Our latest arrivals! Clara and Kate

Well our two little angels are here! (For those who are interested details of delivery are provided in next post.) They made their grand arrival quite a bit early--33 weeks and 2 days. We were hoping to make it to at least 35-36 weeks. They were born on 6-7-8. June 7th, 2008 at 11:50-ish a.m. and 11:54-ish a.m. Both girls weighed 4 lbs. 1 oz. and were just over 17" each.

We expect them to stay in the NICU for about 3-4 weeks, but they could leave as early as 2 weeks. They must be able to keep their temperatures up and take all their feedings from breast or bottle. Right now they are fed mostly through a tube into their tummy. Although, Clara did take an entire feeding and more from breast today!

The NICU has private rooms for the girls. We have a bed for the parents to sleep over (which Justin did last night) It's really super nice considering all. Life will be pretty crazy for awhile. But the girls are doing well and just need to keep growing!

Warning!! This post contains detail of a real life delivery

So, you'll notice no pictures here! Actually, all pictures of me taken within 24 hours of the girls birth will be burned. :) So, here are the details for those who are interested.

About 12:55 am Friday night (actually early Saturday) I was going to sleep when I felt the girls just going crazy and moving all around. I felt a sharp punch at the bottom of my uterus and a moment later I felt my water break. So, maybe Clara punched a hole in her sack? Maybe not. We'll never know for sure. After about 25 minutes to determine for sure if it was my water breaking, we headed into the hospital. I should note that is whole time I'm thinking to myself--you've totally been nested for the past several days. For about 2-3 days I had been obsessed with getting everything ready for the hospital, but I had just been to tired to get it done. Now, instead of having nice organized suitcases for the hospital I ended up with 2 sets of garments, 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of pj's and that's it. I had been having pretty heavy contractions for about a week and I had gone into my doctor to see if everything was all right. He did a test to see if I would go into labor in the next 2 weeks, but it came back negative. So, moral of the story. TRUST your instincts!

So, back to labor. We get there into the labor room. They call my doctor to see what he wants to do. He says the action plan would be not to help labor and not to stop labor. They're not sure I'm even in labor because my contractions are so irregular. He says if I haven't had the babies by in 1 week then they'll induce labor.

So, from 1:30 until 8:30 they don't check my cervix because they don't want to introduce any bacteria. Justin sleeps most of this time. Meanwhile, my contractions are getting increasingly painful. They give me 2 doses of pain meds which work for 1 hour each. But, not super well and I'm really hurting. This whole time they still don't think I'm in labor. The contractions show every 3-7 minutes on the machine but actually I'm still cramping in between the contractions, so there's no relief. All I can think is there is NO WAY I can keep doing this for 1 week without some sort of pain relief.

So, the doctor gets there at 8:30 am. He decides to check me, still saying they don't think I'm in labor. I've dilated to a 5. I'm definitely in labor.

So, they order the epidural for me. I was about a 7 when I got it. I completed about an hour later and they wheeled me into the Operating Room. By this time I'm am completely numb from the lungs down. Lets just say I wasn't a very effective pusher for the first little while. I do seem to remember the 15 people in the room discussing what radio station to listen to. The contractions still aren't regular and Clara keeps slipping back up in between. So, they give me pitocin.

At one point I got really nauseated. I tried to warn them. I had a decision to make: Justin? Nurse? Justin? Nurse? Justin! So, I threw up on Justin's side. I think I missed him. Darn. J/K :)

Anyway, Clara was born first at about 11:50 am. They let me hold her and kiss her. Justin got to cut the cord.

Then the doctor reached up and broke Kate's water bag. He grabbed her by the legs--which sounds really simple. I guess it wasn't by the amount of wild movement I could see within my stomach. He pulled her out about 4 minutes later. Again, Justin cut the cord.

They let me hold her as well. Then they wheeled me past the girls and let me hold one of them (I can't remember which) for a bit. Their APGAR's were 6 & 9 and 8 & 9.

That's it! I am soooooo glad I didn't have to have a C-Section. I am really Sooooooooo glad I didn't have to have one of each!

Yep, I'm up

Well, it's 6:30 am. I've been up for an hour. In fact I've been up every hour since midnight. Yippee! I know you're all jealous. Since I'm up I thought I'd add a bit to the blog.

