Its TWO BOYS!!

We have 2 precious little boys in our family!!!

Baby "A" is now Levi Cade 5lb. 6 oz. 6:10pm 18 in long (right in photo)
Baby "B" is now Ezra Jack 6 lb. 3oz. 6: 33pm 18.25 in. long (left in photo)

NOW---for the STORY:

We showed up in Tucson this a.m. and initially went in for a NST. Of course there's all sorts of talk about c-section and that makes me mad. Then, doc. does an u/s and BOTH babies are HEADDOWN!!!! I had no idea that B had moved to this position! Praise the Lord!!! At this point I am just 1cm.

They send me down to labor and delivery and start the Pitocin at 12 noon. Around 2:30 doc. comes in and I'm 3cm and he breaks my water. About 3:30ish things start to pick up and get intense. I think about 4:30 I thought I was going to die. I seriously understood why people say you can't go natural with Pitocin!! AWFUL! I was yelling like I never thought I would! haha. :-) At 5:30 they checked me, I was 5cm and began BEGGING for something b/c the pain was so excruciating. Thanks to a great doula and Wes (sorry, but mom caved in and told me to get something :-) I decided to try to calm my butt down and do it. The next little bit went fairly quickly (I guess) and when they check me around 5:50, I was 8cm. They decided to go ahead and take me down to the operating room since that's where twins are delivered. Well, about 1 contraction later I am SCREAMING for them to STOP pushing the bed because a head was coming out. Sure enough little Levi was making his entrance! It was insane and chaotic. About 20 people rushed in the room. He came out crying and absolutely perfect. Funny-he was the exact weight the ultrasound said.

I really expected the delivery of B to be easier than it was. The contractions were still EXTREMELY intense and made for more yelling. Once "B" moved down they broke my water for him. The doctor kept checking me and I kept asking her to get her hands out of my vagina b/c it hurt sooooo bad! Then she said I was back at 7cm, looked like she was looking for a way to the OR for a c-section, and within 1 contraction I was back at this baby crowning. I guess when my body decides to have a baby it does it within a contraction....but the work up to it was hell. Sorry, no other way to put it.

I now officially think I may be insane for even attempting this pitocin induced birth natural. I'm excited that it worked out, but still a little overwhelmed at how wild the ride was.

The boys are SOOO adorable! So far they act just like they did in my belly. Levi is wild, kicking, always smacking his lips, crying some, grunting and Ezra (B) is just hanging out and sleeping. So very interesting. Ezra looks JUST LIKE Elliot did when she was born. It's precious. Not sure who Levi looks like. I'll post pic's tomorrow when I'm not so tired. Plus, the contractions are still occurring (5 hours after they were born). I know it's normal, but I was just crampy after Elliot. These are still like contractions. Good that my body is doing it and starting the healing process.

Elliot came up to see them and was very happy. She said, "I want to hold my babies!" I know she'll be a great big sister.

PRAISE THE LORD FOR TWO PRECIOUS LITTLE LIVES! WE ARE SO THANKFUL!

Delivery Day-Tomorrow

Well....I guess I'm blog happy today. :-) Doc's want me to go up to Tucson tomorrow to be induced. Not thrilled about the idea of induction and the whole traveling to Tucson kinda throws all our plans off. But,I'm sure we'll figure them out. Hopefully I can get some good sleep tonight and the contractions I am having won't be too bothersome. The concern is baby A's belly size-which I'm sure will end up being just fine and healthy! However, they have a NICU up there just in case we need it. They probably have WIFI (unlike our old nasty hospital here) so I'll try to update.

Still Nothing

Just FYI: still no babies, but still contracting. ugh! Still feeling annoyed. Going to my weekly doc. appt. in a few minutes so we'll see what he thinks then. This is also when we'll have to discuss the ultrasound results from Monday and the perinatologists recommendation to get these babies out by 37 weeks. Update when I can.

37 weeks....

Well, we've made it to full term and I'm pretty sure I'm currently involved in the world's slowest labor. It's really pissing me off. I've been up ALL night and will have super intense contractions for a few hours, then things will practically stop for a few hours. It seems whenever the babies are active my contractions are intense. When they are sleepy I get nothing. Midwife thinks it's just my bodies way of taking it slow so that the babies can handle it. I hope she's right, but it's going to be one long day. I'm SOOOO tired and trying to get in an upright position while I can barely hold my eyes open. I'll keep you updated

More baby stuff....

Just thought I'd write and let you all know everything is still just fine. I had a NST on Tuesday both babies were super cooperative! Heartrates were great and reacted just like they should. I went for a massage today to get my pressure points done and hopefully that will help bring on labor. We'll see....

