Friday, April 20, 2012
Happy 1 Month C & C!
April 17, 2012 the girls came home! So far things are going well. Two is time consuming, no doubt, but thankfully for us, we know no different. We're scheduled to have lots of help from our moms in the weeks to come!
Pops came to visit us again.
The nursery.
One last picture in the nursery before their arrival. About to leave to get them from NICU.
My first time holding them at the same time. : )
About to go HOME. In as two, out as four!! (Claire left, Caroline right)
Getting ready to drive 20 mph all the way home...
7 miles and an hour and a half later, daddy got us home safely! Kidding...but we did drive really really slow.
Let's play and FINALLY get to touch each other!
So we have heard Claire cry and Caroline has no reaction to it. Caroline cried for the first time and Claire just couldn't handle it and went to town crying too. This is post their meltdowns so to comfort Claire we let her see that Caroline was ok. It was tragic for her prior to this!
Gigi feeding Caroline
Today we are 1 month old!!!! I'm just going to post several pictures from the photoshoot because it is just hilarious. Thanks to Brad Baccus we are now proud owners of two of these bears! Caroline is in the pink headband and Claire is in the purple.
"I'm hungry, no I'm hungrier"
Caroline, Claire (We gave up on the bows)
Monday, April 9, 2012
Pictures....Finally!
Monday, April 2, 2012
Happy Birthday Caroline and Claire!
The girls were born March 20th. Claire was born first at 1:05 pm followed by Caroline's arrival at 1:06 pm. Claire was 4 lbs. 2 oz. and 16" long and Caroline was 4 lbs. and 3 oz. and 17.25". All went well with the delivery and their cords had 2 full knots so we're grateful for no complications from that during pregnancy.
The girls currently are still in NICU but are doing great. They are each almost back up to their birth weight and are beginning to take more and more from a bottle and less from tube feeds. The growth and change from birth until now is unimaginable. It's hard to leave them every night but we ultimately know it is what is best for them.
I was discharged the Friday following their delivery and was readmitted 2 days later into ICU. Summed up I couldn't breathe and couldn't be any position other than straight up. I had massive fluid build up in my body, heart and lungs. I had pneumonia, high blood pressure, major fluid retention in my body and legs making walking so very painful and on top of all of this developed Bell's Palsy and have lost the ability to move the right side of my face. I was anemic and required a few units of blood on this trip as well. None of which showed up until after delivery, which is very rare. Throughout my pregnancy I maintained a healthy blood pressure and was swollen some but could usually find my ankles. They think the pneumonia had been there a while causing my shortness of breath, but what pregnant woman with twins isn't short of breath...therefore this wasn't alarming the plethora of Dr.'s I saw while in antepartum for 8 weeks!? As Dustin has said "this was all the perfect storm; a culmination of many things." I lost over 25 lbs. while in the hospital last week, any damage caused to my heart should be able to heal itself with time and I'm regaining sensation in my face, slowly. Though it is mind-blowing that all of this could happen while under 24/7 hospital care, it did, but we're moving on.....we've got 2 beautiful girls in NICU that need us.
iphone pictures: We've been bad about whipping out the iphones for pictures instead of our good camera but hope you can still enjoy them.
Can you tell us apart? (Caroline left and Claire is on the right)
We have some gigglers! Caroline
Gigi & Caroline
Momsey & Claire
Pops & Claire
Dustin & Claire
The girls currently are still in NICU but are doing great. They are each almost back up to their birth weight and are beginning to take more and more from a bottle and less from tube feeds. The growth and change from birth until now is unimaginable. It's hard to leave them every night but we ultimately know it is what is best for them.
I was discharged the Friday following their delivery and was readmitted 2 days later into ICU. Summed up I couldn't breathe and couldn't be any position other than straight up. I had massive fluid build up in my body, heart and lungs. I had pneumonia, high blood pressure, major fluid retention in my body and legs making walking so very painful and on top of all of this developed Bell's Palsy and have lost the ability to move the right side of my face. I was anemic and required a few units of blood on this trip as well. None of which showed up until after delivery, which is very rare. Throughout my pregnancy I maintained a healthy blood pressure and was swollen some but could usually find my ankles. They think the pneumonia had been there a while causing my shortness of breath, but what pregnant woman with twins isn't short of breath...therefore this wasn't alarming the plethora of Dr.'s I saw while in antepartum for 8 weeks!? As Dustin has said "this was all the perfect storm; a culmination of many things." I lost over 25 lbs. while in the hospital last week, any damage caused to my heart should be able to heal itself with time and I'm regaining sensation in my face, slowly. Though it is mind-blowing that all of this could happen while under 24/7 hospital care, it did, but we're moving on.....we've got 2 beautiful girls in NICU that need us.
iphone pictures: We've been bad about whipping out the iphones for pictures instead of our good camera but hope you can still enjoy them.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
4-days-to-go
I cannot believe the week has FINALLY come! It has been a busy few weeks preparing. If you've been there you know and well Dustin has to do it all. I have all day to make lists and bless his heart he has to round everything up and make trips to and from the house in what little spare time he has.
