We have names!!

We finally decided on names for the two precious little boys. Baby "A" is now Benjamin Joseph, or "Ben" and Baby "B" is Elijah Matthew or "Eli." I couldn't really bond with them much at first, so it was very difficult for us to name them. I still haven't had a chance to hold them yet, but have gotten to know their personalities very well over the past few days. The names just came naturally after spending a lot of time with them Monday and Tuesday.

(This is little Ben, to the left. Eli is pictured below).

Both boys are doing remarkably well considering their size & age. Ben, unfortunately, had to go on a ventilator early Tuesday morning. Luckily it was not an emergency or anything that led to the change. The doctors just felt that he needed a little more help than what he was getting from the pressurized oxygen. They're supposed to slowly wean him off the vent tonight and tomorrow. I'll keep you posted!

Eli is our little fussy one. He keeps trying to pull out his lines and tubes. He also cries and gets very jealous when Ben's getting more attention than he is. It's actually pretty cute!

I'll write more and add pictures to these comments tomorrow. I'm SO tired now!! They keep us so busy here. The only nice thing about having babies in the NICU is the fact that they let you sleep at night. I know it's not exactly a trade-off, but we'll take it!

Good night!

33 weeks, 2 days: PSOTA TWINS ARE HERE!!!!

Well, I was hoping to write about my last shower this weekend and fill you in on an update of my last doctor visit but that all seems unimportant now. (PS. I got a picture though. This was taken on the day my water broke!)

THE BABIES HAVE ARRIVED!!!! Baby A & Baby B, both BOYS came into this world Sunday (02/25/07) at around 1:35pm. Everyone is doing very well considering the fact that they still had about a month more to "Cook" in my womb. (Guess I got my wish from my last post!)

Now, you should know by now that there have been little uneventful moments in this entire pregnancy. D-Day was no exception to the rule. Here's the whole story:

Last Wednesday I had a lot of uncomfortable, yet painless tightening going on in my abdomen. This has been occurring for several months, but usually only at night. On Wednesday, however it just never let up, so I called my doctor. They had me go to the hospital for a stress test & confirmed that I was having a few small, yet consistent contractions. They gave me a shot to stop them and checked to see if I had dialated at all. Doc said the contractions had not affected my uterus, so they sent me home and said to take it easy.

I felt great, no more contractions, nothing at ALL that would lead me to believe that these little guys were ready to be born. Matt left on Friday morning for a quickie work trip to Denver. He was supposed to return Saturday afternoon, but with weather delays to Indy his flight was cancelled. No big deal...until my water broke!

I was just hanging out at my parent's house. I had decided to spend the night with them because the weather was bad out and I figured Matt wouldn't get a flight home until Sunday anyway. We were just sitting in front of the TV and all of the sudden, GUSH!! Mom and Dad took me to Columbus Regional Hospital and Matt frantically started searching for any flight to come home.

The best flight he could find was one from Denver arriving in Nashville, TN at 12:15am. He took it, rented a car from there and headed north. The doctor at CRH confirmed that I had indeed broken my bag of water and they decided to send me to St. Vincent's in Indianapolis where they had a higher-level ICU for the babies...just in case it was needed. I took off in an ambulance and Mom & Dad followed.

En route, I remembered that I had left our brand new video camera & still camera at my parent's house. I was sobbing hysterically at this point, fighting one-on-top-of-the-other contractions (OUCH!!) and worrying that Matt was going to miss the whole thing, or hurt himself trying to get to me. I called my parents from the ambulance and told them about the camera saying that I HAD TO HAVE IT so that I could at least capture everything for Matt to see. They called my cousin, Rachel and had her and her husband meet us at the hospital with theirs. When I arrived, I was stunned to hear a tap on the ambulance window. It was them with their cameras already filming!! They followed me into my room and left the cameras with my parents.

Initially, the doctors here tried to stop my contractions. The medication they used worked very well and slowed them down considerably so that we could at least get some sleep through the night. The intention of stopping labor was so that they could give me a 48-hour dose of steroids to strengthen the babies' lungs. My parents, bless their dear hearts, were right here in the room with me the whole time. Matt, safely arrived at around 6:30 am!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was overjoyed, to say the least!!!

The next day my contractions started coming back pretty regularly and they ultimately decided that these babies were going to be born within the next few hours, despite anything else we could do. They scheduled a c-section because Baby B was still breech. Everything went very smoothly and at 1:32 I heard the first healthy cry from our dear, sweet baby BOY! Matt and I were both flooded with emotions, but before we could even soak it all in we heard another very healthy cry from Baby B...another BOY!!!!! They took them into a small room next to the OR for observation while they finished with my surgery. Matt got to go into the room and take a few pictures, and they let him carry them out, one at a time for me to see. I couldn't hold them, but I could kiss their little cheeks and sob all over them. It was truly the most amazing thing I've ever experienced!!