Yesterday I went in for this week's appointment. It was moved up from Friday because I'd been having lots of "real" contractions over the weekend. But, I guess we're safe for a little longer. The doctor ran a test that basically predicts whether I'll go into labor in the next two weeks. It came back negative--which means I have a 1% chance of going into labor in next two weeks. So that's good news. I guess I just need to take it a little slower. Which is difficult when taking it slower means sitting on the couch and being driven mad by all the things I can see that I need to do but shouldn't. Really, who knew a simple pile of toys/papers/clothing could be so menacing.

Ah, well. Last night we discovered an important rule in parenting. Don't give a child a toy just because YOU think it would be fun. For example, let's say a particular child, perhaps named James, loves fishies. At the same time a loving Aunt and Uncle, perhaps named Carrie and William, give you a little crib toy that has fishies and lights and music. You are naive enough to think, "Hey, my child, "James", has no problems going to sleep right now, maybe I should try to mess with the good thing we have going by giving him a toy to play with while he falls asleep." Well, that sounds great. Unless the toy becomes an all out obsession for "James" and causes him to go into all out melt down once the music stops. And so, you have the fine opportunity to learn a lesson in parenting as "James" has an all out melt down every time the music stops from 9 pm until 11 pm. :) Really, who would of thought fishies ruled the world. Apparently they do.


Until dinosaurs will.


Or trucks,


Or dogs . . .


And in about 2 1/2 years


Dolls.

Breaking News!

A rare Heffalump sighting in

North Salmon Creek

Eye witness reports are still being gathered, but it is believed that a heffalump was sighted in the North Salmon Creek area of Vancouver, Washington. This heffalump is believed to be of the female variety and may be around 32 weeks pregnant with multiple offspring. If sighted, hide your recliner and lock up your ice cream. Stay indoors for at an hour or two, by which time the heffalump will typically return her nesting grounds. Above all else do not feed her! Feeding wild heffalumps only promoted their dependance on food.

Stylin' James

Here James is modeling the latest style for summer. By mid-July all toddlers will be clammoring for the 2-going-on-80 look! Just remember you saw it here first. :)

I can't believe I'm sharing this!

I can't believe I'm sharing this photo! But, I thought it would give everyone a good chuckle. Yes, I was caught using my belly as a table. Hey, the closer the food is to my mouth, the lesser the chance it'll end up on my clothing!

Lights off!

So, just a funny story from James. Lately James starts every conversation by establishing whether each light in the room on or off. And if they're on, then they must be hot, so he tries to blow on them to cool them down.

Today while we were out shopping James fell asleep in Justin's arms. When we got to the car the sunlight must have shined in James eyes because in his sweetest, sleepy two-year-old voice he commanded the sun--"light off." My heart just melted. :)

Preggie update

Well, I'm a little over 29 weeks but I'm measuring 37 centimeters (FYI for those who don't know--37 cm equals about 37 weeks which is considered full term for singleton pregnancies). Soooo, what does that mean? It means I now get "Wow, you look like you're gonna pop!" comments when I go out shopping. Sometimes I choose to relieve the spectator's anxiety by telling them I'm expecting twins. Othertimes, I just like to tinker with their curiosity by telling them I still have two months to go (and don't tell them about the twins). I just like to see their reactions. hee-hee-hee

Both girls are doing great. Baby A is 2 lbs 15 oz. and Baby B is 2 lbs 13 oz. No names yet. I just had my big monthly ultrasound, but regular tech wasn't there so I didn't get any picts.

As for the delights of pregnancy I thought I'd write a little ode to Prilosec here, but it stopped working so well this week. So, if all goes well, I may have an ode to Nexium next week. I had thought about putting a picture of my black and blue varicose veined leg on the blog just so people can look at it when they're feeling down and say to themselves, well at least I look better than that! But I think you'll all agree with me that somethings are better left unshared. :)

Well, that's all for now. It's past midnight (which explains the terrible picture) and time for bed! Take care everyone! Jessica

Big Brother Class

A big thank you to Uncle William and Aunt Carrie and cousins for sending all their baby equipment and clothing to us!

James has thoroughly inspected and tested all the baby equipment for his little sisters. For example, he can now tell you that trying to sit on the edge of a baby bath while it's on the coffee table will likely get you dumped out onto the ground, crib mattresses are really fun to jump on, and Lion likes to go for rides in the swing.