I started a new medication a week and a half ago, procardia, that I take every 6 hours to null the contractions and other than one spell it has done just that. Everything else is looking good: blood pressure, swelling, etc. etc. I will say I've gotten bigger and subsequently am frequently more and more out of breath.
Dustin went home today to find that our house is all decked out for Easter thanks to Gigi. She also organized our pantry, bathroom cabinets etc. My mom and her have worked in the nursery and according to Dustin I will be so so surprised when I get home to the goodies and organization. I know this will help with all of my worries as well. THANKS MOMS!!
Thursday at 12:30 we're set for our C-Section. I've been prepped for the basics and have asked to know not much more than that. If I have time to worry about something I will but if faced with it with little time to worry I can handle and deal with most anything. I'm most worried about the spinal but hear that's relatively simple so I'm thinking it will be OK.
I'm very exhausted from my stay here at the hospital. I have meds to take every 3 hours throughout the day and night that I get very little good, deep sleep. So nonetheless I am ready to go home. I should be able to go home next Sunday. No matter what the soonest my Dr. lets me outta here I'm on it!
We've been reading Jesus calling since we've been in the hospital and here it today's devotional. I found it most appropriate!
We've saved all of the cards we've received along with prayer grams and prayer request pages from churches here and afar. Our girls, one day will be able to read these and process this all when they are able to comprehend it. This has also been a great "pick-me up" wall when I've needed it.
Our friends and family that attended the San Antonio shower wrote words of advice to the girls --this has been such a fun thing to read over the weeks. They will know they were loved long before they were even here!
Here are our last sonogram pictures. The pics are of Claire. We weren't able to see Caroline's face as she is face down kissing Claire's booty! Caroline weighed in on Thursday, 3/15, at 4 pounds and 3 ounces and Claire weighed exactly 4 pounds. We couldn't be happier about their weights! Hopefully they will be solid over 4 pounds at birth so when they lose some weight after birth we won't go down in to the 3's.
We feel so blessed to make it this far and have always known God is in control. But it has been through your prayers that we've found peace and have been able to face each day with a positive attitude. We'll do our best to post an update after the birth later in the week. Thank you for reading, sending cards, e-mails, texts, stopping our families out in public to let them know you were thinking of us, dinners, visits and countless prayers. These girls are loved and have had such a wonderful support group. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
I started a new medication a week and a half ago, procardia, that I take every 6 hours to null the contractions and other than one spell it has done just that. Everything else is looking good: blood pressure, swelling, etc. etc. I will say I've gotten bigger and subsequently am frequently more and more out of breath.
Dustin went home today to find that our house is all decked out for Easter thanks to Gigi. She also organized our pantry, bathroom cabinets etc. My mom and her have worked in the nursery and according to Dustin I will be so so surprised when I get home to the goodies and organization. I know this will help with all of my worries as well. THANKS MOMS!!
Thursday at 12:30 we're set for our C-Section. I've been prepped for the basics and have asked to know not much more than that. If I have time to worry about something I will but if faced with it with little time to worry I can handle and deal with most anything. I'm most worried about the spinal but hear that's relatively simple so I'm thinking it will be OK.
I'm very exhausted from my stay here at the hospital. I have meds to take every 3 hours throughout the day and night that I get very little good, deep sleep. So nonetheless I am ready to go home. I should be able to go home next Sunday. No matter what the soonest my Dr. lets me outta here I'm on it!
We've been reading Jesus calling since we've been in the hospital and here it today's devotional. I found it most appropriate!
We've saved all of the cards we've received along with prayer grams and prayer request pages from churches here and afar. Our girls, one day will be able to read these and process this all when they are able to comprehend it. This has also been a great "pick-me up" wall when I've needed it.
Our friends and family that attended the San Antonio shower wrote words of advice to the girls --this has been such a fun thing to read over the weeks. They will know they were loved long before they were even here!
Here are our last sonogram pictures. The pics are of Claire. We weren't able to see Caroline's face as she is face down kissing Claire's booty! Caroline weighed in on Thursday, 3/15, at 4 pounds and 3 ounces and Claire weighed exactly 4 pounds. We couldn't be happier about their weights! Hopefully they will be solid over 4 pounds at birth so when they lose some weight after birth we won't go down in to the 3's.
We feel so blessed to make it this far and have always known God is in control. But it has been through your prayers that we've found peace and have been able to face each day with a positive attitude. We'll do our best to post an update after the birth later in the week. Thank you for reading, sending cards, e-mails, texts, stopping our families out in public to let them know you were thinking of us, dinners, visits and countless prayers. These girls are loved and have had such a wonderful support group. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
30 weeks & 1 day
Today, Thursday marks 30 weeks and 1 day. It's amazing how excited one can get over "1 day." Our C-Section is exactly 2 weeks from today.
