Little Miracles

This is such an amazing story of a baby and mother connection. A little boy born at 27 weeks was pronounced dead, but after being held and loved by his mother came "back to life"! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1306283/Miracle-premature-baby-declared-dead-doctors-revived-mothers-touch.html
It makes me upset that after Cohen was born I didn't get to hold him until I was discharged. After his birth they thought he was having a hard time breathing and whisked him away to the NICU before I even got a look at him and then off to another hospital to be monitored after he was stable without even giving me the chance to hold him. We need to demand as mothers that babies be left in the room with their mothers. I feel he would have done tremendous if he had only had the chance to be with his brother, father, and I before they decided he needed to live in the NICU. There is no reason why babies can't be on monitors in their mothers rooms where they can be held and fed the way nature intended for healing, not by a stranger with a schedule. I'm still looking forward to when I get the chance for a "natural" childbirth experience!

p.s. since Cohen has been home he's gained more weight than when they had tubes down his throat because he wouldn't eat for them. I wouldn't eat for a strange lady with a bottle either if I could have yummy warm milk from my mom!

Achievements Unlocked!

So since we have been parents for a whole two months now, we wanted to share with you some of the things we are becoming good at as professional parents (woot woot!). Hey wait..I'm the only professional one around here! ;)  I asked Cameron to put together a list of what he thought. Of course, Cameron puts things differently than I do...so below you will find Cameron's list of top ten parenting bests, followed by my explanation of what the heck he's talking about (with a picture in the middle for posterity).

Cameron's List
10.Flying
9. Spanking
8.Gettin' naked
7. Triscuitback riding
6. Sleeping in class
5. Speed Changing
4. Pee-dodging failure cleanup
3. Making burritos
2. Scaring mom
1. Break Dancing

Kristie's Explanations

10.Cameron running around the house with the babies pretending they're airplanes (I do not endorse this)
9.  Patting their backs when they're gassy
8.  Breastfeeding (of course, I am the only one in this house good at that!)
7.  Cameron likes to hold them over Triscuit and pretend that they are riding him...poor Triscuit
6.  Waking up in the night to take care of the babies.
5. Changing two poopy diapers in under 30 seconds flat!
4. Lots and lots of laundry (done mostly by ME I might add...)
3. Swaddling the bubs in blankets to put them to bed at night (Cameron definitely wins this one)
2. Cameron pretending to throw the babies in the air (also NOT endorsed by me)
1. This one is hard to explain...you have to see it to get the full effect, but basically it's Cameron's signature move...wiggling the babies when they cry. It's like a vibrating chair and they really like it.

And they came two by two

As all of you probably already know, the babies have arrived! Or rather...were born (since they were here the whole time...just in my tummy!! :) Here is a brief story of what happened on their birthday (sorry there aren't many hospital pics since it was an emergency delivery):

   I woke up around 2:30 am Monday the 21st to go to the bathroom and as I stood up it felt like a geyser shooting from between my legs (sorry-this part is not for those who don't want to hear about gross stuff!)! I was 35 weeks, 1 day, and my water had broke-against everything my birth class had told me! ;) Anyway it wasn't clear like it was supposed to be but bright red so the dr. told me to get to the emergency room asap. Surprisingly I was incredibly calm throughout the whole thing. I called a few friends, woke one up, and she was over in 20 minutes. By then the bathroom floor was soaked and there was a nasty trail from the couch to the bathroom and a very confused triscuit. In the mean time I was able to gather a few things together for the hospital, mop up the bathroom floor and stuff several towels between my legs. I called Cameron and in a haze he said he would find a way to get to the hospital from the base (where he lives-he sleeps at home on the weekends only). When my friend and I arrived at the hospital (only 1 contraction by this time) she had to find a wheelchair and wheel me in-from there they took me upstairs to labor and delivery and my very sleepy dr. arrived to do an ultrasound. He didn't tell me why there was so much blood but that Camden (A) was breech and we were doing a C-section in 45 MINUTES! I frantically tried to get a hold of Cameron, and luckily he arrived literally FIVE MINUTES before they cut me open. 

Almost time! Waiting to go to surgery. Don't we look so nice at 5am!

The whole thing happened extremely fast. I walked into the room and sat on the table-they had me lean over and gave me the epidural and before I knew it I felt like I was paralyzed from the waist down. The funny thing is that I could wiggle my big toe on the right foot the whole time, but couldn't feel anything else! I wiggled that toe the whole time to keep myself from freaking out about not feeling my bottom half! lol It seemed like only 5 minutes or so until Camden came out squealing like a little piggy. 

 

Camden's first pic

Cohen came out one minute later and only made one little yelp. In the recovery room they noticed he wasn't breathing right and he was rushed upstairs to the NICU.

