When I got back to the hospital on Monday both the boys were doing great!!

Nicolas' pneumonia is getting better each day. His swelling has gone down, his lungs are clearing up and he is kicking and squeezing my finger again!!!!

Ethan too is doing great. This will probably be the only time I say this but..... Ethan threw a fit today, and it was kinda cute. The nurse turned him on his back and he did NOT like that. He was kicking and swatting at us and crying his lungs out.... though you cannot hear him cry yet.

He can't make any sounds until his ventilator tube is out. They are both still relying on the ventilators a lot so they will be on it for a while.

Well we have made it though the first week and a half. It has been a roller coaster ride, as we were told to expect. We have good days and not so good days. But overall everything is going well.

Both the boys are on an antibiotic due to an infection they had at birth (that may be the reason I went into labor). They have been responding to that well.

Nicolas had a rough couple of days this week. A couple of days ago they found he has pneumonia. So he is on more antibiotic to treat that and he is responding. The nurse says his lungs are sounding better now. Nicolas also had some seizure activity one night, it was only in his left leg. They are doing a test to see if it is caused from infection or it could just be because he is so young his brain waves are not firing correctly. He will be on medication for that for quite a while. The Dr. said these are not uncommon occurrences with preemies. He is out from under the light for his jaundice.

Ethan has been eating for a couple days now. Finally all my pumping seems worth it!!! He hasn't seemed to have any other complications at the time. He's still very active as well. Below are some more pictures of both the boys.

I was able to stay at the Ronald McDonald house Thursday and Friday night. I am going back up there on Monday and will stay the week. It is a really nice place and the people have been great. At the hospital as well, all of the nurses and Dr.s have been wonderful through all of this. We appreciate all of the love and consern all of our family and freinds have shown too. It's nice to know we are not in this alone.

Pictures

Giving Ethan his 1st bath

Ethan's 1st bath

Ethan sleeping on his hand

Nicolas sound asleep

Nicolas holding Trevor's ring

Nicolas holding Trevor's ring

The boys are now 8 days old. They are doing exceptionally well. They were both under a light to help with jaundice but Ethan has come off the light and Nicolas will be able to come off soon they say.

They both have their own personalities. Ethan is active, moving and kicking. He was the one that would always move around during ultra sounds giving the techs a hard time getting his measurements and... he was always kicking me in the bladder.

Nicolas was always more laid back, he was a lot more cooperative with the ultra sound techs. He is the same now, laid back.

They are now both strong enough to squeeze our fingers, that was amazing. Just little things like that are so precious.

Early Arrival

For those of you who don't already know, The twins have arrived!!!!

I went into labor on Tuesday night the 15th of September. Trevor drove me an hour to the hospital in Springfield late that night. (that is the closest hospital with a NICU) I was contracting every 3.5 minutes and I was dilated to a 4 when I got there. They tried to stop the labor with a shot but... that didn't work. I kept contracting and dilated to a 5. So I delivered by c-section at 2:23 AM Wednesday September 16th. The twins were only at 25 weeks (6 months and 1 week) gestational age. They are both in the NICU and they will be there for 2-3 months. They are both in critical condition but are stable. We have a long hard road ahead of us. Everyday will be different but so far each has been better than the last. All their tests are coming back with good results. :)

We named them Ethan Cole and Nicolas Conner. Ethan was 2.3 lb. and Nicolas was 2.5 lb. They are so tiny. There arm is no bigger than Trevor's finger.

I got discharged from the hospital on Saturday. I came home to re-coop for a couple more days then I will pretty much be living in Springfield through the week and coming home on the weekends. At least that is our plan but we will take it one day/week at a time. I am still waiting for a room at the Ronald McDonald house to open.

Here is a picture of each of the boys: sorry the pictures dark and not good quality.

The top is Nicolas and the bottom is Ethan.

All of your thoughts, prayers, phone calls and support have meant the world to us. It is comforting to know that we have so many friends there for us. Thank you!!!

been busy

Hello everyone!! Well the past couple of weeks have been pretty busy for me. so I didn't get to post as I told a few of you I would. One of the other girls at the office was on vacation so I worked extra---- which means I was extra tired. They have hired my replacement so I have been training her for 3 weeks now. I just gave my notice on Friday so I will be done working at the end of the month.

Then I will be able to concentrate on getting everything finally ready for the babies, there is still a lot to do!!

We bought cribs this weekend and set them up. They are a beautiful dark brown color. I will post a picture when the nursery is done or closer to it. Right now everything is piled on the floor since I don't have a dresser or any storage shelves up in the closet yet.

My mom also had a small shower for me last weekend. I stayed there for the weekend so Trevor finished painting the living room and get it aired out!!! It is so inviting and cozy now!!

P.S.-- haven't picked out any names yet.

Pictures in the Park

I had a baby shower this weekend in Neosho where Trevor grew up. We have a nice start in getting ready for the twins now. We have car seats and double stoller and a lot of cute DOUBLE outfits!! It feels real more and more as we get prepare.

Before my shower a friend took some pictures of me in the park. I thought I would share a couple of them here with you.

The last picture was at the end of the day, I finally crashed on the couch a my other 'baby' came for a snuggle on my belly. I thought it was cute!!!

