36 weeks and beyond...

So I have quite a lot to catch you up on. As you guessed from the lack of posts since 35 weeks, the babies are here. On Friday, October 21st I started to just really lack energy and could just not get comfortable. I by Saturday morning I was really feeling it, but thought that maybe it was just from an eventful morning walking around downtown Naples taking Christmas photos of one of my best friends Melissa and her beautiful family. Maybe "walking" isn't the right term. Waddling and acting like I wasn't exhausted is much more accurate.

So Saturday afternoon I napped and sat in the yard with the dogs watching Nate do a little planting. Suzanne (Nate's grandmother) stopped by and brought us some yummy cookies and visited for a while. Shortly afterwards I went back inside and took my blood pressure. It was much higher than normal and I was starting to feel a little nauseous.  I called the doctor on call and they said if it went any higher to go to the Birth Place for monitoring. Terrified, I went right to bed and laid on my left side and proceeded to down water and snack. Nate packed the baby bag that I had been procrastinating and then we relaxed together watching movies and talking about the babies. My blood pressure stayed around the same - fluctuating here and there.

I decided if nothing was better I'd call my actual doctor on Monday morning and check in.

So Monday morning, nothing was the same. Sent a note to my boss saying I'd be in a little late, that I needed to check in with the doctor. I heard back from my doctor a little later and she said go in to the Birth Place to get monitored. She assured my I'd be there for about an hour - maybe at the most overnight. Nate quickly added some music to my iPod (Gungor <3) and then off we went.

All hooked up on the monitors, we found out that 1: yes my blood pressure was high and 2: I was having contractions. Who knew? So that was kind of fun. I was still thinking we'd be home that day. After all, the doctor had been saying the whole time I'd go to 40 weeks and deliver them myself. No photos from this monitoring will be shared, but looking back on them is hilarious.

Roughly an hour later my OB enters the room with a smile and says "who's ready to have babies today?"! Umm.... really??!! OK. So the whirl wind began... checked in to a room upstairs and around 5:30 was prepped for a c-section. My thoughts - not sure. It was just all so surreal. Mom and Becky both came to keep us company until it was time.

Finally, after a story you should never share with someone going in to have a c-section given by the student aesthetician,  the doctor came in and off we went to the operating room.

That in it's self was an experience, and not a pleasant one. They had me climb up on the coldest table ever in a room that was literally 50 degrees and no one even paid attention to me or told me what was going on until it was time for the spinal epidural. "Look down and don't move" is a lot easier said than done and it is NOT a little sting. It hurts really bad. After they got me all situated in came Nate.

He had my iPod and stuck one of the buds in my right ear and sat down to the left of my head. Gungor's "Beautiful Things" was playing and two minutes later out comes Addisyn Grace with her little "meow" cry weighing 5.5 lbs, 18 inches long at 6:35 p.m. - Gavin Harwick was next at 6:36 p.m. weighing 6.5 lbs, 19 inches long. That was the amazing part. It is incredible that  you can automatically love something when you just hear its voice.

Addison Grace

Gavin Harwick

Sweet babies

Needless to say, born at 36 weeks exactly, they were both perfectly healthy, happy babies and we are so thankful for God blessing them in that way. They did not have to spend any time in the NICU.

Nate was beyond amazing in the hospital! I can't even tell you what a wonderful daddy he has been. He paraded the babies all around, showing them to everyone at the hospital and getting lessons from all the nurses on swaddling, changing and anything else he could think of.  He also did an amazing job taking care of me, and I am so blessed and thankful that God has blessed me with such an awesome, Godly man who is so loving and caring.

Our family - October 24, 2011

After the c-section I was put on magnesium sulfate for 24 hours which was horrible. The nurses on the observation floor were about 100 times better - but for most of the time I had double/triple vision and really don't remember much. Including some visitors and conversations with nurses. Some of our photos I'm not even looking in the right place. I was happy when they took me off of that stuff and moved us up to the recovery floor. We had a few "head-butts" with one of the nurses... but it was overall nice to not be woken up every 30 minutes for check-ups and move to being examined every two hours.

On October 27th both the babies and I were discharged to come home. I've gotta say it was a little nerve racking to come home with both babies not really being able to move around very much, but at the same time it was nice to finally be in our own environment doing things our way.

Heading home!

When we came home, my mom and Becky were here to help us. It was so nice to have the support of our families. The babies were so beautiful. They were great sleepers, hardly cried and were pretty alert. They stayed that way until about 6 weeks - then that changed, but I'll save that for a later post. :)

Well, that's about all the writing I have time for now. Time to feed again.

