1st meeting & other stuff

As you can imagine the days are very full and busy here. We are running back and forth to the hospital all day long. The hospital provides a couple of hours of free childcare for Isaac each day so that is a HUGE blessing! The girls are doing great and as of last night Isabella weighs in at 5 lb 1 oz and Ava comes in at 4 lb 14 oz. They are gaining weight and overall doing great! The one thing that comes with them being premies is that they are still learning how to suck...it's something that is not developed till about 34 weeks...which is what they are now. Because it is a lot of work for them the Dr. just has them do every other feeding from a bottle and the other ones from a feeding tube. They will soon move up and do all bottles but it is a process. We try to go in and feed them as much as possible. We are not sure how much longer they will be in the NICU but maybe 1 to 2 weeks more??

What we are trying to do now is prepare Isaac for what is to come...he has NO idea! :) Isaac has been able to spend the last couple of weeks with Aunt Brenda, Josiah and Grandma Nadine. He had a lot of fun with them and of course came down with a HORRIBLE cold the night I went into the hospital--sorry Brenda & Mom :-(. They did a great job nursing him back to good health and he had a great time playing with Josiah. My Mom headed back to WA last weekend...THANK YOU Mom for ALL your help the last 6 weeks!!!!

When Isaac came back we went to a great waterside resturant to celebrate...he likes spinach/artichoke dip! We LOVE being by the water and with all the heat we decided Isaac needed a summer haircut and it was time to meet the girls....

So here he is at the first meeting...the girls were sleeping and we actually had to sneak Isaac in because you have to be 3 to be in the NICU. He saw them for about 30 seconds but he did say "baby" so at least he knows what they are. :) He has a SUPER short haircut going on (so does Daddy)!

Here are a couple cute pics of Ava. The nurse had put these cute socks on her and they look like leg warmers...love it! She has a good stretch going on.

we love her super dark hair!

Here is Isabella after a bath that Marc helped give her a couple of days ago. She is not sure what to think! Her hair is a lot lighter than Ava's but just as cute! (the tubes are in their noses because they like to pull them out of their mouths...they both have already been called a little "fiesty" by the nurses)

Ava Kathryn & Isabella Irene - Birth Story

Not only have we used this blog as a way to keep our friends and family informed to what is happening in our life we have also treated it as a baby book. The coolest thing we have found out is that you can get your blog printed like a book and you can have a hardcopy of your memories...how cool! I wanted to write out Ava & Isabella's birth story so that we remember it. It was soooo different than Isaac's so here it goes....

Their birth story:

My Mom and I had laughed early in the week because I was in SERIOUS nesting mode and we were wondering if something was happening. My Mom also noticed my stomach had dropped a little. I had been feeling pretty good all week so I didn't think too much about it, but on Thursday night I had gone to the bathroom before bed and I just felt a little "funny." I wasn't having contractions but I went to bed and I didn't take my shot (it's a blood thinner for a potential blood clotting disorder). If you take it and you go into labor you can't use a pain medications (i.e epidural or spinal) for 24 hours.

I didn't sleep well that night...I was going to the bathroom every hour and then at 5:30 I woke up with back cramps that seemed to come and go about every 5 minutes. I had my 32 week appt. at 10:40 that morning but things just did not feel right so I called the hospital and they said to come in. I went in for a non-stress test and they didn't see any contractions on the print-out so then I felt a little silly. I just wanted to go to my normal Dr. appt. at this point but they decided to do a pre-term labor test and ultrasound on me. Well, that is when everything changed!!!!! They checked me out and discoved I barely had any of my cervix left and I was dilated to 2! They then said "you aren't going anywhere 'till you have these babies." At this point they talked to me about hoping to stop labor with medications and have me hold off till 34 weeks (better lung development). They then did an ultrasound to check out the girls' weights and they were both over 4 lbs. so they were very happy with that. I was then admitted to the hospital and once I got to my room I was having horrible back cramps again. They had done a "Pre-Term Labor Test" on me when they checked my cervix and shortly after I was admitted they came into my hospital room to tell me the results...I was going to have a baby that day...I asked how reliable those tests were and they said reliable enough that they usually believed them! :) I wasn't quite sure what to think about this overwhelming piece of news, but my mind was shortly taken over by the painful contractions and the fact that Marc was over a 1000 miles away and wasn't suppose to be in Virginia for almost another week.

Marc had just graduated from his Army course that morning and so was in his graduation ceremony when all this was happening! I had called him as soon it was over (and had sent him NUMEROUS texts) and told him to get on the first flight to Virginia!! Sometime during the afternoon the Dr. had come in and said the medications to slow the labor down were not working and the new goal was to get me to Sunday so that I could get 2 steroid shots to help the girls lung development (they had given me the 1st one as soon as I was admitted). I stayed at 3 cm dilated for a good portion of the day (I guess the girls were waiting for Marc to get there) but I was in some serious pain. Well, Marc got into town around midnight and I guess the girls were excited to see their Daddy because things seemed to speed up. I went from 3 cm to 6 cm in just a couple of hours and everyone knew I wasn't going to make it longer than a few more hours. I was starting to throw up (I know TMI) a lot after I got to 6 cm and they said I was probaly progressing pretty fast. No pain meds to this point and I was FEELING it!! We decided to do a c-section because Isabella was breech. They took me into surgery at 7:00 Sat. morning...almost 24 hours after I got there and once I got the spinal, there was some much needed relief! :)

Ava came out at 7:45 weighing 4 lb. 2 oz. and 17 3/4" long and Isabella came out butt first at 7:50 weighing 4 lb. 10 oz. and 18 1/4" long. The Doctors have been incredibly pleased with their sizes and their progress for being born early (although twins commonly come early...most twins are delivered between 32-37 weeks). All I know is that I ate a heavy protein diet and drank many "boost" drinks (never have to have another one of those) my whole pregnancy. I hope to think that whole protein kick helped them be good birth weights!! I have no idea why they came so early but we are thankful they are doing awesome! They are the sweetest little girls with guite a bit of spunk! :)

This picture is right before we left the hospital!

[Ava (L) + Isabella (R)]

Sisterly love!

(Ava-front; Isabella-rear)

PICTURES

I am way to tired to write much but here are some pictures of the girls! They are adorable and are doing awesome. The only tubes they have these days are for food. They are starting to bottle feed as well and are doing great. We will try breast feeding in a few days. The Dr. has been very happy with how they are doing!! :)

Some cuddle time with the girls! :)

AVA on left/ ISABELLA on right

AVA

ISABELLA

ISABELLA (that was an IV in her right arm but it has been taken out)

This is Brenda, Kelly's sister, and you will see in the following post, I have no idea what I am doing and I am way too tired to take the time to figure it out. Marc will be uploading tons of pictures in the next few days. The pictures are just a preview of what is to come.

pic 1: me rubbing Ava's back

pic 2: sweet Ava

pic 3: sweet Isabella

pic 4: kelly kissing Isabella

pic 5: Ava making her debut

Thanks and sorry for the terrible posting job! :)

Welcome to the world, Ava Kathryn and Isabella Irene!!!

The girls came early!!-- 32 weeks. Both are doing well and mom is doing great. Ava stats: 4lbs 2oz, 17.75 in. Isabella stats: 4lbs 11oz, 18.25in. The last 48 hours have been quite busy and adventurous. Here are some pics of the precious girls. They are absolutely beautiful. What amazing miracles!