Some Updates

Medical Stuff:

They went in for weight checks last Thursday, and both had lost quite a bit. I think they were 5 lbs 4 oz and 6 lbs 8 oz. They both looked jaundiced, so they had to have their bilirubin levels drawn. Cameron's was 15-something, and Jameson's was 19-something. Jameson had to go under the bililights at home for a little over 24 hours. He couldn't get comfortable to sleep well, so that night was a little rough. Their levels the next day were 15-something and 18-something. Both were eating and pooping well at that point, so there was no need for any other interventions.

Jameson under the bili-blanket- our little Glo Worm :)



They both went for weight re-checks yesterday, and our little guy gained beautifully- Cameron was up to 5 lbs 11 oz. This was surprising, as his eating had really dropped off. Even more surprising was that our good little eater, Jameson, only gained a few ounces & is 6 lbs 11 oz. He needs to go back next Wednesday to make sure he gains well this next week.

Another interesting thing that I keep failing to mention is that Cameron has a mucocele on his gum line. It actually looks like he has a natal tooth there. They can resolve on their own, but if it doesn't, eventually, it can be removed by a dentist. I'm still not convinced that there isn't a tooth there, too.

Fun stuff:

I wore them in the Moby for the first time the other afternoon, while Corbin and Daddy were raking leaves. I didn't have the best fit, but next time I know to make it a tighter fit. I'm limiting lifting them together though, until I heal more.



We've started tummy time for at least 30 minutes every night. This helps them to get nice and tired before we go to bed, so that we can sleep for a good 3 hours before we need to wake up and feed them. Here are a few pics from our first tummy time session:







Nighttimes haven't been too bad, honestly. I think they are still in that newborn sleepy phase, so it's very tolerable. Once they start to have more alert periods, I foresee this being a lot more challenging.

Also, my friend Lindsay (Linz photography) came over on Sunday to take their newborn photos & a few family photos. She has already sent me the proofs, untouched, and I love them. As soon as I have the time, I will pick out the photos I want made into their birth announcement & choose 8 photos for her to give me the rights to & for her to touch up. I can't wait to share them with you!

Twins' Birth Story!

Okay, I'm going to try and sneak this in now. I hope I don't forget too much.

On Sunday at 36 weeks and 6 days, I woke up to a lot of prelabor signs; however, I had been having them for a week & was really sick of it. I did notice that I felt more pressure, but I also realized that that was a vague symptom which could mean absolutely nothing. I tell you, they say that you will know when you are in labor. I didn’t when I went in- that’s for sure!

Jon's grandma and mom were still in town, and they were leaving that night to go back to Toledo. They had really been hoping that I would go into labor before they left town. They had been hinting/hoping for me to go to labor & delivery for about 2 days, but I kept telling them that they would only send me home if it wasn't active labor. After all, they don't just keep you because you're close.

While they were still in town, Jon and I decided to take advantage of the babysitters and go grocery shopping by ourselves (yeah, I know- we are exciting people!) As I was walking around the store, I did notice that my lower back hurt & that I was having contractions every 5-7 minutes. I told Jon "Maybe today is the day," but I wasn't really feeling confident about that or anything.

When we got home, we all sat down to eat lunch together & I casually mentioned that Jon & I were going to leave for the hospital to go get checked out. After all, if we were going to have a false alarm, this was a convenient time. Not only did we have 2 babysitters, but my mom was also en route to Columbus to take over taking care of me & Corbin during the week.

So, I give the doctor on call a heads up, and we get to the hospital. When the nurse hooks me up to the monitors, I was surprised to find out that I was contracting every 1-3 minutes. Not only that, but the tocometer was measuring in the 100's, which was the range that I was in labor with Corbin.But when they did the internal, she said that I was maybe 4 cm dilated at best & still 70% effaced. Figures, I thought. Well, no big deal. I would go home and wait it out.

Because I was 1 day shy of 37 weeks, per hospital protocol, I couldn’t walk the halls or anything. I was certain I was going home. The nurse said that they needed to keep me on the monitor for 1 hour though & recheck me to be certain.

When she rechecked me, I was shocked that I was 6 cm! That is when I texted some friends to let them know. Then we went to my birthing suite & got set up. My doctor had told me that he wanted to be present if possible, so I told the nurse to make sure she called him. She did, but he was “otherwise engaged”. I really didn’t care that my doc wasn’t going to be there for some reason, though. I think I was too hyped up about giving birth.

They confirmed that they were both head down via ultrasound & I was so happy. The doctor was there almost immediately. He said he was going to hang around until I gave birth, which surprised me. For my first birth, I was laboring for 8 hours, and then I pushed for 3 hours. With Corbin, my doctor went home, slept, showered, went to the office to work, etc. before he delivered me.

I got my epidural in a timely manner. The anesthesiologist had a resident with him & she did the actual procedure. She looked like Taylor Swift. I was a little nervous about the epi, because with Corbin’s birth, it didn’t work at first & I needed re-bolused. I also threw up during the entire labor partially b/c of the anesthesia, but I had no ill effects this time. In fact, I did not throw up one single time during the pregnancy or labor with these twins. I was very lucky.

The nurse had checked me right before the doctor got there, and I was 7-8 cm. When the doc came in minutes later, he checked me not & I was already a good eight.

I was comfortable pretty much the entire time up until I started pushing. I did stall out slightly at 8 cm for a while, so they decided to give me a tiny bit of pitocin to push me over the edge. They okayed it with me first, as I had previously said no pit. I decided that with the rate things were going, it would probably not hurt at all, and it would probably help with the bleeding, as I had two placentas that would need to heal. They started it at a very low rate. Jon talked for a minute with my mother on his cell phone at 6:50 pm. Literally, just as Jon was hanging up on her, the doctor checked me & said, “Oh, there is still a rim there” (referring to my cervix). But he also felt the head move down to +2 at the same time, so he immediately re-checked me & I was fully dilated.

