Doubly blessed...

Hi everyone!  Wow, I can't believe how busy it is at the hospital!  I've put myself on a strict schedule of pumping every 3 hours...so far so good, but it takes commitment!  Between pumping, having visitors, visiting the girls as often as possible, getting checked on my nurse/Dr., and trying to keep up with pictures (and most importantly, labeling them so we won't forget which sweetie is which), I have NO free time!  So...I thank you all for your wonderful kind gestures, thoughts, calls, emails, texts, cards, gifts and most importantly...prayers; know that Pete and I appreciate them more than you'll ever know.  I wish I could have the ability to talk to each one of you but that isn't realistic at this point.  So I'll try and keep you updated via photos and blogs :-)

 

A lot of you have facebook, however, the below link allows anyone to view the facebook album...there are so far over 100 I think and we'll try to keep em comin.  I will email this link out whenever we've added more to the album.  I'm going to keep all the photos in one album for now just for simplicity.  And I'm not really going to type much on each picture other than their names in the sake of time.

 

So, here's the link...you DO NOT need facebook to view these photos.  It just brings you to the album...I'm so glad this is an option!  Way better than sending photos via attachments or even creating another site...since I've got double responsibility I'm now learning how to do things efficiently and this is one way I can do that!

 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1923881373573.2095363.1138277873&l=18e55f4d69&type=1

 

Also, I'll try and do a blog update sometime this week hopefully.  Just a reminder to those of you I may have recently added, the link to the blog is:

www.theslabiakscoop.blogspot.com

 

All I can say is that Pete and I are self proclaimed "crack" addicts for our daughters.  We tried it once and are now forever addicted and can't live without it :-)  The love we have for them is absolutely indescribable and can't be explained.  I never knew it was possible to love someone(s) so much. 

 

I've been pretty emotional about how miraculous their birth was.  MANY nurses, doctors, hospital staff have made it a point to tell me how lucky we are to have everything turned out the way it did.  It could have turned out very differently and it makes me physically ill when I think about it.  This is the first parenting lesson I've learned...you can't sit and ponder on the "what ifs" because you'll drive yourself insane.  I remember feeling this way when I had the miscarriage in November and when I got pregnant again in January I had a pep talk with myself in that some things are just completely out of your control and you have to accept that otherwise it's going to be a really exhausting, challenging ride.  I'll tell you one thing...I've always believed in God but this experience has absolutely taken any possible doubts away that I may have ever had.  I feel the urge to praise God and work on developing a stronger connection with Him...my faith has been refreshed and I know I'm going to absolutely need to continue to work hard at strengthening it as we begin the wonderful journey of parenthood.  Pete feels the same way about this as well.  Realizing all this is another major blessing about having our two BIG blessings.  It also has allowed us to understand just how truly amazing both of our sets of parents are.  I totally get the reasoning behind all of my parent's morals, concerns, overwhelmingly feeling proud moments of their children and reasoning for why they would choose to protect me against something, etc.  It makes perfect sense now.  And I must say, did you guys ever do a fabulous job of setting proper boundaries and choosing what/what not to be overprotective about.  Whew, quite the reflection I just shared.  I just have felt so overwhelmed with thanks I don't know how to express myself!

 

I MUST go sleep for an hour and a half and then I'm up to pump again...I am MOTIVATED to stay on a strict 3 hours schedule so I can feed ma babies!  I want chubby cheeks, knees and ankles to be in their near future! :-)

 

Love you all.  God bless each and every one of you...I know you've all been thinking and praying for us and it just goes to show the power of prayer.

-Beck

The story behind the names...

My boss was wondering if Etta was named after Etta James and in fact she partly is!  I sent her this lengthy explanation of the girl's names and then decided I should post it so everyone knows the stories!  