I have another NST tomorrow morning and then a doc. appt. in the afternoon. My plan is to try to hold off any sort of induction, but we'll see. Most important thing is healty babies! :-)

Baby Update

Well, I had another level 2 ultrasound today and things are okay. The babies seem quite healthy, however their weight differentiation seems to concern the doctors some. Baby B is APPROXIMATELY 6 lbs. 11oz. and A is about 5 lbs. 6 oz. (I still HATE putting trust in u/s measurements b/c I KNOW they can be SOOO wrong sometimes!) The problem comes with A's abdomen measurement. The rest of it's body measures great, but it's belly only measures around 32 weeks and they say that is the first place that starts to show problems. The doctor said the last few weeks with twins is when things can head south quickly. He suggests they be born by 37 weeks! Wow-that's a few days.

It's so crazy because of course I want them to be born healthy, but I'd also like for them to decide when they want to come out! It's so tough. If I could give people any advice it's, "don't be induced" and here I am faced with it. ugh! Not ideal. They have scheduled an additional non-stress test for me tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. I've made an appointment for a pressure point massage on Wednesday to see if that will helps get labor going, and I have a doc. appt. and another NST on Thursday. I'll be sure to keep updating here when we know what's happening.

Please pray these little one's stay safe & healthy (have fully developed lungs) and are born when they are supposed to be. Also pray that we'll have peace about whatever decisions we have to make. :-) I'd sure be great if they decided to come on their own and we don't have to make any decisions. Thanks!!

36 weeks!!

YEA! I've finally made it to 36 weeks! I had an appt. today and everything went well. They did a quick ultrasound and Baby A is still head down and B is still breech. They are getting so big. I measure 41 WEEKS!!! So, all you ladies that have gone a week past your due date can understand how miserable I feel!! ;-) And, those of you that had your babies on time or early- I'm sure can only imagine since that's uncomfortable enough! I remember my first appt. the doc. said "I'd be happy if you made it to 35 weeks" (which, by the way, is the average gestation for twins). I'm just glad to have proved him wrong.

I've gained another 2 lbs. this past week which means I've gained 27 lbs (34 lbs. if you could what I had to regain after losing!) I only gained 24 my whole pregnancy with Elliot. A weight gain of 35-45 lbs. is recommended with twins. We're getting there. I seem to gain all of my weight at the end when the babies are gaining theirs.

My non-stress test up at the hospital also went well. Babies hearts are doing great and doing everything they should be. Next week I'm no longer considered "preterm" if I do go in to labor. I have another level 2 ultrasound on Monday to make sure both babies are growing well.

Only stinky news is my group B strep test came back positive. This means I have to be on IV antibiotics during labor. Kinda stinks since my doc. and I totally agreed that I wouldn't have to have an IV, just a heplock in place. oh well. Plans a changin' I guess. There's a list of natural things I can do but they're all kinda complicated. And get this, one is putting a clove of garlic in your girl parts before going to sleep every night! HAHAHA...that's not exactly complicated-it's just so nasty to me.

I've been having more and more contractions, but still NO other signs of labor (well, besides extreme grumpiness if that counts for anything) :-( My mom gets here on Sunday, so that will be nice. I'm game for having these little one's about any time after that. Tomorrow I get to go to the chiropractor then to get a massage...so it should be a nice day of pampering. I can't wait. I'll post my ugly belly pic. in a bit. I've earned 2 more stretch marks this past week--ICK!

Wes, Elliot, and I went to the aquatic center tonight to relax in the warm pool. It was absolutely fabulous! AHh, so relaxing. Only awful part was when I put on my bathing suit that fit fine 3 weeks ago. Today, the bottom 5 inches of my gut hung out. It was almost inappropriate. I just kept pulling it down and luckily there was pretty much no one at the pool. We were the only one's in the warm pool. Oh, the jets felt so great on my aching body. It made one happy Mama :-)

Snow Day

Look what we woke up to today!!

The wind blew Elliot's toys all over the yard!!

We had a "winter storm" last night. I think it was all melted by about 11am, but it was still fun to see. It's impressive that it actually stuck on the ground for a little bit. It's already over 50 degrees today! :-) Arizona weather can be fun.

Baby Shower

This past Sunday, my friend Rachel threw a fantastic baby shower for us. It was up at the church and we had a great time! Elliot went with me (the picture was taken before we left the house) and enjoyed playing and opening the presents. I was glad she got to be a part of it since the doc's won't let her attend the birth. There was about 20 people there and everyone was just so generous in their gifts to us and these sweet little babies. Click HERE for more pic's.

Ultrasound

I had a level 2 ultrasound today. Everything looks great. No pic's to post b/c it's REALLY hard to see what's happening in there. They measure each baby's head, thigh, & belly and estimate a weight. They say "A" (who is back to the original "A" on my left side) is about 4 lb. 8oz. It's head is EXTREMELY far down. The ultrasound guy had to have the doctor come in to help lift the head up so they could measure it. Yah, it hurt!! Baby "B" is back to being breech and is measuring 5lb. 4oz. So...I have almost 10 lbs. of baby in me!! Amniotic fluid also measures great! So...we're all doing well, growing, and getting ready to meet. I can't wait. :-)