More to come next time a get a few seconds. 

35 1/2 Weeks

Well, we are getting closer and closer! At our appointment last Wednesday everything checked out well. The babies were both 6 lbs each and a little over 18 inches long. My blood pressure was good too, so I'm trying to keep up relaxing and drinking lots of water and avoiding salt. Although you'll see by the photo below I am swelling a bit.

On another note, the doctor is still advocating for delivery, so it seems that we will be doing this naturally (but with drugs). Which I'm actually okay with. At the appointment we also found out that I am 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. So the doctor thought I would be going in to labor within the next two weeks. 

I pretty much can only stand for about 10 minutes before I become super uncomfortable, and actually sitting is pretty uncomfortable as well. I suppose you have to get to this point though in order for you to be OK with delivery! You are so uncomfortable you don't care how they come out! LOL.

I have been having some contractions the past two days and have a sneaky feeling that the babies might make their appearances by the end of this week. Who knows though.

This is a photo from this weekend... I'm about 35 1/2 weeks here:

So overall everything is still going really well and we are so blessed by all the support! Most of all, I am beyond thankful to be blessed with such a loving and supportive husband! Nate has been AMAZING during this whole process and I can't imagine sharing this time with anyone else. He has tirelessly cleaned, cooked and created a beautiful nursery for the babies. He's has been more of a support than he will ever know and more than I could ever put in to words and I know he is going to be such a great dad to the twins!!

Thank you all for your continued prayers and hopefully the next post will be introducing the twins!!

32 Week Update

Well today was a full day of baby planning and appointments. Nate and I started the morning interviewing pediatricians... and had a hard choice between two of them. Ultimately, I think we are choosing Dr. Foley. So one more thing to check off the exceedingly LONG list.

After the doctors interviews we had an actual appointment to see the munchkins again. During the ultrasound there was a lot of measuring and everyone is doing amazing! Actually, they are growing so amazingly that they are each 5 lbs. each! According to the doctor, they are measuring as if I was 34 weeks along and not 32. "Yeah" for the babies... not sure how long it will be "yeah" for me.

Overall I'm feeling great. A little pain in my right hip here and there, and it is definitely taking a lot of effort to move around... but things have be OK so far.

We also toured the birthing center at the hospital today - which was a total waste and probably the worst tour either of us have been privileged to attend, but at least we got to see everything ahead of time.

On another note, some of my best friends threw a baby shower for us on Saturday! We received some amazing gifts from people and feel so blessed by all the generousity of some fabulous women. One of the most touching moments were when several of the women, including my mom, prayed blessings over the stages of life of the babies. It meant so much and was so touching... I should've known something "gushy" was about to happen when Melissa made sure I had some kleenex!

Well, that's about it for now... we're on weekly appointments at this point, so I'll try to give you all another update next week!

Thanks for the continued prayers and blessings. 

30 Week Update

Most of you know I'm seeing the doctor now every 2 weeks. Which is fun, because it is AMAZING how fast the babies are growing now. The down side is that the babies are getting so big it is hard to get a good shot of each of them in the ultra-sound.

The appointment went really well. It was a “testing” one where they checked their lungs, liver and movement, etc. Which I wish I knew ahead of time so I could've given the babies a pep-talk, but no go. It's okay though because they passed within ten minutes of the ultrasound so the tech just messed around and got us pictures for the rest of the 20 minutes. 

Addi has a full head of hair already and Gavin is completely bald. LOL. Addi of course was sucking her thumb and napping and Gavin was hamming it up and posing all over the place. It was really the first time we got to really see him really well. We even got a few more 3-D photos of him. 

Nate and I were staring at the photos on the fridge last night while taking our vitamins and couldn't believe in just 8-10 more weeks we'll be holding the little faces that are in the photos.

Last week Addisyn woke me up from a dead sleep (Wed at like 3 a.m.) and I was like what the heck is she doing? It felt like she was climbing around in my stomach. I thought she had turned and the ultra-sound tech confirmed at our appointment that she did! So currently they are both head down and spooning. Looking off towards my left.

Dr. Brothers thinks that I will go at least 38 weeks – if not full term. She said the babies are doing amazing and that if she was going to let anyone deliver twins it would be me… so after a discussion as long as nothing changes, I will be delivering 2 babies which she still thinks will be 8 lbs each. 

Yup, that's right. 8 lbs. The babies are steadily growing at the rate of other single babies. Which is awesome and SUCH a blessing - but is going to get really uncomfortable for me quickly. I see a lot of laying around and floating in the pool in my future.