Part of the reasoning behind Etta's name is after Etta James!  I LOVE her and Pete even took me on a surprise date to see her at the MN State Fair a few years ago.  I am so glad we decided to name her Etta...we had Elsie Susan (Susan is after my mom) picked for sure the minute we knew we were having girls.  Elsie is just a name I've always adored.  We were planning on naming Etta either Isabelle and calling her Izzy for short for the first few weeks after finding out her sex but then I decided it was way too common.  So then, we switched to Addison around week 24 and planned on calling her Addie.  But a few days before I ended up on bed rest I woke up in the early morning around 5 and couldn't sleep because I decided I wasn't in love with the name and it was WAY too common.  I woke up Pete and he said he understood because we both had had many run-ins with little girl Addison's for the past several weeks.  So, I got on my phone and was searching names and then the name just came to me...and I knew it was the one.  Another neat aspect of her name is that when I was on bed rest at the hospital every time the girls would get monitored via the sensors strapped to my belly, baby b (or Etta) would kick, move, etc and always take forever to track her heart rate!  She even kicked the sensors off my belly several times!  I started calling her my little Houdini because she was so tricky to find.  One nurse said, oh you could call her Harriet (similar to Harry for Harry Houdini).  Then, when I was researching what Etta's name meant, I saw that it was derived from the names Harriet or Henrietta!  And Henrietta was Pete's great grandma's name!  Also, Etta means "Pearl" or "Little One"...how fitting because she is my little one, born first (even though she was supposed to be born second) at 3lbs 12 oz.  Elsie means "noble" or "my God is a vow/oath"...and noble is kind of how she has been acting all along...more patient than Etta to get out, much less fidgety in my belly and now since birth.  So, that's the story of their names...we love them :-)

Link to photos of our love bugs!

This link does NOT require you to have facebook but will allow you to view the album we've created!  I will repost the link whenever we add more pictures and try to post it on the blog or send an email. 
Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1923881373573.2095363.1138277873&l=18e55f4d69&type=1

WOW!! Things can happen fast!

As you probably saw, Becky posted a blog at about 12:30 this morning.  Well . . . just a little over three hours later, she was waking Pete, urgently telling him, "PETER, MY WATER JUST BROKE!!"  I (Becky's mom, Sue) will attempt to retell the "rest of the story" (though no one can top Becky in the storytelling department!). 

After her water broke, Becky called the doctor and was told to head into the hospital to be put on bedrest until the babies reached 34 weeks.  She and Pete started getting ready to go, but when Becky made one more stop in the bathroom, she discovered "something bulging" and realized that one of the umbilical cords was coming out ("prolapsed umbilical cord" = not good!!).  This time the doctor stated, "This is an emergency, call 911!"

Within minutes, Mounds View police (who are friends of Pete's buddy, Nick) showed up, with the ambulance not far behind.  With no time to spare, Becky left the house in only her tank top and underwear, and was told to get on all fours with her head down on the stretcher.  (Pete says he tried suggesting they cover her with a bathrobe, but things were moving too quickly).  Becky (who always finds a way to see the humor in situations) couldn't help but wonder what the neighbors would think. As the ambulance driver got ready to leave, he told Pete, "don't try to follow me, we'll meet you there". 

At approximately 4:20, my cell phone rang and I knew right away that "something was up" when I saw Pete's name on the caller ID.  In a very calm voice, Pete told me "we are on our way to the hospital".  As he filled me in on what had transpired, I suddenly realized that I could hear Becky's ambulance in the distance (we live about 2 miles apart, with 35W in between us).  Pete then said, hmmm, the ambulance must have gotten lost ... they are behind me!  (We learned later that even though Becky's plan was to go to Abbott Northwestern, they almost took her to Mercy Hospital because of the urgency of the situation (Mercy is closer, but Abbott is more equipped for this kind of emergency).  It sounds like they made a wrong turn and ended up realizing they might as well go to Abbott. (Becky is VERY relieved it worked out this way).

Because they had been in the hospital a few weeks ago, Pete knew right where to go and even got to the right place before Becky did!  When he arrived, he was greeted by a huge team of people who were ready to go the minute Becky arrived. Within minutes of Becky's arrival, the team determined that both babies had heartbeats and moved instantly into emergency cesearean.  Pete was instructed to put on scrubs, but by the time he was ready, he was already being told the news that he was the new daddy of two little girls!  (The whole procedure took about 3 minutes!). 