So far things are still stable but with contractions becoming more frequent. My body has done well considering I'm carrying two babies and I am expected to contract. At this point we're just praying the contractions don't set anything more off than a little bit of pain here and there. We need prayers specifically for this vesa previa to not rupture between now and March 22nd. That has become the forefront of my worries.
Our girls are doing so great on the monitor. When I do have contractions it does not phase them at all. They are meeting their 15 x 15 required heart races and have never shown a de-acceleration. So as I've always said: the babies are strong and are fighters....their house was just built with mud and water.
On the bright side! Our girls have lots of hair.... haha but we weren't expecting them NOT to. In a 2-d sonogram you can see it sticking up off of the head. Maybe it's curly too?? That is what I can't wait to find out is if their hair is curly like Dustin's or straight like mine...
Things I have learned (or think I've learned) over the last 6 weeks:
-Waiting is SO hard.
-Never take the smell of your own home for granted.
-If you work and have always wondered what you were missing on TV, let me tell you...you're not missing a thing!
-I think Downy is missing a large market in hospitals. Surely they could produce an odorless fabric softner?!? No one likes drying off with sandpaper...
-The San Antonio newscasts that air at 4:30, 5:00. 6:00 and 6:30 are really all the same unless someone has broke jail between 4:30 and 6:30.
-Hospital food is really as bad as you have heard.
-My husband is amazing! He's gone above and beyond and taken the initiative to complete so many open-ended tasks we left abruptly to ensure my stress level remains low.
-The selfless love one has for a child is something I'm still not able to fully able to understand at this point, but have seen it first hand through our parents. Visiting us isn't exactly the most fun right now but they've come, sat, visited and kept our minds distracted. I know this must be extremely hard for them as well...especially my dad who can't stand to sit down for 5 minutes.
-Our friends have gone above and beyond to still let us know we really are friends! ....thank you for all of the visits, food, magazines, blizzards etc.!
So far things are still stable but with contractions becoming more frequent. My body has done well considering I'm carrying two babies and I am expected to contract. At this point we're just praying the contractions don't set anything more off than a little bit of pain here and there. We need prayers specifically for this vesa previa to not rupture between now and March 22nd. That has become the forefront of my worries.
Our girls are doing so great on the monitor. When I do have contractions it does not phase them at all. They are meeting their 15 x 15 required heart races and have never shown a de-acceleration. So as I've always said: the babies are strong and are fighters....their house was just built with mud and water.
On the bright side! Our girls have lots of hair.... haha but we weren't expecting them NOT to. In a 2-d sonogram you can see it sticking up off of the head. Maybe it's curly too?? That is what I can't wait to find out is if their hair is curly like Dustin's or straight like mine...
Things I have learned (or think I've learned) over the last 6 weeks:
-Waiting is SO hard.
-Never take the smell of your own home for granted.
-If you work and have always wondered what you were missing on TV, let me tell you...you're not missing a thing!
-I think Downy is missing a large market in hospitals. Surely they could produce an odorless fabric softner?!? No one likes drying off with sandpaper...
-The San Antonio newscasts that air at 4:30, 5:00. 6:00 and 6:30 are really all the same unless someone has broke jail between 4:30 and 6:30.
-Hospital food is really as bad as you have heard.
-My husband is amazing! He's gone above and beyond and taken the initiative to complete so many open-ended tasks we left abruptly to ensure my stress level remains low.
-The selfless love one has for a child is something I'm still not able to fully able to understand at this point, but have seen it first hand through our parents. Visiting us isn't exactly the most fun right now but they've come, sat, visited and kept our minds distracted. I know this must be extremely hard for them as well...especially my dad who can't stand to sit down for 5 minutes.
-Our friends have gone above and beyond to still let us know we really are friends! ....thank you for all of the visits, food, magazines, blizzards etc.!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Sonogram Update 2/28
Claire yawning.
We didn't get the best 3-d updates today as both girls were turned away, but that's ok it leaves an element of curiosity and surprise. We did get their weights... Claire "Baby A" is weighing in at 2 lbs and 15 ounces and Caroline "Baby B" is weighing in at 3 lbs and 4 ounces. So we have made some healthy growth and we couldn't be more excited!!!! Claire is in he 50th percentile and Caroline is in the 65th percentile. : )
Now that I am in the third trimester the girls should gain 1/2 pound per week!! This looks to give us good and healthy birth weights if all goes as planned. We're beyond excited and grateful for today's sonogram. I think it's safe to say that my sleeping, eating and minimal activity has paid off. : )
How to pass the time in a hospital....
