Music for the girls!

I can't figure out how to get this playlist to be added to my blog...but here is a link to listen to songs we'll be playing for the girls!

http://www.playlist.com/bslabiak

"Where are my babies :-) ?!?!?!"

Ok, so here's just another perfect example of how fantastically well I was taken care of at the hospital.  The main nurse, Rochelle that helped Dr. Fairbanks with my c-section made a special trip at the end of her shift to come and see me during my last day at the hospital.  How excited and special she made me feel!  She is just the sweetest person with the most warm smile you could ever imagine.  I'll never forget she was one of the first people that greeted me once I got to labor and delivery via the stretcher and she just greeted me with a gorgeous smile and told me everything was going to be alright-I'll always remember that.  I also chatted her ear off after I woke up from surgery and remember most of our conversation!  When Rochelle came to visit me, we hugged, chatted about the miracles that occurred and she looked at pictures.  She told me that she had to tell me something that she doubted anyone had told me yet...first off she described that she will never forget Pete, the girls, my family and me.  She described waiting for me to show up and the entire OR team's heart is beating out of their chest in anticipation for a major emergency delivery and was expecting a very scared couple to show up.  Instead, she said she just couldn't believe how calm and cool we were and most importantly, how much we were smiling!  But the main thing she wanted me to know was that after the surgery was over, not even 10 minutes later, when I woke up, I was smiling and talkative.  She said that she wanted me to know that almost always when a patient goes under emergency anesthesia so quickly that when they come out of it they are fighting, irritable and confused.  I was quite the opposite!  Apparently, the first words out of my mouth were in a cheerful, childlike innocent sound and I said, "Where are my babies?!"  She said everyone laughed and assured me that they were right around the corner getting taken care of and that they were beautiful.  I guess then I started almost questioning where they were in like a peekaboo manner going, "Where are they?  I don't see them?  Where are my babies?"  I vaguely remember asking about where they were but will NEVER EVER forget when they wheeled the little isolete over to my bedside with both of them together.  I'm so glad that Rochelle stopped by...she said she told her husband that she had new names for their next baby and he said, "those are awesome names, but we aren't having any more babies" :-)  I remember her telling me about her 2 happy little ones when I was in recovery.  Anyway, after having a surprise, unnecessary visit from her, Dr. Fairbanks and having one of my nurses tell me, "your room will now forever be Etta and Elsie's room in my memory", I couldn't feel more blessed and like I totally was in the right place to have had my babies.  I will go back for our next baby(ies...who knows? Chances do increase once you've had multiples...hehe) when we have another, which Pete told me he wants to start trying for right away :-)  He did note that he's probably having that "marathon-like" high after the race and will evaluate how soon he wants to wait once the little pipsqueaks are home.  Just another example of how blessed we are with wonderful people in our lives.  I will be sending thank you's, pictures and continued correspondence with the entire OR and NICU delivery teams.

The woman/angel who saved our babies!

Dr. Lea "SUPERSTAR" Fairbanks!

I got to see the doctor who delivered our babies today!  She came into my room, we hugged and we chatted for about a half hour!  I just had to post this amazing woman's photo so I can share my happiness.  She is a woman of great strength, faith and smarts.  I tried to tell her everything I've been feeling and really let her know how much I valued and appreciated everything she did.  She was very modest about receiving compliments but really focused on the success of the TEAM.  I could carry on all day but I'm going to keep it short and sweet...she cried, I cried, we talked about faith, hope, love...everything.  It was amazing and I'll never forget her.  Then...she ran into my mom in the hallway as my mom was just getting here-Dr. Fairbanks made a point to stop and talk to her!  They talked for a while alone which I thought was great.  One quick detail about both of our conversations...Dr. made a point to comment on my brother Marcus.  She said she noticed him the morning I delivered and was very struck and impressed by him.  She said he was the quietest one in the room but what she observed was his amazing smile (which she said I had too, nice) and sparkle in his eye.  She shared that she has an 18 year old that just entered the naval academy 6 weeks ago and that seeing young people that just exhibit promise and a bright future is why she does what she does.  How sweet and how right she is about Marcus!!!!  Marcus told my mom that part of the reason he decided to go to the U of M was because he wanted to be around when his nieces were born and part of their lives as their Uncle.  Gosh, a remarkable guy he is.  I am so happy that I had this time with Dr. Fairbanks and she told me she was too.  How wonderful life is.

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"