When it was all over, we learned that baby "B" (the one with the reputation of wiggling, turning, etc) is the one whose water had broke and whose umbilical cord was slipping out.  This situation put the baby in danger, and is what made the situation urgent.  Though the positions of A and B usually mean that A would come out first, B made it out first (and thankfully was ok!!).  This made things a little confusing for Becky and Pete because now the baby they considered to be "B" was being referred to as "A" and "A" was now called "B".  Since they had planned names related to each baby, they made sure to clear this up before announcing their names.

By the time Bob, Marcus and I arrived (about 5:10 a.m.), the babies were born and staff were thrilled with the outcome.  The doctor told us that she was thrilled with the way the paramedics and all of her staff had handled the emergency.  We were amazed that soon after we arrived, Becky was out of the operating room and chatting away with nurses and gushing to everyone about how "cute" Pete looked in scrubs!  (She kept smiling at him, touching him and saying, "Pete, you look so cute in scrubs!"  Everyone praised both Becky and Pete for their calmness through the whole situation. 

Here are the "stats" on our precious little angels . . .

Baby "1" (formerly known as Baby B):  Etta Ellen  (Ellen is for Pete's mom)
                                                            3 lbs. 12. oz.
                                                            4:51 a.m.
Baby "2" (formerly known as Baby A):  Elsie Susan (Susan is for me!  What an honor:)
                                                             4 lbs. 8 oz.
                                                             4:52 a.m.

The babies are receiving top notch care in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Gillette Children's Hospital.  Becky has taken one trip (in her bed) down the elevator, through a tunnel and up another elevator to see the babies.  Becky and Pete won't be able to hold the babies for awhile yet, but they are happy to know that they are receiving such excellent care.  According to hospital staff, the babies are doing pretty well considering their age (they delivered at 31 weeks).  They will be in the hospital for awhile as they continue to grow and develop. 

Because of the babies' premie status, visiting is limited.  Please check with Pete if you are thinking of visiting!

One more part of this story that should be told is that Pete's mom had surgery yesterday.  She is not going to be happy she missed this big event - she struggled with the decision to go ahead with the surgery, but as Pete said, better for her to get the surgery behind her so that she will be able to help when the babies come home.  We'll all just have to fill her in on the stories when she is recovering. 

Stay tuned for Becky's version of the story . . .  I'm sure it will be far more entertaining than mine!!!

"Grandma Susan"

My little mover and shakers

What a great day today was...my mom and dad came down to my weekly appointment with me and sat in on the ultrasound.  The best part was that this was the most fun ultrasound yet!  The tech was patient and awesome at explaining everything she was doing.  And...she even put it in 3D and 4D for a while.  HOW COOL, oh my gosh, we got to see what the girls looked like!  Baby A was able to stay still for us to get an AMAZING picture on print (unfortunately I couldn't get these on digital...but I think I'd rather keep from showing their cute faces until they are born).

I haven't posted a ton of ultrasound pictures during the pregnancy because they don't show up very well if I only get a printed copy which would mean I'd have to scan them.  But...today I asked the tech if I could get a few digital images and she got me some, even though I guess the perinatology clinic isn't supposed to give those out.  

A quick recap of the ultrasound; baby A is vertex on my right side (or head down) with her butt up near my right rib and feet curled under my left rib (super cozy for me, I know).  Baby B is breech but sits a bit lower under A's feet and then her feet go under A's head near my bladder (again, super comfy!).  I've been getting what's called weekly  BPP's (biophysical profiles) and NST's (non-stress tests) for about the past month now.  The babes each need to score an overall score of at least a 6 out of 10.  

-6 points are derived from the ultrasounds: 2 points for movement, 2 for breathing on their own-this can take a while to observe which is normal and 2 for fluid in their bladders and bellies which means they are swallowing, 

-The other 4 points are regarding the non-stress test which is when I get the 3 sensors put on my belly-1 monitors each baby's heart and the other monitors contractions)  I think 2 points is for reactive movement (meaning that they need to observe several heart rate accelerations which then return to their average heart rate) and I can't remember what the other 2 are for.  

Anyway, each appointment both my little sweethearts have scored 10 out of 10!  Sometimes it takes a while to get the heart rates captured because they'll kick so hard that they will literally knock the sensors off and then we have to start all over...but they always have came through getting it recorded in the allotted amount of time.  