 

 Cohen's first pic before they took him upstairs

Cameron was great the whole time-he couldn't look at anything that was happening, just told me everything was going great and we would all be fine (love you Cameron!). After another few minutes stitching me back up they took me to the recovery room where I shook violently for about an hour and threw up a couple times (isn't birth beautiful! ;) I never even got to see Cohen until they let me see him in his isolet before sending him downtown to the Children's specialty hospital for testing and observatin (they thought he might have sleep apnea or seizures). The next few days in the hospital are a blur. Cameron had to be on base doing paperwork to get time off, and all I really remember is that they had T.V. and a great menu to order from! lol

 Cameron and Camden asleep on the couch/cameron's bed

Camden AKA "cherry tomato" in his wheelie bed. 

He was so small and red with a round face, he looked just like a little tomato!

I have several great friends that took care of the mess at my apt and watched Triscuit for me during my stay at the hospital, I don't know what I would do without them! They arranged the babies room and set everything up, even sorting the clothes into separate age groups and putting them in my dresser. YOU GIRLS ARE AWESOME! Cameron, Camden, and I came home 5 days after the delivery. My mom and Gretchen arrived the day before I was discharged.

Cameron and Camden snuggling (Cam looks pretty tired). Camden always finds a way to stick his feet out of anything!

Sleepy Camden

Unfortunately Cohen had to stay in the hospital for 3 weeks for all sorts of tests including an MRI and a couple EEGs to determine whether or not he was having seizures. So far all they can see is that he has a cyst in his brain that occured in utero and is clearing up on it's own. It shouldn't do him much damage since babies don't start using that part of their brain until they are around 6 months old and he can store that info in another part of his noggin'. We will just monitor him and do a couple more tests as he gets a little older. As of now, BOTH MY BUBS ARE HOME!

34 weeks & 3 days.

So they say most twins come around 35 weeks, but I'm not so sure. I mean, mine are definitely BIG enough to come soon (nearly 7 lbs each), but I just have a feeling they won't. I haven't been having contractions or any of the pre-labor symptoms I they told me about in the labor class, and my cervix hasn't been doing anything. Even though we don't have all their stuff yet, I am READY for them to come! Well...I guess I should say I'm ready to sleep in my bed again, actually...I'm ready to SLEEP (I know you don't get much sleep after having babies cause you get woken up to take care of them, but by golly you can at least get some good sleep in between, and on your stomach for that matter)!  I take little naps throughout the day and night on the couch, but I haven't slept regularly for more than 45 minutes at a time for over a month. Plus I have to get up and stretch my legs to keep them from cramping, pee every hour and eat during the night or else my stomach feels sick.
I can't wait 'till Cameron gets to come home every night! He has all the paperwork filled out and approved by the first tier, now he has to get it approved by two other people and then wait for it to be sent back to him. He better get it before I go into labor, cause I ain't drivin' myself to the hospital in the middle of the night! lol (actually, I have several friends on the alert that would drive me, but I'd rather have Cameron be there of course). My mom and little sis' Gretchen will be coming up as soon as I call and tell them I'm in the Hospital, or a few days before I have a C-section if they have to schedule one of those. We should be ok, at least unless "B" (cohen) gets more than 15% bigger than "A" (Camden) since "A" dialates the cervix  and if "B" is bigger he won't fit through. My dr. has been doing non stress tests every week, and the babies are doing great-very strong-in fact they kick off the monitors so often the nurse has to come in and adjust them constantly, lol.

Cameron, I love your face!

Belly Update

I keep receiving requests for belly pics, so here are 2.

30 weeks

31 weeks

Here are some thoughts on being pregnant: 

1. I don't have a lot of clothes that fit

2. My stomach is in my chest-along with half my intestines

3. Always know where the bathroom is

4. Flip flops with lots of padding are a life saver

5. Sleeping for more than 45 minutes at a time is nearly impossible

6. If you have twins, they do not like it when you sleep on your side. One of them is always getting squished

7. I think Cohen has ADD-he is ALWAYS moving! He was a good little baby and WAS head down, but then decided to squiggle into a transverse position that is more uncomfortable than you can possibly imagine.

8. Simple tasks like loading the dish washer, mopping the floor, and walking up stairs are HARD.

9. Always make sure there is air conditioning in the building or you are going to die

10. Have a husband who gets to come home at night and that you get to see more than 4 days a week, it would make things a lot easier (love you babe!)

Beach!

I have been trying to find the beach state park for a couple weeks now with no avail. It was not until my friend Tina told me she would escort that I was finally able to dig my feet into some real sand!

Tina is on the right, Emily is on the left. The cute pup on the bottom is Triscuit ;) Even though it was cloudy and windy it was still nice to walk along the water. I'm kind of amazed at how nice the sand is for a lake beach!

Triscuit really enjoyed the trip. I think he thought it was one big treasure box in which to dig up things for us, including the following: sticks, rocks, used tissues, beer bottles, and a pair of pretty nice sun glasses!

Emily modeling the sun glasses.

Apparently Emily and Tina like to snuggle. I was taking the picture so I couldn't get in too well. Tina is shorter than the rest of us so she was actually standing on a sand bank lol.

Another of Triscuit for cute measure. He's smiling because he gets to get out of the house. You are a good stinky boy B!