Boys Hanging Out

The boys decided to make a video while I was cooking tonight :)

Family Snuggles

Well, looks like the dog has finally decided for sure that he likes the boys :)

Tour of Missouri!

Well, the boys went on their first long outing to the Tour of Missouri! Never too soon to get them interested in cycling :) And we wanted to support this event, since it's a really cool event for our state to host (and it has the potentiasl to be cancelled.....it almost didn't happen this year)! We loaded up the jogging stroller and found a nice spot at 31st and Broadway to sit in the grass, enjoy the weather, and watch some of the best cyclists out there whiz by us! It was really cool, a great way to spend our Sunday afternoon!

Welcome Home Abram!!

Well I am a little behind on blogging, but Abram came home a little over a week ago, on Saturday, August 29th. Abram and Owen seem to be very happy to be back together, and like to snuggle close to each other, it is so cute! Abram also had his first bath the Monday after he was home, so I attached pictures from that also.

They Already Have a Girlfriend!

Brooke and Lucas Hillis welcomed their daughter, Adalyn Nicole, into the world on August 25th! Her and the boys are so close in age, it will be so fun for them to grow up together. We've been talking about an arranged marriage, but I guess most people don't really do that anymore....bummer! :) She is so cute, and has lots of pretty hair! Owen has already been on a date with her, and Abram's dying to get out of here to get his chance!

Owen's First Bath at Home!

This past Monday, we gave Owen his first bath at home! He definitely did not like getting his body washed, but LOVED getting his hair washed. The hospital gave us a little baby head massager to rub shampoo in, and it was a big hit!

He smells so good! Gotta love that baby smell. Can't wait for his brother to be home and kicking and screaming along with him :)

Still in the Hospital.....

Well, Abram's respiratory issue was resolved, but then replaced with other issues! He has had some heartrate dips (they call these something like "brada cardias", not sure how it is spelled, but it's when his heart rate goes below 80), is having a hard time maintaining a high enough temperature, and is having some trouble eating. The doctors and nurses tell us that all of these things are normal with preemies, and are telling us we shouldn't be too concerned. However, the combination of issues has kept him in the NICU for a week now. Leaving the hospital without him last Saturday night was one of the most difficult things I've ever done! We have spent every day here since then here at the hospital. We're typically here from 9am-7pm. This allows me to be here for 4 of his feedings. It's also hard because he's in an incubator, and we haven't been able to hold him except for during his feeding times. I also feel bad that he missed out on coming home the same time as his brother, having his first bath with his brother, and other things. I definitely want him to be healthy though, and if this is what they think is best, then we'll do it!

Today they are a week old, and he's made alot of progress. He's eating better and keeping his temperature up. He might even get to come home with us this weekend! I sure hope so.

I attached some pictures that we took here in the hospital!

The Boys Have Arrived!!

Wow it's been awhile since I posted anything, and there's so much to say! First of all, the last few weeks of pregnancy for me and the boys was tough! We went to the hospital at 33.5 weeks with some preterm labor symptoms. We stayed one night, and I was given some medication to hopefully slow everything down. The doctor wanted me to make it to 36 weeks!

A week and a half later, we were back in the hospital. We were admitted on Sunday, August 16th. I spent most of that week in bed and on medication, still trying to slow things down. The doctors and nurses decided the medication wasn't working, and on the morning of Thursday, August 20th, they decided to break my water!

Most of that day is kind of a blur. I was on pain medication trying to sleep, and just waiting for "go" time. I had decided to try a vaginal delivery over a c-section, so I was feeling pretty nervous and anxious for the boys to be here, hoping they'd be healthy despite the fact that I was only 35 weeks and a few days along. At some point in the afternoon, it was time to go, and they wheeled me in the OR. With twins, even normal deliveries are done in the OR in case there's a need for an emergency c-section.

The nurses said I pushed for 50 minutes for "Baby A's" delivery. After that painful 50 minutes, out came Owen Randall, at 5lbs 11oz and 20" long. Finally hearing him cry was awesome! Nathan went over to make sure he was ok, while the doctors and nurses were checking out the situation with "Baby B." When Owen came out, he had so much room, he moved into the breach position!! When the doctor said this, I was terrified and thought this meant I'd have to have a c-section in addition to already doing it the "normal" way. Luckily they managed to turn him back to the head down position, and Abram Richard was born 18 minutes after his brother. He was also 5lbs 11oz, but was only 18" long. Owen was able to join us in the room soon after delivery, but Abram was sent to the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) for some respiratory problems. He had fluid in his lungs, and needed some extra special attention. I got to hold him in the delivery room, and once I was feeling up to it, got to see him later that night in the NICU.

I loved them immediately and think they are the best thing that's happened to us! I can't wait to be a mommy to these little guys!

Bed Rest for Me......

Well with twins it was probably inevitable, but I've been put on bed rest :( Kind of a bummer, but it's best for the little guys! This started Wednesday with a short hospital stay and some preterm labor symptoms. As of today I am 34 weeks, and the doctor would like me to make it to 36, so maybe only 2 more weeks until the big arrival! We can't wait! In the meantime, I'll catch up on some zzz's and will probably waste alot of time on Facebook :) Or, watching all of the mindless television that is on in the summer (have you seen Meghan's new show on VH1, she's looking for a millionaire! Or, there's Real World Cancun, the Kardashians, Kendra, John and Kate....shoot, I could go on and on :)

Shower Fun!