Helping Dad

Justin has been working on repainting the basement for the past little while. Normally we try to keep James out of the work zone by painting when he's asleep or barricading him in the family room. On this particular day James had been banished to watch "Nemo" so dad could work. Well, James wasn't about to be left out of the fun. He went and found his own paint brush and came to help dad! He did pretty good until he tried to take over Dad's Big paint brush. I'm still trying to get the paint out of his jeans--but it was fun while it lasted!

Nature in our backyard

As much as I complain about the weather up here (it has been averaging 60 degrees and either rainy or overcast since we have been here) I love the scenery that we have from Jessica's parents backyard. There are two or three Bald Eagles that nest along the Salmon Creek greenbelt behind their house and this one just happened to perch itself about 200 feet from where we were sitting and I just happened to have the camera.

Cannon Beach

Another picture. Same place.

Weekend Getaway

Well, since this is our family blog I suppose it is about time that I (Justin) make a post or two. Last weekend we had the opportunity to travel to the Oregon coast for a little getaway. Despite being at the beach, we were in sweaters and jackets most of the time. You just got to love the beautiful Northwest weather. This is a picture of James and I at Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach. We had a great time exploring the tide pools and seeing fish, starfish, and sand; which is James' favorite. I would have posted a family picture but Jessica wouldn't let us take any pictures of her.

Cuddle Time

Here is our baby girl B. I love this picture of her snoozing. The 3-D pictures are really fun. We get to see the most adorable faces. Just after this picture was taken, she made a really cute pucker face, like someone had given her a taste of lemon. Hopefully we'll be able to get the 3-D pictures every time. It just depends on which ultrasound machine my doctor uses. The girls are growing and kicking more everyday.

Playing hard to get!

Here is our little baby girl A. She kept hiding behind something (arm, leg, sister's leg . . .) during the ultrasound, so the tech couldn't get a very good picture. Don't worry, she doesn't have the measles. :)

What tummies are for

So, just a funny story.
The other day James and I are sitting on the couch. He's eating a cookie when he decides that he doesn't want to hold it any more and he doesn't want to throw it away. He looks around for a suitable storage place. Waa-La! Mom's belly! He promptly places his cookie on my very convenient "shelf". What else are bellies for?

Yum, these fingers taste yummy!

Ok, so really this should have been the last picture I added, but I keep forgetting that the posts show up in reverse order. I just wanted to add this picture of baby girl B because it was so cute. If you look closely at her profile, her mouth is open and her hand is right in front of her mouth. She kept sucking on her fingers during the ultrasound. She just kept opening and closing her mouth and sucking on her fingers. So, cute!

Baby girl A--aka: rib kicker

Here is Baby Girl A Jochim at 25 weeks. She weighs in at 1 lb. 12 oz.--a little bigger than her sister. The ultra sound tech said they will probably keep flip-flopping on weight because they are so close in size. She did her fair share of gymnasts this time around, but not quite as much as her sister. See my notes on twin B. She is currently head down--thus making her the guilty party who is kicking me in the ribs!! My doctor will deliver me at 38 weeks unless I go into labor sooner. They don't stop labor after 34 weeks--so that gives me a potential due date of June 13th-July 11th. Nice and exact, huh?! The girls are growing nicely and getting more active every day.

Blowing bubbles

Here is baby girl Jochim B. She's our little gymnast. During the ultra sound she just couldn't keep still and really made the ultrasound tech earn her wages! She weighs in at 1 lb. 10 oz. this week. Which is right on for 25 weeks. She kept putting her little bum in her sister's face (thank goodness for that placenta membrane, as Grandma Sarah said!) Her sister had no problems trying to push that bum out of the way. The "bubble" is actually an umbilical cord--whose I don't know. She was romping around during the last ultrasound (I've had 6) as well. I guess we better start tumbling class asap with this little chickadee!

25 Weeks and counting!

Here I am at 25 weeks! We have made the big move up to Washington and are finally getting settled in. For those of you who hadn't heard we decided to move up here about 3 weeks ago. Sacramento didn't work out for us and we wanted to move before I got toooo far along. We'll be living with my parents until the girls arrive and then find a place of our own. I'm very excited to have help with James, especially since I'm growing bigger every day--as Justin likes to remind me by speaking to me in "whale" like Dory (sp?) from Nemo. I'm only actually measuring around 4 weeks bigger than a single pregnancy. My parents have been very good to let us commandeer the basement and James is beside himself at finally having a backyard complete with a Nemo pond!