the neck down.  Brian came in and was squeezing my hand and I couldn't squeeze it back.  I was panicking.  I couldn't even move my head to the other side to look at my mom and Brian.  I tried to tell the nurse that I was panicking but all I could do was mouth the word Panic.  I thought I was going to suffocate on the table.  I remember them putting up the curtain so I couldn't see them cut me open and feeling claustrophobic.   Baby A was out and I didn't hear any crying, then Baby B was out and the doctor held her up and I could barely see the outline of her little body, then I was put out.

I woke up in the recovery room to Brian showing me pictures on the camera and telling me that baby boy was 8lbs and 10oz!!! Then I remember a baby put on my chest, a picture, then another baby, a picture and then a stroll on the bed to my room.  I was so drugged that I was barely coherent.  Our close family came the same day to see the babies and I was in and out of sleep.  My internal temperature was very low so they had to wrap me in a plastic heating material overnight, it was awful, I felt so hot and sweaty but I was still cold.  The worst part of the whole experience was that I felt disconnected from my babies.  I remember looking at them in their little boxes thinking, who are they?  Did they really come from me?  I was devastated at how everything turned out.  No easy delivery, no seeing my babies as they came out, no cute picture with them at my head no nothing.  I was in a ton of pain where I was cut open, I felt like death from the drugs and I was heartbroken.  I couldn't be excited, it's a terrible feeling when you go from giddy to sad and disconnected in the blink of an eye, after all this was what I thought I wanted and to have it come the way it did really took a toll on me.

We didn't even have names picked out, the second day in the hospital was crunch time so we turned to a little sheet of paper we scribbled some names on the day before and decided on Ethan Brian and Ellie Renee.  Ethan was a name I saw on an Ethan Allen commercial but forgot about and Matt, Brian's brother suggested to Brian close to the end.  I wrote it on the list because we both seemed to like it.  Then a few nights earlier Brian sent me an email from work and said what about Ellie (he had been listening to a song and the singer was apparently named Ellie)?  I said Yes!  We both liked the name Elle but thought that it would be weird having a name that sounded like a letter so when he said Ellie we liked it and it too went on the list with a few others.  The day before d day I took the few names we had and began combining them boy/girl.  When I wrote Ethan and Ellie something clicked for me.  When we were in the hospital it was the first time we both agreed on names.  Then Renee came from my middle name that I also share with my mom and Brian came from, obviously, Brian.

The first few nights were rough, if I'm being honest the first few weeks were rough. I was sleep deprived, healing, drugged and depressed.  Not a good combination.  I should stop and say that I did have joy in my babies but it wasn't the overwhelming joy that I had so often read about.  That came later.

Needless to say it wasn't the easy peasy delivery I had anticipated but in the end, it was worth it.

February 3, 2012

Ethan Brian George

8lbs 10oz 20 inches long

All of the doctors and nurses kept commenting that they have NEVER seen such a huge twin.  He was slightly jaundice and lost 15% of his body weight the first few days but gained it back within 2 weeks.

Ellie Renee George

6lbs 2oz 19 inches long

She was the itty bitty baby I thought I would never have!  She lost 12% of her body weight and was also able to gain it back within 2 weeks, but still trails her big brother.

Our Babes are STUBBORN

I am officially 38 weeks and 4 days... if you would have told me I would still be pregnant today back in December I would have cried.  Typical twin pregnancies deliver between 32 and 37 weeks.... obviously that is not the case here.  I really should be proud that my pregnancy and babies are extremely healthy to have lasted this long.  In the back of my head though I am just panicking at just HOW big they are getting to be.

Last week we called the doctor about inducing and the nurse said we can induce as early as Wed, Feb 1st, so we scheduled it.  Then at our dr apt on Thursday we were told that since our babies are healthy the hospital won't allow us to induce until Friday, Feb 3rd.  To be honest I was a little bit relieved because I really dont like the idea of inducing.  The doctor said that the risk when inducing is a longer labor, higher chance of cesarean etc... I am praying that I go into labor on my own before Friday because I don't know if I could pull the trigger to induce.

We have another dr appointment today where we get an ultrasound, heart monitoring and checked by the doctor. My dr knows just how frustrated I have been that now he always starts off with, I will check you to see if you are dilated as long as you promise not to be sad if you're not... I must show my emotions on my sleeve. ha!

At this point I am just praying to go into labor on my own before Friday.  I'll try to keep everyone posted.

Have Patience to Perservere

MpThese last few weeks have been particularly rough for me.  My doctor said I could go into labor now and not have to worry about any complications with the babies.  This was huge for me because I finally felt like, ok let's get this show in the road.  Much to my own disappointment all of my contractions have slowed down if not stopped.  I thought for sure that these babes would have made their debut by now especially with all the preterm labor and bed rest I have been having. 

After much walking, squats, spicy food, etc. nothing is happening.  The hardest part for me is knowing that it could happen any moment and not knowing when.  If I knew a date then I could relax and just hang out until then... I have even tried pretending their was a date or using my actual due date as the date but it doesn't work. 

