Precious Faces

The girls turned one month old today. In these first weeks of life, we have already taken hundreds of pictures. Of course, I'd like to put them all up on the blog, but time is short in a house with twins! So today I'd like to just post some of my favorites. We did have a one month photo shoot today, and I promise to get those shots up soon!

Here's Emily, shortly after being born. Is this a yoga pose?

Addison, enjoying my finger

Emily, enjoying Chris's finger

Alright Emily, we know you like the passi, but that's the wrong hole!

Addison is all ready to head home from the hospital!

And so is Emily!

Sweet sleeping Addison

She loves to stretch!

Oooo! That's exciting!

All dressed up

Precious Emily

Precious Addison

Sisters

Emily discovers her new toy

Addison enjoys some fresh air in the front yard

who done it ?!?

This morning I changed Emily and Addision, swaddled them back up, and set them in their crib together. They were kinda awake so I decided to put them 6" apart (Addison on left, Emily on right) so they could 'talk and hang out'.

I came back 3 min later to check on them, and Emily had the ENTIRE left side of her head/face covered in vomit, from top to chin, white curd chunks streaking her hair and all, along with a 1" halo of barf backlighting half of her head. She was wide eyed with a very surprised look on her face. WHA!? I couldn't believe how much she had thrown up!

AHHH, then I realized the indifferent, semi-guilty look on Addison's face, and very subtle almost indiscernible tiny tiny puke trail coming from her side and towards her sister. Immediately I was impressed with the accuracy and distance displayed by her newest skill (projectile vomiting) and the absolute ease at which she pulled it off and almost managed to make it look like it was Emily's fault instead.

Emily often likes to swat at Addison when laying next to each other, and I think she learned her lesson about paybacks today... :)

(chris)

Grandparents and Great Grandparents

Addison and Emily are lucky enough to have 5 Grandparents and 3 Great Grandparents to love them!

Great Grandma Hicks with Emily

Great Grandma Nicoll with Addison

Grandparents and Great Grandparents

Grandma Dee Dee

Pop Pop and Cee Cee

Bonus Grandma (BG) with Addison

Grandpa Hicks

Pop Pop with Addison

Cee Cee with Emily

Holding Hands

They might not even know they're holding hands, but they love to do it.

Bubblegum Cigars

Chris bought pink bubblegum cigars to give out when the babies were born. Here he is with Emily and Addison sporting two cigars for his two little girls.

One wrap, two babies

The Moby baby carrier allows for twins! :)

Addison and Emily peek out to say hello!

First Sponge Bath!

Addison and Emily had their first sponge baths last Tuesday. Dad did all the major work while Mom, CeeCee (Grandma Sue), and DeeDee (Grandma Debbie) took pictures.

Addison got to go first for this experience. Here she is looking at her tub, she's ready to go!

Is that bath for me?

A nice hair wash with scalp massage.

Scrub a dub dub

There was an audience for this show!

Bath's done, all bundled up in my cute monster towel! Nice work Dad!

Getting dressed up after the bath.
All dressed and ready to go!
Now it's Emily's turn!

Washing your hair...
Getting all clean! This is fun!
Scrub scrub!
And here's Emily's cute monster towel!

Emily gets a new outfit too.

Precious girl!
Here's a family shot...
And here we are...Emily and Addison all fresh and clean!

Welcome Emily and Addison!

Addison and Emily Palte

They're here! We were scheduled for a c-section on Monday, February 28th at 9:30 am. On Sunday afternoon, my friend Jennica called the phone tree, letting people know they could light their candles the next morning. (I gave out candles at my showers, with notes asking people to light them when they heard I was in labor, to keep us in their thoughts.) Turns out, these girls decided to come early!

On Sunday evening around 6:15 I started having contractions, and they didn't start out slow and far between like we were expecting after learning about labor. The contractions I experienced were very strong and consistent, 5 minutes apart from the start.

Luckily, around 5:30, I had had a strong desire for Chris to put the suitcases and car seats in the car. He had been working on taxes, and thought we had all night to get the car packed, but I insisted that he stop what he was doing and get everything ready. Soon after, I began having contractions, which Chris timed, wondering if I could actually be going into labor only 15 hours before my scheduled c-section.

My mom stopped by to drop off an extra pack 'n play, unaware of my condition until she came into the house. She sat with me and timed contractions while Chris finished packing the car. After almost two hours of steady contractions, we left for the hospital. I sent a text to Jennica, telling her to re-call everyone to let them know they'd need to light their candles early.

On a side note, in Michigan, Chris's cousin Liz was unaware of the fact that we were heading to the hospital. Her power went out, and with her candle on hand for the next morning, she lit it so that she could see where she was going. Shortly after, she got the news that I had gone into labor.

When I was admitted to the hospital, my cervix had already dilated to 3.5 cm. I was offered medication, but I turned it down as I was feeling so fortunate to actually be experiencing labor, something I had been very disappointed to miss when I was told I would need to have a c-section. I ended up getting to experience labor for longer than expected when another woman ended up needing an emergency c-section. While we waited for the operating room and doctor to free up, Chris and I got to put into practice several of the techniques we had learned in our birthing class. It's all a blur now, but I am so thankful that I got to have that experience!

A couple hours later, I was told I would be going to the O.R. soon to get my spinal block for the surgery. The nurse checked, and my cervix had dilated to 6 cm.