Well we have some great friends that have made numerous efforts to come up here and keep us company! Last night we had a girls night "in" and had a DaySpa ToGo come up here and give us manis and pedis while we watched the Bachelor. The boys went to the Adcocks and cooked steaks so this night was probably just as healthy for Dustin as it was for me. : )
Members of the Junior League have come up with a schedule to send someone in the day time a couple of times a week to keep me company. It's been great to break up the days and weeks.
The most time consuming project we have taken on is ancestry.com. If you have never done it then I would STRONGLY encourage you to do so....it is so interesting (sometimes scandalous) and informative. This all triggered when I was working in the girls' baby books to fill out their heritage and significance of their names and I wanted to be specific and exact so Dustin got us started on this website.
We have done each of our direct lineages from our birth mothers and fathers. Both sides of my family have been traced back to the 1500's to England. Did you know the inventor of the flushing toilet is in my family? Oh yes! He's google-able: Sir John Harington. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harington_(writer) He was also a godchild to Queen Elizabeth I. So the saying goes when you're going to the "John" that's due to his invention of the toilet. I just think this is so neat to find especially since Harrington (an "r" got added on the boat over from England) was my mom's maiden name.
Dustin is still working on his side and have found some very cool and interesting names. He has been able to trace his mom's side back to the 15 and 1600's. He's trying to do his dad's biological parents, not his adoptive parents for some true history and it has been very difficult to locate their "real," not slang, names and true birth or death dates. But if there is anyone that will stick to it...it is Dustin.
Our friends Trey and Meg got started on theirs and so far they have found that Meg's great-great-great-great (or something like that) grandfather was the mayor of Austin and sold some of his land to the state. This land now hosts the state capitol. So if you do it...who knows what you will find!
Dustin will not be taking the New Mexico Bar this week due to our situation. Though it likely would have been fine the worry of "what if" is enough to send you over the edge so he plans to take it in July. Hopefully 2 crying babies in the house won't be too much of a distraction when he is trying to study.
Today, we have a growth scan and our girls should weigh in around 3 lbs! So we're making some headway. I have gained lots of weight this week and my belly has really taken off. All which makes me happy. : ) Tomorrow marks 29 weeks and March 22nd is still our big day! We continue to request your prayers over the approaching weeks as we work to make it to our goal. So far things are going well. The babies are scanning well on the monitor that we do 3 times per day and I am having an increase in contractions but am not feeling them so at this point it is not a concern, but we have learned this process is day by day.
P.S. I'm taking is super easy tomorrow and simply may just not get out of bed. I don't want to risk having Leap Year Babies.
Members of the Junior League have come up with a schedule to send someone in the day time a couple of times a week to keep me company. It's been great to break up the days and weeks.
The most time consuming project we have taken on is ancestry.com. If you have never done it then I would STRONGLY encourage you to do so....it is so interesting (sometimes scandalous) and informative. This all triggered when I was working in the girls' baby books to fill out their heritage and significance of their names and I wanted to be specific and exact so Dustin got us started on this website.
We have done each of our direct lineages from our birth mothers and fathers. Both sides of my family have been traced back to the 1500's to England. Did you know the inventor of the flushing toilet is in my family? Oh yes! He's google-able: Sir John Harington. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harington_(writer) He was also a godchild to Queen Elizabeth I. So the saying goes when you're going to the "John" that's due to his invention of the toilet. I just think this is so neat to find especially since Harrington (an "r" got added on the boat over from England) was my mom's maiden name.
Dustin is still working on his side and have found some very cool and interesting names. He has been able to trace his mom's side back to the 15 and 1600's. He's trying to do his dad's biological parents, not his adoptive parents for some true history and it has been very difficult to locate their "real," not slang, names and true birth or death dates. But if there is anyone that will stick to it...it is Dustin.
Our friends Trey and Meg got started on theirs and so far they have found that Meg's great-great-great-great (or something like that) grandfather was the mayor of Austin and sold some of his land to the state. This land now hosts the state capitol. So if you do it...who knows what you will find!
Dustin will not be taking the New Mexico Bar this week due to our situation. Though it likely would have been fine the worry of "what if" is enough to send you over the edge so he plans to take it in July. Hopefully 2 crying babies in the house won't be too much of a distraction when he is trying to study.
Today, we have a growth scan and our girls should weigh in around 3 lbs! So we're making some headway. I have gained lots of weight this week and my belly has really taken off. All which makes me happy. : ) Tomorrow marks 29 weeks and March 22nd is still our big day! We continue to request your prayers over the approaching weeks as we work to make it to our goal. So far things are going well. The babies are scanning well on the monitor that we do 3 times per day and I am having an increase in contractions but am not feeling them so at this point it is not a concern, but we have learned this process is day by day.
P.S. I'm taking is super easy tomorrow and simply may just not get out of bed. I don't want to risk having Leap Year Babies.
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