They told me to start pushing & I was totally shocked. It barely registered, but I started pushing as hard as I could right away. I couldn’t make it all the way to ten every time they counted because I was trying hard to use every bit of effort in me to get baby A’s head out. I was, in fact, bearing down so hard on those handlebars that I strained my back pretty badly (realized this the next day).

After about 20-25 minutes of pushing, the doctor said that the head wasn’t budging at all. He asked me if I wanted to be assisted with suctioning & I consented. From there on out, it was much easier.

Cameron Dean was born at 7:19 PM, October 18, 2009
Weight: 5 lbs 14 oz
Length: 18 ¼ inches
Head circumference: 13 ¼ inches
Apgars: 9 & 9

They put him on my belly & I welled up. I was so excited to have successfully delivered him the way that I wanted & that he was finally here! He had a head of dark brown hair. After his initial couple of cries, he was very quiet and calm.

Jameson Richard was born at 7:38 PM, October 18, 2009
Weight: 7 lbs 4.8 oz
Length: 18 ¾ inches
Head circumference: 14 inches
Apgars: 8 & 9

Jameson also had some dark hair, although his had a little bit more of a wave to it & it was not as plentiful as Cameron’s. In contrast to his brother, he screamed the entire hour after his birth. Jon jokingly said that he had poor coping skills.

My birthing experience was just great. I ended up loving the doctor who delivered me & I had an excellent nurse, Kathy, who followed me from triage to delivery & even stayed 45 minutes over her shift to see the delivery through.

We had our first night at home with the twins last night. Although it wasn't easy, it was exciting. I feel very blessed to be the mommy to 3 wonderful, beautiful little boys.

laboring... and updating facebook!



Approximately 7-8 cm dilated



First out: Cameron Dean



With both of the twinkies, Cameron & Jameson



Jameson on the left, Cameron on the right



Jameson



Cameron, winking at ya!

36 Week Appointment

Well, no babies yet! We got back from the OB appointment rather quickly today. My doc was relatively unimpressed with my progress, but seemed impressed on my ability to carry twins so far!

I am 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. I was expecting a little more b/c I have had bloody show since Sunday night, but no cigar.

I told him that my water broke with Corbin at 37 weeks, when I was 1 1/2 c, dilated and 80% effaced. He said that he imagined that something simliar would happen this time, too. 37 weeks is only 5 days away! At this point, I could realistically go that far!

Likewise, we talked induction this week, too. He said that at my hospital, he can probably get away with inducing after my 38 week appointment... he thinks.

Great grandpa and grandpa came into town this morning to relieve my mother from Corbin-duty for a few days. It's nice, because they will be spending the night. So, if something happens in the middle of the night, we can just take off to the hospital right then. Jon and I both think that I might go this weekend. At this point, I don't really care honestly. I did avoid the one birthdate I didn't want the kids to have (October 13th). It just sounded too omninous, with October being the "spooky" month and the 13th being a supposedly unlucky number. The 20th would also be cool, because then all of the babies would have been born on a Tuesday the 20th!

Still Hanging in There!

I am 36 weeks along tomorrow (term for twins)! I can't believe I have made it this far & it's almost time to meet the twins!

My 35 week appointment was so uneventful. As wonderful as it was that I had absolutely no progression, it is also disconcerning! In the back of my mind, I wanted to see some progress, just to keep it in my mind that the end is in sight. But it is very good that the babies have stayed in there this long. At this point, we may even be able to avoid NICU time. I think that at 36 weeks, they don't necessarily go to the NICU automatically. I think it just depends at this point on how well they do at birth.

I'm still hoping for a vaginal birth. I really hope my doctor is available at the time I go into labor, because he is really pushing for it, too. I wonder how different this birthing experience is going to be! I believe they will do an ultrasound as soon as I am admitted to see the position of the babies & determine if it is possible. The recovery would be so much easier on me (most likely, that is).

We went on a hayride today, and I am wondering if that will move things along or not! I'm kind of back and forth about whether or not I want to go into labor yet or not. While I am so sick of being pregnant, I'm kind of used to it by now. This is also going to be my last pregnancy, so it's sort of bittersweet to be at the end of it. I'm NOT a good pregnant woman, in that I ache and moan a lot. It doesn't help that I have had an irritible uterus with both pregnancies. So don't get me wrong- I will be very happy to have my body back to normal. And of course, I want these babies to be as healthy as possible. Some women actually make it to 38 weeks (full term for twins) & have to be induced. I wonder if I can be one of those women? That would be pretty amazing.

I would have guessed that I would have given birth in the first week of October. Now if I had to guess again realistically, I would say sometime during this week. But right now, it is just so hard to tell, since I didn't really think I would make it this far.

I'm just trying to keep my mind busy so that I am not waiting around for labor. You know, the next post I make will either be my 36 week appointment update OR the twins' birthstory!

Nearly 35 weeks!

I am so happy to have made it this far. I tried to do everything as conservatively as I could, so that these babies had the best start in life that they could possibly. And I think I've been fairly successful! I made it through a full moon last night, and now I have little goals set for myself.

The next goal is to make it to my Wednesday appointment, when I will be 35 weeks and 2 days along. I have a hair appointment on Tuesday morning that I really want to make it to.

Then after that, I want to make it to 36 weeks. After that, any extra days are icing on the cake. I would love to avoid NICU time if possible!