Thursday, March 20, 2014

Kyle and Austin 1 month


Kyle and Austin are 1 month old! Begin time warp speed!

There isn't too much to talk about during the first month. They slept a lot. They ate a lot. They needed a lot of diaper changes.

I was feeding them every 2 hours after they were first born to get them back to birth weight. It took a little longer than two weeks and Austin needed a pumped bottle to supplement. Now that they are back to birth weight I am just nursing them. Austin needs a nipple shield sometimes but it has been nice to have a break from pumping. I plan to pump soon and try a bottle with Kyle soon.

I don't want to jinx things and talk about sleep.

At first nursing sessions were taking 90 minutes sometimes and it took awhile to figure out a good time during the day to nurse them when I would have time to eat lunch with Chase and put him down for a nap. I try to nurse them around 7am and then again at 10am, 12:30pm after Chase is asleep and then around 3pm, 5:30, and then 8. I was nursing them at 10 too but I'm going to try and drop the 10pm feeding since Austin is screaming during it and Kyle was up at 1 something last night.

We are so happy that our little boys are here and healthy and adorable. We are excited we made it through the first month and are looking forward to more time with them awake. Can't believe we are already done with the squishy first few weeks!

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Birth Story part 2

When I left off I was being wheeled to the o.r.

When we had Chase we were in a big room with just a nurse. The o.r. was a smaller room with bright lights and a crowd. Everything was different from the things my legs were in to Hubby not holding my leg.

I pushed for probably 15 or 20 minutes. I felt like with each push Kyle would be arriving. I also had my amazing doctor, who had cried with me the day before about making our decision, there motivating me. Once his head was out everyone was telling me to open my eyes and I tried to ignore them since I didn't enjoy seeing Chase like that but I opened my eyes and saw my goopy son make his arrival into the world. Then they placed his goopy self on me and I didn't know what to do. He was goopy!

The nurses took him away to clean him up and measure him and we started trying to get Austin in position. There was another doctor there to help my doctor and they used an ultrasound. Austin, our problem child, kept trying to stick his hand out. My doctor said I'm holding his hand and at one point she was holding his foot.

There was a moment when the room went silent and I could see it in my doctor's face that she was about to make the call to do a c section to get Austin out. I sent up some serious prayers. In a matter of seconds they were telling me to push and they got a vacuum and he arrived! I don't even remember if they put Austin on my chest before cleaning him up.

The next thing I remember is getting a clean and eerily quiet Kyle put on my chest. I'm assuming the placentas were delivered. I don't even know if one came out after Kyle and then one after Austin or how that all works. My doctor had to stitch me up and then they wheeled me back to the delivery room to recover for a little while.

Our family saw the boys when Hubby was walking back with them and then they went to lunch so we had some time to try and get them to nurse and they got their first baths. Austin had inhaled a lot of amniotic fluid and was making some concerning grunting noises and our sweet friend the nurse was doing everything she could to keep him with us.

I'm still so amazed that I carried these boys to 38 weeks. Had them vaginally. They spent no time in the nicu. We left the hospital the next day. I'm so grateful for this outcome and of course two perfectly healthy baby boys! God is so good!

Monday, March 3, 2014

They are here! and part 1 of the birth story

I know it has been over a week, I'm sure most of you follow me on instagram and already know that the twins have arrived but I thought I should post here just in case.
Let me introduce Kyle Henry born 2/20/14 at 10:53am weighing 5lbs 14oz and Austin Daley born 2/20/14 at 11:11am weighing 7lbs 1oz.
Our family is complete and we couldn't be happier!

Since I have a few more minutes let me get started with the birth story.
Here I am at 38 weeks pregnant the day before my induction. I didn't mention in my 37 week post that my dr said I was 4 cms dilated. The plan was to arrive at the hospital at 6am and start Pitocin since I was already 4cms. Then my dr would arrive around 8am and break my water.

We got to the hospital at 6am but I guess the orders my dr had sent over were blank so they waited until 7ish I think to start the Pitocin. When my dr got there at 8am she was annoyed they hadn't started the Pitocin early. She tried to break my water but was not able to. That was fun. So they kept uping the Pitocin by 2 every half hour hoping I would make progress so she could break my water and I could get an epidural.

I had some contractions and thought I was making progress. They got the Pitocin up to 17 and tried to break my water again and were again not successful. The dr and nurse did not want to go any higher with the Pitocin so we turned it off. We were given a few options. We could go home and come back in a few days. We could go home and come back at 10pm and start cytotec. We could start cytotec in 4 hours when the Pitocin was out of my system or we could do a c section.

This was one of the hardest decisions we have had to make. I wanted to avoid a c section as much as possible. We didn't think the cytotec would work and once they started the cytotec we would have to stay even if that meant a c section. We ultimately decided what was best for our family was to stay in the hospital for the 4 hours and wait for the Pitocin to get out of my system and then start the cytotec.

So we hung out and had dinner and watched tv and Chase came to visit. We started the cytotec at 8pm. Every 6 hours you add another tablet. I hadn't progressed much by the 2am add another tablet. At 4:30am I was having bad contractions. I made Hubby get out of his bed so he could hold my hand. I might have threatened to stab him or kick him in the balls. I think that is a good indicator for epidural time. I think I was at 6cms when they gave me the epidural.

The plan was for my dr to come in around 10am and break my water and the nurse assumed I would be completely dilated. They were right. They wheeled me to the o.r. All twins are delivered in the o.r....

And I hear the twins waking up. To be continued...

Part 2