The only thing is my blood pressure was a slightly high so she wants me to get a blood pressure cuff and start keeping track twice a day. I’m also supposed to lay down more – especially for an hour in the afternoons. So I have started to half days at work where I come up in the morning and do all appointments, etc and then work the other half of the day at home.

Everything is coming along and we're still getting ready week by week. I think we're tackling crib skirts this weekend and I'm finishing up a few art projects for the walls!

Thanks for your continued prayers and I'll try to keep you all up to date!

Family Photos

I’m really excited to share our first set of family photos done by Esther Louise Photography while we were in Savannah for Nick and Shea's wedding.  She did a wonderful job and I am so thrilled with how these turned out!  Check out the full gallery here (password is Savannah).

28 weeks!

Today we have reached another milestone and move into the third trimester! We've been busy getting ready for the babies and I'll post an update on the nursery and more fun stuff later today after our doctor's appointment.

For now I thought I'd catch you up on what the babies are doing this week (as far as development goes) because they had a neat image that shows you fraternal twins at this point on the health blog!

By this week, your babies weigh two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to his and her heels. They can blink their eyes, which now sport lashes. With their eyesight developing, they may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. They're also developing billions of neurons in their brains and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.
(from Babycenter.com)

Sneak Peek!!

So when we were in Savannah Nate and I had our maternity photo shoot with Esther Louise Photography out of Tampa, FL. Esther and Danielle are AMAZING to work with and so much fun. We spent the early morning roaming Savannah's downtown district which was both beautiful and HOT.

She's finishing up all of the photos now, so you'll have to wait for the full gallery, but here's a sneak peek for you:
http://www.estherlouise.com/blog/2011/08/a-savannah-maternity-session/

Enjoy!

Missing: My Ankles. Reward = a back scratch with my amazing nails

I've reached the 25 week mark and am starting to slow down again; and more so than the first trimester. Nate and I discussed just yesterday how to say "no" and I've been practicing... not very well. 

Bump progress - 25 weeks

The not so glamorous portion of pregnancy is in full force and I'm trying to become a little more humble and dependent on Nate - who I am sooooo thankful for. Here's the short list:

• I started losing my ankles in the afternoon this week. Awesome.
• I can't really reach things I drop without having to rest from the effort of picking them up. So stuff is either staying on the ground - or Nate's helping me.
• I can't paint my toe nails without passing out - my mom is better than the Vietnamese... but much slower. She's still working on her English. :)
• Acid-reflux is becoming more prevalent - especially after eating tomatoes. One TUM seems to handle it though and Nate has decided he likes to eat TUMS like candy.
• I really don't want to drink any more water but if I drink sugar it's like a dance party in my stomach. 
• I had to teach Nate how to shave my legs... hasn't happened yet, but I figured he should be prepared. It should be humorous. 

I will say though that I am super thankful that these are only minor things and I am EXTREMELY thankful to only have 13 more weeks to go until we meet Addi and Gavin!

So we're making progress on getting the necessities and researching the necessities x2. A little overwhelming, but it's getting done! My friend Kristen who has twins has been a tremendous help and resource of information and I love my online shopping dates/texts/e-mails with Melissa! :)

On another note the babies are moving like crazy!! It is amazing. Last week at our appointment we were able to take Kate (she was down from India for Nick & Shea's wedding) and she got to meet the babies during the ultra-sound. It was a treat for us too because they switched the machine back and forth between the 3-D!! We were able to see similarities of both Nate and I - check out the photos (sorry they aren't super clear, they were moving around a lot):

PHOTO of Addisyn:

PHOTO of Gavin:

Finally, we enjoyed celebrating another addition to our family in Savannah, GA! Shea and Nick's wedding was beautiful and perfect. It was a great reflection of them both and we all had so much fun. Here's a quick photo:

Officially Mr. and Mrs. Nick Brower

Photo with the newest "Brower"

Well... that's about it. I'll try and post something this weekend about the nursery. I think we'll be painting and doing trim work (or rather Nate will be)!

xoxo

Almost to SIX MONTHS!

I can't believe it. Time is flying - as it always seems to do. Next week we will be 24 weeks. I'm still feeling great (minus these stupid allergies that I can't seem to shake) and we are busy starting to get things planned for the babies.

We finalized their names, so you can officially refer to them as Addisyn Grace and Gavin Harwick. Gavin's middle name is in memory and honor of Nate's grandfather who was and is an amazing man. We plan to pass many funny stories on to the kids that came from Nate's grandfather - like using 409 to clean everything and the thousands of funny sayings he would use.