To add insult to injury, i threw my neck out yesterday so now my pain totals are even higher.  Today I decided to go to www.lds.org and watch some of the Mormon Messages.  One stood out to me particularly called Continue in Patience, if you have a sec I highly recommend watching it. It's a very sweet message.

http://lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#continue-in-patience

"Gods promises are not always fulfilled as quickly or in the way we might hope. Patience means staying with something until the end, it means delaying immediate gratification for future blessings. "

I do not know why I have not had these babies yet, but I have faith that God is keeping them in for a reason and only he knows what's best.  I have so much to be thankful for and need to keep an eternal perspective that this is His plan and that I can endure a little longer until he is ready to let them enter this world. 

Baby Arrival Update

We went to the doctor today to get an update on how the babies are doing and to see if I can get off bed rest.  I am 36 weeks tomorrow and so happy that I have made it this far, especially with all the preterm labor I have been having.

The babies look good. Baby boy appears to have some fluid in his kidney but the doctor says that most of the time it goes away on its own after delivery. I guess the tube that goes from his kidney to his bladder is 2 centimeters when it should only be 8 millimeters, scary if you ask me.  I guess it's not super bad because the doctor isn't rushing me into the OR for an emergency delivery.

We learned that our babies legs are measuring in the 98th percentile which is LONG!  We also learned that our little man is weighing in at a whopping 6 lbs 14 ounces, 78th percentile and our little lady is a modest 6 lbs 6 ounces, 58th percentile. Gosh I hope they come sooner rather than later!! They are great size babies for twins but I'm afraid if they stay in much longer I am going to have two huge babies to deliver!

The doctor told us he is extremely happy that we made it this far and is ok with them delivering any day now... Woohoo!!! So I am off bed rest, even though I can barely do more than I did while on it.  We'll have to see how it all goes... I'm not dilated at all and my cervix is still shut so this might be a while.. Bring on the lunges, spicy food, walking etc!

Cravings throughout my pregnancy

It's funny because when I thought about getting pregnant I always wondered what kinds of weird cravings I would have.  This post is really just for me to remember the little things that I craved so if it's boring I apologize.

In the very beginning I had no cravings what so ever. I felt great, no morning sickness no nothing.  Brian even asked me one morning, aren't you supposed to be sick? That was short lived. We told our parents on Father's Day and I was 7 weeks along.  My first major food aversion was pineapple and that started the same day.  It seemed like as soon as we told eveyone I got sick.  I had morning sickness for about 3 weeks straight.  It was so bad that I had to cut back hours at work and could not think of anything to eat.  The only thing I wanted was a baked potato and the only place to get one was Wendys.  I went there so often that the lady that works the drive thru recognizes me now.   In the morning at work I would force myself to eat a toasted english muffins with peanut butter and a glass of milk.  

It's funny because at lunch time I would have to look at pictures of food to see what looked good and what didn't so I knew what would settle ok in my stomach... Well that was really tough because more often then naught nothing looked good.   I remember one time the only thing that sounded good was a steak quesadilla from Taco Bell and the closest one to my work was 20 minutes away.  I remember getting to the drive thru and being so hungry and cranky that I wanted to yell at the cars in front of me, "Can you PLEASE hurry up?!? I am going to die if I don't get this quesadilla in the next minute!!! Don't you know that I am pregnant here?!"  For breakfast everyday after the first month or so all I wanted were english muffins and eggs, i could literally eat it for every meal.  Saltines didn't work, ginger ale didn't work, all the usual remedies didn't work for my nausea

After I learned I was pregnant with twins I downloaded a book called What to expect with Twins, Triplets and Quads.  In it the author talks about gaining weight and how crucial it is to gain it in the first and second trimester.  They recommend eating hig fat meals, for example, for lunch you should eat a cheeseburger, fries and a milkshake. Sounds awesome right?! Well it wasn't. I followed their recommended diet for one day which included a big breakfast, hearty "snack" (which includes a bowl of cereal or a large muffin with milk, those are meals for me normally), then that stellar lunch I described, another hearty "snack" and then a big dinner.... It was the first time out of maybe 3 times that I threw up. My body couldn't handle that kind of diet even for a day... So from then on I decided I would only eat what sounded good and when I was hungry. 

I craved Del Combo Burritos from Del Taco, hamburgers, MEAT, enoug said.  Then for a while all I wanted was pizza and pasta with tomato sauce. For about two weeks Oreos were a big deal, i could eat a whole sleeve in one sitting with milk however I limited myself to half a sleeve a day ha! Then it switched to cereal and milk, I was drinking whole milk like it was going out of style. I would go through two gallons a week! 

For the first two trimesters I wasn't craving anything sweet, the sight of sugar just churned my stomach.  Once the doctor handed me my glucose juice and told me to drink it at the next appointment all of the sudden my eyes were wide open and searching for sugar. I wanted milk shakes, cookies, brownies, cinnamon rolls, etc. So strange. 

I do have healthy cravings like Cutie oranges, roasted tomatoes, strawberries, etc.

Now that I am 36 weeks my cravings change day to day, right now it's brownies, two days ago it was the pork barbicoa salad from cafe rio, before that it was crunchy tacos from del taco, then eggs, etc.

This has been quite the roller coaster and I am so excited for it to be over!!

A few maternity photos

Yesterday I decided that if I wanted any maternity photos then I would have to do them quickly. So I finally did my hair and make up and Brian grabbed his camera and here are a few of our amateur photos... Don't mind the weird look on my face in some, I promise, I'm not mad at my belly. Ha!