After the anesthesiologist prepared me for surgery, it wasn't long before the girls came into the world! Emily (Baby A, Buttercup) came first at 11:29 pm and her sister Addison (Baby B, Bubbles) followed her at 11:30 pm. Chris was with me and actually got a couple great shots of the girls coming out. He got to trim the cords when they were placed in their warmers, and then after they were all cleaned up, he went with them to the nursery. My mom was prepped to enter the O.R. and as Chris left, she took his place to be with me while I was stitched back up.

Please help us welcome our sweet little girls, Emily Christina...



and Addison Marie!

Update

Yesterday we had a doctor's appointment to have a non stress test (NST) done on the babies. Their heart rates are looking good, and movement was good. I had a couple of contractions during the monitoring, and I am currently dilated 1/2 cm (you need to get to 10 to have a baby, and generally they won't admit you to the hospital if you're under 4). My blood pressure is still low, and because the babies are looking happy and healthy, my doctor still recommends waiting until the 28th to have them.

The shingles are getting better, but have not cleared up entirely. Because of the shingles and because of the size difference in the babies, I am still being told that a c-section would be the safest way to go. I have had a traditional birth, along with the experience of labor and pushing in my mind for so long that it is taking quite a bit of thinking and praying to come to terms with the thought of a c-section, but I'm getting there.

I have another NST scheduled for Friday, and if the babies are still looking happy, we'll wait until Monday for the c-section. If anything happens between now and Monday (I notice less movement, the NST detects stress in the babies, etc.), we will go in for a c-section before Monday. A part of me is still hoping that the shingles will completely clear up and I can still shoot for a traditional birth, but we also have the babies' size difference to look at. Because Baby A (who could come first) is smaller than Baby B, it is more likely that after giving birth to Baby A, Baby B would flip into an unfavorable position and I would need a c-section to deliver her. Although I have told the doctor I would be prepared for one traditional birth and one c-section, it still sounds like it will be in the babies' best interest to have a c-section for both.

Birthdays

Well, we've had lots of guesses and bets about when these girls are coming. Chris guessed 2/8, Britney guessed 2/12. Those days came and went....and no babies. Then there were a whole bunch of us who guessed the 18th because it was a full moon, which would surely pull these girls out into the world. But that full moon is now waning, and still, no babies.

As we've talked with friends and family about possible birth dates, we've discovered a few things. If the babies had been born before February 3rd, they would have been born in the Chinese year of the tiger, whereas at this point, they will be born in the year of the rabbit.
If they had been born before Saturday, they would have had the sign of aquarius, but now they will be born with the sign of pisces.
Most likely, they will have an amethyst as their birthstone.

We have had the 21st in mind almost since the beginning as our planned due date. Grandma Hicks's birthday is on the 20th, so we knew they would be born close to when their great grandma was born. The new due date is the 28th, which means if they wait until then to come, they will share a birthday with their uncle Eric.

Week 38!!

We made it!

37 Week Ultrasound

On Monday we went in for our last perinatologist appointment. Honestly, we didn't think we'd make it this far, so it was a little bit of a surprise to even make it to the appointment. Dr. Gagnon is great at getting good profile pictures, and even though the girls are getting pretty crowded in there, she was still able to get a couple good head shots of each of them.

Here's Baby A, Buttercup, whose head is a little further down than Baby B. She is on my right side and has consistently been a little further down, so if I were to give birth naturally, she would come first. She has always been a little smaller and I've felt her movements more throughout the pregnancy. Her measurements on Monday put her weight estimate at 5 pounds, 13 ounces.


Here's Baby B, Bubbles, who is on my left side and has always been a little bigger. Her movements were harder to feel earlier in the pregnancy when her placenta was on the back of my uterus, but as my uterus has grown, both placentas are on the front and I have been feeling a lot of movement from Bubbles in the last few weeks. Her measurements put her estimated weight at 7 pounds!


While the girls have a pretty big weight difference between them, it is still under a 20% difference, so it isn't a concern.

The plan up until recently was that I was going to be induced on Monday, February 21st at 11:00am unless I went into labor on my own before then. In the last couple of weeks, I have started walking around more, trying to be more active. My goal has been to give birth naturally, and I was hoping not to need to be induced because it makes the birthing process so much more intense.

This weekend, I was diagnosed with shingles, which has complicated the plan. As of right now, my doctor wants me to try to go an extra week (to week 39, 2/28) to give the virus more time to get out of my system. At that point, she would like to do a C-Section to guarantee the babies don't come in contact with any of the shingles lesions.

I have an appointment with an OB on Monday, 2/21 so that a non-stress test can be done on the babies and my vitals can be checked to make sure we can go another week. Honestly, I am feeling so huge and stretched right now, it is very hard for me to imagine going another two weeks.

Thank you so much to all of you who have offered us so many kind thoughts and prayers.

Curtains, Silly Chris, and a 36 week belly, Oh my!

So the big window curtains finally got finished and hung a few weeks ago, here's a shot:


Chris has a favorite pose with the boppy. He likes to dance around with this look to cheer me up when I'm in a pregnancy-induced grumpy mood.


And here's the 36 week belly. I wish I could somehow convey the itchy, stretched, about to pop feeling in these photos, but I decided to smile for the camera. After all, we have made it to 36 weeks! The girls' lungs are ready to breathe and they have the sucking/swallowing reflex down. Life is good!