Last week I went to a jewelery party that my friend Julie is starting to sell and was just relaxing in a chair when my arm bumped up and moved without me doing it! It was so cool... since then Adie and Gavin have been bumping all over my tummy and it's been really cool to see when they are active. Nate and I have also been listening to "underwater" sounds through a stethescope on my belly at night. It is kind of funny.

Nate finally got to feel them bump me yesterday during church. It isn't very frequent in one place yet, so he kept missing it every time I felt them.

In other news, we bought the paint for the nursery and will begin that as our next project, so I will certainly keep everyone posted on the nursery progress... no theme, just things that we like.

Have a wonderful week!!

Baby Bump Progress- 20 Weeks

Here is a photo of the bump to date from our recent vacation to Charlevoix! More updates on our trip to come... including a photo of the "mother-ship" as Nate likes to call it. You can call it the truck. LOL!

Genders Reveal...

It's official!! We are having a:

BOY: (it took them all of two seconds to tell what he was, LOL)

and a...

GIRL: (she was a little more difficult to decipher, so we came back to her. The tech checked her twice though just to be 100% certain!)

!! We couldn't be happier. We are so blessed to be welcoming one of each to our family and we're both really excited to start the planning process.

Here is a group shot of everyone:

So at our ultrasound appointment we brought Grammie April and Beema Becky to share in the fun. My mom has never seen an ultrasound before so once they were on the "big screen" the waterworks began! :) It was really fun to share the time with the both of them and celebrate right away the genders. I think they both had a nice time too!

After that we visited Aunt Shea at Kate Spade. She had already hit up baby GAP too and gave the babies their first onesies:

Then mom, Nate and I hit up baby GAP ourselves and had a little fun:

Needless to say the babies will be clothed!

Now to start getting the necessities...

17 Weeks

I guess I'm not that great with this blogging concept yet! I forgot to update you all on the last appointment.

They wouldn't tell us the genders, so the suspense continues (doctor's policy, they don't tell until 20 weeks). We will now find out on July 7th at 3:40 p.m. We're really excited too because our moms will both be attending as well! It will be a little party in a very little room with hopefully a shopping trip afterward to celebrate! 

The other appointment went really well though. The babies' heartbeats were strong and the ultrasound tech couldn't believe I haven't felt them yet with all the moving they are doing. They both measured around 4.5"! Apparently their size won't be affected until later on in development when they begin to run out of room in my stomach. She was happy with my weight and stats too, so all is good. It would've been a very quick appointment if you took out all the waiting around time.

So far things are falling in to place well. We are so blessed to be purchasing a car to replace my Jeep from Nate's grandma, which has been a huge  relief! So everyone will fit and be safe.

My maternity leave has been filed with HR and approved and I have enough time to take the full six months off and come back with some leave left over! So I'll officially be at home November 7 - May 14 which is just still another awesome blessing!

We are both (Nate and I) so thankful for all the support and love for the babies that we've received from all our friends and family members. We can't wait for all that is to come.

Thanks again for your continued prayers. 

PS: The bridesmaid dress fits so all is well!! :)

(the girls are excited to meet their new siblings!)

Quick update

Sorry I haven't posted lately... I had a few minutes today - so I thought I'd get you caught up.

Nate did an awesome job and finished up the guest room! It looks great. All that is left is ordering in the closet doors and then it will be ready for anyone who wants to come volunteer to help with the babies. Or visit. Either or. I'll take a few photos and post them soon.

This week (Wednesday at 3 p.m.) is our 16 week appointment. We are really hoping to find out gender - so hopefully I'll have an exciting update for Wednesday night or Thursday. Otherwise, I'm feeling great and things are going really well. Nothing too drastic to share.

Apparently from now on I could feel the babies move. I don't think I've felt anything yet, but will let you know when I have.

To date we've done a lot of growing and according to BabyCenter.com we have fingerprints, they are peeing now (which I'm not sure how I feel about that) and they are the sizes of avocados this week. Since there are two they may be a little smaller than that - but that's what the site says about one. They can also sense light this week! Apparently if you hold a flashlight to my stomach they would move away from it. Not sure how I'm supposed to know that since I can't feel them? I told Nate I was going to bring a flashlight to the ultrasound and try it, but he wasn't sure that would be a good idea. I might still sneak it in my bag and see if I can weave it into conversation with the tech! :)

We'll, that's all I've got. I will share my bridesmaid dress saga and other melt-down stories at a later date when they are actually funny to me... and hope to have an exciting update on genders soon!!

Thanks for your continued prayers!

Baby Bump Progress- 13 Weeks

So these photos might not last depending on how big I get and whether I still want photos documenting the width of my stomach, this is my disclaimer... so enjoy it now. We finally took a few minutes to go out in the yard and take some photos so enjoy. Not too big yet... but definitely more comfortable in dresses.