They are now both resting comfortably in the NICU. They are getting a little extra support/oxygen from C-PAP and have some IV's in their arms, but overall they are doing very well. I'm so proud of them! A very drugged-up me was wheeled in to see them in my hospital bed after surgery. It's about 10:30 am now and I'm getting ready to go over and see them in a wheelchair this time. I still haven't been able to hold them yet, which is why we haven't settled on names either. I need to bond and hold & look at them closely first before we can truly decide what to call them. I'll keep you posted!

32 Weeks!

Had another appointment with ultrasound yesterday. The good news is that everything is going very well and the babies and myself are all healthy. The bad news is, I DON'T THINK THESE GUYS ARE COMING OUT ANYTIME SOON!! I know, that's actually good news...I want to keep them in as long as possible so that they are big and strong when they are born. I was just a little surprised when I asked the doctor what he thinks the timeline is and he said he'd schedule a c-section if Baby "B" is still breech at 38 weeks.

38 weeks??? What happened to 36??? I guess I've learned to not trust everything they say at this point. I can sympathize with other moms now when they go to the doctor at 38-39 weeks and their doctors say they'll be delivering early...and then they end up having their babies at 41 weeks or so. It happens all the time, doesn't it!

Here are a few pictures from the scan. You really can't tell what you're looking at anymore. They're so big!! I can't tell you how much they weigh now, because that might influence peoples' guesses for the big "Baby Pool." Let's just say that they're measuring very nicely for twins, or even singleton babies at this point. I'm so happy! Baby "A" is head down, or vertex, and is resting comfortably on my bladder. Glad I could provide a pillow for him/her. Baby "B" is head up, or breech, and is resting his/her feet on Baby "A's" head. Also nice for my bladder.

Speaking of baby pool, if you still want to play, there's still time. I've had several people send their guesses to me, so I'll be sending Jenn a check after March 1st for all of their entries. If you want to do that, just let me know. I can't wait to see what the overall consensus is on what we are having!! I'm not sure what the pot is up to now. I'll have to get back to everyone on that one.

Have fun!

31-Week Belly shots & more. YIKES!!

Seriously, can my belly GET any bigger?? I know, ask me again in 6 weeks!! I don't think they'll make maternity tops big enough for me then. They need to make shirts longer for people like me. I don't need them any bigger in the arms, boobs, and everywhere else. I just want them long enough to cover my entire belly at this point!! I'm amazed at how it just keeps growing out in front and not as much on the sides. I thought it would level out eventually.

I had another shower with my "Game Club" friends this Saturday. I'll attach a picture of them too. Susan (Far left) just had a very sweet baby boy just 4 weeks ago. Little "Joey" came to the shower and I got to hold him. It's really hard holding a baby with such a big belly though. I seriously have no lap when I sit down anymore!!! Susan has a place out at Lutheran Lake too, so it will be fun playing with our babies out there this Summer!

Ok, so I was really bummed out yesterday when my dear, sweet husband told me he was going to have to go to Iowa for work this week. Out of nowhere the hormones kicked in and the tears came streaming down my face. What the Heck is up with me???? I SERIOUSLY don't get what this pregnancy does to me sometimes!! Anyway, I had to stay down at my Grandma's house last night because she wasn't feeling well. (My parents are out of town and couldn't take care of her either.) Matt had to work really late and then called and dropped the big "Bomb" on me about his business trip. He ended up surprising me by driving down to my grandma's in Seymour to see me though, which was so sweet. He stayed until like 2:00 am and then drove back home to pack for the trip & sleep. When I got home today I found this AWESOME surprise on the table. Apparently he visited the 24-hour Wal-Mart on his way home and got me roses, "Turtle" candy, Valentines & a jar of peanut butter from himself and "The kids."

I truely married the most thoughtful and romantic man in the world!!!!!! He's going to be such a good daddy too. :)

Ok, so I promised everyone I'd take it easy this week. I don't want anything "Happening" with my husband AND my parents out of town!! It's probably going to snow anyway, so I'm going to hit the video store tomorrow morning and catch up on movies and stuff. Aaaah...the life!

30 1/2 weeks & NO MORE WORK!!!!!

Ok, it's been awhile again. I'm proud to say that I'm FINALLY done with work!! Ask me again in about 2 weeks and I'll probably tell you I'm bored to tears though. I still have at least 5-6 weeks to go (hopefully), but my doctors really wanted me to take it easy from here on out. With the weather being as nasty as it has been, I didn't argue!

Maybe now I'll have more time for the blog. I just can't wait to start putting pictures of the little ones up on here!! In some ways it seems like this pregnancy has dragged out, but in other ways I can't believe how fast it's flown by. I have one more baby shower this weekend with some good friends of mine up in Indianapolis. It's been so fun hanging out with everyone, family and friends, over the past few weekends at showers and such. Thank you all who have helped us out with gifts and all the great hand-me-downs. I think we're all set! I'll show some pictures of some of the cute stuff we got. I just love the high chairs...and can you believe the size of this stroller!!! I can't imagine pusing it through the grocery store aisles. As for the umbrella stollers...we found these cool connectors that turn it into a double. Can't wait to use this stuff!!!

I know...

what's up with the facial hair??? I don't get it either. He's happy though, so I'll let it go for now. I told him to shave before the babies are born though. I don't want him to scare them!!!!