The babies room is painted!!! Yes...... It is a different color than I told you last time. The "sandy" color we were painting it turned out to have a pink undertone. SO....we decided to go with 3 green walls and one blue wall. The picture doesn't do it justice but it looks nice.
I am getting some pictures taken this weekend so next week I will post more pictures of my growing belly. It is getting bigger every day!!!
I am feeling A LOT more movement. You can feel them from the outside a lot more and you can actually SEE my belly jump!!!

Blue and Chocolate

We have chosen the colors for the babies room. We are going with Blue and Chocolate. You can see the work in progress here. The walls we are keeping a neutral sandy color. All the trim we have painted chocolate and I think it is cool how Trevor painted the blue on the back of the door. We just need to get everything to go in the room now.

I have finished the slightly overwhelming feat of registering. I am registered at Target and Wal-Mart. Baby stuff is so cute!!! I can not wait until Trevor gets the room finished painted so I can go in there and start decorating!!

BOY OH BOY!!!

I know you are all waiting to hear the big news of what the twins are!! We are having 2 boys!!

I am 20 weeks (5 months) along now so they are about 6 and a half inches long from head to butt and about 10 inches from head to heel. They are measuring the right size and both are healthy.

They are quite active! They like to kick me quite a bit, especially when there are loud noises. They wake up and start kicking for EVERY song at the meetings at the Kingdom Hall, and sometimes won't stop kicking for the entire meeting. Other times when music is playing they will start kicking too.

When Trevor gets home and starts talking to them and poking them, they will kick in response. I can't believe how active they are!!

Well, I've been hearing that I am not posting enough updates on my blog, so I will try to do a little better. Not much interesting has been going on. My morning sickness is a lot better with the occational unwelcome comeback. I had been sick with a blatter infection so that has kept me down for the past week and half trying to recover.

I have been just trying to pass time for the moment. In this picture Trevor came home from work and caught me playng Tetris on the PS3 (I love that game!!) Untill we find out what the twins are there isn't much to do. We find out August 4th. So make sure to check back that evening to hear the BIG news!!! After that I will be busy getting the babies room ready.

Trevor has been keeping busy painting. Here is a picture of out partially painted living room. I love the color, much better than the all white walls. He keeps trying to get me to choose the wall color for the baies room, but I can't make up my mind untill we know the twins are. I am sure he will be trying to paint their room the very day we find out!!!

Belly at 14 weeks

Well.... here I am, belly and all!! I should be just now showing with one baby, but with two I started showing a lot faster. I still haven't gained any weight, but the morning sickness is getting better now and I am starting to get more of my appetite back. FINALLY!!!

I felt them move for the first time a week ago!! It was Saturday at our District Bible Convention!! That was very exciting!!

Trevor has started painting in the house. I think he is nesting.. ha.. ha.. He wants to get it all done before the babies get here. So far the bathroom is half done. We will start painting the babies room after we find out what they are. Does anyone have any neat ideas for the babies room? Remember it could be 2 boys, 2 girls or one of each! Let me know through my blog or my e-mail. Thanks!!

6-9-09 Ultrasound

Here are the latest ultrasound pictures!!!! In the first one you we have a really good face profile. I can't believe how you can see where the ears and nose and month are!!!

In the second one you can see baby A full profile.They call this one baby A

because it is closest to the exit.

See it's little legs???.......

The third picture is baby B. It waved at us during the ultrasound and seemed to like to suck it's thumb.

It was really cool too see them move around. They were jumping around and stretching. I can't feel any of it yet, but it was neat to see how alive they are.

New Home

Well, we have a new place to call home. We purchased a home here in town for our expanding family. It has 3 bedrooms and a nice fenced in yard. We moved in a week and a half ago. There is still a lot of unpacking to do!! We've also been busy with some maintinace work since it was empty for some time. But it is perfect for us. The house is across the street from my work (easy commute) and a few blocks from down town.

I had an ultrasound yesterday!! i will share it with you as soon as I get the scanner hooked up. I will try to do that in the next few days!!!

A Glmips Inside

I wanted to share my ultrasound with you....

As the tech turned the screen so I could see what is going on inside me for the first time, she pointed to a blurb on the screen and said "here is the baby" then pointing to another blurb "and here is the other baby." WHAT!?!? Trevor and I were in disbelief. It was like finding out I was pregnant all over again. TWINS?!? We were both in shock.

Well, we found this out 2 weeks ago but we kept it quiet until we got two heartbeats which we got on yesterdays ultrasound.
The twins are not identical because they are in separate sacks. That is the black area around them. They are 6 weeks 6 days old today. My due date is late December but with twins will probably be sooner than that.

We are finally used to the idea and actually excited. We are in the process of buying a house here in town. Our 2 bedroom apartment will get small really fast. We will hopefully be moving at the end of the month.

New beginnings

Ready or not here we go! Our lives are changed forever! We are going to have a baby!!

First there was denial. Then there was shock. Now some excitement. What do we do next? It still doesn't seem real. Except for the physical side effects I feel already.... uggg!!!

We have 9 months to prepare; well only 8 now. My due date is Dec 12th. In one sense it seems so far away and in another there just isn't enough time. We are taking one day at a time.

I will use this blog to keep you up to date on the exciting stuff and post pictures. To answer the #1 question we are getting from everyone, we ARE going to find out if we are having a boy or a girl.

Fell free to leave comments!! (you can use the 'Name/URL' if you don't have any of the associated accounts.) I'd love to hear from you!