Heart beats

Ok, not a lot of time to write this morning so I'll try to upload the post later, but I wanted Kate to be able to see these videos before she left to travel to Gangtok!! Quickly though, everyone is very healthy, growing perfectly and I am checking out good too!!

Thanks for everyone's continued prayers!

Video #1 is the heartbeat of Baby A:

(and yes, baby A is the same baby A as the first time. I guess they will be in the same places says the ultrasound tech)

Video #2 is the heartbeat of Baby B:

And just as they were about to finish the ultrasound, Baby B decided to do a little dancing, so she zoomed back in and let Nate video the baby moving around! Super cool... enjoy!

Interesting Article

I wasn't going to post anything until later today, after our next doctor appointment, but my friend Kristen posted this article on her Facebook this morning and I thought it was interesting. I especially liked the part that said, "[Twins] are an identifier of these women who are remarkable, physically exceptional people." Especially after the rough couple of days I've had...

Anyhow, the article is a study about how women who have twins (naturally) live a longer, healthier life. It's a short read, so enjoy!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42981556/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

11 Weeks

Well, I am eleven weeks this week - so I'm almost through the first trimester! Exciting, I know.

Next week we have another ultra-sound and appointment on Wednesday, so we'll have some new photos. I will also get Nate to take a photo of my belly, because it is starting to show a little this week...

So far things are going really well and I'm actually really enjoying talking to all of the people I've found that have twins! They all say that twins are so much fun and they share all these great stories... not to discredit all of the work that goes in to it, but it definitely seems like all the fun times and cuteness out weighs the rest.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a few things that I've learned so far in the last few weeks:

1. Orange soda is caffeine free.

2. Strawberry smoothies and pineapple are amazing.

3. Elevators make me dizzy for about 5 minutes afterward.

4. Breaks in the bathroom to unzip your skirt or unbutton your pants are well deserved.

5. I may never sleep through the entire night again with all the potty breaks.

6. I am not "Wonder Woman" and cannot keep up the crazy schedule I was previously keeping.

7. New this week: getting run over by a bus does not begin to describe the actual tiredness you feel.

8. Jeans, especially my skinny ones, are NOT comfortable in any way.

9. Heels are not the best option for an "event" day of work. But still cute.

10. If you want to grow amazing, long nails - get pregnant. :) Nate and the girls are loving the back-scratches.

Class time

In an effort to make all dogs in the family "kid-friendly" and obedient, mom and dad signed everyone up for Puppy Class (level 2) at PetsMart on Wednesday nights for a little socialization. If you make it over to PetsMart during class night you'll see:

• Mom and dad with Stormy trying to get her to calm down for two-seconds in order for her to learn something (although I will say she does what I ask her to do) :)
  
  
• Nick and Shea with Lola, hoping that she won't kill another classmate (although she has vastly improved since class #1 and is starting to play nicely)
  
  
• Party of six: me, Nate, the babies and the girls (Sammie and Ellsey) showing up everyone else in the class because we already know all the tricks. OK, maybe not all the tricks, we did learn "wait" this week. The girls are trying to become a little more social with other dogs; mainly Elly. Sammie gets her frantic butt wiggle in each week hoping that every dog in the class will like her and Elly could care less and would just prefer to give you every trick in the book in hopes you'll share a treat with her.
  
  
• And finally, you'll meet CindyLoo the miniature Sheltie who is adorable and wants treats from everyone and Kiki, not sure what KiKi is, but she has a lot of energy!

I'm not sure this is helping in the cause to make all the pups "kid-friendly", but it sure has been fun. I'd like to note that my mom has always claimed to not be a dog person, so of course I had to post the photo of her playing with all the dogs on the floor of PetsMart. (sorry for the poor quality, taken with my phone)

Meet the twins

Well, if you are reading this post, chances are you have ran in to my mom and she couldn't wait to share the news - or you are family, or even a close friend... or maybe you're my furthest reader, all the way in India catching up on your newest family members ("hi" Aunt Kate)!

I'm keeping it short and sweet today because it has taken me a while to design the site and the laptop is making my already warm belly even warmer, so to the point, meet the twins:

Here is a photo of the two babies together -

Ready for their close-ups, meet Baby "A" -

(Baby "A" was at a difficult angle and not nearly as photogenic as Baby "B", so we sort of think it may be a boy not caring about his first photo)

Close-up of Baby "B" ready for her photo shoot -

Well, that's all for the first post! I promise for a little more next time. xoxo