Not to start any self-fulfilling prophecies but Baby B has always been my little trickster (aka original given nickname, "Trixy").  She is is my little Houdini and moves CONSTANTLY when being monitored making it very hard to track her heartbeat.  Often times the nurses will have to hold the sensor down with their hands because she'll kick the straps right off.  Baby A has often been bossy, (aka original given nickname, "Sassy"). We've observed her on ultrasound with her fist right up against Baby B's face and hogging the womb.  I wonder if this is what they'll be like when they get out?

Here are a few pics from today...

This first one is looking at a bird's eye view of baby a's face.  You can see her forehead, right eye socket, nose outline, chubby little cheek and blurry mouth.

This next photo is Baby A again kind of looking up from the bottom of her face. In the center of the photo you can see the bottom of her nose and even cute little nostrils!  I think the mouth shot is pretty cool too...

Obviously, this is baby a's profile :-)

Now here is baby b's profile...

And a similar face shot of the bottom of her nose and mouth.  (She is flipped from a...with her nose being more to the left whereas A's photo was taken of her nose more to the right to help you identify between the two.

And...just for fun...here is what they looked like not so long ago back in the beginning of April!  Look at the little peanuts, now they are almost fully grown infants!!!!!

Hope you enjoyed the photos.  Again, when I get the energy to blog, I just tend to spill it out.  I don't really check for grammar or spelling errors because I'm tired once I've typed everything.  Bear with the run on sentences :-)

Also, I think the next 2 posts I never emailed out or put the link up on facebook.  Click the "older posts" button on the right hand side to go back and read if you are interested.

Thanks everyone for all the prayers and support!  32 weeks will be here on Monday!  If I can hit that goal, great!  Then the major goal is for me to get to 34 weeks!!!

Stay classy, preggo mama

I'm not supposed to leave the house ever except for Dr. appointments.  On the way home my mom and I made a quick trip to Target on the condition that I'd use a wheelchair.  Last time I had to go to Target was on my way home from the hospital and it wasn't as big of a scene because Pete found a blue push one.  Today, I had to use the motorized cart which beeps when you back up.  HAHA!  Oh, the simple pleasures of being on bed rest while pregnant with twins.

Should I enter myself in the state fair?

I feel like I could win Farmer Brown a blue ribbon if I waddled myself into one of the barns at the state fair for largest pregnant mammal (which I am bummed I'll have to miss the fair this year, but I know I'd be miserable!)  Haha, ok so I'm really not beating up on myself for how big I'm getting...I know its normal to get huge with twins and I've even been complimented by many nurses that my belly looks great and am so lucky I don't have any stretchmarks!  But...some days especially when I'm laying in bed and have to get a rocking momentum worked up to be able to sit up, I truly feel like a cow (wait till I start nursing, I'll probably freak).  I just emailed my friend a message telling her that yesterday I got so hot that I felt like livestock in labor just trapped in a cage with no where to go on a hot summer day.  It took me that long to finally realize that it was time to turn on the air, as much as I loved having the windows open and fresh air!

Anyway, sometimes I feel a bit bizarre posting pictures of my huge belly but figured it isn't often that many people are pregnant with twins and it helps me keep my positive attitude if I can try to find the humor in it. Plus, it helps me to try and document this experience so I can one day have proof to show the girls!  So, here are some pics (don't say I didn't warn you...)

The first 2 photos are at 28 weeks...this was about an hour before I had my first major "oops" and peed my pants from laughing so hard from watching "Weekend at Bernies"...ha!

This is my friend Amy and me at our friend's Tracy and Mark's wedding.  I was 2 days shy of being 29 weeks.  By the way, the dress I wore that night fit below my knees when I bought it about 2 months prior.  When I put it on that day it only hit about halfway down my thighs...so I had to wear leggings underneath! 

 

 Here I am today, 31 weeks and 3 days.  UFF DA!  And when I'm at home on bedrest it's usually glasses and no make up

Let's pray my little munchkins stay inside for at least another 2.5 weeks (YIKES, imagine my belly then!) 34 weeks is my ultimate goal!