Well, I've finally had all my showers and they were AWESOME!! Thank you so much for all the wonderful gifts, and for those that were able to come, hope you had a great time and it was good seeing everyone! I don't seem to get out much these days with the big ol' belly, so it's good to have all my family and friends in one place :) I have a few pictures from the most recent shower. Check out those prego bellies!! :)

My how they are growing.....

No picture today, but some interesting news to report! On Friday, I had another ultrasound with the doctor to check the growth of the boys, and to make sure they are growing at about the same rate! Apparently this can be a major concern with twins if one is much smaller than the other. Well, the good news is that they checked out to be exactly the same weight (on Friday, that was 2lbs 14oz per baby). The interesting news is......this is in the 87th percentile for size at this point in pregnancy (50th percentile is average). So in other words, there are two BIG boys in there! I was told today the Blands have big babies.......some of the most recent births were 9 and 10 pounders! Holy moly! That means one ginormous tummy for me! :)

3D/4D Ultrasound!!

Well, we had the 3D/4D ultrasound last night, and it was AWESOME!! Everyone told me it would be awesome, but it exceeded my expectations. We got TONS of pictures, but I just attached a couple for now of their faces. It was pretty interesting how different they acted......she called them baby A and B, and baby A was just chilling out the whole time, stretched out, looking perfectly towards the wand thing. Baby B on the other hand, rarely gave a clear shot of his face, as he was waving arms/legs all over the place most of the time, or was curled into a ball. He also had his butt in baby A's face at one point! Ah, brothers :) I may add more pictures or video later, but here's a couple good shots for now!

Good News to Share!

We have a few good things to share with everyone! First, I passed the PE!! This is a HUGE milestone for work. It's a very difficult 8 hour engineering test that you need to pass to become a licensed professional engineer. I put ALOT of my free time into studying, and since free time's going to be little to nonexistent once these two little ones are in the picture, I needed to pass this the first time. Now I can breathe a HUGE sigh of relief that it's over and done with!











The other good news is, the baby room is ALMOST done!! We have a few other finishing touches to do, but the room is painted and the furniture is in, with the bedding! Nathan and his dad are going build some shelves for the little nook in the room, but that's probably the only other major thing we have to do. We also need to get a nightstand, lamp, and curtains, but I don't think that will be too hard. It's so nice to have it almost done though!

We also have our 3D ultrasound tomorrow, so I will post pictures from that soon!!!

21 Weeks!

Ok, people have been asking about the bump, so here it is! I'm right at 21 weeks here. Rocco, Nathan, and I were getting ready to go on a walk. So we took a bump picture on the way out!

Latest pictures of the boys!

Hello little boys!!

We are having two BOYS!!

Well some of you guessed it.....we're having two boys!! We found out yesterday at the 18-week ultrasound. Everything looks GREAT from what the technician could tell! It was amazing! She could tell that they could swallow because they had amniotic fluid in their stomachs. She could tell their kidneys were functioning. And showed us the four chambers in each little heart. We could even see their little arms and legs moving! Unfortunately she couldn't get to an angle to get a picture of them together. I am trying to post a picture of each, as she called them, Baby A and Baby B, but for some reason the ol' blog upload it not workng. I'll try again later though! So I took the day off yesterday and did "baby stuff" instead of "PE stuff," which was great! Can't wait to meet you little guys!!

I found a bedding set that Nathan and I both really like, I attached the pictures. We like both color combos, and we think if it were one of each, we could get one pink and one green :)

Bored over lunch.....

Over lunch today, I googled stuff on the internet. A couple people told me that some groups have "twin clubs" so I found the Greater KC area twin club website. Found out they are having their mega-twin-garage-sale next weekend! Might have to check that out. I've also started thinking about nursey ideas.......even though it will be awhile before we do anything to the baby room, once we're ready to go, I want to have an idea of what I want! Here's a neat one I found....it might be a little more modern than what I want, but I definitely like the idea of having bright colors instead of having pastels!

Today I am 12 weeks! I have been told I need to document "the bump" so here's the first official picture!

I also took a picture of the future nursery, for the before and after effect :) Right now it's the junk room/PE study area. So, we won't be working on this room until after the PE test, which is April 24th. Wish me luck! It would be really REALLY nice to pass it on the first go around! I sure don't want to go through it more than once.

Well this is officially my first blog ever, so no promises :) Right now we have a family of 3: me, my husband Nathan, and our dog Rocco. We found out a few months ago that in the fall, we'll be come a family of 5! Yep, that's right, we're having twins! As of now the due date is September 19th, but the doc says it's common for twins to deliver up to 4 weeks early! So more than likely, they'll be here before the 19th. We're alot of things: grateful, excited.....and totally unprepared! So I'll keep you guys posted along the way. Here's a pic of the current "baby" of the household. We don't know what he'll think when the babies arrive......he seems to enjoy having the spotlight all to himself! I also attached our first pic of the twins. They may look like blobs, but give them a break, they're only 5 weeks old there!